Arthur (season 1)

The first season of the television series Arthur was originally broadcast on PBS in the United States from October 7[1] to November 15, 1996, and contains 30 episodes with each episode containing two 11-minute segments. Like seasons 2 and 3, this season was released on DVD in Europe only.

Arthur
Season 1
Country of origin	United States Canada
No. of episodes	30 (60 segments)
Release
Original network	PBS
Original release	October 7 – November 15, 1996
Season chronology

Episodes

No. overall	No. in season	Title	Written by	Storyboarded by	Original air date
1a	1a	"Arthur's Eyes"	Joe Fallon	Gerry Capelle	October 7, 1996
When D.W. sees pictures of Arthur without his glasses, Arthur tells her the story of why he got glasses, and how he dealt with Francine teasing him for them.
1b	1b	"Francine's Bad Hair Day"	Kathy Waugh	Jean Sarô	October 7, 1996
With school picture day coming, Muffy tries to give Francine a new makeover, and continuously refuses to allow her to participate in activities with her friends.
2a	2a	"Arthur and the Real Mr. Ratburn"	Joe Fallon	John Pagan & Norm Roen	October 8, 1996
Arthur and his friends are horrified when they learn that their third grade teacher will be the infamous Mr. Ratburn. After Arthur and Buster follow him outside of class, they learn that while he is a tough teacher, he does have a soft side.
2b	2b	"Arthur's Spelling Trubble"	Joe Fallon	Jean Lajeunesse	October 8, 1996
Arthur practices for the school spelling bee and competes against Prunella, the previous champion, and Brain, the smartest kid in his class. After some initial fear, Arthur wins the bee.
3a	3a	"D.W. All Wet"	Kathy Waugh	Sylvain Proteau	October 9, 1996
D.W. develops a fear of octopuses while on a field trip to the aquarium with her class. The next day, the Reads go to the beach, but D.W. refuses to swim because she thinks there are octopuses in the water. However, after Arthur and his friends get in trouble for playing a prank on D.W., she overcomes her fear.
3b	3b	"Buster's Dino Dilemma"	Matt Steinglass	Raymond Lebrun	October 9, 1996
Buster and Arthur discover a fossilized dinosaur footprint on a class trip to a state park. Buster takes it home, which is against the park rules, but later feels guilty and decides to give it to the park.
4a	4a	"D.W.'s Imaginary Friend"	Ken Scarborough	Sylvain Proteau	October 10, 1996
Arthur gets annoyed with D.W. when she blames accidents she causes on her imaginary friend, Nadine. While on a trip to the amusement park after hearing about a new ride, Arthur and Buster fear D.W. will embarrass them with Nadine.
4b	4b	"Arthur's Lost Library Book"	Joe Fallon	Jean Lajeunesse	October 10, 1996
Arthur is the first to borrow a new book from the library, but he accidentally drops it on his way home. Arthur recruits Binky to help him find the book by interrogating his friends, but it turns out Binky found it after Arthur dropped it.
5a	5a	"Arthur's Pet Business"	Joe Fallon	Jean Lajeunesse	October 11, 1996
Arthur starts his own pet-sitting business to prove he is responsible enough to get a dog of his own, which includes watching over his neighbor, Mrs. Wood's, unfriendly dog, Perky. When Perky goes missing on the day Mrs. Wood is picking her up, Arthur fears that he is not a good pet owner until he finds that Perky has given birth to a litter of puppies. Arthur adopts one of Perky's puppies as payment.
5b	5b	"D.W. the Copycat"	Joe Fallon	Stéfanie Gignac	October 11, 1996
D.W. annoys Arthur by acting and dressing like him and following him around. Arthur's friends start excluding him because they do not want D.W. around. But when D.W.'s own friends refuse to play with her, she decides to change back to her old self.
6a	6a	"Locked in the Library!"	Kathy Waugh	John Flagg	October 14, 1996
Francine is mad at Arthur for a joke he made at her expense, and Mr. Ratburn assigns them to work together on a project. They go to the library together and lose track of time, getting locked inside when the library closes. As they try to find a way out, Francine and Arthur must put aside their grudges and learn to work together.
6b	6b	"Arthur Accused!"	James Greenberg	Jean Sarô	October 14, 1996
Arthur is in charge of helping the cafeteria lady, Mrs. MacGrady, with a fundraiser, but when he tries to give the money he raised to her, she is distracted by a phone conversation, so Arthur leaves the money in the kitchen. However, the money disappears and Arthur is falsely accused of stealing it. Buster, acting as a detective, tries to prove Arthur's innocence.
7a	7a	"Arthur Goes to Camp"	Rowby Goren	Sylvain Proteau	October 15, 1996
Arthur and his friends go to Camp Meadowcroak, where everything is a competition between girls and boys. The two teams refuse to collaborate, but when a rival camp plays a spooky prank on them, they realize they must work together to beat the rival camp in the annual scavenger hunt.
7b	7b	"Buster Makes the Grade"	Peter Hirsch	Nadja Cozic	October 15, 1996
Buster falls behind with his schoolwork, and is threatened with repeating third grade if he does not improve. Arthur, Muffy, and Francine tutor him, but he struggles to pay attention.
8a	8a	"Arthur's New Puppy"	Joe Fallon	Hana Kukal	October 16, 1996
Following the events of "Arthur's Pet Business," Arthur is trying to train his new puppy, Pal, to behave, but Pal ends up making huge messes and causing disturbances around the house.
8b	8b	"Arthur Bounces Back"	Tom Hertz	John Flagg	October 16, 1996
Arthur wants Moon Boots and tries to get money to buy them. While Arthur is cleaning the garage, his neighbor, Mrs. Tibble comes by and, mistaking it for a yard sale, offers to buy a necklace for the amount of money he needs for his Moon Boots. Arthur regrets this decision when he learns that the necklace is a present for his mother's birthday, so he tries to earn it back.
9a	9a	"Arthur Babysits"	Joe Fallon	Gerry Capelle	October 17, 1996
Arthur thinks that babysitting is an easy job until D.W. volunteers him to babysit Tommy and Timmy Tibble, twins with a bad reputation of being destructive and mean. After some initial struggles, Arthur gets the twins to behave by telling them a scary story.
9b	9b	"Arthur's Cousin Catastrophe"	Terence Taylor	Jean Charles Fink	October 17, 1996
Arthur's parents are hosting their annual family reunion. Arthur tries to avoid his cousin Mo, who has bullied him during past reunions, while his parents deal with their eccentric relatives. When a thunderstorm forces the Reads to spend the rest of the party indoors, Arthur learns that Mo has been looking for him to ask if he could give her a piano lesson.
10a	10a	"Arthur's Birthday"	Joe Fallon	Stéfanie Gignac	October 18, 1996
Arthur and Muffy have their birthday parties on the same day and neither can postpone. While everyone is frozen with indecision over whose party to attend, Arthur and Francine then work together to merge the two parties into one everyone can enjoy.
10b	10b	"Francine Frensky, Superstar"	Joe Fallon	Darren Brereton	October 18, 1996
Feeling sorry for Francine never getting a good part in the class play, the whole class vouches for her to star as Thomas Edison in the next play. However, they regret their decision when Francine tries to take charge and acts very bossy, leading to heated disputes between her and the rest of the cast.
11a	11a	"Arthur's Baby"	Joe Fallon	Gerry Capelle	October 21, 1996
On Kate's first birthday, Arthur remembers when his mother first told him and D.W. that she is pregnant. Arthur is nervous, wondering what it will be like to have a new baby in the house. When Kate is born, Arthur is worried that she hates him, since she cries whenever he is nearby.
11b	11b	"D.W.'s Baby"	Joe Fallon	Gerry Capelle	October 21, 1996
Following the events of the previous episode, Kate finally displays her affection for Arthur. D.W. feels jealous of the attention Kate is receiving from the rest of the family and tries anything to get rid of her, but nothing works.
12a	12a	"Arthur Writes a Story"	Joe Fallon	Gerry Capelle	October 22, 1996
When Arthur is assigned to write a story, he writes about how he got Pal (from "Arthur's Pet Business"). Afraid that people will find it boring, Arthur begins fictionalizing the events using advice from different people. Once he realizes how strange the story is, he changes it back and learns that the truth is still interesting.
12b	12b	"Arthur's Lost Dog"	Joe Fallon	Sylvian Proteau	October 22, 1996
It is Downtown Day in Elwood City and the Reads attend the festival. They pass a clown giving balloons and Kate begins crying because she wants a balloon. Nobody but Pal understands why Kate is crying, so Pal runs off to get a balloon, but Arthur thinks he is running away from him.
13a	13a	"So Long, Spanky"	Peter K. Hirsch	Jean Lajeunesse	October 23, 1996
When D.W.'s pet bird, Spanky, dies, she leaves a can of flowers on his grave after his funeral, but finds a toad in it. The toad constantly follows D.W., but she is annoyed that it will not leave her alone. But when the toad disappears one morning, D.W. realizes that she misses it.
13b	13b	"Buster's New Friend"	Matt Steinglass	Jean Lajeunesse	October 23, 1996
Arthur and Buster work on a project together, but Buster does not have the time for the project or for Arthur, instead talking about his new friend, Mike. When Buster keeps forgetting about him, Arthur decides to end his friendship with Buster, until he learns who Mike really is and Buster apologizes.
14a	14a	"Arthur the Wrecker"	Joe Fallon	Stéfanie Gignac	October 24, 1996
Arthur borrows a new computer game from Brain, but his mother, who is very busy, needs to use the computer for work. When Buster visits, he and Arthur accidentally knock the keyboard to the floor, causing the computer to shut down. They try to figure out what is wrong with the computer before Arthur's mother comes home.
14b	14b	"Arthur and the True Francine"	Kathy Waugh	Angus Bungay	October 24, 1996
While playing a game of Truth or Dare with Muffy, Francine recalls the time they first met and became friends. Muffy lies about cheating on a test, causing Francine to be punished with detention for a week. When Francine is needed for a crucial softball game, and Muffy's lies finally catch up to her, she finally comes clean, allowing Francine to return to the game.
15a	15a	"Arthur's Family Vacation"	Thomas LaPierre	François Brisson	October 25, 1996
Arthur is sad that he cannot go to Camp Meadowcroak with Buster since he is going on a road trip with his family. The Reads face many mishaps such as their hotel reservation getting cancelled and it rains consistently until the last day of their trip. When Arthur gets back, he finds out that Buster had an even worse trip than him.
15b	15b	"Grandpa Dave's Old Country Farm"	Matt Steinglass	John Pagan & Norm Roen	October 25, 1996
Arthur and D.W. visit their Grandpa Dave, who lives on an old, rundown farm. Grandpa Dave does not want help running it, but Arthur and D.W. are concerned by the state of things and try to help him fix up the farm with the help of his friends.
16a	16a	"Arthur and the Crunch Cereal Contest"	Peter K. Hirsch	Jean Lajeunesse	October 28, 1996
Arthur is determined to win a year's supply of Crunch cereal by composing a jingle, but he cannot come up with any ideas. He hears D.W. singing a song about Nadine and copies it. Arthur feels guilty, so he mails the song with D.W.'s name instead of his, and it wins the contest, much to D.W.'s confusion.
16b	16b	"D.W. Flips"	Peter K. Hirsch	Gerry Capelle	October 28, 1996
D.W. is jealous of Emily's performance in their gymnastics class and is determined to become better than her, which endangers her when she climbs on a high balance beam and nearly hurts herself. Afterward, D.W. and Emily apologize to one another and become friends.
17a	17a	"Meek for a Week"	Joe Fallon	Jean Charles Fink	October 29, 1996
Annoyed by Francine's attitude, Muffy bets that she cannot be nice for a week. Noticing how straining the bet is on Francine, Arthur, Buster, and the Brain try to get her to lose her temper, but Francine manages to keep it under control until the bet is over.
17b	17b	"Arthur, World's Greatest Gleeper"	Matt Steinglass	Myron Born	October 29, 1996
When Arthur and Buster have to eat lunch with Binky's gang, the Tough Customers, they tell Arthur they think he has never "gleeped" anything, but to impress them, he tells them he has, only to find out later that "gleep" is slang for "steal." Rumors spread about Arthur being a thief, while Binky's gang pressures him into their ranks.
18a	18a	"Arthur's Chicken Pox"	Kathy Waugh	Russel Crispin	October 30, 1996
Arthur is looking forward to his family's trip to the circus, but he gets chicken pox, and is unsure if he will get better in time for the circus. When Grandma Thora visits to take care of Arthur, D.W. gets jealous of the attention he gets and tries to pretend she has chicken pox, too.
18b	18b	"Sick as a Dog"	Joe Fallon	Jean Charles Fink	October 30, 1996
Arthur is sad when Pal has to stay at the vet overnight for being sick. He blames D.W. for this, but when the vet tells him that Pal has been eating human food, he has to apologize to D.W. and learn what Pal is and is not supposed to eat.
19a	19a	"D.W. Rides Again"	Joe Fallon	Gerry Capelle	October 31, 1996
D.W. gets a two-wheel bike for a bike-riding fundraiser after the Tibble twins tease her for her tricycle. She tries to learn to ride it with Arthur's assistance. After several failed attempts, D.W. gets the hang of riding her bike.
19b	19b	"Arthur Makes the Team"	Tom Hertz	Jean Lajeunesse	October 31, 1996
Arthur and his friends try out for the baseball team, and Arthur struggles with catching the ball while Francine is unable to throw accurately. When Francine wishes for her father to kick Arthur off the team, thinking he is the reason for the team not doing well, he makes Arthur and Francine coach each other to get better.
20a	20a	"Arthur's Almost Boring Day"	Joe Fallon	Stefanie Gignac	November 1, 1996
Arthur and his friends are assigned to write about what they do over the weekend, but the rain ruins plans. Arthur and D.W. bother each other and are sent to Grandma Thora's, where Thora shows them old home movies and comic books that give Arthur a great idea for his assignment.
20b	20b	"The Half-Baked Sale"	Ken Scarborough	Jean Lajeunesse	November 1, 1996
Grandma Thora is oblivious to the fact that she is a poor cook, and when she bakes cookies for a school bake sale, Arthur and D.W. try to stop her bad cooking from ruining the bake sale without hurting her feelings.
21a	21a	"Sue Ellen Moves In"	Joe Fallon	Gerry Capelle	November 4, 1996
Rumors circulate about Sue Ellen Armstrong and her family, who have just moved into the neighborhood. Buster jumps to the false conclusion that they are aliens and tries to expose them, but everyone else learns about how Sue Ellen traveled the world and change their opinions of her.
21b	21b	"The Perfect Brother"	Joe Fallon	Stefanie Gignac	November 4, 1996
Brain spends the weekend with the Reads while his parents visit an ice cream convention. Brain is neat, finishes his homework early, and reads to D.W., making Arthur look bad. When Brain invites Arthur over to his house, Arthur learns that Brain is not neat and was just acting polite because he was a guest.
22a	22a	"D.W.'s Snow Mystery"	Joe Fallon	Gerry Capelle	November 5, 1996
D.W. keeps a snowball in the freezer from "the best day of her life," but it goes missing. Buster and Francine investigate, listening to biased accounts of those present the day the snowball disappeared. After several arguments and accusations, D.W. lets the incident go as the first snowfall of the year appears.
22b	22b	"Team Trouble"	Joe Fallon	Gerry Capelle	November 5, 1996
Arthur, Buster, and Francine are assigned to do a group project on Ancient Rome. They separately work on a comic book, which ends up being inconsistent and not working due to disagreements. They learn that they have to work together to make a good project.
23a	23a	"Bully for Binky"	Joe Fallon	Gerry Capelle	November 6, 1996
Binky bullies Sue Ellen, who demands that he apologize. When he does not, she challenges him to a fight to settle it. He gets nervous when he finds out she knows Tae Kwon Do, and tries to beat her in music instead. When Sue Ellen is better than him in that as well, Binky accepts that Sue Ellen is tougher than him.
23b	23b	"Misfortune Teller"	Joe Fallon	Luc Savoie	November 6, 1996
For her half-birthday, Prunella's older sister, Rubella, gives her a cootie catcher. Rubella claims that it can tell the future and the answers it gives do come true. Arthur and his friends begin following the advice of the cootie catcher. When the cootie catcher is ruined, they realize that they should not let it control their lives.
24a	24a	"Arthur's Tooth"	James Greenberg	Jean Charles Fink	November 7, 1996
Arthur has a loose tooth, but he is the only one in his class that has not lost any of his baby teeth yet. He tries to pull it out to get Francine to stop teasing him. Arthur learns that people lose their baby teeth at different ages and tells Francine, only for her to accidentally hit him with a ball and knock out his loose tooth.
24b	24b	"D.W. Gets Lost"	Joe Fallon	Kevin Currie	November 7, 1996
D.W. wants earrings because her friend Emily has them. D.W.'s mother takes her shopping for earrings, and while at the superstore, they run into Muffy's father, who needs to speak with D.W.'s mother. Impatient, D.W. wanders off and gets lost in the store. While trying to find her way back to her mother, she runs into Emily and sees her earrings have turned her ears green. Upon returning to her mother, D.W. changes her mind.
25a	25a	"D.W. Thinks Big"	Judy Rothman	Gerry Capelle	November 8, 1996
D.W. wants to help out at Aunt Lucy's wedding, but she is too little. Arthur is the ringbearer and their rude cousin Cora is the flower girl. During the wedding, Cora distracts Arthur, causing him to accidentally throw the ring into the organ pipes. Arthur is too big to crawl into the organ and Cora does not want to get dirty. D.W. volunteers and successfully retrieves the ring. As a reward, Aunt Lucy allows D.W. to be both the ringbearer and the flower girl.
25b	25b	"Arthur Cleans Up"	Matt Steinglass	Jean Charles Fink	November 8, 1996
When Arthur complains about the state of the park, his father starts a brigade for Arthur and his friends to clean the park. Arthur's friends get angry at him for starting the brigade, despite him trying to explain that it was his father's idea, not his. As a result, Arthur has to do the job himself with only Francine's father advising him. However, the next day, Arthur stands up to Binky and his gang when they tease him and orders them to help him clean the park. Arthur's friends decide to help him after overhearing the incident with Binky's gang.
26a	26a	"My Dad, the Garbage Man"	Kathy Waugh	Jean Sarô	November 11, 1996
Mr. Ratburn's class goes on field trips to several of the students' parents at work to learn about careers. Francine is embarrassed by her father's job as a garbage man and tries to cover it up by informing her friends that he is in a secret organization and just pretends to be a garbage man for cover. However, Francine eventually decides to admit that her father is really a garbage man when everyone sees that he built a playground out of things he found at the dump.
26b	26b	"Poor Muffy"	Ken Scarborough	Gerry Capelle	November 11, 1996
Muffy is allergic to the new carpet in her house, so she stays with Francine while the carpeting is being removed. During Muffy's stay, Francine cannot handle Muffy's spoiled attitude and Muffy cannot deal with the less-than-wealthy condition in which Francine's family lives.
27a	27a	"D.W.'s Blankie"	Tom Hertz	Stéfanie Gignac	November 12, 1996
D.W. cannot find her blankie and enlists the help of Arthur to search for it, retracing her steps over Elwood City.
27b	27b	"Arthur's Substitute Teacher Trouble"	Joe Fallon	Nadja Cozic	November 12, 1996
Mr. Ratburn loses his voice and his sister, Ms. Rodentia Ratburn, substitutes for him. Ms. Ratburn is a kindergarten teacher, and although the class is glad to have some easy work at first, they soon get bored and they realize they miss Mr. Ratburn's tougher classes.
28a	28a	"I'm a Poet"	Joe Fallon	Kevin Currie	November 13, 1996
Fern is the only one in class to enter a poetry contest, which is to be judged by famous poet Jack Prelutsky. The others think poetry is uncool, and start making fun of her. Fern bets them if they cannot write and submit their own poems, they must join the poetry club for a year. In doing so, Fern's friends find writing poetry fun. Guest star: Jack Prelutsky as himself.
28b	28b	"The Scare-Your-Pants-Off Club!"	Terence Taylor	Angus Bungay	November 13, 1996
When their favorite series of books is banned from the library by a parental organization who believe scary books are bad for children, Arthur and his friends get together a petition to get them back — all except Muffy that is, as it turns out her parents are the founders of the parental group. Everyone gets a surprise when the books' author arrives to defend her books, and she happens to be Muffy's father's former teacher.
29a	29a	"My Club Rules"	Joe Fallon	Gerry Capelle	November 14, 1996
Arthur and his friends create a club to exclude D.W., but they cannot agree on the rules. Everyone starts creating their own clubs with strange rules, alienating those who want to join.
29b	29b	"Stolen Bike"	Kathy Waugh	Angus Bungay	November 14, 1996
Francine's bike is too small for her, so her father finds his old bike, except she is embarrassed by the fact that it is old and rusty. When her friends tease her about the bike, she hides it and pretends it is stolen. The bike then gets thrown out, and when Francine's father finds it, they work together on fixing it up.
30a	30a	"Arthur's First Sleepover"	Joe Fallon	Jean Lajeunesse	November 15, 1996
Arthur has a sleepover with Buster and Brain, even with all the talk of UFOs. D.W. wants to join them so that she can take a picture of a UFO. The boys refuse to invite her, so D.W. plays a prank on them with a flashlight in retaliation, and they get back at her by scaring her with a fake alien, then tricking her into spotting a fake UFO.
30b	30b	"Arthur's New Year's Eve"	Joe Fallon	Darren Brereton	November 15, 1996
Arthur has never stayed up until midnight on New Year's Eve. His friends all have different claims on what happens at midnight, so Arthur tries to stay up until New Year's Eve to find out what occurs. He is disappointed when he sleeps through it, although Grandma Thora reassures him that the following year will be exciting.

References

1. "Arthur on TV". Archived from the original on December 25, 1996. Retrieved February 17, 2017.

General references

• "Arthur Episodes". TV Guide. Retrieved March 7, 2010.
• "Arthur: Episode Guide". MSN TV. Archived from the original on January 8, 2010. Retrieved March 7, 2010.
• "Arthur Season 1 Episode Guide". TV.com. Retrieved March 7, 2010.
• "Seasons 1-3". Arthur episodes. PBS parents. Retrieved March 7, 2010.

External links