First off, I'm
because the TV signal's buzzing with a potential storm/flood warning without any news of such.
Episode 4302: The Good Sport.
Word on the Street: Champion.
Commercial Sponsors.
Street Story:
Elmo and Abby keep playing with a regular, then a big, then a small potato.
They try playing faster... Elmo gets frustrated. And of course it's the potato's fault.
Then Telly comes in and we get the Rocky song parody.
So we launch into what South Park taught us, that when you need to get really good at something in a really short time, you need a montage.
The song was too short for my taste though. Still can't hear that song without singing The Rye or The Keiser.
Apparently hanging out with all those sports stars has influenced Elmo's skills at both Hot Potato and trash talking.
Telly: I created a monster.
Elmo: I was already a monster.
Telly: I created a monster monster.
Forgot how the "boyee" can get really annoying really fast.
Trust the grown-up, Leela, to insert the moral lesson of sportsmanship back into the story.
Me am impressed with the song "Elmo Didn't Mean To", that's the kind of depth that makes the character genuine likeable.
Which leads to the kids playing another round of Hot Potato.
BTW: Anybody besides me remember the game show of the same name?
Inserts/Segments:
1 Word of the Day: Abby and Blake Griffin explain "champion".
This seems much more organic than past seasons' inserts. Especially since Abby pits a hen versus a griffin in a chicken-calling competition.
2 The Plontsters? Thought we'd gotten rid of those bits.
Why do I feel Sesame "borrowed" them from Eureeka's Castle.
3 Murray and Ovejita present the letter R with a radio, rock, and rabbit.
4 Animated: R is for roar, river, row, race, run, rope, rain forest, roar, rain, rainbow.
Meh, another plotless letter segment. We need to get back to segments that show some thought and fun rather than just list a bunch of items starting with the featured letter.
5 Abby's Flying Fairy School: Choice Time with Super Fairy, repeat.
Super Fairy's diva act makes me laugh, it reminds me of attention-starved celebrities.
Surprised Mrs. Sparklenose is also a fan of hers.
6 Obligatory Alphabet Song, bleh.
7 Murray and Ovejita present the number 11 with eleven flowers after Murray pushes the button.
7 Kids count eleven butterflies.
Again, can we please get something interesting like the Lonely Eleven song/segment?
*Grumbles as to why we don't get the Count TV added to the lineup, Jerry's Count for the single digits and expand it to Matt taking over the character for the double digits.
8 Bert & Ernie's Great Adventures: The Bird Games, repeat.
Now this is a segment I've missed watching. Sure, it may be claymation versions of the characters, but at least it's something entertaining.
9 Murray and Ovejita play a game of match-up with sports balls and their helmets.
10 Muppets: Grover gets Mr. Johnson a cup of coffee, along with a lesson on how coffee is harvested and made.
And of course, he has to make fresh sugar from sugar cane... And fresh milk from his old friend, the Sesame Street cow.
*Laughs at the cow getting excitable after she drank Mr. Johnson's cup.
11 Elmo: The Musical: Athlete, The Musical.
I already like Velvet much more than Shade, especially if she's going to be Elmo's coach.
Enormous Athlete: What shoes?
Me: The ones you endorse.
Elmo wants to win the golden shoes?
Event #1: The Long Jump. The event that made Carl Lewis famous.
Event #2: The Shotput.
Enormous Athlete won these and has four total points.
Event #3: The Hurdles, worth five points, can you guess who'll win?
Now we know this is a fictitious competition because Elmo stops to help Enormous Athlete when a real race would keep running. Either the downed racer would get back up or in worst case he'd get medical attention from onsite trainers.
Gotta agree with Drtooth, this is far more enjoyable than Elmo's World.
Murray recaps the sponsors and we're done.