The Good Sport (episode)

This article is about the episode. You may be looking for the book, the VHS, the 2002 DVD, or the 2011 DVD.

"The Good Sport"
Main image Title card
Season/Series:	6
Number in season:	9a
Original Airdate:	November 19, 2001 January 8, 2002
Credits
Written by:	Kathy Waugh
Storyboard by:	Jeremy O'Neill
Episodes
Previous "For Whom the Bell Tolls"	Next "Crushed"

Read transcript

"The Good Sport" is the first half of the ninth episode in the sixth season of Arthur.

Michelle Kwan makes a special appearance as herself.

Summary

Francine makes no effort to hide her hurt feelings when Jenna gets the Athlete of the Year award instead of the "rightful" recipient — Francine. Then figure skater Michelle Kwan explains a few things about good sportsmanship.

Plot

The episode opens with Arthur asking the viewers if they ever wonder if any of their friends will become famous. And if they do become famous, will they remember their old friends? A fantasy occurs of Brain winning the Nobel prize for having disproved the Theory of Relativity. Binky, who is a waiter at the event, runs to Brain and hugs him. He tells everyone how Brain taught him how to make good armpit farts, much to Brain's embarrassment and frustration. It cuts back to the present with D.W. telling the camera man that Arthur fell down. Francine sends Arthur an invitation to the 2014 Winter Olympics. All he has to do is write an essay on why he wants to see Francine win a gold medal. After Francine leaves, Arthur tells the viewers that Francine is the only friend that he knows will be famous for sure; she is "already a legend in her own mind". D.W. thinks she spots an actress from a toothpaste commercial on the ice, but the woman, Michelle Kwan, corrects D.W. that she is a figure skater. D.W. (ironically) gets upset that she has never seen a celebrity.

The Good Sport

Lakewood is determining the Athlete of the Year. The winner will receive 10 tickets to the 2014 Winter Olympics and attend a banquet honoring figure skating world champion Michelle Kwan, who had attended Lakewood as a child. Muffy is confident that Francine will win. However, at the ceremony, Jenna wins the award instead, much to Francine's disbelief.

Later, Francine confronts Mr. Haney about why she wasn't chosen instead, citing that she's captain of the softball, hockey, and basketball teams and the only person who can sit on Binky's head. Mr. Haney explains that Jenna won the Athlete of the Year award because she excels at sports Francine doesn't, like badminton and skiing. Francine scornfully replies that badminton is "for wusses". Mr. Haney adds that Jenna devotes her time to helping others, such as coaching peewee soccer and managing the wheelchair basketball team.

Later, Francine tearfully tells Muffy that Mr. Haney and the student board found Jenna to be "best representative of the athletic ideal". Muffy starts a petition to make Francine the Athlete of the Year. However, she can't get anyone else other than herself to sign it.

Later in class, Muffy apologizes to Francine but Francine claims that she's decided to be a good sport about losing out on the award. (In a flashback, it's revealed that her dad tried convincing her to be a good sport, much to Francine's reluctance and her calling it "the stupidest thing I every heard!") Francine starts off by having everyone applaud Jenna for her win.

Later, Francine insists on throwing Jenna a party in class to celebrate her award, complete with a song and Francine giving a speech which does little to hide her jealousy. Jenna grows increasingly uncomfortable. The party flops when Mr. Ratburn resumes class time. After school, Francine decides to go bigger with Muffy's help, despite Arthur and Buster trying to dissuade her.

When Jenna sees Francine and Muffy putting up posters in the hallway for a second party, she furiously demands they stop subjecting her to all this unwanted attention and rushes into the girls' restroom. Muffy goes to confront an upset Jenna, saying she should be "grateful" she won the award that was rightfully Francine's. Jenna angrily and sadly retorts that she, along with everyone else, understands that Francine deserved to be Athlete of the Year, and she is sick of Francine rubbing it in her face before running out of the restroom, crying. Francine overhears this and begins to feel guilty. She tries to apologize, but Jenna runs off. When Muffy thinks she did a good job telling Jenna off, Francine just tells her to stuff it, much to Muffy's surprise.

That night, Francine watches Michelle's banquet on TV. She dismisses ice skating as dumb and believes she could easily "skate rings around" Michelle. Suddenly, an offended Michelle pulls Francine into the TV and transports her to an ice rink. She teaches Francine to figure skate, showing off her complicated spins. Francine keeps on falling and is forced to admit that skating is actually hard and not like she thought. Michelle assures Francine that she will get better in a few years and encourages her to try again. Francine then wakes up from her dream.

Later at school, Francine finds an autographed picture from Michelle on her desk. Jenna explains she told Michelle about Francine at the banquet. Francine and Jenna make amends as Francine sincerely congratulates her. The two girls accept they can both be great athletes even though Francine dislikes badminton and Jenna dislikes hockey. Their classmates then arrive and ask Jenna about meeting Michelle, finishing the episode.

Characters

Major

• Jenna Morgan
• Francine Frensky
• Muffy Crosswire

Minor

• D.W. Read
• Michelle Kwan
• Arthur Read
• Buster Baxter
• Mr. Ratburn
• Mr. Haney
• Binky Barnes
• Oliver Frensky

Cameo

• Bitzi Baxter
• Brain
• George Lundgren
• Prunella Deegan
• Sue Ellen Armstrong
• Luke
• Brian
• Alex Davidson
• Rattles
• Maria Pappas
• Fern Walters
• Unknown Female Bear (Number 2)
• Unknown Female Bear (Number 3)
• 3rd Grade Male Rat
• 3rd Grade Male Dog (Number 3)
• 3rd Grade Female Aardvark (Number 2)
• Beulah McInnerny
• Jessica (3rd grader)
• 3rd Grade Female Cat (Number 2)
• Paul Jacobs
• Kenny
• Mary (3rd grader)
• Ms. Tingley
• Mrs. Morgan
• Mr. Morgan

Trivia

• The Justin Bradley version of this episode story is available on the VHS and DVD editions of The Good Sport.
• As Jenna walks up to the stage to accept her award, a girl is heard saying "I can't believe it!" The voice saying this line sounds similar to Jenna herself, though the closed captioning credits the line to Muffy, who also comments, "No way!" afterwards.
• This is one of the few episodes where Francine is shown crying
• It is mentioned that Michelle Kwan graduated from Lakewood Elementary 9 years ago (which is more than likely made up soelely for the purpose of the cartoon). Assuming Lakewood has grades K-6 or K-5, this would imply that Michelle's age in "The Good Sport" is 19-21 years old.
  • It's also possible that Principal Haney meant Michelle graduated from the district that Lakewood is in, which could mean that she graduated high school 9 years prior, thus making her between the ages of 27-29 years old.

Cultural references

• Francine mentions the 2014 Winter Games, which took place in Sochi, Russia 12 years after this episode originally aired.

Errors

• Mrs. Morgan has orange hair instead of black.
• During the flashback of Oliver telling Francine about being a good sport, the fantasy sound effect is used, but visually, the flashback simply crossfades instead of using the ripple transition.
• Jenna is gray for the majority of the episode, while she is her normal pink color a few times as well.
• Jenna Morgan is seen drinking milk. The later episode "Binky Goes Nuts" reveals that she is allergic to it.
• Jenna gets mad about Francine and Muffy throwing her so many parties, then Muffy storms in the bathroom to tell her off, and she tracks red paint footprints from her shoes. However, when Muffy argues with Jenna about the award, there's no red paint footprints on the bathroom floor, but her footprints are once again seen leading into the bathroom after Jenna runs off crying.

Production notes

• This episode is one of two episodes before Season 14 (Season 16 in the U.S.) that uses an irregular title card which is not seen again, the other being "Buenas Noches, Vicita." The title card is of Francine watching Michelle Kwan jump and spin on the ice.
• Michelle Kwan is the seventh guest star on Arthur (after Jack Prelutsky, Fred Rogers, Art Garfunkel, Yo-Yo Man, Joshua Redman and Alex Trebek).
• Figure skater Jennifer Kirk is featured in the A Word from Us Kids segment that immediately follows this episode. In 2001, Kirk's mother Pat Harris died after battling breast cancer. This episode is dedicated in loving memory of Pat Harris, "friend and colleague." On PBS Kids airings in the U.S., the dedication shows after the episode on a black screen. On other network airings internationally, the dedication shows at the end of the episode.

Home Video

VHS:

• The Good Sport (VHS) (original dub)

DVD:

• The Good Sport (2002 DVD) (original dub)
• The Good Sport (2011 DVD) (original dub (with descriptive audio track) and re-dub)

Gallery

Promotional images

Screenshots

Francine crying