The Busy World of Richard Scarry

1996 • Showtime
4.0
107 reviews
G
Rating
Eligible
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Season 1 episodes (13)

1 The Talking Bread / Couscous, the North African Detective / The Three Fishermen
1/1/96
Sergeant Murphy's got his hands full with runaway imaginations. After he finds the 'ghost' in Hilda's attic, it's over to the bakery where he's confronted with "talking" bread. Lowly's the hero when he digests some interesting information, and everyone realizes they were letting their imaginations run away with them. / Couscous is the best detective in North Africa and he's on the trail of Pepe Le Gangster and his "dirty rats." While the villains heist some pasta from the noodle factory Couscous perfects his plan. Disguised as a dancing troupe, Couscous and his assistants lure Pepe and his rats straight into a paddy wagon. / Father Cat takes Huckle and Lowly on their first fishing trip hoping it will be as magical as his own. They catch plenty but it's not "fish" - except for the one Huckle catches in his pocket. It's not until they dock the boat that the real fishing starts and Huckle and Lowly's first fishing trip ends memorably.
2 The Best Birthday Present Ever / Patrick Pig Learns to Talk / Grouchy Mr. Gronkle
1/1/96
Huckle and Lowly buy a special cuckoo clock for Mother Cat, but because Huckle's bike bell doesn't work, he has an accident and the cuckoo clock breaks. Mr. Fixit saves the day and repairs both the clock and the bike bell. Now the clock is really special - it sounds like a bike bell, and the bike bell sounds like a cuckoo clock. / Despite his talkative Irish forefathers, Patrick O'Swine can't utter a word. Three odd fellows convince Patrick's parents that if the young lad kisses the Blarney Stone, he'll be given the gift of gab. Patrick kisses the stone, and sure enough, he talks, and talks, and talks. Now his parents wonder how to get him to stop. / The gang goes skating on Grouchy Mr. Gronkle's pond, and when the old koot sees them on his property, he hurries to shoo them away. But when Gronkle falls through some thin ice and the kids rescue him, Mr. Gronkle is so touched by their kindness he throws a huge skating party for the whole town.
3 The Busiest Firefighters Ever / Manuel of Mexico / The Biggest Catch Ever
1/1/96
Huckle and Lowly experience the life of a firefighter when they 'join the force' for the day. Huckle loves the emergencies and daring rescues, but poor Lowly keeps getting banged and bruised. When there's a real fire, Huckle and Lowly step back to let the professionals handle it - and they sure do - by dousing a barbecue. / Manuel breaks his mother's cooking pot so he and his friend Pedro go to the market to buy a new one. Manuel and Pedro spot a thief in the market but all the vendors think Manuel and Pedro are just playing detective. So when Pedro and Manuel really do capture the thief red handed, they get a wonderful new pot as a reward. / Rudolph Von Fluggel takes Lowly and Huckle in his hot air balloon and they're soon floating over Busytown - but without Rudolph. There's panic on the ground as everyone chases after the balloon until the three beggars, who are fishing for lunch, get the biggest catch ever - the balloon - and a nice picnic lunch too.
4 Mr. Raccoon's Different Day / Mario, the Venetian Gondolier / The Best Babysitter Ever
1/1/96
Mr. Raccoon is bored with the same old thing everyday so he leaves Mr. Frumble in charge of his restaurant while he goes in search of a change. Mr. Frumble trashes the place, splattering food in every corner. Mr. Raccoon returns and is delighted with the new decorations. The new 'food motif' is just the change Mr. Raccoon needed! / Mario wants a gondola so he can paddle romantic couples around Venice, but instead he owns a big clunky melon boat. When a huge wedding party needs a lift to the church, Mario comes to the rescue and he's given a gondola for his trouble. Yet Mario still uses his melon boat - to paddle all the couple's children around town. / Hilda babysits for Pig Will and Pig Won't and she does her best to fill the day with fun, but Pig Won't just wants to sulk. When Pig Won't knocks over a display of groceries, Hilda stands up for him when the store manager gets angry. Pig Won't decides that it's much more fun to say "I will" than "I won't."
5 The Best Mistake Ever / Sneef, the Best Detective in Europe / Camping Out
1/1/96
Huckle's off to do Mother Cat's shopping for the first time when he forgets the list. Huckle's sure he knows what to get so he and Lowly buy potato chips instead of potatoes, orange soda instead of oranges, etc. Mother Cat didn't want party food - until Aunt Rose and Lily arrive for a party Mother Cat had forgotten about. / The Police Chief gives urgent orders to Sneef and his assistant Sniff - they must hurry to Nice. Sneef's sure there's a big crime to stop, and everyone on the train is a suspect. After a sleepless night watching various "scoundrels" get on the train, the scoundrels are revealed to be police chiefs who've gotten together to throw Sneef a surprise birthday party. / Huckle and Lowly camp in the backyard but after Kenny tells them a ghost story, they're sure they see a huge claw in the shadows. They sleep inside, and then sneak back outside the next morning pretending to have spent the night there. Father Cat tells them the story of when he slept outside - he thought he saw a huge claw too - but it was just a leaf rake.
6 Mr. Frumble's New Cars / Ernst and Heidi in the Alps / Billy Dog's Bad Day
1/1/96
Instead of picking up his pickle car at Mr. Fixit's, Mr. Frumble mistakenly drives off in a bulldozer. Later, he switches the bulldozer for a taxi, and the taxi for Rudolph's bi-plane, and finally crash lands. When Mr. Fixit tells Mr. Frumble his pickle car has been at his shop all the time a happy Mr. Frumble takes off - on Sergeant Murphy's motorcycle! / Ernst wants to be with Heidi on the rescue patrol, but he isn't a very good climber. When Ernst gets stuck, he blows his horn so Heidi will rescue him. One day, Heidi gets stuck with Ernst, so he plays a beautiful song and the town folks come to the rescue. Heidi loves the way he plays and Ernst promises to never go climbing again. / Billy Dog, a new kid in school, has everyone scared because of his gruff manner. After several mishaps, Huckle is convinced Billy Dog's out to get him. But when Billy Dog asks Huckle why he's so mean, Huckle realizes he acted like the bully. Billy Dog and Huckle become friends and everyone shows the new kid around.
7 The Snowstorm / Professor Dig and his Egyptian Mummy / The Treasure Hunt
1/1/96
Hilda's the new playground monitor but because of her strength she's afraid she might hurt one of the little kids. When a snowstorm hits Busytown and the school bus gets stuck in a ditch, Hilda uses her strength to save her friends - and realizes it's not so bad being big and strong after all. / Professor Dig makes a great discovery - an Egyptian mummy - and he hurries to bring it to the Cairo museum. He stops for a cool drink at a restaurant and asks the near-sighted manager to keep an eye on his mummy. The manager thinks it's his real mother and is shocked by the way Professor Dig treats his mummy. / Huckle and Lowly search the beach for buried treasure, but all they dig up is junk. Mr. Fixit takes their "junk" and Huckle and Lowly clean up the beach. As Bruno rewards them with some ice cream, Mr. Fixit appears with a pirate ship he built out of the junk. Huckle and Lowly hop on and "sail" off down the sidewalk.
8 The Missing Bananas / Good Luck in Rome / The Accident
1/1/96
Bananas offers to watch Turnip Goat's bananas while she unloads her truck. When the bunch disappears, Bananas Gorilla panics. Huckle and Lowly help him track down the bananas, and they get them back before Turnip even noticed they were gone. Bananas even gets a banana reward for his trouble. / Maria and Frederico want to throw a coin in the Trevi fountain for luck. They get lost, Maria falls asleep, and Frederico breaks a Roman statue which he puts in the car. The car drives off with the statue at the wheel - and Frederico in pursuit - and it stops in the Trevi fountain. Maria and Frederico will get lots of luck now - instead of a coin, they threw in their whole car. / The traffic light Mr. Fixit 'fixed' causes a big pile up so he offers to repair all the cars. The drivers decide to repair the cars themselves and a hurt Mr. Fixit locks himself in his shop. No one can fix things like Mr. Fixit, and soon everyone's pleading for his help. Fixit grabs his hammer and the cars are rebuilt better - and different - than before.
9 A Trip to the Moon / Pip Pip Goes to London / Floating Bananas
1/1/96
Huckle, Lowly, the Three Beggars and Mr. Frumble are accidentally launched to the moon in Mr. Fixit's home made rocket. The landing on the moon is less than smooth, and the rocket breaks. Our astronauts manage to repair the rocket and it's back to Earth for a hero's welcome and some lunch. / Pip Pip comes to London hoping to work for the Queen. With her new friend, Liza Littlemouse, they go to the palace, the Navy, and then the Tower of London, but no luck. When the Queen loses her ring, Pip Pip and Liza find it in a fountain and the Queen makes them the royal fountain keepers. / Bananas wants to buy bananas so he hurries to the harbour hoping to work on the banana cargo ship that's in port. Sergeant Murphy sees banana peels in the harbor and suspects that Bananas has stolen the cargo. But Bananas did get a job - as a chef - and when the mess is cleaned up, everyone has some of his banana soup.
10 Hat Pie / Hans the Dutch Plumber / Hilda's Romantic Tea Party
1/1/96
After Sally, Lowly, and Huckle help Mother Cat make an apple pie, Lowly's yodeler hat is missing. Lowly and Huckle team up with the missing hat expert, Mr. Frumble, and they look high and low but can't find Lowly's hat anywhere. When everyone finally sits down to enjoy the apple pie, Mr. Frumble finds the hat - in the 'hat' pie. / Hans loves plumbing but because he always comes home wet, his wife takes him to apply for a dry windmill keeper's job. On the way, Hans plugs a hole in a dike and saves the town. He gets a medal and a new job - Chief Plumber. Now Hans can still be a plumber but he won't get wet - that is if he stops driving his bike into the canals. / Hilda plays matchmaker for Bruno and Ms. Honey by planning a wonderful tea party. When the day is less than perfect, Hilda is certain she's failed. Especially when on the river boat trip, Bruno has to rescue Lowly. But Ms. Honey is charmed and impressed by Bruno's courage, and Hilda smiles as the two go off arm-in-arm!
11 A Big Operation / Cucumber, the African Photographer / Summer Picnic
1/1/96
When Huckle has to get his tonsils out, Lowly stays with him in the hospital. Huckle's scared about the operation so he and Lowly tour the hospital, and meet other patients who aren't afraid. Not only does Lowly help his friend overcome his fear, he even gets to eat the ice cream Huckle can't eat after his operation. / Cucumber and her assistant Pickles are terrified of their new assignment - to get pictures of lions. After looking all over for some lions, Cucumber and Pickles turn in for the night and are visited by a family of lions. Cucumber and Pickles learn that even lions aren't scary once you know them. / All the kids and Miss Honey go up river for a picnic. When it starts raining and they hurry into a cave for shelter, everyone gets scared when they think there's a monster in the cave. A brave Miss Honey uncovers the monster - the Three Beggars - and when the clouds clear, they invite the 'monster' to join their summer picnic.
12 Sgt. Murphy's Day Off / Schmudge, the German Chimney Sweep / Sleeping Car Adventure
1/1/96
Sergeant Murphy's got the day planned - a drive and a picnic in the country with his family. But the phone rings, and after that, lots of Busytown emergencies. Sergeant Murphy ends up working his whole day off, but lucky him, the whole town pitches in to throw Sergeant Murphy a surprise picnic since he worked his day off. / Everyone knows chimney sweeps bring good luck, but it looks like Schmudge left his luck at home. As he cleans Frau Mopp's chimney, Little Hans looks on in horror as his clean house is covered in soot. Hans is sure his mother will be furious at Schmudge, and she is - until he rescues Hans when he falls off the roof. / Hilda's going to babysit the kids on the Cat Family's vacation to the seaside. But on the overnight train everything goes wrong for Hilda. Hilda's positive Mother and Father Cat will never hire her again, but when at the beach, she saves Lowly and Huckle from being swept out to sea, a grateful Father Cat asks her to go on all their vacations.
13 Busytown Regatta / Schtoompah, the Funny Austrian / Busytown Soap Box Derby
1/1/96
Everybody's building boats for the big Busytown Regatta, and Mr. Frumble's all excited - he just loves boats. As soon as the race starts, Mr. Frumble sails out of control and he sinks lots of the other boats. Huckle and Lowly win the race - but mostly because they were the only ones who managed to stay out of Frumble's way. / Schtoompah and his friend Umpah dream of playing music in the town orchestra. When they're late for their audition, it look like their dream will never come true. Not wanting to give up, they build a music machine which is so popular, they become their own band and play in the park everyday. / It's the first annual soap box derby and all the kids build marvelous racers - everyone except for Sally. During a test run Huckle and Lowly break their racer and don't think they can fix it in time for the big race. Sally secretly fixes their racer and all three of them ride it together, straight across the finish line - and into first place.

About this show

This fully animated series is based on the books by Richard Scarry which parents worldwide rely on to teach valuable lessons. Busytown is an enchanting place that's abuzz with energy and life. Young audiences love to sing and laugh along, as Huckle Cat and Lowly Worm make their way through the day. The residents of Busytown always make time for a song and a smile.

Ratings and reviews

4.0
107 reviews
Dikota David
November 6, 2013
Worth getting for keeps. Netflix always takes down old things and place up new stuff on the instant watch list.
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Tommy Wimmer
November 16, 2014
I remember renting a few video tapes from my local library when I was out sick.
6 people found this review helpful
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Kiley Staats
January 14, 2014
These are no longer on Netflix, and are well worth the purchase. The Busytown Mysterys are on NF still, but not these.
17 people found this review helpful
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