Sesame Street Episode 4178
Three Cheers for Us
Season 39 (2008)
In the street scenes of Episode 4178, Elmo is playing with his basketball, trying to bounce it three times. Zoe walks up to him, waving her pompoms and cheering. She explains what a cheerleader is and believes that her cheering will help Elmo bounce the ball three times. Her support works, and Elmo successfully bounces the ball three times. Excited, Elmo wants to be a cheerleader too. Zoe makes him an official Sesame Street Cheerleader, complete with his own pompoms.
As Zoe and Elmo cheer down the block, they come across Telly, who is attempting to bounce on his pogo stick three times with a triangle on his head. Telly hopes to get a place in the "Guinness Book of Triangle Records." Zoe and Elmo think up a cheer for Telly, and their motivation helps him succeed. Telly notices how much fun it is to be a cheerleader and wants to join them. After auditioning, Zoe and Elmo deem him worthy and give him his pompoms. The trio then sets off to find someone else to cheer for.
Gordon and Alan are playing a game of chess when the three cheerleaders suddenly pop up and begin cheering for Alan. They inform the monsters that chess is a quiet game and doesn't need loud cheering. So, they start cheering quietly, then without any sound. However, their pompoms mess up the game board. Gordon tells them that chess is not a game that requires cheering, and they go off on their way.
The cheerleaders look for someone else to cheer for, but everyone they ask, including Maria and a chicken, are too busy. Telly believes they should stop cheering until Elmo realizes that they can cheer for themselves. As they cheer, two football teams, The Sheep and The Penguins, overhear them and ask them to cheer for their teams. The Sesame Street Cheerleaders decide to cheer for both teams, showing their support for everybody.
The episode includes a film segment where H.A.V.I.C Squared dancers demonstrate up, down, fast, slow, front, and back. In the Noodles & Nedd cartoon, Nedd teaches Noodles how to perform a particular dance. This segment was created by artist John R. Dilworth.
In a Muppet & Kid Moment, Abby Cadabby and a girl recite the alphabet together. The episode also features a song called "The African Animal Alphabet." Big Bird finds the letter of the day in his mailbox, which transitions into the next segment—an animation of a Gregorian chant for the letter E. This is followed by a film segment where a giant letter E rises from a pool, spoofing the movie Jaws.
In the "Murray Has a Little Lamb" segment, Murray's lamb, Ovejita, leads him to a music school where kids learn to sing and play instruments. Murray learns how to play the violin and piano, while Ovejita shows skill on the saxophone.
An animation segment features clay-animated cavemen attempting to whistle, causing flowers to grow around them when they succeed. The Count pulls the lottery number of the day—the number 3—in a Muppet segment. In a film segment, Jane Tuesday deduces that her three missing things are behind door number 3. An animation called “First, Second, Third” is presented by artist Jane Aaron.
In a celebrity segment, Mike Rowe visits Sesame Street to find the dirtiest job, which happens to belong to Oscar. Mike's tasks include finding and counting stinky cheese, sorting trash, and giving Oscar's pet pig, Spot, a mud bath. Hoots the Owl sings "This is How We Take a Bath." The episode also includes a Muppet segment called "Elmo's World: Jumping."
In the online version of the episode, there are some alterations. The "Global Grover" segment features Grover returning dancing from Russia and showing a film of a boy who attends a Russian dance school. The "Bert and Ernie's Great Adventures" segment has Ernie and Bert finding themselves in Tiny Town, where they are tiny and everything around them is enormous. They have fun playing with a remote-control car and making friends with a giant puppy.