Muffy and the Big Bad Blog

	"Muffy and the Big Bad Blog"
	Main image; Title card; Title card 2;
Season/Series:	14
Number in season:	7b
Original Airdate:	April 25, 2011; October 10, 2011; November 4, 2010; December 13, 2012;
	Credits
Written by:	Jon Greenberg
Storyboard by:	François Brisson
	Episodes
Previous; "Around the World in 11 Minutes"	Next; "Arthur Unravels"

"Muffy and the Big Bad Blog" is the second half of the seventh episode in the fourteenth season of Arthur.

Summary[]

Muffy discovers that web blogging is a great way to keep her readers up to date with her every move... whether they are interested or not! But then she goes too far and publicizes a disagreement with Francine.

Plot[]

Arthur and Francine are seen playing tennis while Muffy is spectating and writing down everything that happens. Arthur gets annoyed by Muffy's constant typing, even down to things like "Arthur grunts when he serves" and "Now, Arthur is losing his cool." Muffy tells Arthur that he would do better if he could focus on the game instead of on her. Arthur looks to the viewers and groans.

Muffy and the Big Bad Blog

After the title card, Muffy walks into class and announces that she will be going to Costa Rica and posting about it on her blog. Mr. Ratburn does not understand what a blog is, so Brain explains that it is when someone writes their thoughts and posts them on a website for others to read. Muffy states that her blog is called The Muffington Post.

The following scene is a montage of Muffy blogging in Costa Rica and her classmates reading about it online. Mr. Ratburn enters Computer Fun and buys the most user-friendly computer, which is, according to one of the employees, "well worth the expense."

Back at Lakewood Elementary, Mr. Ratburn assigns the class to research their favorite author. However, the class is quickly distracted when Muffy announces that she is back from Costa Rica and will answer people's questions on her blog. Arthur and Buster later find out that Muffy is now blogging about the positive feedback to her blog.

Mr. Ratburn is setting up his new computer in his house. He finds the instructions, which come on a disc, and figures that they must go into his computer. However, since he can not figure out how to turn on the computer without reading the instructions, and the instructions require that the computer be turned on, Mr. Ratburn concludes, "It's a paradox!"

Muffy is now able to blog using her MySmartPhoney because it has internet access. However, all she does is blog, even during baseball games and at school. Mr. Ratburn confiscates her MySmartPhoney when she uses it in class. He returns it at the end of class and tells Muffy that she should do things besides blogging. Muffy agrees, saying that if she does not do anything else, she will not have anything to blog about.

Francine goes to Muffy's house to hang out with her, but Muffy is too busy blogging. Meanwhile, Mr. Ratburn has finally set up his computer and gets a message telling him how to "earn money from home without doing any work," which he finds fascinating.

Muffy asks Buster, Francine, and Binky at school if they read her blog. They respond that her blog is getting boring, as she posts things like how she ate a salad for lunch. Francine tells Muffy that her blog needs to talk about things that people actually care about.

Muffy excitedly calls Francine, saying she posted something interesting on The Muffington Post. Her new post reads: "Your humble blogger dissed by BFF! Take the poll: Was Francine right or wrong to refuse to read her best friend's blog? Vote now!" Francine gets upset and sends her an email. Later, she finds out that Muffy posted her email on the blog, generating a lot of traffic on her page. Francine gets annoyed at Muffy, asking, "Can't anything be private?" Muffy proclaims that she will post that as a discussion topic. Buster gives Francine advice from his mom, saying, "Don't send anything in an email that you wouldn't want on the front page of the newspaper." This gives Francine an idea.

Brain puts Francine's newspaper, The Frensky Star, online. Francine makes a post declaring Muffy as "the bully of the blog-o-sphere." Muffy retorts by posting on The Muffington Post about Francine being a copycat. This results in Muffy and Francine constantly posting about each other. Back at his house, Mr. Ratburn receives an email with an offer to buy swampland in Florida. He opens it, but several new windows pop up on his computer.

In the school cafeteria, Arthur and Buster discuss Muffy and Francine's blogs. Muffy and Francine argue over who started the fight, but this is cut short when Brain announces that a new blog has popped up. It is about the disagreement Francine and Muffy had, and it is signed by "Mr. Chatterblog," who turns out to be Binky.

Muffy and Francine decide to combine their blogs and start an advice column run by both of them. Mr. Ratburn then comes in with a BoysenBerry and tells the kids about his blog, The Rat's Nest. He talks about how it is devoted to correcting grammatical errors, but it also has puns and word problems. The episode finishes with Muffy and Francine deciding to go to the park while Mr. Ratburn continues to talk about his blog.

Characters[]

Major[]

Minor[]

Cameo[]

Mentioned[]

Trivia[]

In BBC airings of this episode, the "www.muffingtonpost.com" link shown at the top of Muffy's blog website is censored, leaving only the background color scheme of the website.
Original airing
BBC airing

Episode connections[]

El Boomerang from "Follow the Bouncing Ball" is on a beach in Costa Rica. Two boys kick it into the ocean.
Francine publishes The Frensky Star online, a newspaper she started in "Citizen Frensky."
Muffy goes on vacation again in "Muffy Misses Out."
Muffy also has her MySmartPhoney in "The Play's the Thing."
Mr. Ratburn's computer illiteracy continues to slowly improve, similar to "Best of the Nest."

Cultural references[]

The Muffington Post is a parody of The Huffington Post.
Francine and Muffy's advice column, called "She Said, She Said," is a reference to a song of the same name by The Beatles, as well as a reference to the Paramount movie "He Said, She Said."
Francine writes a report on Jules Verne, a famous French novelist. The previous episode, "Around the World in 11 Minutes," was loosely based on Verne's book Around the World in Eighty Days.
Mr. Ratburn's BoysenBerry smartphone refers to BlackBerry.
Binky's alias "Mr. Chatterblog" is a reference to the Mr. Men character, "Mr. Chatterbox^[5]"