| Sesame Street | |||||||||
| Baby Bear learns to count backwards | |||||||||
| Air date | January 23, 1998 | ||||||||
| Season | Season 29 (1997-1998) | ||||||||
| Written by | Sara Compton | ||||||||
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| Picture | Segment | Description |
|---|---|---|
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SCENE 1 | At the day care center, Gina tells Baby Bear, Zoe, and the kids they're going to learn to count backwards today. Baby Bear claims he already knows how, but he faces backwards and begins counting. Gina clarifies what she meant and he tries doing it the correct way, but can't even make it past 10 and profusely begs Gina to teach him. |
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Film | Farmer McFay counts 40 fruits from the season's bumper crop. (First: Episode 3228) |
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Cartoon | A boy finds a set of doors with animals that make the wrong sound, and swaps the doors to correct them. (First: Episode 2711) |
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Celebrity | Melissa Etheridge sings "Like the Way U Does." (First: Episode 3529) |
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Cartoon | Students raise their hands and name words that begin with "U." Artist: Fred Garbers (First: Episode 3553) |
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Film | The letter U dances at the beach. (First: Episode 3529) |
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Muppets | Ernie and Bert: Bert Is Missing at the Beach — Sherlock Hemlock helps Ernie find Bert at the beach. (First: Episode 0278) |
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Film | A Japanese boy plays taiko drums in the park. (First: Episode 3153) |
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Cartoon | "Island of Emotion" Artist: Sally Cruikshank (First: Episode 2822) |
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SCENE 2 | Gina sings and plays piano, leading the day care group in a song about "Counting Backwards." |
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Animation | Ocean countdown 10-1 (First: Episode 2848) |
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Muppets | In Search of Fish - Wolfgang the Seal tries to look for fish at the New York Aquarium. (First: Episode 3528) |
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Song | "Zero Song": A female voiceover sings about the food that keeps being taken away to make 0. Arist: Jane Aaron (First: Episode 3003) |
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Muppets / Celebrity | Cookie Monster: No Cookies — Gladys Ormphby is approached by Cookie Monster, who begs for cookies. |
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Cartoon | A girl's friend tries to guess how many elephants she saw at the zoo today; the answer is zero. (First: Episode 3609) |
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Film | Footage of kids playing professions, alternating with footage of analogous real-life jobs. (First: Episode 2811) |
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Film | The floating kids form a square (First: Episode 3132) |
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Cartoon | The Four Squares sing "It's Hip To Be a Square." Artists: Vincent Cafarelli & Candy Kugel (First: Episode 2615) |
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SCENE 3 | Baby Bear attempts to count backwards by himself for everybody. As he begins, he doesn't notice Goldilocks arriving from after school until he stalls and she finishes counting for him. Baby Bear gets very infuriated: "I did not need someone, especially some blonde buttinsky who's the bane of my wee little existence here, to step in!" The two get into a heated argument as Gina tries to make peace. |
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Cartoon | A little boy describes a time when he got angry after his toy truck was destroyed by a big kid. Artist: ArtistMike (First: Episode 2764) |
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Song | "My Friend U" |
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Muppets | SuperBaby finds the letter U. (First: Episode 3595) |
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Cartoon | U knocks on the door of P's apartment. When she answers the door, they go UP. Artist: ArtistMike (First: Episode 3658) |
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Muppets | Big Bird's Video Postcards Big Bird visits a Puerto Rican casita in East Harlem. He tries to find out what people do there, but everyone is too busy raising chickens, planting tomatoes, cooking and planning music to answer. (First: Episode 3018) |
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Cartoon | "Family Dance" Artist: Karen Aqua (First: Episode 3487) |
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SCENE 4 | Gina explains to Goldilocks why Baby Bear is so upset and advises her not to help Baby Bear while he counts. She promises and Baby Bear starts counting, but Goldilocks struggles to restrain herself from joining in. Baby Bear is able to successfully count all the way down to 0, while an exhausted Goldilocks collapses on Gina's lap. |
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Song | Joe Raposo sings "Frog Struggle Song." (First: Episode 0492) |
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Animation | Two frogs demonstrate up and down. (First: Episode 3225) |
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Muppets / Celebrity | Gymnast Dominique Dawes demonstrates up, down, fast and slow for Telly. |
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Song | "See Like a Bird" (Robin) (First: Episode 3682) |
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Cartoon | A bird talks to a girl about what's inside the street. When she questions his credibility, he stammers, "A little worm told me!" Artist: John Korty (First: Episode 1918) |
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Muppets | "Elmo's Rap Alphabet" (First: Episode 3456) |
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Animation | Wooden shapes group themselves by color, then regroup by shape, then assemble themselves into a rocket ship. (First: Episode 3229) |
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SCENE 5 | Zoe and Baby Bear play "liftoff," a game where they count backwards and pretend to be rocket ships taking off into space. Baby Bear reminds Zoe of when Slimey's spaceship blasted off and how the Count had counted backwards. He scrunches himself down and counts from 10 to 0, then jumps up making rocket noises. Zoe likes the game and the two start playing "liftoff" again and again. |
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Cartoon | Flash Gizmo, Space Cadet Fast and slow |
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Film | Two kids play drums as animated kid-drawn figures clap with the beat. (First: Episode 2847) |
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Muppets | While shopping in a China store, Simon Soundman helps Old McDonald find his lost animal - however his animal sounds attract animals to barge into the fragile store. (beginning edited) (First: Episode 3068) |
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Song | "Learning to Swim" (First: Episode 3592) |
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Animation | A group of round crayons draws a house, and is hesitant to let a square yellow crayon join, until it draws the sun. They all cooperate to make a rainbow. (First: Episode 3105) |
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SCENE 6 | Baby Bear shows Gina the different ways he can count backwards (standing backwards, sideways, jumping, etc.). She stops him briefly to announce the sponsors, letting Baby Bear count down to the number of the day (0) and reports on the status of Slimey's space journey. The credits follow. |
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COMING SOON | Coming Soon on Sesame Street: Baby Bear agrees to pretend to be a teddy bear for Rosita. |
Alterations[]
| Picture | Segment | Description |
|---|---|---|
 |
INTRO | In the 1999 rerun, the season 30–32 intro sequence is used in place of the season 29 opening. |
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Muppets | Muppet & Kid Moment — Grover and Meghan pretend to go to the moon. (First: Episode 3696) This segment replaced the Ernie and Bert sketch in the 1999 rerun. |
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Muppets | Worms in Space form shapes. (First: Episode 3756) This segment replaced the "Floating Kids" film in the 1999 rerun. |
|
Muppets | Sesame Street News Flash: Hey Diddle Diddle — A cat preps a cow to jump over the moon. (First: Episode 0634) This segment replaced the sketch with Telly and Dominique Dawes in the 1999 rerun. |
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Muppets | Ernie's Show and Tell Ben shows Ernie his toy calculator that he received from his dad. This segment replaced the Simon Soundman sketch in the 1999 rerun. |
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Cartoon | Hands embrace the words LOVE. (new music added) (First: Episode 0926) This segment replaced the crayons animation in the 1999 rerun. |
Notes[]
- This episode was among a select group of Season 29 episodes that were reran during the last few weeks of 1999, shortly before Season 31 began airing the following January. This particular episode aired on November 18 and December 9, and also retained its closing credits sequence despite airing on Thursdays.
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