Elephant On The Loose: Little Bill's pet hamster, Elephant, sneaks out of his cage while Little Bill is trying to return him from Elephant's toy rolling ball so Bill can go shopping with Brenda and Bobby. Realizing his pet is missing, Little Bill won't let anyone leave the house until Elephant is found, for fear the hamster will crawl out the front door if it's opened. The entire family scours the house trying to find Elephant, but Little Bill finally coaxes the hamster to come out of hiding by offering a hamster treat and singing a song he made up about how much he loves his pet.

If A Bird Rings, Answer It: While Brenda and the kids are walking home from shopping, they stop to answer a ringing pay telephone. Brenda finds it unusual to find nobody on the other end, until Little Bill notices the phone isn't ringing-- there's a parrot sitting on top of the booth imitating the phone's ring. The parrot, whom Brenda christens ""Phone Dog"" because the bird likes to mimic phones ringing and a

Elephant On The Loose / If A Bird Rings, Answer It

Xavier Pritchett

Gregory Hines

Phylicia Rashād

Ruby Dee

Monique Beasley

Eunice Cho

Kianna Underwood

Big Kid / The Bills Go To Work

Zoopity Zoo / The Neighborhood Park

Zoopity Zoo: When Little Bill can't find his Captain Brainstorm doll before he's supposed to go to Andrew's house to play, Alice the Great suggests he clean the room up; Little Bill is reluctant to clean because he claims it isn't fun, so Alice the Great makes up a rhyming game using the phrase ""1, 2, Zoopity Zoo"" to make the job seem like playtime. Soon, Little Bill's bedroom is organized, and he even helps Andrew clean up his messy room when he goes over to play.

The Neighborhood Park: As Big Bill and Little Bill are walking to the park downtown to play ball, Little Bill asks his father why there isn't a local park closer to their house. Big Bill explains that there aren't too many vacant areas for parks near them, but when they stop at Uncle Al's store for a snack, Little Bill suggests that the vacant garbage cluttered lot across the street from the store would make a perfect park area. Inspired, Uncle Al volunteers that his family, the rest of the Glovers, and some of the nearby ne

Big Kid: While watching his favorite TV show, Space Exporers, with Alice the Great, Little Bill tells her about the story, since Alice the Great fell asleep during the program. He points out that the show was all about how Captain Brainstorm's dog, Sparky, felt like he wasn't being treated like a 'big dog' and ran away; Little Bill says that sometimes he feels like the family treats him the same way and wants to do things like a ""Big Kid"" does. Alice the Great allows him to pour his own juice, and is very impressed when Little Bill cleans up his glass afterwards, because ""that's what big kids do."" When he goes upstairs to his room to play, Little Bill notices some of April's toys have fallen off her bed and volunteers to pick them up so April won't trip on them when she comes home. Alice the Great praises Little Bill for trying to act more grown up, but tells him there is plenty of time for him to be a big kid and to enjoy the time he still has as a ""little kid"" too.

The Bills Go To Wo

The Promise: When Little Bill runs out of his own belongings to bring to Show and Tell, he asks his sister April if he can borrow her basketball trophy to show. Bobby points out that the trophy is April's most prized possession, but April gives her permission and makes Little Bill promise to take care of the trophy. Unfortunately, despite Little Bill telling his friends that they couldn't touch the trophy after he showed it to them, somehow it gets misplaced during recess and the little basketball on the player's hand gets broken off. Little Bill is afraid April will be angry with him for breaking his promise, but Bobby suggests they try to fix the trophy. Little Bill sacrifices his most prized possession, a tiger's eye marble, to replace the missing basketball on the trophy, and his sister forgives him.

The Practice: One morning, Brenda explains to Little Bill that after school he will have to attend April's basketball practice instead of coming straight home because Alice the Great h

The Promise / The Practice

Are We There Yet?: The Glover family plans to spend the day at their favorite amusement park, Super Family Fun Land. Little Bill is put in charge of the maps since it's going to be a long drive before they reach the park. Bobby worries that their day will be ruined when it begins to rain while they're driving along, but Little Bill says that they should follow Alice the Great's advice about bad weather-- Keep your chin up high, smile at the sky, and wish those rain clouds bye, bye, bye. Little Bill tries her method and gets the rest of the family to join in; sure enough, shortly the storm lets up and the Glovers are on their way again.

Super Family Fun Land: The family arrives at the amusement park, which has a bug theme about all its rides. Although everyone wants to go on different rides, Little Bill wants to go on as many rides as they can together-- as a family. They start off the day riding the spinning Spider ride, but Big Bill says it made him all 'wobbly' and has to sit down. A

Are We There Yet? / Super Family Fun Land!

The Ring Bear: Miss Murray, Little Bill's teacher, announces to the class that she will be getting married and would like two of the children to be attendants in her wedding. To be fair, she selects names from a hat, and picks Kiku to be the flower girl and Little Bill to be the ring bearer. Little Bill mishears the teacher and thinks his job will the ""Ring Bear,"" meaning he will dress up in a bear costume. He's very disappointed when Brenda corrects him and tells him he'll have to wear a tuxedo, but she also makes him understand that he made a promise to Miss Murray to do his job at the wedding, even if it means he can't be a bear.

Miss Murray's Wedding: Brenda, Big Bill, and Little Bill go to the church so Little Bill can be the Ring Bearer in Miss Murray's wedding. He meets up with Kiku and her grandmother, and they are all greeted by the nervous groom, Dr. Winthrop Clinkscales, who presents Kiku with a corsage and gives Little Bill a special boutenniere with a little bear on it so

The Ring Bear / Miss Murray's Wedding

The Birthday Present: Little Bill and Brenda go shopping for a birthday present for Bill's cousin, Fuschia. Bill decides upon a toy robot called a ""Gooey-Bot"" that has a liquid goo in its stomach that wiggles around when you push a button on its head. Trying to prove he's grown up, Little Bill attempts to wrap Fuschia's present by himself, but he accidentally knocks it off the table while arranging the wrapping paper. When he picks it up, he notices the button the make the ""gloop"" move doesn't work anymore, and when he tries to fix it himself he just makes it worse, getting glue all over the toy. Little Bill hides when he hears Brenda coming, but she explains that she isn't angry if he broke the toy by accident, and there's still time before Fuschia's party to buy a replacement gift.

The Birthday Party: Little Bill goes to his cousin Fuschia's birthday party pleased that his present is most likely the best gift. When he gets to the party, he tells his friend Andrew that he bought Fusch

The Birthday Present / The Birthday Party

A Trip To The Hospital: Little Bill is playing Cowboy in the back yard with his cousin Fuschia when he suddenly trips and falls on his arm. Crying out in pain, Little Bill fears he hurt himself, and Alice the Great determines that he has to go to the hospital to see if he broke anything. Brenda rushes over from work to assure Little Bill he'll be fine. At the hospital, Little Bill's doctor turns out to be Miss Murray's husband, Dr. Clinkscales, so Little Bill isn't as afraid since he knows Winthrop. Dr. Clinkscales takes x-rays of Bill's arm and diagnoses he broke his wrist, so Little Bill will have to wear a cast. As they leave the hospital, the doctor tells Brenda to give Bill a dish of ice cream as medicine.

The Wrong Thing To Do: Cooped up inside the house because of his broken wrist, Little Bill becomes bored and frustrated since he's stuck inside while April, Bobby, and all his friends can play outside. Brenda suggests that he do something relaxing so as not to hurt his arm furth

A Trip To The Hospital / The Wrong Thing To Do

Making Mother's Day / Picture Perfect

Rolling Along: As Miss Murray teaches the class gymnastics for physical education in the class, Little Bill becomes frustrated when it comes time for the students to practice forward rolls since he hasn't been able to do one successfully. Miss Murray suggests that Bill shouldn't give up and work on the exercise at home. In the back yard, Little Bill asks Alice the Great for help, but she recommends April help her brother because she's younger.

Rolling Along / The Stage Trick

The Snack Helper: At school, Little Bill is pleased to note on Miss Murray's assignment board that he has been chosen Snack Helper for the day; this means he gets to set up the table during snack time and choose who goes first when it's time to seat everybody. He soon realizes a problem in the job when all his friends want him to pick them to go first. Little Bill wants to be fair to his friends, but he doesn't want to choose one over the others for fear of angering the kids who weren't chosen.

The Snack Helper / Buds

Copy Cat: At school, Little Bill and Andrew are pretending to be firemen when Andrew accuses Little Bill of not letting him have a turn driving the fire truck; Little Bill argues that he was just about to let Andrew drive, but he only wanted to finish taking his turn. They end the argument when they see Kiku and Fuschia playing Farmer.

Copy Cat / Picture Day

Little Bill is a television show for children that is presently on Nick Jr. The stories are based on Bill Cosby's Little Bill book series, set in Philadelphia and feature Bill Jr. learning a lesson or moral. It was developed through research and in consultation with a panel of educational consultants.

The show also aired on CBS as part of Nick Jr. on CBS, from September 16, 2000 - September 7, 2002, then as part of Nick on CBS from August 2, 2003 - September 10, 2005. The show returned with the return of Nick Jr. on CBS on September 17, 2005, and seen through September 9, 2006 when the block was replaced with The KOL Secret Slumber Party on CBS. The series went back into production in fall 2006 and a new season of 6 episodes aired on Noggin throughout April and July 2007, ending in the later month. Reruns are played on Nick Jr., on BET, as of January 7, 2008, and on Centric, as of May 1, 2010.

Sonia Manzano, best known for playing Maria Rodriguez on Sesame Street, was a frequent writer for the show.

Elephant On The Loose / If A Bird Rings, Answer It

Seasons4

Season 2 Episodes12

Cast7

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Episode Summary