Poor Muffy

"Poor Muffy"
Season/Series:	1
Number in season:	26b
Original Airdate:	November 11, 1996 February 10, 1997
Credits
Written by:	Ken Scarborough
Storyboard by:	Gerry Capelle
Episodes
Previous "My Dad, the Garbage Man"	Next "D.W.'s Blankie"
Read transcript

“	Not funny, Millicent! No Crosswire was ever allergic to money	”
—Ed Crosswire

"Poor Muffy" is the second half of the twenty-sixth episode in the first season of Arthur.

Summary

Muffy's allergic to the new carpets in her house, so she decides to stay with Francine while the carpeting's being removed. She brings with her some of the things from her room including televisions, wardrobes, & sculptures. During Muffy's stay, Francine can't handles Muffy's spoiled attitude & Muffy can't deal with the less-than-wealthy condition in which Francine's family lives.

Plot

The intro begins with Arthur cleaning his room when he trips. Arthur then begins to wonder what it'll be like if he had a different family, like Brain's family, but it won't be great. Then he thinks about Binky's family, but he states that living here is okay for now. Then D.W. comes in and makes Arthur's room messy again to his dismay.

Poor Muffy

Muffy is allergic to the new carpets in her house, so she decides to stay with Francine while the carpeting is being removed. She brings along most of her things from home, including TVs, wardrobes, and sculptures. Catherine stays at Muffy's house.

When they arrive at Francine's apartment Muffy has Francine move her stuff around while she lays on Francine's bed which makes Francine mad that she shouts "MUFFY! I'M NOT YOUR SERVANT YOU KNOW!"

Muffy apologizes, saying that she just wanted Francine's room to look great, and asks Francine to forgive her. Francine does, and apologizes for yelling. Then Francine's Mom calls them for dinner to which Muffy replies "Thank goodness. With all this moving I'm famished."

At dinner, Muffy calls the food "vomitrocious" because it's leftovers (e.g. it's cold and has been touched by others).

After dinner Muffy complains that there's something wrong with Francine's T.V. because it only gets 3 channels to which Francine sarcastically replies that they can get another channel but they have to put the antenna on their heads and dance around and ask her if she wants to try it. Then as Francine and Muffy walk out of her apartment Muffy complains how they have no video games or VCR.

Then Mr. Frensky comes out and plays football with Francine but Muffy wants to go out for ice cream. Francine told her that they cant because it's Tuesday and they go out to eat ice cream on Fridays, but Mr. Frensky decide to go for ice cream.

At the ice cream shop, Francine and her dad have medium size ice cream while Muffy order a ham ripple ice cream with extra sprinkles and nuts. While Muffy is waiting for her ice cream, Francine ask if they can move their ice cream nights to Tuesdays. However, her father said this was just an exception because they are only doing this since Muffy is over and trying to keep or comfortable since she is their guests and it's kind of hard for her to live in a different house. He thinks it also hard for Catherine to be staying at Muffy's but it shows that she is doing fine.

After they go home, Francine goes to take a bath before bed and Muffy asks Mr. Frensky how it is that his family doesn't have the same money her family has. He explains this difference in lifestyle to her and explains that there are many nice people who are rich, and many nice people who aren't. However, he's quite happy with the life he lives since he already has lots of fun with Francine. At that moment Francine tackles the two on the bed like a shark, which Oliver finds funny but Muffy's feet get caught under them.

As the week goes by, Muffy starts taking too much advantage of staying at the Frenskys. She hooks up all of her appliances while getting her hair and nails done, and ends up causing a power outage through the apartment. She has her chauffeur Bailey narrate the cartoon she had been watching at the time to her over the phone, but decides it's not the same and lets him off the hook. That night, she plays the music on her radio up to full blast and dances to it loudly, causing a massive racket that prompts complaints from the neighbors. Francine tells her she can't be doing that, and Muffy starts complaining about how much she doesn't like the circumstances of her visit. Fed up with her complaining, Francine suggests she goes home. Muffy obliges, saying she's sick of being "poor".

That night, Francine is still very bitter about Muffy, and tries to forget Muffy ever stayed over. She then gets a phone call from Muffy, who says that she is leaving and yet she is only a few feet away at the front door. Oliver talks to her and tries to convince her that she can stay, playing along with the fact that she's right there. Muffy agrees to reconsider, but Francine insists that Muffy ask for her permission to stay first. Muffy then asks upfront if she can, and is shocked when Francine flat out refuses to let her stay any longer, for she had been rude and selfish the entire time.

That night Francine begins to regret her attitude towards Muffy, but is still frustrated at how selfish she was. Oliver explains that Muffy may not be used to a house with different rules, and that she should talk to her about it at school. The next day, Francine meets Muffy outside on the way to school and Muffy apologizes for her behavior, admitting that she did like it at Francine's place. She also chooses to walk to school with Francine instead of taking the limo, though she keeps Bailey close by anyway. She explains that she has been at the hotel missing the life she was living at Francine's apartment, and although the carpet's almost out of her house, she asks if she can spend just one more night at Francine's. Francine agrees, if she can survive the simpler circumstances by which they live. Muffy insists that she can do much better this time, though not long after starts complaining about how "far away" the school is.

Characters

• Muffy Crosswire
• Francine Frensky
• Mrs. Powers
• D.W. Read
• Binky Barnes
• Mr. Powers
• Arthur Read
• Oliver Frensky
• Catherine Frensky
• Laverne Frensky
• Bailey
• Unknown Female Adult Rabit (cameo)

Trivia

• It is revealed that Muffy's mom's name is Millicent.
• It's revealed that the Frensky's apartment is just down the road from Lakewood Elementary.
• Karma: Muffy was spoiled at Francine's house, so she got kicked out.
• Moral:
  • Dont be spoiled for your own benefits.
  • Dont be ungrateful for your own benefits.

Error(s)

• In some scenes, Muffys eyes are in different sizes.
• When Millicent hands Muffy a wad of money to sniff, Muffy says, "Money?", but the closed captioning credits this line to Millicent (as "Mother").
• When Francine is taking a bath, her skin and hair colors are lighter than normal.

Episode connections

• The Venus de Milo statue previously appeared in the episode Arthur the Wrecker.

Gallery

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References