| Sesame Street | |||||||||||
| Alan, Hooper's new storekeeper, caters a Birdketeer meeting | |||||||||||
| Air date | November 16, 1998 (season premiere) | ||||||||||
| Season | Season 30 (1998-1999) | ||||||||||
| Written by | Ian Ellis James | ||||||||||
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| Picture | Segment | Description |
|---|---|---|
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SCENE 1 | On another bright, sunny day on Sesame Street, Big Bird is about to have a Birdketeer meeting when he welcomes the viewer. He then points out Alan, the new storekeeper of Hooper's Store who is busy bringing some inventory into the shop. Big Bird decides to introduce the Birdketeers to Alan and help him unload and count the six boxes on his cart. Alan thanks them by offering the store as a place for their meeting, as well as some snacks. He then learns that Big Bird's small group is not the only Birdketeers around, and more will be coming. "Well, how many other Birdketeers can there be?" Alan wonders to himself. |
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Cartoon | "The Room Is Full of Chickens" (First: Episode 2971) |
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Muppets | Grover and Mr. Johnson: Chicken Castle (beginning edited) (First: Episode 3771) |
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Cartoon | African quilt pattern (First: Episode 3145) |
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Muppets | Ernie and Rubber Duckie introduce Suzie Kabloozie, especially because they enjoy saying her name. cut from the Max version |
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Cartoon | Suzie Kabloozie sings "Somebody Come and Play." cut from the Max version |
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SCENE 2 | Big Bird returns with some other Birdketeers, and Alan confidently states that he can take care of all six of them. He offers to make some peanut butter sandwiches and milkshakes for everyone, learning that Mr. Hooper's old birdseed milkshake recipe was specially created with Big Bird in mind. Elmo arrives and decides to be a Birdketeer, even getting himself the proper uniform. Alan returns with the snacks and meets Elmo before returning to the store to get him his own sandwich and milkshake while the others practice the Birdketeer call: "Tra-la-la, tweet-tweet-tweet!" |
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Muppets | Monsters in Day Care: Sam, Emma and Stephanie teach Herry to sing "The Itsy Bitsy Spider". The monsters sing it at Monster Day Care. |
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Cartoon | Slot machine legs: tiger. Artist: Veronika Soul |
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Muppets | Ernie asks Rubber Duckie what he wants to see next. cut from the Max version |
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Muppets / Celebrity | Angel Corella dances the Ballet Alphabet, while Telly, Zoe and Elmo name the letters. (edited) (First: Episode 3785) cut from the Max version |
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SCENE 3 | Before they eat, Big Bird leads the Birdketeers in the "Up and Down Dance." (Alan: "This is a very active club.") |
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Cartoon | A baby and father illustrate up and down. (First: Episode 2687) |
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Muppets / Celebrity | Humphrey and Ingrid hire Fran Drescher as Baby Natasha's nanny. But instead of going to work, Humphrey and Ingrid don't want to miss all the fun -- so they stay home with Natasha and Fran. |
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Song | "Beautiful Baby" (remake) (First: Episode 3549) cut from the Max version |
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Muppets | Ernie loves and is tickled by Rubber Duckie. |
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Animation | The word "LOVE" in various situations. (beginning edited) (First: Episode 3569) |
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SCENE 4 | The Birdketeers meeting has one more surprise guest: Herbert, the letter H (Joey Mazzarino)! He's even brought his own feathers, and peppers his speech with lots of H words. Alan is surprised to see a talking letter H: "Well, when I bought the store, they told me it was in an interesting neighborhood." Herbert orders a variety of H-themed foods while the others want second helpings of their sandwiches and shakes. While they wait, Herbert has brought some H movies... |
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Cartoon | Soul H (First: Episode 3368) |
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Cartoon | A red man tries to think of words that begin with H, but a yellow man keeps spewing them out until Red draws a hole under Yellow, who yells "HELP!!" (new sound effects added) (First: Episode 0020) |
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SCENE 4 cont'd | The gang enjoyed Herbert's H movies, while inside Hooper's, Alan is still busy making food and thinks that the meeting will be over soon. Back outside, Herry joins the Birdketeers after hearing his favorite letter is there. He decides to become a Birdketeer too, and gets his own set of feathers. (Big Bird: "Gee, there must be a feather store around here.") Alan meets Herry, who asks for 12 sandwiches ("I'm a growing monster!") and joins Herbert in watching more H movies. |
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Film | HAT: Kids try on different hats. (First: Episode 3292) |
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Animation | H in space (with astronauts) (First: Episode 3697) |
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Muppets | Ernie and Bert: Bert sees Ernie singing into a pot, pretending it's a microphone. Ernie tells Bert he likes his music loud, while Bert prefers soft, leading into "Loud and Soft". After their song, Ernie offers Bert the pot to sing with, but he declines, so Ernie puts it on Bert's head as a hat. |
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Cartoon | A baby demonstrates 'happy,' 'surprised' and 'sad.' (First: Episode 3396) |
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SCENE 5 | Alan finds that he's running out of food and is going to have to tell the Birdketeers to end the meeting. Meanwhile, the group is laughing it up and Big Bird declares it the best Birdketeer meeting ever. |
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Film | William Wegman's dogs show what a waiter does at work. |
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Muppets | Ernie and Rubber Duckie introduce the number of the day. |
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Cartoon | A chorus of 5s come out of a 5 painting. (First: Episode 3300) |
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Film | Two girls clap out Five. (First: Episode 3007) |
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Animation | "Five Waltzing Chairs" Artist: Jane Aaron (First: Episode 2983) |
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SCENE 6 | Before Alan can end the meeting, the Birdketeers thank Alan for his hospitality and make him a lifetime member, with Big Bird giving him his own Birdketeer hat. Alan is touched and can't bring himself yet to tell them to leave, but as it turns out Big Bird has to end the meeting anyway. Before they go, they want to thank him again by singing "Welcome!" The Birdketeers are joined by many other Sesame Street neighbors, including Luis, Maria, Gabi, Baby Bear, Rosita, Gordon, Susan, Miles, Zoe, Ernie, Telly, and Bert. They agree to help clean up after the meeting (with Herry lifting the table by himself), and as they do, the camera pans to a small building behind them, leading into... |
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Muppets | Elmo's World: Balls |
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SCENE 7 | Alan thanks Big Bird for helping with the Birdketeers to clean up the yard. Big Bird then announces the sponsors (with a little help from Herbert), and Alan observes, "You know, I really like this street." The credits follow. |
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Still | A dedication to the memory of Jeff Moss. (This was omitted from syndicated reruns as well as the HBO Max release) |
Notes[]
- This episode features the first appearance of Elmo's World and Monsters in Day Care, and is the first show where a Sesame character appears throughout the episode to introduce segments (this practice will end by Season 33, with the advent of repeated segments for every episode).
- After Caroll Spinney's death, Alan Muraoka posted on Facebook: "My very first episode of Sesame Street involved me hosting a Birdketeer Club meeting at Hooper's Store, and ends with Big Bird and the entire cast singing "Welcome To The Party" to let me know that I was now a part of their family. We got to watch a sneak preview of that episode a few months later during a lunch break, and when it ended Caroll was sitting in front of me and turned to me with tears in his eyes and a smile on his face. I knew then that I was indeed a part of the Sesame family. That is something that I will keep with me for the rest of my days."[1]
Sources[]
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