The twenty-fourth episode of the second season of Rugrats (1991).
Game Show Didi
Didi is a contestant on a game show.
Toys In The Attic
Tommy and Angelica spend time at Boris and Minka's house.
"Game Show Didi" provides examples of:
- Adults Are Useless:
- Subverted; Stu, Lou and Betty focus more on Didi's performance on Super Stumpers than the fact that Tommy, Phil, and Lil have escaped to find the sun, but they do become aware of the latter later in the episode and Stu eventually manages to find Tommy.
- Played straight with the man in the master control room; he's talking on his cell phone instead of watching the monitors for the various TV shows (even saying that he really is supposed to be watching the monitors), completely oblivious to Tommy walking across the control panel. He becomes shocked when he sees the state of the control panel after he finishes his conversation.
- An Aesop: Have confidence and believe in yourself and try not to feel discouraged and you will be successful.
- Continuity Nod: Alan Quebec introduces Didi as a school teacher, referencing her job seen in a previous episode, "Little Dude".
- It Will Never Catch On: Lou says this of television, possibly echoing the feelings of his generation. Doubles as Hypocritical Humor since TV did catch on decades before, and because Lou constantly falls asleep in front of it.
- Literal-Minded: On the night before she competes on Super Stumpers, Didi tells Tommy that she never will find her place in the Sun. This leaves Tommy to believe that Didi wants to find the Sun.
- Parental Bonus: Didi competes on a game show that's most like Jeopardy! (
with Alex Trebek voicing host Alan Quebec, no less), although they have the prize showcase Wheel of Fortune used to have. Didi chooses a gold-plated dalmatian, a reference to the infamous ceramic dalmatian from Wheel of Fortune's aforementioned prize showcase.- Additionally (and in keeping with the game show theme), Edmond Haynes (Didi's opponent) is voiced by Charles Nelson Reilly of Match Game fame.
- Show Within a Show:
- Super Stumpers, a game show that Didi competes on.
- Wuggles the Mule, a show about a talking mule.
"Toys in the Attic" provides examples of:
- Bedsheet Ghost: When Boris searches the attic for Tommy and Angelica, a wind blows through the open window, blowing a bedsheet which lands on him. When Tommy and Angelica see the bedsheet, they believe it to be a ghost.
- Bilingual Bonus: Several times in this episode, Minka utters the phrase, "Thanks be to Gott". Gott is the Yiddish word for God.
- Brief Accent Imitation: At the end of the episode, Angelica speaks in Boris and Minka's Yiddish dialect:Angelica: Cable schmable! Who need the cable when you got family by your side?
- Brought Home the Wrong Kid: When Tommy and Angelica go missing, Boris rushes outside to look for them. He finds two children that aren't them; a little girl with red hair dressed in a red shirt and blue overalls, and a baby boy with light brown hair dressed in a purple shirt and a diaper.
- "Everybody Laughs" Ending: This family here after visiting the attic.
- I Do Not Like Green Eggs and Ham: At the beginning of the episode, Angelica does not like the idea of spending time at Boris and Minka's house, due to it being dusty, smelly, and not having cable. Later in the episode, she and Tommy find Didi's old toys in the attic and listen to stories from Boris and Minka, and when Drew comes to pick up Angelica at the end of the episode, she tells him she had a great time.
- Literal-Minded:
- When Minka finds that Tommy and Angelica have gone missing, she tells Boris, "The dumplings are gone!" Boris, thinking Minka was talking about actual dumplings, tells them they're still in the ice box, but Minka tells him she was talking about the children.
- Upon hearing about how Boris "allegedly" drove a herd of mules through the fence, Angelica asks him why he didn't use a truck.
- Never My Fault: After Boris and Minka child-proof their house when Tommy and Angelica break some of their possessions, they sit Tommy in a chair and hang Angelica on a hook by her dress. Angelica blames Tommy for breaking everything, even though she was equally guilty of doing the same thing.
- Suspiciously Specific Denial: Boris denies that the Noodle Incident in which he supposedly drove mules through the fence happened, claiming it was an old rival of his.Boris: I did not drive through the fence!
- Word, Schmord!: Several times throughout the episode.
- When Didi comments her concern about Tommy and Angelica staying with Boris and Minka, saying their house is not exactly child-proof, Boris replies "Child-proof, Schmild-proof".
- After Boris claims to be older than Minka due to being born on a leap year, Minka declares "Leap year, Schmeap year!"
- At the end of the episode, Angelica says this regarding cable when enjoying the titular happening just for this event.
