The Lousy Week

The Lousy Week is the first half of the 5th episode of Arthur's fifth season. Together with "You Are Arthur", it first aired on October 2, 2000. It was written by Peter K. Hirsch and the storyboards were done by Stephanie Gignac and Patricia Atchison.

Summary
When Muffy gets hair lice, she is nervous about how her friends will feel. However, it ends up spreading to everyone at school, forcing the students and staff to be checked every day and instead of doing homework, are forced to stay up late and have their parents take out nits from their hair.

Plot
Muffy has been itchy on her head, but tells Francine it cannot be lice. Later, she is at the nurse and is sent home because she has lice. There are various scenes of lice looking like military. At a school assembly later, Muffy's hat that she left at school is passed around as the children try it on, so nearly everyone has lice. Binky at first is excited to watch T.V. while his mother picks nits out of his hair, but soon notices that it is not fun at all. Muffy cries and is horrified, saying that "only dirty people get lice". Meanwhile, Buster doesn't have lice because his head is too disgusting. Arthur and his family wear mayo on their heads. Eventually, the lice die.

Trivia

 * The Salon de Beauté that previously appeared in Francine's Bad Hair Day is briefly seen where Muffy and Francine get their hairs buzzed off to eliminate the lice. However, Flossie did not appear in this episode.
 * Francine and Muffy had their hair buzzed off for purposes of lice elimination, but in all later shows they still have their long hair.
 * Muffy states that she and Francine would look like boy models for having their hairs buzzed very short. However, this isn't true, because buzzed haircuts are fairly common among females, and that long hair is not just for females either. However it's very rare for younger girls, especially third graders to have buzzed haircuts (exceptions include genetics and diseases).
 * D.W. said that she did not have "mice" as a different word that doesn't rhyme with lice.
 * There was a toy marketed for Insight Pharmaceuticals based on this episode which was released in 2006. It resembles Arthur with mayo on his head with a string on his back, a 8-inch hole in his head, and many things that remove lice from someone's hair that can be put into the hole. When the string is pulled, a odor will appear and get rid of the lice on that person's head. It was discontinued in 2007.

Home Video
VHS:
 * Arthur Goes to the Doctor

DVD:
 * Arthur Goes to the Doctor