Airdate: October 20, 1997
Mister Rogers is coming for a visit to Lakewood Elementary! And better yet, he's staying at Arthur's house! Unfortunately for Arthur, that's a downside when his friends start questioning if the school thinks they're babies. Arthur is determined to make sure nobody finds out Mister Rogers is visiting, but all of his attempts at stalling him and ensuring he doesn't go outside become more and more impractical. Buster catches wind, and Arthur tries to keep it between them, but his other friends start to notice Arthur acting a lot more strangely than usual. When they spy on him at his house, the Tibbles' grandmother mistakes them for burglars and calls the police on them, at which point his cover is blown when his house makes the local news. But the next day at school, all turns out well — his friends are all excited to hear the news of Mister Rogers staying, and Arthur learns to take Mister Rogers' words to heart that "real friends don't make fun of real friends."
Arthur Meets Mister Rogers provides examples of:
- Beam Me Up, Scotty!: Happens in-universe here, but also tied to a Real Life example too; Binky mistakenly sings the opening lyrics to Mister Rogers' Neighborhood as "it's a beautiful day in the neighborhood" as opposed to "this". Though given he does it in a mocking manner, it was probably intentional.
- Blatant Lies: A bunch of Arthur's Wild Card Excuse quotes fall under this. The one in particular that changes Brain's mind on Rubella's zombie superstition is when Arthur says that he'll ask Buster if he needs any homework help.
- Cannot Tell Fiction from Reality: Buster, when he asks Mister Rogers if King Friday ever rides the trolley to his house. Noticeably, even D.W. knows that they’re puppets. Even better, Mister Rogers answers it honestly and earnestly! Then Buster asks about Daniel Stripe Tiger.
- "Could Have Avoided This!" Plot: After the events of the day, where Arthur talks with Mr. Rogers the real reason why he didn't want anyone to know Mr. Rogers was staying with him, Mr. Rogers tells him it's all right to be ashamed of things, but real friends wouldn't make fun of him for such a thing.
- Entertainment Below Their Age: Buster is the only one to still enjoy Mr. Rogers and not call it "a baby show" or be embarassed to be seen with him.
- Everyone Has Standards: The kids will say Mr. Rogers is "for babies", but they actually treat him with a lot of respect.
- Fan Boy: Buster, oh so much. His facial expression during "Please Don't Think It's Funny" says it all. Binky also turns out to be one as he's at a loss for words when he actually sees Mister Rogers show up.
- History with Celebrity: Mister Rogers is staying at the Reads' house since Jane grew up in his neighborhood (his actual neighborhood, not the show).
- Not So Above It All: It turns out Binky is as starstruck on seeing Mr. Rogers as the rest of the class is, and asks for his autograph.
- Not What It Looks Like: The Tibbles' grandmother mistakenly believes that Brain, Prunella, and Rubella are burglars, since it's dark out and she can't tell what they're doing.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Arthur saying he'll ask Buster for help with homework makes Brain and Prunella suspicious.
- Periphery Demographic: In-universe; Buster makes it no secret that he loves Mister Rogers despite being way past the age of his show's target audience. Subverted in that he mostly talks about memories of watching it, but he's pretty clearly overjoyed to be able to talk to him and especially seems to have a fanboy moment when he sings "Please Don't Think It's Funny" to D.W..
- Periphery Hatedom: In-universe. Arthur fears that he'll get this reaction if his friends find out that Mister Rogers is staying at his house, since most of them think Mister Rogers' show is "for babies". However, after his plans ultimately fail, Mister Rogers talks some sense to him. Arthur's friends also treat Mister Rogers himself with a lot of respect when they finally meet him, even if they're older than his target audience.
- Self-Fulfilling Prophecy: Arthur tries to hide that Mr. Rogers is staying with his family. His actions in this episode leads to the news reporting that Mr. Rogers is at the Read house.
- Wild Card Excuse: A bunch happen in this episode as Arthur desperately tries to hide the fact that Mister Rogers is staying with him.
- Zombie Infectee: What Rubella believes happened to Arthur when he starts acting strange.
Francine makes fun of Fern, greatly upsetting her. When Francine refuses to apologize, Fern decides to retaliate by drawing a comic of a cow very obviously intended to represent her in a mocking manner. Francine takes note, but continues to act rude towards Fern and the rest; soon, everyone in the class starts drawing comics making fun of Francine, with little regard to whether it's upsetting her or not. Come the school carnival, Mrs. MacGrady is running her fortune telling booth as she always does, and the class decide to set up the meanest trick they could ever pull...but when they listen in on Francine and learn she's audibly upset over the way they had been treating her, they begin to realize perhaps they were taking it a bit too far. They decide to call off their trick, and make up to her for all they had done.
Draw! provides examples of:
- Ambiguous Syntax:Buster: Your comic was funny, so I drew one too! Mine's called "The Big Clumsy Moose with Big Feet Named Franny!"Fern: Her feet are named "Franny"?
- Aside Glance: Mrs. MacGrady gives one, after Ms. Sweetwater passes through the kitchen, chasing after Miss Tingley.
- Brick Joke: Both Sue Ellen and Mrs. MacGrady think the stinky sneaker comic is Actually Pretty Funny.
- Captain Ersatz: All of the bad guys in the comics are very clearly intended to be mockeries of Francine, with all of their names starting with "Fran".
- "Could Have Avoided This!" Plot: Francine admits to Mrs. MacGrady that she shouldn't have called Fern a mouse, which started the whole debacle.
- The Dog Bites Back: So to speak, given Fern is an anthropomorphic dog. After Francine hurts her feelings for liking Mr. Ratburn's puppet shows and she overhears her calling her a mouse, Fern decides she's had enough being a "mouse". What follows is her drawing comics that mock and satire Francine's nasty nature.
- Don't You Dare Pity Me!: Francine refuses to admit that she's hurt by all the cartoons being made about her. When Arthur goes to check on her, she snidely tells him to "eat an ant sandwich".
- Dude, Not Funny!: Invoked:
- Buster and Arthur laugh at Francine's impression of Mr. Ratburn, but they don't laugh when Francine makes fun of Fern for saying she likes Ratburn's puppet shows. Later, Arthur tells off Francine for hurting Fern's feelings. A tear-stricken Fern overhears Francine refusing to apologize, and decides to fight back.
- Later, the kids all have a Jerkass Realization when they hear Francine crying about everyone being mean to her with their comics. They decide to not humiliate her with the "green gloop" and go to cheer her up.
- Engineered Public Confession: A rare example where it helps the one confessing. Mrs. MacGrady gets Francine to open up about how she's feeling horrible about all the insulting comics made about her, and that she never should have been nasty to Fern in the first place—all while Arthur, Binky, Buster, and Fern are standing within earshot. They quickly cancel their revenge prank and apologize instead.
- Exact Eavesdropping: Fern gets mad on hearing that Francine refuses to apologize to her and calls her a "mouse". Cue her cartoon the next day.
- Everyone Has Standards:
- Arthur and Buster find Francine's impression of Mr. Ratburn funny, but they don't find it so funny when Francine openly mocks Fern for liking Mr. Ratburn's puppet shows, which makes Fern leave in tears.
- The kids decide to go cheer up Francine on hearing how the cartoons hurt her feelings.
- Filching Food for Fun: After Francine makes Fern cry, she steals Fern's cookie after she leaves.
- Ironic Echo: When Arthur asks if Francine will apologize to Fern she says "She'll get over it". Fern repeats this line when Arthur gets concerned about how Francine feels about everybody's stories.
- Jerkass: Francine, in this episode, which is what drives Fern to making fun of her in the first place.
- Jerkass Ball: The class grabs it after Fern's comic inspires them.
- Jerkass Realization:
- Arthur, Buster, Binky and Fern have one when they hear Francine crying in the fortune-telling booth.
- Implied with Francine when she admits to Mrs. MacGrady that she was wrong to make fun of Fern.
- Kick the Dog: Francine makes fun of Fern (who is an anthropomorphic dog), steals her dessert when she runs off upset, and refuses to apologize while calling her a mouse.
- Laser-Guided Karma: Francine gets this when the whole class starts drawing comics making fun of her after she bullied Fern and then refused to apologize.
- Literal-Minded: Subverted, since it wasn't actually a reaction.Ms. Tingley: What are you going to be doing for the carnival?Mrs. MacGrady: My famous fortune teller act! 'You will be taking a trip.'Ms. Sweetwater: I like fudge, I like fudge...Ms. Tingley: (starts running off to avoid Ms. Sweetwater)Mrs. MacGrady: I didn't mean right now!Ms. Sweetwater: Come on, Ms. Tingley, a little song is just what you need!
- Misplaced Kindergarten Teacher: Ms. Sweetwater, who continually insists that Ms. Tingley needs a song for cheering up. The songs she tries to sing to her reflect this extremely well."I like fudge! I like fudge, if you ask me what I like I say I like fudge!""Why not smile? Why not smile, do you think you're gonna break your face, why not smile?"
- Mood Whiplash: The atmosphere at lunch goes from amusing to sobering when Francine makes Fern run off in tears.
- Revenge via Storytelling: Francine insults Fern and later refuses to apologize for it, leading Fern to retaliate by drawing a comic of Francine as an arrogant cow named Frank. The other students, who were also sick of Francine's teasing and arrogance, also draw mean comics of Francine. Arthur's one has her, as a Blob Monster, get Eaten Alive by a hungry boy who he clearly based off Buster.
- Running Gag: The B-plot with Ms. Tingley being chased around the school by Ms. Sweetwater, who insists that she needs to sing to cheer herself up, and Mr. Haney, who keeps insisting she should be the subject of the Saw a Woman in Half magic trick.
- Saw a Woman in Half: Mr. Haney says he wants to use Ms. Tingley for this trick. However, when he tries to demonstrate it, he accidentally slices through the placeholder wood plank.
- Trickster Mentor: Mrs. MacGrady takes on this role in the episode. She pretends to help Arthur, Buster, Binky, and Fern plan an elaborate prank of dumping "green gloop" on Francine, then skillfully arranges the group to hear Francine herself admitting that she was wrong to insult Fern and furthermore that the comics are deeply upsetting her. The other kids decide not to go through with the prank and apologize instead...and then it's revealed that the so-called gloop was actually a box of balloons and streamers.
- Viewer Gender Confusion: In-universe, the Brain states that cows are females, noting that Fern's comic about "Frank the Furious Cow" is biologically incorrect. He then goes on to say that a cow wouldn't be named Frank, it would be named Franc- (cue laughter)
- What You Are in the Dark: Mrs. MacGrady orchestrates the efforts to stop the bullying against Francine with none of the students the wiser.
- Worm in an Apple: Francine says that Fern's caricature comic of her is "about as funny as biting into an apple and finding half a worm".
- Xanatos Gambit: The "green gloop," which is revealed to be balloons and streamers, is this. If the kids had pulled it when Mrs. MacGrady gave the signal, it would have cheered up Francine. When they refuse to pull it, Mrs. MacGrady encourages them to go cheer up Francine and make up with her.
