Sesame Street
Big Bird pretends to be grouchy
Air date March 22, 1990
Season Season 21 (1989-1990)
Written by Norman Stiles
Sponsors B, K, 20


Picture Segment Description

SCENE 1 Big Bird is angry that no one's paying attention to him today, shouting at Linda and Hiroshi as they pass through his nest to do their errands. Big Bird then overhears Snuffy, but he finds that Snuffy's too busy talking to Oscar and storms off. Meanwhile, Oscar has Snuffy and Alice listen to Grundgetta and her rock group sing a loud lullaby on the radio. Snuffy prefers quiet lullabies, but Alice enjoys the song, dancing and repeating "loud, loud, loud" which starts to grate on Oscar.

SCENE 1 cont'd Snuffy passes by Big Bird's nest to take Alice home, still too busy to talk with him. Big Bird forewarns the viewers that they're about to hear "the loudest, angriest bird you have ever heard" before throwing a tantrum.
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SCENE 2 Big Bird vents to Oscar about the little attention he's getting, even from Maria who rushes by to go to the bathroom. Oscar claims that no matter how grouchy he is, people always hang around his trashcan, giving Big Bird the idea to pretend to be a grouch. Hiroshi becomes concerned when Big Bird starts talking to him like Oscar.
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SCENE 3 Big Bird's grouchiness successfully attracts the attention of the adults, who beg to talk with him, much to his delight. Maria mentions that someone else wants to talk to him, but Big Bird tells whoever they are to "beat it," not realizing that it was Snuffy. Snuffy is visibly sad, and Big Bird begins to regret acting grouchy.
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Film Fay Ray listens to classical music on headphones. "Are you listening to me?"
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SCENE 4 As Big Bird tries to think of what he should do, Elmo decides to ask him questions to find out why he's feeling sad. Once Big Bird explains his situation, Elmo asks why he doesn't just explain it to Snuffy and say that he's sorry. Big Bird goes off to do just that and thanks Elmo for providing the answer.

SCENE 4 cont'd Elmo listens in on Big Bird reconciling with Snuffy, and then climbs up the doors to see what's going on. The adults apologize for not listening to Big Bird and encourage him to express his true feelings to them in the future. Big Bird promises he'll never pretend to be grouchy again, and gives everyone a group hug. Elmo observes "Aw, a happy ending" and lets out a cheer that causes him to accidentally fall off.
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SCENE 5 At night, Oscar puts on Grundgetta's lullaby to "help" people fall asleep, promptly raising a ruckus from the residents. Elmo announces the sponsors.

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