Season 1
Episode Guide
Downtown As Fruits/Eugene's Bike
S1
E1
Oct 7, 1996
Arnold and Gerald are cast as a banana and a strawberry in their school play, "The Four Food Groups", written and directed by Helga. Arnold inadvertently wrecks Eugene's brand new bike.
The Little Pink Book/Field Trip
S1
E2
Oct 23, 1996
Helga accidentally drops her journal full of love poems about Arnold into a pile of Gerald's books. Arnold's class goes on a field trip to the aquarium where Arnold waits in anticipation to see Lockjaw.
Arnold's Hat/The Stoop Kid
S1
E3
Oct 30, 1996
Helga has been secretly building a shrine in her closet to Arnold. Arnold has to retrieve a football from the lair of Stoop Kid -- a bully who, according to neighborhood legend, pounds anyone who sets foot upon his domain.
Helga's Makeover/The Old Building
S1
E4
Nov 6, 1996
Helga tries to hide her disappointment at not being invited to Rhonda's makeover party. Arnold gets caught between his loyalty to Grandma and a promise to help his pal Ernie demolish his 500th building.
Sixth Grade Girls/The Baseball
S1
E5
Oct 16, 1996
Arnold and Gerald are invited to a school dance by a pair of 6th graders. Arnold and Gerald manage to scrape up enough money for cheap seats at the last baseball game of Arnold's idol.
Heat/Snow
S1
E6
Nov 4, 1996
A record heatwave strikes the city, setting everyone on edge. Arnold wakes to find the city covered in snow and hears that school is closed for the day.
Operation: Ruthless/The Vacant Lot
S1
E7
Oct 14, 1996
Arnold decides to get up the nerve to speak with the girl of his dreams, Ruth. Arnold and the gang clean up a vacant lot so that they can have a baseball field.
The List/The Haunted Train
S1
E8
Oct 9, 1996
Arnold's best laid plans for the "ultimate Saturday" go up in smoke. On a boring summer night Grandpa tries to liven things up by telling a story about haunted Train Number 25.
Mugged/Roughin' It
S1
E9
Nov 11, 1996
Arnold learns the secrets of the martial arts from Grandma after getting held up for his bus pass. Grandpa takes Arnold and Gerald out to the woods to show them how to camp "the old fashioned way."
Door 16/Arnold as Cupid
S1
E10
Nov 13, 1996
The boarders are all suspicious of the mysterious Mr. Smith who lives behind door 16. Oscar Kokoshka moves in with Arnold when his wife, Susie, throws him out of their apartment following another fight.
Bench Warmer/Cool Jerk
S1
E11
Oct 21, 1996
Arnold has trouble with the basketball coach and his favored son until he teaches them both a lesson. Arnold becomes friend with "cool" Frankie G., but his new friend only succeeds in getting him into trouble.
Das Subway/Wheezin' Ed
S1
E12
Nov 18, 1996
When a movie lets out later than expected, Arnold and the gang have no choice but to take the subway home. Arnold and the gang set out on a quest to find the hidden treasure of the mysterious "Wheezin' Ed" on Elk Island.
Tutoring Torvald/Gerald Comes Over
S1
E13
Oct 28, 1996
Arnold is given the assignment to tutor Torvald, the meanest, toughest kid in Arnold's math class, for the big math test on Friday. Gerald convinces Arnold to allow him to spend the night at Arnold's house.
The Spelling Bee/Pigeon Man
S1
E14
Nov 20, 1996
Arnold and Helga are chosen to represent the school in the city wide spelling bee. Arnold takes one of his sick pigeons to the mysterious Pigeon Man who miraculously cures the bird.
Olga Comes Home/Salley's Comet
S1
E15
Nov 25, 1996
Helga's older sister, Olga, comes home from college and quickly garners all of her parents' attention. Arnold and Gerald have been saving up cereal box tops to get a telescope before the arrival of Salley's Comet.
Abner Comes Home/The Sewer King
S1
E16
Nov 27, 1996
Arnold's pet pig, Abner, escapes one night while Arnold is sleeping. Grandpa entrusts Arnold with the job of fetching his prized pocket watch from the repair shop.
False Alarm/World Records
S1
E17
Dec 23, 1996
Eugene is falsley accused of pulling a fire alarm. Arnold acts as Eugene's advocate before the student jury who all want to wrap up the case quickly before Wrestlemania begins. Arnold and Gerald set out to set a world record.
Magic Show/Twenty Four Hours To Live
S1
E18
Dec 9, 1996
Arnold -- in his guise as the Great Arnoldini -- gives an amateur magic show behind the boarding house and, for his big number, makes Helga disappear. Arnold accidentally beans Harold in a baseball game.
Part Time Friends/Runaway Float
S1
E19
Nov 30, 1998
Arnold and Gerald both get jobs working for Mrs. Vitello in her flower shop. Arnold designs a fantastic float for the City Day Parade, but the school has no money to build it.
Arnold's Christmas
S1
E20
Dec 11, 1996
When Arnold draws Mr. Hyunh's name in the boarding house's Secret Santa, he decides to make it the most special Christmas ever for the lonely boarder and tries to reunite Mr. Hyunh with his long-lost daughter.