"Night Bill" is the first segment of the twenty-third episode of Big City Greens.
Synopsis[]
Cricket and Tilly become suspicious when they notice that Bill is sneaking out at night. They follow him and discover that he is working at a call in center run by a sadistic adrenaline powered boss. The kids decide to race him to free their dad.
Plot[]
Cricket and Tilly are playing with the junk in their front yard when Bill arrives with two brand new bikes for them and two tickets to the movies. The kids are excited, but Tilly notices that Bill is tired. Cricket chooses to ignore it however and enjoy their new gifts. While using the bathroom in the middle of the night, Cricket sees Bill leaving with a duffel bag, but does not say anything about it. The next morning, Bill buys doughnuts for the kids from "the fancy place downtown" and the kids once again notice that Bill is tired and sleepy. Despite Cricket trying to convince Tilly to just sit back and let Bill do whatever he is doing so that they can enjoy the new things he is buying for them, Tilly coaxes Cricket to help investigate Bill's midnight runs. They sneak into the bed of the truck as Bill drives to a building deep in the city. The kids enter and discover that it is a strange and bland office building full of incredibly glum looking employees who are trying to sell an energy soda called Beef Up over the phone.
The kids see that Bill works under a mean and abusive man named Jyle Donelan, a man who drinks his own product and brags about his past of having won "season 14 of the hit 90's competition show, Global Fight Race". The kids confront Bill about his new job and he reveals that he felt ashamed seeing his children playing with the junk in the yard and felt that he has not become a good provider. Out of desperation, he decided to join the sales team of Beef Up Protein Drinks to make ends up. While Cricket admits that he enjoys the new gifts from Bill's new job, he and Tilly convince Bill that he is all they need and that they want him to go back to being a farmer again. However, Jyle reveals that Bill signed a contract stating that he is to work for at his business for a whole year and cannot quit. Bill then resigns himself to his calls.
Not wanting to give up, Cricket and Tilly challenge Jyle to a Global Fight Race style competition to free Bill. Jyle counteracts; if he wins Bill will have to work for him for two (later five) years. The racers set their "chariots" (actually just office chairs) and their "steeds" (Bill for Cricket and Tilly and Mark for Jyle) as they race around the office to the mile amusement and indifference to their coworkers. Things seem lost when Jyle uses dirty tactics to trip up Bill, but Cricket quickly grabs a couple of Beef Up soda to use as rockets to propel them to the finish line. The kids tell Bill that they love him more than they love "things" and Tilly gives Cricket the original contract Bill signed for him to eat. However, he swallows a staple and Bill makes a declaration for him to go to the emergency room.
Cast[]
- Chris Houghton as Cricket Green
- Marieve Herington as Tilly Green
- Bob Joles as Bill Green
- Wallace Shawn as Jyle Donelan
Trivia[]
- Gramma Alice is absent.
- The name of the doughnut place that Bill went to is called Höl.
- Cricket and Tilly have apparently used the "pig in the bed" trick to fool dad into thinking they are asleep before.
- Jyle resembles Anger from Inside Out.
- Global Fight Race is meant to be a parody of The Amazing Race, American Gladiators and Ben-Hur.
- Morals:
- Don't take up jobs that are not up your alley.
- There's nothing more to love than your own family.
International Premieres[]
External links[]
