Grab your juice boxes and head to the playground! Join us as we count down the most memorable adventures from Third Street School. From epic standoffs to heartwarming friendships, these episodes captured the spirit of childhood and taught us valuable lessons about standing up for what's right, the importance of play, and the power of friendship.
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00:00TJ, that was just a little kid.
00:02We're all little kids. It's the guts and spirit inside that makes us something more.
00:05Welcome to Miss Mojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the most beloved recess episodes of all time.
00:11I'll rise. Okay, let's get this over with. I'm missing lunch.
00:16Number 10. First name, Ashley.
00:18So I assessed it, Joe. That's Mr. Girly to you. And I let him have it. Pow!
00:25Spinelli is the toughest member of the gang, so it's totally scandalous when her first name is revealed to be Ashley.
00:31When she's outed by the devious Randall, Third Street's cool girl, Cleek, forcibly inducts her into their ranks for the good of the Ashley name.
00:39According to the Constitution of the Playground, Rule 5, Article 3, under clicks, and I quote,
00:44Any kid named Ashley must become a member of the Ashleys if invited by another Ashley. But that can't be right.
00:50Spinelli's friends and fellow fourth graders are determined to free her from her new life, whatever it takes.
00:56It's fun to see Spinelli in a new light, but satisfying that she's never swayed by the Ashley worldview.
01:02She's still our Spinelli, whatever she looks like.
01:05I'll give you to the count of ten. One, two...
01:09Ten! Come back here, you little worm!
01:14There's a lot of Ashleys out there, but there's only one Spinelli.
01:18Number 9. Weekend at Muriel's
01:20For an elementary school kid, running into your teacher outside of school will never not be weird.
01:25Seeing them as human is simply out of the question.
01:27However, Recess does attempt to humanize the adults occasionally.
01:31I'm telling you guys, there's something weird going on between Finster and Hank.
01:35What are you talking about, Teach?
01:37Every time he comes around, she suddenly turns nice. It's just not normal.
01:40In To Finster With Love, the school's strictest teacher gets her chance at romance.
01:45In Weekend at Muriel's, we bear witness to a whole weekend in her life.
01:49Cop a squat, Spinelli. We'll catch a little something on the boob tube.
01:52Cool! Wrestling's on tonight!
01:53Nonsense! We're watching McManus!
01:55McManus? The vet detective? You've gotta be kidding!
01:58Shh! It's starting!
01:59When Miss Finster offers to babysit Spinelli, bunion scraping, old-timey music, and liver and sprouts are all on the agenda.
02:06But after learning that Spinelli thinks she's boring, the fierce old lady reveals a whole new side to her personality.
02:12And her guest even finds herself having a good time.
02:15Thanks for everything, Miss Finster. I had a great weekend.
02:18Oh, are you kidding? Batting practice, miniature golf tourney, chilly dogs in the park. It was a Sunday I'll never forget.
02:25Yeah.
02:26Number 8. The Story of Whomps
02:28Recess has a vernacular all of its own. From the Ashley's catchphrase to TJ's oft-quoted expression, tender.
02:35Whomps is another TJ-ism, and here we find out he invented it in the second grade to avoid getting in trouble for cursing.
02:43You know what we need, Vince? We need a word that will never get us in trouble. A word that doesn't mean anything. That way, when we stop a finger playing wall ball, or spill out cocoa in our lap...
02:51We can yell without ending up at the wall!
02:53It's a word that means nothing. But the grown-ups soon decide it must have some offensive meaning, and proceed to have it banned. Which, of course, only causes the word to spread like wildfire.
03:01TJ's a sucker for a cause, and takes on the fight for the right to play around with language, and create your own slang. The moral of the story? Freedom of expression is a good thing, and sometimes a funny word is just that.
03:19So that's the whole story, Mr. White. I just made the word up. It doesn't mean anything at all.
03:23I understand completely, TJ. You seem like a fine, well-meaning young man. You needn't worry about this anymore.
03:297. The Box
03:31It occurs to me that as long as children have each other, discipline is impossible. The key is to sever the link to their friends. Break that, and you break the child!
03:41It would take a lot to break the spirit of TJ Detwiler Jr., but in The Box, Miss Finster almost manages it.
03:48The Box is her brainchild, a promising new punishment designed to separate rule-breakers from their peers, and place them within the confines of four lines painted on the ground.
03:57Well, I say the joke's on you because the rules of the game just changed. Discipline has a new name, and that name is... The Box!
04:06At first, the kids mock the idea, but when TJ becomes the first to earn himself ten minutes of solitary confinement, it proves to be a surprisingly effective deterrent.
04:16The episode is a smart, memorable instalment with some great jokes.
04:20We gotta do something, you guys, before we lose TJ forever!
04:23Maybe if we just never use the word square again!
04:25Yeah, right, what are we gonna do, play four circle?
04:28Number 6. The Beauty Contest
04:30The gang get off the playground and into the world of pageants in this Spinelli-centered episode, where the Miss Congeniality vibes are strong.
04:37It's merely a function of proportion. Spinelli, all is not lost. I could simply scale the stress down and copy a Paris designer's latest sensation.
04:45Great, can I go back in the stall now?
04:47The Ashleys enter Spinelli into the Little Miss Blush contest as a prank, but never one to shy away from a challenge, Spinelli resolves to actually try and win the thing.
04:57Vince, who never met a competition he couldn't get invested in, takes on the role of coach, and his scenes are a hilarious highlight.
05:04Okay, Spinelli, I was up all night watching videotapes of the last seven Little Miss Blush pageants, and I've prepared a program for victory. Our first lesson? The walk.
05:12With a strong team behind her, Spinelli makes it further than anyone expects, but the ending still comes as a surprise.
05:19Number 5. Recess is cancelled
05:22All work and no play makes Third Street School a grey and depressing place, when the government decides to test out an experimental program of no recess.
05:30Recommendations, Mr. Secretary?
05:32Just one, sir. Cancel recess. It's a waste of valuable time. Our youngsters could be using those precious minutes to learn more.
05:38Unusually, the kids are largely passive here. They're subject to the whims of the Board of Education, while the social commentary plays out.
05:45I'm sorry, Spine. I was just thinking about that sweet boo once, how my foot makes when I make contact with a kickball.
05:51Thank you. We'll administer another test tomorrow. Back to your studies.
05:55In an attempt to make a statement and look impressive, the board picks a failsafe school to test out their joyless scheme.
06:01But the joke's on them when test scores plummet, as anyone with any common sense could have predicted.
06:07What's this large black line descending at such a steep angle? Delinquency?
06:10Those are the test scores, sir.
06:12Show this data to no one, do you understand me?
06:14It's not the most feel-good episode, but it definitely has something to say.
06:18Number 4. One stayed clean.
06:21Private! You look great.
06:24Thanks, Pop. Uh, sir?
06:26This is an historic day for the Griswold family, soldier. Make us proud.
06:30The genuine friendship between the gang is one of the things that makes recess so special.
06:34Gus is the newest member of the group, but every one of the guys still has his back. And on picture day, they prove it.
06:40Gus is an army kid who has never had a class picture, so his friends commit themselves to keeping him dirt-free, risking their own cleanliness in the process.
06:49Alright, alright! I surrender!
06:51Not without a fight, you don't!
06:55He does!
06:58As the day progresses, the playground becomes a war zone, and by the time the fourth grade is cooled up, there's only two kids left standing.
07:05The twist ending might just have you tearing up.
07:08That's my son, right there near the middle, in his first class picture ever. If you ask me, soldier, well, I'd say he's never looked better.
07:16Number 3. The Experiment
07:18In the world of recess, the kids are running a society all their own, so sometimes it's easy to forget they're, like, nine years old.
07:25In The Experiment, we get a reminder, when the gang are horrified by Butch's horror story of his older brother kissing a girl.
07:32Their eyes are getting googly, their lips slurping and smacking.
07:36No, it can't be true!
07:38You're making it up!
07:39The mysterious kid imparts a dire warning. Kissing is the future.
07:43Shocked and disturbed by these revelations, it soon suggested that the gang should draw straws and try some kissing of their own, purely as an experiment.
07:51It's quite simple, actually. All we have to do is hold a scientific inquiry, find a willing boy and girl, observe them kissing, ask them to describe their reactions, and then we'll know once and for all.
08:00We can do it tomorrow before school!
08:02TJ and Spinelli are the chosen victims, and the whole school gathers to see the result. It's a goofy little episode, but guaranteed to make you smile.
08:10Well, at least now we know for sure. There's no way we're ever going to want to kiss you girls.
08:15Yeah, and we aren't going to want to kiss you guys, neither.
08:192. Economics of Recess
08:22This show loved to tackle a big theme, and in this episode, it takes on capitalism.
08:27It's mom stickers, Teej.
08:28Those dumb things kids put on their notebooks?
08:30Correct. The colorful collectible stickers have become extremely popular.
08:33Yeah, if you don't have mom stickers, kids won't let you do anything.
08:36You mean they're like money? Only better!
08:38TJ is out sick for a week, and returns to discover there's a new currency on the playground.
08:42Mon stickers. Without stickers, you're nothing. Even lying on the grass incurs a fee.
08:47Ah, now this I can afford. Man, I gotta get me some stickers!
08:55Forced to sell his hat to Menlo, who has family stickers, TJ commits himself to working his way up the ladder.
09:01Getting nowhere fast, he starts paying littler kids to do his work for a lower price, and taking his cut off the top.
09:08The writing is whip-smart, and it's fun to see TJ embrace his inner evil dictator.
09:14Everyone either works for you, or just stands around and does nothing.
09:16Good point. Gus, start charging kids for standing around!
09:19Before we unveil our top pick, here are a few honorable mentions.
09:22The Legend of Big Kid, in which TJ is captured by the Kindergarteners.
09:27Nap! No thanks, I'm too old for naps.
09:30Nap!
09:32Hey, this feels pretty nice.
09:37Nap good!
09:39Yeah, yeah, nap good.
09:41The New Kid. Gus makes his first appearance and learns to stand up for himself.
09:46Will you listen here, Bob? Who graduated and made you king? I am not a nobody! I am a somebody! I am Gus P Griswoldt! You hear me? Gus P Griswoldt!
09:59Speedy? We hardly knew ye.
10:01Third Street School mourns the passing of Speedy, the fourth grade's pet hamster.
10:05Rinelli, what are you doing?
10:06I loved the little rat, okay? I loved everything about him. His cute little nose, his cute little paws.
10:12I'll never forget the first day he looked up at me with those black beady eyes, and I saw love.
10:18That's right, love!
10:19The Substitute. Miss Grotke goes out sick, and TJ has a battle of wills with the substitute teacher.
10:25All this week, Mr. E here has been bossing us around, taking away our recess, forcing us to do independent study.
10:31And I guess he won all you guys over, but there's something I want to remind you about, and her name is Miss Grotke.
10:36She did everything for us this year, from teaching us about healing herbs to helping us with our times tables.
10:41Teacher's Lounge. The gang are on a mission to discover the secrets of the staff room.
10:46This is it. No laboratories. No high-tech gym. No spiritual awakening.
10:57All these years of wondering. And it turns out the teacher's lounge is nothing more than a nong-eyed couch and a busted coffee maker.
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11:19Number 1. The Great Jungle Gym Standoff.
11:22I... I can't believe it. Recess without Old Rusty. Say it ain't so.
11:28The spirit of rebellion and protest has always been strong with this show, and the Great Jungle Gym Standoff is one of the most feel-good examples.
11:36When the school decides it's time to tear down the playground's Jungle Gym, affectionately christened Old Rusty, the kids choose to make a stand.
11:44What do we want? A Jungle Gym! When do we want it? Now! That's it. Do something!
11:50Sorry lady, but tearing down a Jungle Gym with kids on it is against union rules.
11:54Though the teachers try their best, the kids will not be moved. When their parents are called in to make their offspring see reason, they instead join in the show of solidarity.
12:03We shall not, we shall not be moved just like a sea.
12:10But, but you people can't do this!
12:13Ultimately, the people get what they want, preserving their nostalgia while creating something new.
12:18Which Recess episode do you remember the best? And who was your favourite character? Share your favourites in the comments.
12:24I just want it to be remembered.
12:26I know, Bob. But the thing is, great leaders aren't remembered for the things they built. They're remembered for the things they do.
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