| rdfs:comment | - Go here to see more videos of these shorts:
- The Electric Company was a television show.
- The Electric Company is one of an educational programming which aired in 1972-1977 on PBS. The Electric Company was expected to air the 2009 version on PBS Kids GO! and it was produced by Sesame Workshop.
- || PBS Kids || || Current shows || Arthur The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About That! Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood Dinosaur Train Franny's Feet Kart Kingdom Peg + Cat Plum Landing Ruff Ruffman, Humble Media Genius Sesame Street Thomas & Friends Wild Kratts || Past shows || 3000 Whys of Blue Cat Adventures from the Book of Virtues The Adventures of Dudley the Dragon The Amazing Colossal Adventures of WordGirl Angelina Ballerina: The Next Steps* Baby Einstein The Baby Einstein Company Barney & Friends* The Berenstain Bears (2003-)* Bert and Ernie's Great Adventures Betsy's Kindergarten Adventures Betsy's Kindergarten Adventures Between the Lions* Bill Nye the Science Guy The Big Comfy Couch The Biscuit Brothers Biz Kid$ Bob the Builder Boohbah Caillou* Captain Kangaroo The Charlie Horse Music
- 1. The Electric Company was an Edutainment Show that ran from 1971-77 on PBS (and the last two seasons reran until 1985) from Children's Television Workshop, the company that previously brought the world Sesame Street. Its main purpose was to teach reading to reluctant readers by using Sketch Comedy, but its clever writing, memorable characters (such as Easy Reader, Fargo North Decoder, J. Arthur Crank, Jennifer of the Jungle, Paul the Gorilla), appearances by Spider-Man, animated inserts with the superhero Letterman, and psychedelic Scanimation visuals made it a cult hit with all ages.
- While Sesame Street was targeted primarily at preschool children and covered a broad curricular base from letter and number recognition to shapes, relational concepts, and abstract ideas, The Electric Company was aimed at elementary school kids aged 6–9 and intended to teach and supplement reading skill instruction, with emphasis on phonics, rhymes, punctuation, and basics of sentence structure. Although the series used a variety of short segments and animated commercials much like Sesame Street, there was no one central set equivalent to Sesame Street as the primary starting point. Its slogan was "for the graduates of Sesame Street."
- In "Mr. Saturday Knight", Peter Griffin loses his job in the aftermath of the Happy-Go-Lucky Toy Factory's closing, he attempts to get a series of jobs, including a job as a cast member on The Electric Company. There, he and another cast member tape a "soft-shoe silhouette" segment, where one person gives a suffix, the other a prefix and together sound out the word. Peter fails to keep up with the other actor and in his frustration, assaults the other actor.
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| abstract | - || PBS Kids || || Current shows || Arthur The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About That! Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood Dinosaur Train Franny's Feet Kart Kingdom Peg + Cat Plum Landing Ruff Ruffman, Humble Media Genius Sesame Street Thomas & Friends Wild Kratts || Past shows || 3000 Whys of Blue Cat Adventures from the Book of Virtues The Adventures of Dudley the Dragon The Amazing Colossal Adventures of WordGirl Angelina Ballerina: The Next Steps* Baby Einstein The Baby Einstein Company Barney & Friends* The Berenstain Bears (2003-)* Bert and Ernie's Great Adventures Betsy's Kindergarten Adventures Betsy's Kindergarten Adventures Between the Lions* Bill Nye the Science Guy The Big Comfy Couch The Biscuit Brothers Biz Kid$ Bob the Builder Boohbah Caillou* Captain Kangaroo The Charlie Horse Music Pizza Clifford the Big Red Dog* Clifford's Puppy Days* Curious George* Corduroy Cyberchase* Danger Rangers Design Squad The Dooley and Pals Show DragonflyTV Dragon Tales The Electric Company* (original * remake) Elliot Moose Elmo's World Fetch! with Ruff Ruffman* Gerbert George Shrinks Ghostwriter (1992-1995) Groundling Marsh Hello Mrs. Cherrywinkle Hooper The Huggabug Club In the Mix It's a Big Big World Jakers! The Adventures of Piggley Winks Jay Jay: The Jet Plane Katie and Orbie Kidsongs KidsWorld Sports Kratts' Creatures Lamb Chop's Play-Along Liberty's Kids Little Amadeus Lomax, the Hound of Music* Long Ago & Far Away Lost Lagoon The Magic School Bus Mark Kistler's Imagination Station Mama Mirabelle's Home Movies* Martha Speaks* Maya & Miguel* Mr. Conductor's Thomas Tales Mister Rogers' Neighborhood* Newton's Apple Noddy OWL/TV Panwapa Pappyland PBS Kids Bookworm Bunch PBS Kids Go! Peep and the Big Wide World Peppermint Place Pocoyo Popular Mechanics for Kids Postcards from Buster Powerhouse The Puzzle Place Raggs Reading Rainbow Romper Room Sagwa, the Chinese Siamese Cat SciGirls* Seemore's Playhouse Shalom Sesame Shining Time Station Shining Time Station: 'Tis a Gift The Short Circus Sid the Science Kid Signing Time! Space Racers Square One Television Story Factory Super Why! Seven Little Monsters Taste Buds Teletubbies Theodore Tugboat Toopy and Binoo* Tots TV Waiting for Santa Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego? Where in Time Is Carmen Sandiego? Wild About Animals Wild Animal Baby Wimzie's House Wishbone WordGirl* WordWorld* Writers Contest The Wubbulous World of Dr. Seuss Zoboomafoo* Zoobilee Zoo ZOOM* (original * remake) The Zula Patrol ||end||
- 1. The Electric Company was an Edutainment Show that ran from 1971-77 on PBS (and the last two seasons reran until 1985) from Children's Television Workshop, the company that previously brought the world Sesame Street. Its main purpose was to teach reading to reluctant readers by using Sketch Comedy, but its clever writing, memorable characters (such as Easy Reader, Fargo North Decoder, J. Arthur Crank, Jennifer of the Jungle, Paul the Gorilla), appearances by Spider-Man, animated inserts with the superhero Letterman, and psychedelic Scanimation visuals made it a cult hit with all ages. The cast was made up of a diverse group of performers such as Rita Moreno, who was already a well-known actress in her own right. Bill Cosby was a cast member in Season 1, and "The Adventures of Letterman" shorts featured the voices of Gene Wilder, Zero Mostel, and Joan Rivers. But most notable was a young and then-unknown Morgan Freeman, who played Easy Reader (and has been trying to live it down ever since). Other cast members included Skip Hinnant (best known as the voice of Fritz the Cat), Judy Graubart (a member of the improvisational comedy troupe The Second City), Luis Avalos, Jim Boyd, Hattie Winston, and Lee Chamberlin. In addition to the adult cast, there was a Fake Band called the Short Circus, which consisted of 11- to 17-year-olds; June Angela was the only member of the Short Circus to stay the whole series' run. Other notable members included Irene Cara, later to become a hit-making solo artist; Todd Graff, brother of Mr. Belvedere actress Ilene Graff, and Denise Nickerson, at the time known for playing Violet Beauregarde in Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory.
- Go here to see more videos of these shorts:
- The Electric Company was a television show.
- The Electric Company is one of an educational programming which aired in 1972-1977 on PBS. The Electric Company was expected to air the 2009 version on PBS Kids GO! and it was produced by Sesame Workshop.
- In "Mr. Saturday Knight", Peter Griffin loses his job in the aftermath of the Happy-Go-Lucky Toy Factory's closing, he attempts to get a series of jobs, including a job as a cast member on The Electric Company. There, he and another cast member tape a "soft-shoe silhouette" segment, where one person gives a suffix, the other a prefix and together sound out the word. Peter fails to keep up with the other actor and in his frustration, assaults the other actor. In "Hell Comes to Quahog", Quahog 5 News reports of a planned rolling blackout, Diane Simmons refers to an electric cooperative as The Electric Company and yells, "Hey you guys!". The line was Moreno's signature, and so the season one opening plays
- While Sesame Street was targeted primarily at preschool children and covered a broad curricular base from letter and number recognition to shapes, relational concepts, and abstract ideas, The Electric Company was aimed at elementary school kids aged 6–9 and intended to teach and supplement reading skill instruction, with emphasis on phonics, rhymes, punctuation, and basics of sentence structure. Although the series used a variety of short segments and animated commercials much like Sesame Street, there was no one central set equivalent to Sesame Street as the primary starting point. Its slogan was "for the graduates of Sesame Street." The show also utilized a repertory cast portraying a variety of recurring and one-shot characters, in contrast to the on Sesame, who generally had fixed names and identities. The company included such name players as Rita Moreno and Bill Cosby (for the first two seasons), as well as a then-unknown Morgan Freeman (as Easy Reader, Dracula, and others) and a motley group of stage veterans and improvisational comedians including Skip Hinnant, Jim Boyd, Luis Avalos, Hattie Winston, Judy Graubart, and Lee Chamberlin, among others. Recurring characters included the surly old man J. Arthur Crank; detective Fargo North, Decoder; diner owner Vi; the bellowing Hollywood director Otto (played by Rita Moreno); and Spider-Man. Puppetry was minimal, limited to the aniform character Lorelei the Chicken and a handful of guest appearances by the Sesame Street Muppets. In May 2008, Sesame Workshop began shooting for a new revival of the series that debuted January 19, 2009, and features few references to the original series. Muppet performer Tyler Bunch provides voices for several of the cartoon segments, notably in the Jack Bowser series.
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