Sesame Street Season 41, Episode 40: Elmo Wants to be Like Gordon

Camouflage Challenge

Elmo is taking pictures with his friends when they hear someone say something. It’s Camouflage Carla, played by Kyra Sedgwick! She is camouflaging and blending into the wall behind her. Elmo and Rosita want to camouflage too! Camouflage Carla tells them to join The Camouflage Club. All they have to do is pass the Camouflage Challenge and find six camouflaged things on Sesame Street in six minutes. First, they find a grasshopper that blends in with a bush. Next, they spot two butterflies that are camouflaged among the flowers. Then, they find a green lizard perched on a green leaf. Finally, they find two ladybugs camouflaged on Elmo’s red fur! Elmo takes a snapshot of each critter as they go on their adventure. At the end, they count six camouflaged things altogether. They passed the Camouflage Challenge! Carla gives each of them their very own uniform and Elmo and Rosita become full-fledged members of The Camouflage Club!

The Happy Scientists

Gordon is grading his classes’ science experiments when Elmo, Rosita, and Telly run in and accidentally land on the papers. Gordon encourages Elmo, Rosita, and Telly that anyone, including them, can be scientists. All they need to do is to ask questions and investigate! They look around Sesame Street and see Leela giving Barkley a bath. Elmo comes up with a question: Does everyone on Sesame Street take a bath? Gordon guides them through the scientific process. First, Elmo and Rosita hypothesize, or guess, that everyone takes a bath. Telly isn’t sure that everyone takes a bath so he forms a different hypothesis. They investigate and record their observations in their journals. They find out that Chris takes a bath, a cat licks itself and takes a tongue bath, a sparrow takes a dust bath, an owl takes a sun bath to get rid of germs, and even Oscar takes a mud bath in his trash can. This makes Telly mad since his hypothesis was wrong-everyone does take a bath on Sesame Street. Gordon explains that it’s okay to be wrong in science because the most important part is the process, or the steps you take to get your answer. Telly, Rosita, and Elmo become happy scientists! They not only learn all about the scientific process, but also find an answer to their important question!

Chicken About Thunderstorms

It’s a windy, overcast day on Sesame Street. Elmo, Abby, Leela, and some chickens have just won the first game of the T-Ball season. They are celebrating with Chris when they hear a loud rumble of thunder and raindrops start falling. The chickens start to panic, and everyone gathers into Hooper’s Store where it’s safe. Elmo suggests that the chickens cover their eyes so they don’t get scared by the lightning, but that doesn’t stop them from hearing the thunder. Abby waves her wand and puts earmuffs on the chickens. This time, they don’t hear the thunder but they can still see the lightning! As they continue to panic, Leela suggests that they comfort the chickens by telling them that they are safe and explain what thunderstorms are. One chicken calms down, but the other three are still scared. To help the others feel better they try watching the storm like a fireworks show, counting in between the lightning and thunder to hear the storm moving away. They also make their own lighting and thunder musical performance inside Mr. Hooper’s store. It works! The remaining three chickens calm down just as the storm fades away. The sun comes out and everyone heads back outside to play T-Ball!

The Ironing Monster

Leela and Elmo are sorting laundry in the Laundromat when Grover stops by to have his Super Grover cape cleaned. Grover realizes that people all over the Laundromat need his help. Bert has soggy socks, Gina is out of fabric softener, and Cookie Monster has a stain. Without his cape, a new superhero must be born! Grover returns as Iron Monster, complete with a metal suit! Chris shows up asking Leela to break his dollar so he can do his laundry. Iron Monster misunderstands and wrestles with the dollar to “break” it. Leela comes back and explains that Chris just needs quarters&ndas; four quarters for each dollar. Gabi comes to the Laundromat with two mustard stains on her sweatshirt. Iron Monster tries to get rid of the stains by subtracting them, but adds five more stains instead! Leela shows Iron Monster how to subtract all of the stains with a stain remover as Elmo counts along. Finally, Iron Monster tries to solve Maria’s problem by using static cling to find Maria’s missing sock. After laundry goes flying everywhere, Leela suggests they check the missing sock box. They sort through different patterns and find the lost red and white striped sock. Finally, Grover’s cape is ready. Before he flies off for his next adventure, Grover points out that Iron Monster is not needed anymore because the Laundromat already has a fantastic superhero, Leela!

What’s That Noise

Elmo is sleeping over at Maria and Luis' apartment. When Elmo tries to sleep, he hears a strange noise. He calls them in, but the sounds stop when they listen.

The Furry Four

Telly, Abby, and Elmo are reading Telly’s favorite comic book “The Furry Four!” They decide to pretend to be The Furry Four and quickly change into their furry, super costumes. Elmo is the Furry Flash, Abby is the Furry Tornado, and Telly is Mr. Furry! But that only makes three. They need one more member to be Furry Muscles so they can become The Furry Four. Telly, Elmo, and Abby go on a mission to find one more member! First, the superheroes run into Rosita and Zoe. They could be the The Furry Five, but Rosita and Zoe have planned to plant flowers in the garden with Maria. The mission continues. Abby, Telly, and Elmo think they found their fourth member when they come across a chicken, but he flies away in his cape. Next, they come across a squirrel who agrees to become the fourth member but he hurts his back trying to lift a mailbox while activating his super, furry power. Just then they see Chris sweeping outside Mr. Hooper’s Store. It turns out that he would love to pretend to be Furry Muscles and join the group. At last they found one more! Their first mission as The Furry Four is complete!

The Whoosh & Vanish Mystery

Telly and Elmo are going to play basketball, but Telly feels they need a snack first. They lay their ball on the table and head to Hooper's. Chris serves them some healthy apple slice and the duo head off, just as a large gust of wind starts blowing. The two find their ball is now missing!

Music Magic

Elmo makes everyone on Sesame Street sing---with a wave of Abby's magic wand.

60 min

Bert’s Pigeon Search

Leela fixes Elmo and Abby's rocket and they begin playing spaceship, making "brr brr" sounds for their rocket. Bert rushes in, thinking he's heard a blue-bar pigeon. He shows them his Pigeon Life List, featuring seven different varieties of pigeons. He has a check for each one, except a blue-bar. Upset, he leaves for home. The two decide to help Bert out by finding the pigeon for him. Abby magically whips up some safari gear and they use their binoculars to look for a bird. They see one in the distance and go to him.

Up In The Air

Big Bird and Snuffy are having a playdate and jumping in the arbor to see who can stay in the air the longest. They quickly realize that they come right back down after jumping in the air. Gordon comes by and explains that they can’t stay up in the air because of gravity. They might not be able to see it, but gravity pulls everything, big and small, down to the ground. Big Bird and Snuffy watch as Gordon shows them examples of gravity by experimenting with different items such as a book, a writing pad, a ruler, and a pencil. Shortly after Gordon leaves, Big Bird and Snuffy see Abby and tell her what they have just learned. They can’t help but think how fun it would be if there wasn’t any gravity and they could float in the air. With some help from Abby’s magic, they do just that! Floating is so much fun until they try to play catch, and the ball doesn’t come down. Then, they try to play with their race car, but it floats away too. Even their sandwich floats away! Suddenly, Gordon floats toward them and calls Abby to bring back gravity so things can return to normal. With a spell and the wave of her wand, gravity returns. Big Bird and Snuffy happily return to the ground and continue their playdate!

Snuffle Sneeze

Snuffy can't stop sneezing after meeting up with Big Bird, who's fresh from a dust bath. Gina thinks it might be an allergy and does some tests to see if it is.

There’s An App For That

Baby Bear is ordering a bowl of porridge at Hooper’s Store when Telly comes in bouncing on his pogo stick. As he’s practicing the boingarooni, the hardest pogo trick, Mack, the pogo salesman, bounces in and tries to sell Telly and Baby Bear an iPogo stick. With an iPogo, not only can you boing without ever falling off, you can do almost anything- make a phone call, take a picture, and cool off hot porridge! Telly agrees to exchange his old, beloved pogo stick for a brand new iPogo. When he tries it, the iPogo seems to do everything but boing. Baby Bear uses the manual to figure out that they need to press a hexagon icon to get the iPogo to boing, but when he tries that, it ejects Telly right off! Then, they try a triangle icon, but that shakes Telly like a milkshake. Telly finally does the perfect boingarooni, but is disappointed because the iPogo did it for him. Telly asks the salesman for his old pogo stick back and everyone celebrates as Telly does the boingarooni all by himself!

The A Team

Abby, Elmo, and Telly join the 'A' Team and help people solve problems using letter A words. Brought to you by the letter A and the number 9.

Where’s The Itsy Bitsy Spider?

Elmo, Telly, and Rosita wait for the Itsy Bitsy spider to appear on a water spout in the arbor. Chris loves the song “Itsy Bitsy Spider,” so they all sing it together. After Chris leaves, they decide to find Itsy Bitsy. First, they think about where bugs are found: near plants, flowers, and in dirt. Using the clues, they decide the Itsy Bitsy Spider might be in the garden. When they reach the garden, Telly observes a bug with six legs but they find out it’s a beetle, not a spider. The beetle teaches them that a spider is not an insect, but an arachnid, or a bug with eight legs. They come upon a second bug, but it’s another insect- a hopping grasshopper! The grasshopper gives them the clue to check the spider’s home. Rosita spots an ant hill, but they find out that ants, not spiders, live in ant hills. Then they count the ant’s legs and realize it’s an insect, not an arachnid. The ant gives them the clue that a spider lives in a sticky and stringy place. Elmo realizes that they need to look for a spider web. Telly finds part of a web and follows the string until they reach the Itsy Bitsy Spider! But Itsy Bitsy explains she has more important things to do than sing “Itsy Bitsy Spider.” She is waiting for her egg sac to hatch. Suddenly, the sac hatches, and Telly, Rosita, and Elmo watch in awe as the tiny baby spiders are born!

Fetch The Letter ‘I’

Elmo and Telly build the letter I with their "Letter of the Day" kit, but Iggy the dog---who was playing fetch with Rosita---snatches it from them and takes off.

Rakhi Road

Leela is making bracelets to celebrate an Indian holiday called Rakhi, a time when sisters, brothers, and friends show how much they love each other by exchanging special bracelets, foods, and gifts. Leela already sent a bracelet to her brother, Sunil, in India and now she is expecting a bracelet from him any moment. While she waits, she helps Telly and Zoe make bracelets for their friends. Just then, a delivery person brings a box that turns out to be a sample of laundry detergent-- not her brother’s gift. Meanwhile, at Hooper’s Store, Elmo comes upon Chris who is making a bracelet for Leela. He wants to do something special for Leela since she’s feeling homesick. They decide to use the computer to learn more about Rakhi and to find some recipes for traditional Indian foods such as phirni, carrot halwa and laddoo. Now all they need is some Indian music to make the Rakhi party complete! Leela is surprised and happy to see how Chris and Elmo brought a little bit of India to Sesame Street with all of the decorations, food, and music. Everyone exchanges their bracelets and Sunil’s bracelet for Leela finally arrives in the mail! Now the Rakhi party can really begin. Everyone dances and sings about the importance of friendship and family.

Puddle Jumping

On a rainy day, Elmo waits for puddles to form so that he can splash in them. He pretends to shower with Baby Bear; watches Stinky drink the rain; and meets Cookie Monster, who pretends the rain drops are cookies.

Saved By Superfoods

The Super Food Super Heroes come to the aid of Super Grover and Elmo, who are unsure of what a kiwi is; Rosita, whose bag of crunchy twists spilled when Super Grover opened it for her; and Super Grover himself, whose decision to skip breakfast has left him too weak to lift a rooster's heavy suitcase.

Twins Day on Sesame Street

Twins are celebrated with their own special day. Chris introduces his twin sister Christy; Abby and Zoe decide they want to be each other's twin.

Veggies Revolt

Chris serves Telly a tuna sandwich with no lettuce just when a group of vegetables is heard nearby. They are holding picket signs, while marching and chanting. Anderson Cucumber, a reporter for VNN, arrives to find out what’s going on. The vegetables aren’t taking it anymore. They think no one likes them and they don’t feel appreciated, especially because Telly didn’t order lettuce on his tuna sandwich. Telly explains he was actually going to have salad on the side. Everything seems okay now until Zoe leaves broccoli on her plate. Chris encourages Zoe to eat her broccoli, but she would prefer to dance. So, Chris introduces The Veggie Dance! All the dancing makes Zoe hungry, so she tries the broccoli and loves it! This makes the vegetables happy until Anderson Cucumber reports that Cookie Monster is eating cookies instead of vegetables. Chris helps Cookie Monster pretend that his vegetables are cookies, such as a delicious broccoli cookie. Cookie Monster devours the entire plate of vegetables! Another victory for the vegetables! Shortly after, baby Natasha refuses to taste the strained vegetables that Gina is feeding her. The vegetables become offended again and plan to leave, but Chris explains that Natasha is just a baby, and everyone else on Sesame Street loves vegetables. However, by the time everyone finishes singing “We Love You Vegetables,” even baby Natasha has eaten her peas!

Sesame Street Fairy Tale Science Fair

Baby Bear and Telly are reporters at the Sesame Street Fairy Tale Science Fair! Everyone’s favorite fairy tale characters are solving problems with science. Little Red Riding Hood is the first fairy tale scientist and she can’t tell the difference between her granny and the Big Bad Wolf. She decides to solve her problem by observing and comparing. After she looks closely and carefully, she points out their similarities and differences and discovers who her real granny is! Cinderella, who just loves science, asks a question about whether a pumpkin will float or sink. They form a hypothesis and conduct an experiment to test it. Baby Bear and Telly think that it will sink, but the pumpkin actually floats! Next, the Three Little Pigs become worried about the Big Bad Wolf blowing down their house. They discuss what they already know: the wolf is coming and he can huff and puff and blow them away. They decide to build a house to protect them, but can’t agree upon which material is the best. Baby Bear helps them design an experiment to figure out which material is the sturdiest. They each make a hypothesis and use a fan to see which material won’t blow away- straw, sticks, or brick. The pigs conclude that brick is the best material. The Big Bad Wolf arrives, but to his disappointment, he can’t blow down the brick house. Science saved the day and solved lots of problems on Sesame Street!

Rock, Rock Band

Vergil Von Vivaldi, played by Michael McKean, has come to Sesame Street to start a rock band made completely out of rocks! Vergil sings a song to show that there are rocks all over Sesame Street. He points out that the sidewalk, a statue in the garden, and the building are all made of rocks. Elmo and Abby join Vergil to search for rocks and try to identify their names based on their characteristics. First, they find a tiny rock, called a pebble. It is too light to be the singer of the rock band, but can be the tambourine player. Elmo then sees a heavy rock. It will play the gong in the rock band. Zoe comes by and suggests Rocco could be the lead singer. The group observes that Rocco is a rock called basalt, which means it came from a volcano. Unfortunately it has too many holes, so he can’t be the lead singer but can play the bass. Elmo finds limestone with fossils of leaves and shells on it from a long, long, long time ago. Vergil says the limestone can play the flute. Zoe finds a shiny rock called obsidian. It will play the oboe. Then, Abby finds marble that is sparkly and colorful. Marble will play the mandolin. Since they haven’t found a lead singer, Abby finally changes Vergil into a smooth, crystal like, sparkly rock called a gem. He can be the lead singer. The only thing left to do is… rock!

Zoe Loves Rocco

Zoe asks Elmo to watch her pet rock Rocco for her, but he's too busy playing with Baby David to notice when the rock disappears. He tries to placate Zoe by giving her a new rock, then uses his memory to figure out where the rock went.

Dirtballs

Oscar and two other grouches set out to dirty the clean neighborhood, but their attempts backfire.

Grouch Mother's Day

Oscar tries to give his mom the worst Grouchy Mother's Day ever, but he has keen competition from his sister Bunny. Also: the "Word on the Street" features Rachel Griffiths ("Brothers & Sisters") discussing the word "dozen" with Elmo.

Abby Tries & Tries Again

Leela is closing the Laundromat early because she and Chris are going to a party in the neighborhood. Abby appears and wants to help Leela get dressed. She uses rhyme and magic but Leela accidentally gets transformed into a pirate and then into a football player. After Abby says a rhyme that’s really clear about she wants, Leela is finally dressed as a princess with a ball gown, glass slippers and a tiara. Abby decides to give Leela party hair, too, so she recites another rhyming spell. Now her hair tricks aren’t working, either. Leela reminds Abby that she just has to be really clear in her rhyme about what she wants. It works! Abby gives Leela a pretty, fancy hairdo. Chris arrives to walk with Leela to the party, but she has trouble walking in the glass slippers. To help them get to the party, Abby uses a transportation trick. After a few mishaps, she makes a coach appear, just like Cinderella’s. Chris decides he wants to be dressed like Prince Charming but Abby accidentally turns him into a pirate! Chris likes this outfit even better and he and Leela go to the party. Abby loves to help!

The Golden Triangle of Destiny

Texas Telly and Chris follow clues around Sesame Street to find the Golden Triangle of Destiny.

Telly's New Shoes

Telly makes a shoe wish so the Shoe Fairy will come and give him his first pair of shoes.

Sock Chaos at the Laundromat

Abby uses her new "two trick," which turns one thing into two things, on Chris's orphaned sock.

Firefly Show

Baby Bear and Telly catch a firefly, realize that it is sad to be trapped in a jar, and let it go.

Max the Magician

Everyone tries to figure out the secrets to Max the Magician's tricks, only to discover that they're really just math.

Elmo & Zoe's Hat Contest

It's Who Can Wear the Most Hats on Their Head Day, and Elmo and Zoe are competing. But it seems they end up tied every time.

Telly the Tiebreaker

Elmo, Zoe, and Rosita make a block house but can't agree whether to put a square or circle on top.

Curly Bear Chases Birthday Cake

Baby Bear is worried that Curly Bear is going to wreck his chocolate-porridge birthday cake.

Number 6 Games

A day devoted entirely to the number 6.

Abby Thinks Oscar is a Prince

After hearing a story about a frog who is a prince, Abby thinks that Oscar is an enchanted prince.

Elmo Steps in for Super Grover

Super Chicken and her sidekick, Robin, fly in to help Elmo. Horatio becomes Super Grover's sidekick.

Abby's First Sleep Over

Abby goes to Big Bird's nest for her very first sleepover, and Maria reads her "Hey, Diddle, Diddle.

Three Cheers for Us

Elmo tries to bounce his ball three times, and Zoe the cheerleader cheers him on.

Mine-itis on Sesame Street

The Cookie Touch

Chris gives Cookie Monster the last cookie in Hooper's store and tells him that there will be more tomorrow. When Cookie Monster wishes he would never have to wait for a cookie again, his Fairy Cookie Person appears and gives him the "Cookie Touch": Everything he touches will turn into a cookie.

The Help-O-Bots

Chris reads Elmo, Telly, and Rosita the story of "Rico, the Very Helpful Robot." After hearing it, the three friends decide to become robots to help Chris at Hooper's store.

Annual Triangle Toss

Telly gets ready for the Triangle Lovers' Annual Triangle Toss and wears his lucky triangle vest.