Episode 303: Baby Talk

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As Baby Sinclair's vocabulary grows dirtier, Earl's resolve grows stronger to return "family values" to the permissive television landscape that fostered his child's newfound vulgarity - that is, until his efforts inadvertently create a repressive governmental atmosphere responsive to the slightest complaint from the fellow citizens of Pangaea.

## Story

On the hidden camera series *Don't Lift That Heavy Object*, a father who carries a piano with his son accidentally drops his end of the piano on his foot, making him shout "smoo", a naughty word in the *Dinosaurs* universe. Fran and Ethyl are shocked when it's said, while Earl and Charlene both find it funny that a dirty word was actually said on TV. However, they are all shocked when Baby starts to say it constantly.

The next night, Fran washes the baby's mouth out with soap, which prevents him from saying "smoo". Fran needs Earl to watch Baby while she cooks dinner, but forbids Earl from turning the TV on. Earl entertains the baby in a number of different ways, until he can take it no more and turns on the TV anyway. But when he turns the TV on, *The Friendly Bunny* is canceled in order to bring viewers a new show, *The Smoo! Show*, which is dedicated to saying "smoo".

Realizing that he may have to start spending more quality time with the baby, Earl calls the network and complains about them having a show with the word "smoo" in it. However, he is seen by the network executive as a nut. Earl gets his neighbors together for a meeting. The neighbors also don't like having to turn off the TV and spend quality time with their kids. Fran thinks that they should be careful of what they let their kids watch, and solve such issues at home. However, the others disagree and go protest to the network. However, the protests don't work; *The Smoo! Show* gets scheduled for seven nights a week, and other shows with dirty words in the titles get produced as well. So Earl and his neighbors go to the council of elders.

The Council of Elders agree to prevent networks from allowing shows that feature the words "smoo", "flark", and "glick", but then Earl's neighbors start complaining about other words, including some that Earl liked. The council then decides to outlaw every word and idea that bothers them, not only on TV, but in the world. Earl thinks they are going too far; but the council says that the only choices are allowing everybody freedom of speech (which makes parents responsible for protecting their children from bad words), or making changes that allow the parents more free time. Earl's neighbors are more in favor of the latter than Earl is. A new list of laws are made, which includes prevention of saying words that rhyme with "smoo", and also requires male dinosaurs to wear pants, and female dinosaurs to wear pantyhose.

Meanwhile, Ethyl refuses to read to Baby Sinclair unless he agrees to stop saying "smoo", and the baby agrees. Earl realizes that he didn't need to go through all that trouble; he could have just solved his problem at home.

## Guest Stars

* Thom Sharp (Larry), Kate McGregor-Stewart (Neighbor #3)

## Seen on TV

* *Don't Lift That Heavy Object!*
* *DNN News*
* *The Friendly Bunny*
* *The Smoo Show*
* *The Flark Show*
* *Kiss My Glick*
* *Shouting Match*

## Notes

* Taped June 13, 1992
* This episode was not aired when the series ran on Disney Channel.

## Video releases

* Dinosaurs: The Complete Third and Fourth Seasons

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