It was a dark and stormy night

"It was a dark and stormy night" is the opening line of English novelist Edward Bulwer-Lytton's 1830 novel Paul Clifford. Cited by critics as both one of the best and worst lines in literature — American Book Review included it on their "Best first lines from novels" list and Writer's Digest called it "the literary posterchild for bad story starters" — it has become an oft-parodied phrase in subsequent media.
==References==
* When Count von Count and the Countess von Backwards pitch a movie idea to Malcolm-Jamal Warner in Sesame Street Episode 2724, the Count begins his tale, "Once upon a time, on a dark and stormy night..." (the line is followed by his trademark thunder and lightning, setting the mood for a darkened courtyard setting).
* The Dog City episode "The Bloodhound" begins with Eliot Shag, underscored by Mrs. Hovelwort's organ music, describing the setting, "It was a dark and stormy night; not a fit night out for dog nor beast."
* A third season Fraggle Rock episode makes use of the phrase for its title, "A Dark and Stormy Night."
* When Telly Monster learns he can't report a story in the "School" segment of Monster on the Spot, the classroom plumber obliges with one of her own, "It started one dark and dismal night..."
* The phrase is used as the opening line for the book Casper Catches a Cold in Sesame Street Episode 3090; Savion comments that the book sounds scary before Elmo curls up to listen.
* Prompted by Irvine's insistence that Grundgetta read her the Grouch storybook "Pigs in the Mud" for the "billionth" time in Language to Literacy, Grundgetta pushes her down the street and begins, "It was a dark and muddy night..."
* Hoping to urge his pumpkin to grow quickly in the Muppet Babies episode "Oh My Gourd", Baby Kermit reads to it from a storybook illustrated with a jack-o'-lantern on the cover, "It was a dark and spooky Halloween night, and all of the pumpkins grew really, really big." Later, when the pumpkin enlarges and comes to life, it asks for the book again; Kermit repeats the opening, but changes the following line.
==External links==
* wikipedia:It was a dark and stormy night
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Category:Literary References
Category:Halloween References