Jenna's Bedtime Blues

"Jenna's Bedtime Blues"
Main image Title card
Season/Series:	7
Number in season:	6b
Original Airdate:	November 25, 2002 January 22, 2003
Credits
Written by:	Glen Berger
Storyboard by:	Jean Saro Sylvie Lafrance
Episodes
Previous "Pick a Car, Any Car"	Next "D.W.'s Time Trouble"

Read transcript

"Jenna's Bedtime Blues" is the second half of the sixth episode in the seventh season of Arthur.

Summary

Jenna is reluctant to attend Muffy's annual slumber party because she wets the bed. She chooses to bring her pull-up to wear to bed, but what if the other girls find out?

Plot

All the girls in Arthur's class are being extra nice to Muffy because they're trying to get invited to her annual girls-only slumber party at her mansion. Buster isn't interested, because it's only for girls. He thinks there would be nothing that he would like, since he's a boy, but then Arthur mentions an arcade ice machine, which Buster likes the sound of, so he says that he wants to come. Francine reminds him that it's for girls only. Buster begs Francine to invite him. Then, Jenna receives an invitation because Francine, who is Muffy's best friend, managed to convince her to invite her, but Jenna is worried it would end in disaster.

Jenna's Bedtime Blues

One day, while playing badminton with Francine, Jenna tells Francine that she thought that Muffy didn't like her that much, but Francine tells Jenna that Muffy just needs to get to know her more. Jenna says that she has other plans for the day of the party, but then Francine tells her the party is at night. Jenna suddenly appears angry and says, "Well, maybe I didn't want to go to her stupid party in the first place!", then storms off.

When Jenna goes back to her locker, she hears the other kids spreading rumors about her, and Buster claims he knows why she won't go to the party: It takes place at night and she's an alien crime-fighter in disguise. Later, Jenna appears and tells everyone that the rumors they have been spreading about her are false. After Buster sees the ink on her hands, Jenna simply says that her pen broke, and when Francine asks if she is going to the party, she tries to cover matters up by saying yes, but all she can say is a hesitant and unenthusiastic "Yeah... sure... I can't wait."

Then at home that same night, she talks to her father, saying that she feels doomed after seeing her alarm. After her father puts on her alarm, he says that bedwetting is nothing to be ashamed of and that millions of kids suffer from the same problem, and that she won't be teased "forever." Then Jenna asks why has she not met any other sufferers if there really are that many of them. Her father says that she probably has met some of them, but, like her, they are worried about being teased, and so they keep it a secret. Then, she acknowledges the fact that she's done many great things (help coach pee-wee soccer, won athlete of the year, etc.), yet she still wets the bed. Then he tells her that she only does it from time to time and wearing the alarm is helping her improve. Jenna laments that if she leaves the alarm at home, she'll have to wear an "old diaper" and be laughed at even more. Her father reminds her that it's not a diaper; it's a Pull-Up. She tells him that he doesn't understand, but he tells her he does understand her problem, as he himself also wet the bed when he was a kid and didn't believe his father when he said that he would grow out of it. As he is putting the pull up away and tucking her into her bed, he says that he did outgrow it, and that Jenna will too, and then Jenna asks him when she'll grow out of it.

During the night, Jenna has a nightmare where she's awarded for Olympic downhill skiing and everyone finds out her secret. The crowd find out as Francine says that Jenna is basically a star ski champion, even though she's inflicted with a "horrible disease," nocturnal enuresis. Francine then asks if anyone knows what nocturnal enuresis means. Arthur looks it up in the dictionary (as separate words, "nocturnal" and "enuresis"), puts two and two together, and says Jenna is "nothing but a bed-wetter." The crowd is shocked. Back in "real life," Jenna wakes up to the sound of her alarm, feels her bed and then plans to go to the party the next day.

When the night of the sleepover finally comes, Jenna's father tells her that she can always call him to come pick her up, but she says she can't. Jenna thinks that if she can hide the Pull-Up in her pillow, she can put it on when everyone is asleep. Jenna enjoys the party, but drinks seven colas, has a stomach ache and excuses herself to the bathroom after Prunella tells her cola is a diuretic. When it's time to reveal secrets, she considers telling the truth, but then makes up a secret that she has a crush on George, which wins her the prize of sleeping with Muffy in her waterbed. Jenna then excuses herself to the bathroom after Muffy shows her some of the wave functions. She then continues to worry about wetting the bed, even though she has gone throughout the night without any bed-wetting. She stays up all night, and eventually watches TV on Muffy's portable TV (built into the bed) to help her get to sleep. Unfortunately for her, all of the content features topics that could entice urination: The shows feature a diaper commercial, a Scotsman talking about a set of bagpipes having a "wee leak in its bladder" and putting on a "wee patch" and a Sesame Street-like show featuring the letter P. Jenna then has a dream: Her dream takes place in the morning, and she's excited because she ended up not wetting the bed. Muffy then tells her that it's breakfast time; all the girls are on a giant elephant who'll take them down to breakfast. The Scottish man from the bagpipe show then helps her cross the "river" to get on the elephant, and he then gets trapped in the river. Jenna then realizes that this must be a dream, as it's "too strange."

Then, back in reality, Muffy wakes up and realizes the sheets are wet. Jenna starts to apologize, as she thinks that she wet the bed. But, it turns out that Muffy's brooch poked a hole in the bed, and the bed being a waterbed, leaked, causing water to go on the sheets. Muffy looks for some tape, and then Jenna runs to the bathroom, stating that she knows she can "make it" (not wet the bed between then and morning). Later that morning, with the sun already up), Muffy and Jenna wake everyone up by starting a pillow fight. One of the pillows (presumably Jenna's) "explodes". Jenna had hidden her Pull-Up in her pillowcase, hoping to put it on when everyone else was asleep (she never did), and it fell out along with all the pillow's feathers. The girls see the Pull-Up, and Jenna tries to cover her tracks by teasing that the girl who owns the "diaper" is a baby, but the girls are more understanding than Jenna had anticipated, and they think that Jenna is being mean. The girls then go downstairs for breakfast, except for Jenna and Francine. Francine asks Jenna why she made fun of the Pull-Up, and tells her she could have offended someone. Jenna tells her that she knows she didn't, as she knows that it's her Pull-Up, and reveals her real "Deep Dark Secret" (she's a bed-wetter). Francine then acknowledges Jenna's "fake" secret which she told the night before that she has a secret crush on George, and Jenna tells her that that's completely false. Jenna explains the reason she lied is because she thought the girls would think of her as a baby after learning about her Pull-Up. Francine also makes her feel better by telling her she is not a baby, and that she herself also used to wear a Pull-Up for bedwetting.

The next day in class, when Jenna notices that George has been behaving differently, Francine assures her that her secret won't be revealed, but then George shyly gives Jenna a daisy, saying that his ventriloquist dummy, Wally, wanted to give it to her. Jenna then whispers to Francine, "to think I was worried about my real secret getting out."

Characters

Major

• Jenna Morgan
• Fern Walters
• Francine Frensky
• Muffy Crosswire
• Prunella Deegan

Minor

• Arthur Read
• Bailey
• Binky Barnes
• Buster Baxter
• Dr. Doomsday
• George Lundgren
• Wally (does not speak)
• Mr. Morgan
• Radioactive Squid Woman

Cameo

• Paul Jacobs
• Maria Pappas
• 3rd Grade Male Dog (Number 3)
• 3rd Grade Male Rabbit
• Beulah McInnerny
• Mary (3rd grader)
• 3rd Grade Male Rat
• Jessica (3rd grader)
• 3rd Grade Female Aardvark
• Kenny
• 3rd Grade Male Dog
• 3rd Grade Female Aardvark (Number 2)
• Mr. Ratburn
• Brain
• Sue Ellen Armstrong

Mentioned

• Jenna's grandfather
• Fern's cousin

Trivia

• This is the only episode to feature Jenna's name in the title.
• It's revealed that Jenna suffers from nocturnal enuresis or bed-wetting, and that Francine and Prunella used to have the same bed-wetting problem, and Fern mentions a cousin in the sixth grade who still uses a pull-up.
• This is Fern's 100th appearance in the series

Production notes

• This is the last episode in which Mitchell Rothpan voices George Lundgren due to him reaching puberty by the end of Season 5.
• The idea for this episode came from production assistant Sarah Crosley, who struggled with bedwetting until fifth grade.
• The script and storyboards were completed in Fall 2001
• In October 2002, the crew had a first look at how the visuals and voices mesh together.

Cultural references

• The puppets in "Can You Say P?" look similar to the ones called Jonas, Loulou, and Horace from Wimzie's House, which also aired on PBS and was produced by Cinar, like Arthur.
• Dr. Doomsday is a parody of Mysterio, but the name is also a parody of both "Doctor Doom" and "Doomsday."
• The girls reenact the sinking of the Titanic.
• Jenna's pull-up is in reference to the same product, Pull-Ups, which are used to help anyone struggling with various types of incontinence. (They are heavily marketed towards potty-training toddlers, but they also have "adult" ones that can be used by anyone of any age.)

Episode connections

• Jenna was able to go to Fern's slumber party with no problem, which means this episode is set chronologically before then.
• Francine talked Muffy into inviting Jenna, which was probably done to make amends for Francine's behavior in "The Good Sport".
• Jenna mentions the Athlete of the Year award that she got in "The Good Sport". She also mentions that she helped to coach pee wee soccer, which was first mentioned in the same episode.
• When playing Truth or Dare, Francine can be heard citing the time she stepped out of bounds in "The Big Blow-Up."
• This episode's summary is similar to "Water and the Brain".

Errors

• When Jenna is sitting on the water bed, she is still wearing her slippers.
• Before the pillow fight, Fern and her sleeping bag are missing from the floor.
• The red button on her alarm clock disappeared at one point.

Home Video

VHS:

• Growing Up with Arthur (VHS)

DVD:

• Growing Up with Arthur (DVD)
• Arthur's Family Fun (2005 DVD)
• Arthur: Sleepovers, Sports and More
• Elwood City Turns 100 (DVD)

Gallery

Main article: Jenna's Bedtime Blues/Gallery