Arthur's Family Feud

"Arthur's Family Feud" is the first half of the 10th episode of season 5 of the animated children's series Arthur. It originally aired on November 6th, 2000 with Muffy Gets Mature.

Summary
After Dad's soufflé is destroyed, Arthur and D.W. both explain their sides of the story and ultimately attempt to bake a soufflé to compensate for DW destroyed.

Plot
The episode begins as Arthur flips through the TV stations; finding nothing interesting. In the process, he flips through a TV News Report with A reporter standing in front of a bombed out building stalking about an ongoing war in some distant country, a heated political debate and a prody of the Jerry Springer show when He's asking Sosha how she felt when she found out Ethel had run off with her husband, stole all her money and burned down her house. Arthur comments "Gee, it seems like the whole world is fighting" D.W. interrupts, Arthur tells her not now, because he's busy. He tries to speak "If people just acted like one big family there'd be more peace in the world." but D.W. is back. He yells louder at her this time. This goes on a few more times, D.W. getting more insistent, Arthur getting louder.

(Cue Title Card)

At the beginning of the episode, Dave is hard at work, sweating over some cooking, and looking worried. The timer goes off and he hastening escorts Jane into the kitchen proclaiming that she's about to see the most beautiful, most glorious creation ever cooked, the David L. Read Super Soufflé. He opens the kitchen door and screams. There in the kitchen Pal licks the soufflé off the floor and Arthur and D.W. immediately start pointing fingers at one another accusing each other of knocking the souffle off the table. Jane angrily orders Arthur and D.W into the living room so they can try to explain what happened.

Arthur and D.W still refuse to cooperate; continuing to pin the blame on each other until Dave interrupts and decides to punish them both by restricting them from TV for two months. The blame game continues with Arthur still trying to prove his innocence but D.W saying that she did not do anything and that Arthur did it until Dave interrupts and increases the punishment time to three months. Jane tries to get Dave to calm down but he increases the punishment time AGAIN to four months until he walks out of the room disgusted.

Jane sends the kids off to their rooms until they settle down and they're ready to discuss this problem properly. Arthur and DW wonder if this will supersede their previous plans of D.W. going to the petting zoo with the Tibbles and Arthur going to the new Bionic Bunny Arcade. Jane replies with "We'll Just have to wait and see".

In Arthur's room, Arthur grumbles about his predicament. Of course he still KNOWS it's all D.W.'s fault -- he'll probably be blamed for everything she does for the rest of his life. He has a fantasy where he is standing in a bedroom with D.W. surrounded by Crazy Bus paraphernalia.

He asks D.W. where she got so much Crazy Bus stuff.

Suddenly the door bursts open and police swarm in. Finally, they've caught the "Crazy Bus Thief" red-handed! They grab hold of Arthur and drag him away. Apparently D.W. had set everything up in his room to make it appear as if he were the culprit.

The horror isn't over yet however. Arthur further imagines himself in jail as a result of this bust. He's sitting on a bench playing the harmonica. D.W. comes in to visit him, informing him Mom and Dad wouldn't come, they were too ashamed. Arthur proclaims his innocence but D.W. ignores him. Since he's in for 15 years, she thought he might like a little music to help pass the time. She pushes a cassette player over to him, switching it on to play the Crazy Bus song. Arthur screams and D.W. leaves laughing.

Meanwhile, DW is lying on her bed sobbing. Suddenly something clatters on her window and she goes to look. It's the Tibbles wanting to know if she is going to the petting zoo with them later. She doesn't know, at the moment she's being punished for something Arthur did. Tommy and Timmy can understand that, they frequently get blamed for each others wrongdoings. Predictably they begin to argue over who gets the blame most often. They end up rolling around on the ground wrestling. D.W. wonders if this is the way she and Arthur will be forever. She has a fantasy imagining them both as elderly folk in wheelchairs residing in a nursing home. They're arguing loudly and crashing their wheelchairs into each other.

D.W. and Arthur go into the hallway at the same time. Arthur says he's been thinking and he's decided it's time to do the right thing. D.W. agrees -- he should admit he's guilty. Arthur yells that no, she's the one that needs to confess.

Jane, working on the computer hears them and mutters they'll just have to get to the bottom of this. She sets them down at the table. Dad's there as well. They will get to do the things they want to do if they can discuss this out and reach some sort of solution. They will listen to each side in turn. They can draw illustrations to help explain what they want to express and they would not interrupt each other

After the inevitable argument over who will go first, they flip a coin (D.W.'s idea) and Arthur wins. He starts drawing. We see the usual stick figure drawings playing out Arthur's story as he talks.

Now it's D.W.'s turn. She's surprised they aren't all asleep as that's what usually happens when people listen to fairy tales! D.W. worries that her drawing ability will impede the credibility of her story. It's decreed she may use props instead, and she scurries off to her room to get them.

It takes a while (Arthur even claims that the arcade would be closed by the time she was ready), but she had to get the perfect items to represent everyone involved. She plunks down a hideous troll doll as Arthur, D.W. herself is represented by a Princess Bunny doll and Pal is represented by Mary Moo Cow which Arthur objects too, because it's not even the correct gender.Things get underway objections aside. The figures come to life and act out DW's description of events.

Arthur immediately begins to object to the story, Mom pulls out a referee whistle and blows it, silencing the pair of them.

Jane asks D.W if they actually saw the souffle fall. No one saw it fall yet in the explanations Arthur and D.W both said they were in the kitchen when the mishap happened. She decides to look under the table and sees that Both D.W. and Arthur are wearing socks. It's slippery in the kitchen in only socks she reminds them. Both kids think about this fact.

They then realize, maybe no one is to blame; yet they could both have some responsibility in this situation. A fantasy reveals that they WERE indeed running and that in the process D.W did slide into the table (like Arthur said) and that Arthur did in fact push her into the table (Like D.W) and the force of the impact knocked the souffle off the table and onto the floor.

They both apologize hastily and rush off hoping they aren't too late for their previous engagements. Mom looks at Dad but he just shrugs.

Arthur and D.W. come downstairs to tell their parents they're headed out. Dad's sitting on the couch eating ice cream and watching cooking on TV. Both kids note how depressed Dad is. Maybe there is something they could do to help...

Arthur and D.W. go to the kitchen and decide to start to work trying to cook a soufflé to replace the one they destroyed. D.W. is in charge of separating egg whites which she concludes to mean the shells. They begin to argue about that and the correct pronunciation of "soufflé". Dad on the couch hears them fighting again and wanders in to see what's going on now. D.W. tries to explain that they are making him a "Shoe-fay". It doesn't sink in at first then he realizes what they're saying. He gets very excited and starts bustling around the kitchen confiding that nutmeg is his secret ingredient.

Later, the family is seated around the table with a puffy little soufflé set in the middle. Mom is impressed, it's the most beautiful thing he's ever cooked. No it isn't he corrects, sounding a little fatalistic. It's the most beautiful thing THEY'VE ever made. With that they all stab the soufflé with their forks to deflate it.

Quotes
'''
 * Dad: Behold, the David L. Read super soufflé! (Opens the door but then noticed that Arthur & DW knocked it down and screams)
 * (Arthur & D.W. begin complaining at once)
 * Mom: EVERYONE, INTO THE LIVING ROOM, NOW! (At the living room) Alright. What happened?
 * (Arthur & D.W. begin to complain again)
 * '''Dad: I heard enough! NO TV FOR BOTH OF YOU FOR TWO MONTHS!
 * Arthur: Why am I being punished?! It was her fault!
 * D.W.: Was not!
 * Arthur: Was too!
 * Dad: That's it! Three months!
 * Arthur and D.W.: Three months?
 * Mom: David, Maybe that is a bit....
 * Dad: Four months! Oh, forget it!
 * D.W.: Look how upset you made Daddy!...............
 * Mom: Okay, You two. I think you both need to cool down a little. Up to your rooms.


 * D.W.: Well, aren't you going to confess?


 * Arthur: No, because it's your fault!


 * D.W.: Is not!


 * Arthur: Is too!
 * D.W.: Is not!
 * Arthur: Is too!
 * Mom: (Sighs) We've got to get to the bottom of this. (In the dining room with the rest of the family) Your father & I have come to a decision. Arthur, you can go to the arcade. And, D.W., you can go to the petting zoo.
 * Dad: ....If, and only, if we can resolve this problem.