The Electric Company
Encyclopedia
The Electric Company is an educational American children's television series
that was produced by the Children's Television Workshop
(now called Sesame Workshop) for PBS
in the United States. PBS broadcast 780 episodes over the course of its six seasons from October 25, 1971 to April 15, 1977. After it ceased production that year, the program continued in reruns from 1977 to 1985, the result of a decision made in 1975 to produce two final seasons for perpetual use. CTW produced the show at Teletape Studios
Second Stage in Manhattan
, the first home of Sesame Street.
The Electric Company employed sketch comedy
and other devices to provide an entertaining program to help elementary school
children develop their grammar and reading skills. It was intended for children who had graduated from CTW's flagship program, Sesame Street
. Appropriately, the humor was more mature than what was seen there.
, Rita Moreno
, Bill Cosby
, Judy Graubart
, Lee Chamberlin
and Skip Hinnant
. Most of the cast had done stage, repertory, and improvisational work, with Cosby and Moreno already well-established performers on film and television. Ken Roberts
, best known as a soap-opera
announcer, was the narrator of some segments during season one.
Jim Boyd
, who was strictly an off-camera voice actor and puppeteer during season one, began appearing on-camera in season two, mostly in the role of J. Arthur Crank. Luis Ávalos
also joined the cast at that time.
Bill Cosby was a regular in season one, and occasionally appeared in new segments during season two, but left afterward. Nevertheless, segments that Cosby had taped during the first two years were repeatedly used for the rest of the run, and Cosby was billed as a cast member throughout. Similarly, Lee Chamberlin also left after season two, but many of her segments were also repeatedly reused; consequently, she was also billed as a cast member for the rest of the run.
Added to the cast at the beginning of Season Three was Hattie Winston
, an actress and singer who later appeared on the show Becker
. Beginning in season four, Danny Seagren appeared in the role of Spider-Man
.
The adult cast also had recurring roles as J.J. (Skip Hinnant), Carmela (Rita Moreno), Brenda (Lee Chamberlain), Mark (Morgan Freeman), Hank (Bill Cosby), Winnie (Judy Graubart), Andy (Jim Boyd), Roberto (Luis Avalos), and Sylvia (Hattie Winston).
Another regular part of the show was the Short Circus (the name a pun on short circuit
), a singing group of kids whose songs also facilitated reading comprehension. June Angela
was the only Short Circus member to remain with the show during its entire six-year run (she was 11 when production began and 17 during its final season); others lasted anywhere from one to four years. Irene Cara
appeared only during the first season and would go on to become a pop music star (Fame, Flashdance
). Cara was replaced by Denise Nickerson
, best known for her appearance as Violet Beauregarde in the 1971 film Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory
. Nickerson lasted a single season.
The other three original members of the Short Circus were Melanie Henderson (who at 13 was the oldest of the original group), Stephen Gustafson, and Douglas Grant. For Seasons Three and Four, Grant and Nickerson were replaced by dancer Gregg Burge
and Broadway actress Bayn Johnson
.
Except for June Angela, an entirely new Short Circus was cast for Seasons Five and Six. The new hires were Todd Graff (Ilene Graff
's brother), Rodney Lewis
, Réjane Magloire
, and Janina Matthews.
In the first season, a number of unbilled children were also used on-camera with the show's cast, as on Sesame Street
, but this concept was very quickly dropped.
Because of the frequent reuse of segments, a practice derived from Sesame Street, actors continued to appear after their departures from the cast.
The original soundtrack album, released on Warner Bros. Records
, won a Grammy Award
for the show's cast.
, especially Scanimation
, a then-state-of-the-art analog video-synthesizer system. They were often used for presenting words with particular sounds. Sometimes a cast member would be seen alongside or interacting in another way with a word animation.
The typeface
used for most of the words displayed on-screen during the run was Franklin Gothic
. During season one, the typeface Clarendon
was also used. Spider-Man’s speech balloons were often set in Dom Casual
.
." After the copyright notice, the list of corporate sponsors would be flashed on the screen. Starting in 1973, and changing with each new season, an instrumental version of the show's theme played beneath the narration; prior to this, a specific musical score played during the corporate credits.
The corporate sponsors, which included such entities as the Ford Foundation
and the Carnegie Corporation of New York
, were flashed one, two, or often three at a time during seasons one through five and scrolled during season six.
Corporate credits for all seasons:
The donors in the above list would vary by season.
As with most PBS children's-related programming produced by Children's Television Workshop, The Electric Company featured closing credits
along with a full-length version of the same music that played over the corporate credits list on Friday episodes. The corporate credits, however, appeared daily.
The video that played beneath the scrolling list of credits changed from season to season and were as follows:
Starting with Season Three, a show's number would be presented in the sketch-of-the-day teaser segment, a parody of soap-opera teasers, which would highlight a particular sketch that would be shown during that episode. The voice of a cast member would say a variant of, "Today on The Electric Company, the so-and-so says, '(censored),'" and the action would freeze as the graphic of the word of the day (or a card with the word of the day printed on it) became visible to viewers. The censored words were replaced by a series of harsh electronic sounds (similar to the sound of a theremin
) roughly mimicking the tone and cadence of the word in question. The still action would linger on the screen for several seconds, then fade to black, where the show number would become visible in a Scanimate
animation in a random color. The music for this segment was a repetitive, funky instrumental groove featuring a call-and-response
between horns and a scratchy wah-wah
guitar.
The next-show teaser, which was introduced in Season Two without music, worked in the same way, and usually used a different take of the music heard during the sketch-of-the-day teaser, except that the voice said "Tune in next time, when..." and there was no show number shown. In Season Six, the electronic sounds were made less harsh-sounding, and new background music featuring lots of horns and a Moog synthesizer
was used.
In Season One, however, after the title sequence, the sound of a striking match would be heard, and a fade-up from black would reveal a hand holding a lit match and "Show #x" handwritten on a piece of paper that was placed in such a way so that it could blend with the surrounding objects in-frame. Instead of the next-show teaser, Ken Roberts's voice could be heard, saying, "And now, the last word," and the trademark light bulb would be shut off by a hand doing whatever the last word was. In Season Two, after the opening sequence the words "The Electric Company" would disappear from the familiar logo, and the show number would appear in its place through the use of a Scanimate
animation and an electronic whooshing sound.
Notably, some episodes in Seasons Three through Five had serious technical errors with either their sketch-of-the-day teaser segments or their next-show teaser segments, which was probably because of the failure of the linear
analog video
-editing equipment. Episodes that have these errors in their sketch-of-the-day teasers include 297, 390, 1A, 8A, and 15A—sometimes the music started too late, ended too early, or played too long; sometimes the errors are negligible, with the teaser music only playing a fraction of a second longer than usual.
For Season Six, because the teaser music was changed to a shorter, self-contained composition, these errors do not occur, with the exception of the teaser of 33B shown at the end of 32B (available on iTunes), where the teaser was accidentally cut by a fraction of a second.
, which licensed its Muppet characters for merchandising, The Electric Company did not have a brand or character that could help generate profit. The only significant items the show licensed were comic books and a Milton Bradley
board game of the Fargo North, Decoder character.
In addition, the PBS stations and statewide networks that aired the show often complained of the Children's Television Workshop
"soaking up so much money in public television," said veteran television producer Samuel Gibbon, who worked on the show. "The stations demanded that one of the programs—either Sesame Street or The Electric Company—be put into reruns to save money. By that time, Sesame Street was a cash fountain for the Workshop. The show was almost supporting itself by then with all the productions, books, records, and games. There was no way, it was felt, that they could reduce the number of original shows of Sesame Street. But the thought was that if we produce two final seasons of The Electric Company which were designed to be repeated, that would give the show four more years of life." Most PBS programs at the time were produced by local stations instead of independent producers like CTW.
, re-introduced the series to a new generation whose parents had grown up watching the show.
Noggin ran 65 select episodes until 2003, when they were pulled from the program lineup because Sesame Workshop sold its half of the network to Viacom
, which already owned the other half. The shows were cut subtly to fit Noggin's shorter running time and free up time for various interstitial segments produced for the network. These deletions included the episode numbers, the Scanimate
word animations, the segments 15 seconds and shorter, and the teasers of the next episodes (in seasons 2–6).
During the same period as the Noggin rebroadcasts, numerous fans of the program produced QuickTime
and MP3
clips from the Noggin rebroadcasts, old over-the-air recordings, and, in some cases, from master recording
s. These were hosted online at various places and received heavy attention from the blogosphere
(e.g., Boing Boing
) until a cease-and-desist
letter took down the most prominent of these sites in 2004.
and Sony BMG Music Entertainment
, released a DVD boxed set on February 7, 2006, called The Best of the Electric Company that included 20 uncut episodes from throughout the show's run, including the first and last episodes, plus outtakes and introductions and commentary by Rita Moreno and June Angela.
Due to the overwhelming—and somewhat unexpected—popularity of the initial DVD release, a second boxed set was released on November 14, 2006 (The Best of the Electric Company: Volume 2). This second volume contained 20 episodes from Seasons 1-5 plus a 30-minute documentary on the effects of in-school viewings of The Electric Company from 1975. Cast members Luis Avalos, Jim Boyd, Judy Graubart, Skip Hinnant, and Hattie Winston provided commentary and reflected on their years on the show. However, the original content of nine episodes presented in this set were altered. In some cases, material that was originally broadcast in a particular episode was removed completely while material from other episodes was included. For example, 60A originally contained the Spider-Man episode "Spidey Meets the Prankster" and used a scene from that sketch as the opening teaser, which was removed completely after the opening credits, leaving only the episode number, and at the start is an episode of "The Six-Dollar and Thirty-Nine Cent Man," which supposedly aired only during Season 6. Also removed following the Letterman sketch in this episode was the clip of the Short Circus singing "Stop!" and a Road Runner–Wile E. Coyote cartoon. Clayton appeared in this episode as well, even though he supposedly only appeared in Season 6. These altered episodes also contain special effects used to segue from one sketch to another that were not used in the show's original run. The other altered episodes are 197, 227, 322, 375, 35A, 57A, 77A, and 105A. The material seen in these altered episodes was not what was originally shown when the episodes were first broadcast.
It is believed that these changes were probably made to avoid repeats of segments that were on the first DVD set, but it is more likely that it was due to ownership rights—the segments that were used to cover up the material not under Sesame Workshop's control (Spider-Man, Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote, etc.) were longer than the excised segments, so the episodes were cut further to get them down to their required 28-minute length.
An hour-long television show called The Electric Company's Greatest Hits & Bits was broadcast on many PBS stations in late 2006. It included interviews with cast members, voice talent, and creator-producer Joan Ganz Cooney
. The special was produced by Authorized Pictures and distributed by American Public Television
, and was designed to be seen during pledge drives. It was released on DVD on March 6, 2007.
service, started selling 15 previously-unavailable episodes of The Electric Company. "Volume 1" contained Episodes 5, 13, 23, 128, 179, 249, 261, 289, 297, 374, 416, 475, 91A, 8B, and 32B.
In late 2007, another collection of 15 episodes dubbed "Volume 2" became available from iTunes. The new additions were Episodes 2, 36, 40, 75, 142, 154, 165, 172, 189, 218, 245, 290, 337, and 350. Repeated from Volume 1 was Episode 8B, erroneously labeled as 658, even though it is correct if the A–B designations were disregarded (1A–130A are 521–650, 1B–130B are 651–780).
It is unclear if these episodes were altered from the versions originally shown on television. Shout! Factory representatives indicated that it had no plans for another DVD set, implying that episodes distributed via iTunes would not be available in another format.
January 23, 2009. The revival includes interactive Web elements and community-outreach projects. Karen Fowler serves as executive producer. Unlike the 1970s series, in which the Electric Company refers to a troupe of actors in comedy sketches, the new series refers to a group of super heroes who battle villains in the name of literacy.
Season 1 premiered on January 23, 2009, and consisted of 28 episodes. None of the segments used in the 1970s were used in the revival (with the exception of new versions of the soft-shoe silhouettes and an occasional appearance of Paul the Gorilla, although these are infrequent), nor were any of the original actors (although June Angela has a cameo as a woman on the street). In addition, the theme used of the new version had no musical relation to the 1970s theme.
Season 1 was nominated for eight Emmy Awards in 2010 and won five.
Children's television series
Children's television series, are commercial television programs designed for, and marketed to children, normally scheduled for broadcast during the morning and afternoon when children are awake. They can sometimes run in the early evening, for the children that go to school...
that was produced by the Children's Television Workshop
Sesame Workshop
Sesame Workshop, formerly known as the Children's Television Workshop , is a Worldwide American non-profit organization behind the production of several educational children's programs that have run on public broadcasting around the world...
(now called Sesame Workshop) for PBS
Public Broadcasting Service
The Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....
in the United States. PBS broadcast 780 episodes over the course of its six seasons from October 25, 1971 to April 15, 1977. After it ceased production that year, the program continued in reruns from 1977 to 1985, the result of a decision made in 1975 to produce two final seasons for perpetual use. CTW produced the show at Teletape Studios
Teletape Studios
Reeves Teletape Studios was a group of American TV studios located in the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York. Owned by Reeves Communications Corp., Teletape was established in 1968, then bankrupt into Kaufman Astoria Studios in 1992.-Studios:...
Second Stage in Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
, the first home of Sesame Street.
The Electric Company employed sketch comedy
Sketch comedy
A sketch comedy consists of a series of short comedy scenes or vignettes, called "sketches," commonly between one and ten minutes long. Such sketches are performed by a group of comic actors or comedians, either on stage or through an audio and/or visual medium such as broadcasting...
and other devices to provide an entertaining program to help elementary school
Elementary school
An elementary school or primary school is an institution where children receive the first stage of compulsory education known as elementary or primary education. Elementary school is the preferred term in some countries, particularly those in North America, where the terms grade school and grammar...
children develop their grammar and reading skills. It was intended for children who had graduated from CTW's flagship program, Sesame Street
Sesame Street
Sesame Street has undergone significant changes in its history. According to writer Michael Davis, by the mid-1970s the show had become "an American institution". The cast and crew expanded during this time, including the hiring of women in the crew and additional minorities in the cast. The...
. Appropriately, the humor was more mature than what was seen there.
Performers
The original cast included Morgan FreemanMorgan Freeman
Morgan Freeman is an American actor, film director, aviator and narrator. He is noted for his reserved demeanor and authoritative speaking voice. Freeman has received Academy Award nominations for his performances in Street Smart, Driving Miss Daisy, The Shawshank Redemption and Invictus and won...
, Rita Moreno
Rita Moreno
Rita Moreno is a Puerto Rican singer, dancer and actress. She is the only Hispanic and one of the few performers who have won an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar, and a Tony, and was the second Puerto Rican to win an Academy Award....
, Bill Cosby
Bill Cosby
William Henry "Bill" Cosby, Jr. is an American comedian, actor, author, television producer, educator, musician and activist. A veteran stand-up performer, he got his start at various clubs, then landed a starring role in the 1960s action show, I Spy. He later starred in his own series, the...
, Judy Graubart
Judy Graubart
Esther Judith "Judy" Graubart is an American actress and comedienne. She is best remembered for being a regular cast member of The Electric Company, the revolutionary children's show from the 1970s produced by the Children's Television Workshop...
, Lee Chamberlin
Lee Chamberlin
Lee Chamberlin is an American film and television actress.Chamberlin was a regular performer during the first two years of the esteemed series The Electric Company, and she made guest appearances in the television series What's Happening!! Diff'rent Strokes, and NYPD Blue to list a few...
and Skip Hinnant
Skip Hinnant
- Career :Hinnant's first major role was as Cathy's boyfriend Ted on The Patty Duke Show from 1963 to 1965, and Schroeder in the original cast of Clark Gesner's You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown during its original off-Broadway run in 1967, where his brother, Bill Hinnant, played Snoopy.He is best...
. Most of the cast had done stage, repertory, and improvisational work, with Cosby and Moreno already well-established performers on film and television. Ken Roberts
Ken Roberts (announcer)
Ken Roberts was an American radio and television announcer known for his work during the Golden Age of Radio and for his work announcing the daytime television soap operas The Secret Storm, Texas and Love of Life, each for a two-decade span.-Early life and education:Roberts was born on February...
, best known as a soap-opera
Soap opera
A soap opera, sometimes called "soap" for short, is an ongoing, episodic work of dramatic fiction presented in serial format on radio or as television programming. The name soap opera stems from the original dramatic serials broadcast on radio that had soap manufacturers, such as Procter & Gamble,...
announcer, was the narrator of some segments during season one.
Jim Boyd
Jim Boyd (actor)
Jim Boyd is an American actor, born in Philadelphia.Boyd spent four years in the Air Force and studied at the American Academy for Dramatic Arts....
, who was strictly an off-camera voice actor and puppeteer during season one, began appearing on-camera in season two, mostly in the role of J. Arthur Crank. Luis Ávalos
Luis Avalos
Luis Avalos is a Cuban character actor. He has made numerous film and television appearances, most notably in the 1970s children's television show, The Electric Company...
also joined the cast at that time.
Bill Cosby was a regular in season one, and occasionally appeared in new segments during season two, but left afterward. Nevertheless, segments that Cosby had taped during the first two years were repeatedly used for the rest of the run, and Cosby was billed as a cast member throughout. Similarly, Lee Chamberlin also left after season two, but many of her segments were also repeatedly reused; consequently, she was also billed as a cast member for the rest of the run.
Added to the cast at the beginning of Season Three was Hattie Winston
Hattie Winston
Hattie Mae Winston is an American television, film and Broadway actress best known for her role as Margaret on Becker and as a prominent cast member of the PBS children's series The Electric Company.-Early career:...
, an actress and singer who later appeared on the show Becker
Becker (TV series)
Becker is an American television sitcom that ran from 1998 to 2004 on CBS. Set in the New York City borough of The Bronx, the show starred Ted Danson as John Becker, a misanthropic doctor who operates a small practice and is constantly annoyed by his patients, co-workers, friends, and practically...
. Beginning in season four, Danny Seagren appeared in the role of Spider-Man
Spider-Man
Spider-Man is a fictional Marvel Comics superhero. The character was created by writer-editor Stan Lee and writer-artist Steve Ditko. He first appeared in Amazing Fantasy #15...
.
Selected sketches
- The Adventures of LettermanThe Adventures of LettermanThe Adventures of Letterman was an animated skit that was a regular feature on the 1971–1977 PBS television series The Electric Company....
: One of the most popular segments, Letterman featured the work of animators JohnJohn HubleyJohn Hubley was an American animation director, art director, producer and writer of traditional animation films known for both his formal experimentation and for his emotional realism which stemmed from his tendency to cast his own children as voice actors in his films.- Biography :Hubley was...
and Faith HubleyFaith HubleyFaith Hubley was an animator, known for her experimental work both in collaboration with her husband John Hubley, and on her own following her husband's death.-Biography:...
. The title character, a young flying superhero in a varsity sweater and a footballAmerican footballAmerican football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
helmet, foiled the Spell Binder, an evil magician who made mischief by changing words into new words. It featured the vocal talents of Zero MostelZero MostelSamuel Joel “Zero” Mostel was an American actor of stage and screen, best known for his portrayal of comic characters such as Tevye on stage in Fiddler on the Roof, Pseudolus on stage and on screen in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, and Max Bialystock in the original film version...
, Joan RiversJoan RiversJoan Rivers is an American comedian, television personality and actress. She is known for her brash manner; her loud, raspy voice with a heavy New York accent; and her numerous cosmetic surgeries...
(who narrated the segments), and Gene WilderGene WilderGene Wilder is an American stage and screen actor, director, screenwriter, and author.Wilder began his career on stage, making his screen debut in the film Bonnie and Clyde in 1967. His first major role was as Leopold Bloom in the 1968 film The Producers...
(most of the time). It premiered during Season Two. In his book The TV Arab, Jack ShaheenJack ShaheenJack G. Shaheen is Professor Emeritus of Mass Communication at Southern Illinois University. He was also a consultant on Middle East affairs for CBS News....
criticized the segment's portrayal of the evil Spell Binder as being a negative racial stereotype. - Five Seconds: A segment shown at the midway point of the show where viewers were challenged to read a word within a five-second (or, as sometimes was, ten seconds) time limit. From 1973 to 1975, in a spoof of Mission: ImpossibleMission: ImpossibleMission: Impossible is an American television series which was created and initially produced by Bruce Geller. It chronicled the missions of a team of secret American government agents known as the Impossible Missions Force . The leader of the team was Jim Phelps, played by Peter Graves, except in...
, the word would self-destruct in a ScanimateScanimateScanimate is the name for an analog computer animation system developed from the late 1960s to the early 1980s.The Scanimate systems were used to produce much of the video-based animation seen on television between most of the 1970s and early 1980s in commercials, promotions, and show openings...
animation sequence after the time limit expired. ("The word you see here will self-destruct in five seconds. Can you read it before it does?") From 1975 to 1977, the viewers had to read the word before a cast member (sometimes a member of the Short Circus) or by a group of children that were filmed on-location. The character usually guessed the word correctly; but not always. - Giggles, Goggles: Two friends rode a tandem bike (usually Rita Moreno and Judy Graubart) or similar transportation device conversed when one of them misused a word ("flack" as in "flap," when the other was talking about something with the word "flap"). Several words that sounded the same except for one vowel or consonant were humorously misused until they got back to the original word. One sketch featured male friends (Morgan Freeman and Jim Boyd) riding the tandem bike, until the original owners came and stopped them.
- Here's Cooking at You: A send-up of Julia ChildJulia ChildJulia Child was an American chef, author, and television personality. She is recognized for introducing French cuisine to the American public with her debut cookbook, Mastering the Art of French Cooking, and her subsequent television programs, the most notable of which was The French Chef, which...
's cooking shows, with Judy Graubart playing Julia Grown-Up. - Jennifer of the Jungle: A Borscht BeltBorscht BeltBorscht Belt, or Jewish Alps, is a colloquial term for the mostly defunct summer resorts of the Catskill Mountains in parts of Sullivan, Orange and Ulster counties in upstate New York that were a popular vacation spot for New York City Jews from the 1920s through the 1960s.-Name:The name comes from...
-style parody of George of the JungleGeorge of the JungleGeorge of the Jungle was an American animated series produced by Jay Ward and Bill Scott, who created The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show. The character George was inspired by the legend of Tarzan. It ran for 17 episodes on Saturday mornings from September 9 to December 30, 1967, on the American TV...
with Jennifer (Judy Graubart) and Paul the Gorilla (Jim Boyd). - The Last Word: A segment that was always shown at the end of Season One episodes. A dimly lit incandescent bulb with a pull-chain switch was shown hanging from a wire, and the voice of Ken Roberts would gravely state, "And now, the last word." A single word would appear, usually one that had been featured earlier in the episode. An unseen cast member would read the word aloud, reach his/her arm into the shot, and turn the light off by tugging the pull chain. Sometimes, more creative exits were employed (e.g., the hand would snip the pull chain with a pair of scissors).
- Love of ChairLove of ChairLove of Chair was a recurring sketch on the television program The Electric Company. It was seen primarily during the 1971–1972 season...
: A spoof of the soap opera Love of LifeLove of LifeLove of Life is an American soap opera which aired on CBS Daytime from September 24, 1951 to February 1, 1980. It was created by Roy Winsor, whose previous creation Search for Tomorrow had premiered three weeks before Love of Life, and who would go on to create The Secret Storm two and a half years...
. Announcer Ken Roberts (who, appropriately enough, was also the announcer for Life) read a Dick and JaneDick and JaneDick and Jane were the main characters in popular basal readers written by William S. Gray and Zerna Sharp and published by Scott Foresman, that were used to teach children to read from the 1930s through to the 1970s in the United States...
-style story about a boy (Skip Hinnant) sitting on a chair and doing other simple things. He concluded each sketch by asking questions in a dramatic tone such as "Will he stand up? Will he fall asleep? Will you fall asleep?" the last of which was always "And what about NaomiNaomi Foner GyllenhaalNaomi Gyllenhaal is an American screenwriter. She has written the screenplays for several feature films, including Running on Empty , Losing Isaiah, and most recently Bee Season. She is...
?" These questions were then followed by "For the answer to these and other questions...," at which point a cast member other than Hinnant would be shown briefly on-screen uttering a complete non-sequitur (such as "What time is it?"). - Mad Scientist: Another monster-based parody, this time with an evil scientist (Morgan Freeman) and his assistant Igor (Luis Avalos), who tried to read words associated with their experiments.
- Monolith: An animated short, set in outer space, used to introduce segments involving a certain phonic. A huge rectangular grey-white pillar of rock was shown from the point of view of the camera looking up from its base, and then it dramatically crumbled and collapsed to the strains of a short segment of the Richard StraussRichard StraussRichard Georg Strauss was a leading German composer of the late Romantic and early modern eras. He is known for his operas, which include Der Rosenkavalier and Salome; his Lieder, especially his Four Last Songs; and his tone poems and orchestral works, such as Death and Transfiguration, Till...
composition Also sprach Zarathustra, usually after being activated, alerted or meddled with by a living being such as an astronautAstronautAn astronaut or cosmonaut is a person trained by a human spaceflight program to command, pilot, or serve as a crew member of a spacecraft....
or extraterrestrialExtraterrestrial life in popular cultureIn popular cultures, "extraterrestrials" are life forms — especially intelligent life forms— that are of extraterrestrial origin .-Historical ideas:-Pre-modern:...
. The letters representing the appropriate phonic then appeared from the clearing dust and debris, and a deistic voice pronounced it. The segment was a direct reference to the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey2001: A Space Odyssey (film)2001: A Space Odyssey is a 1968 epic science fiction film produced and directed by Stanley Kubrick, and co-written by Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke, partially inspired by Clarke's short story The Sentinel...
. - Pedro's Plant Place: A sketch that featured Luis AvalosLuis AvalosLuis Avalos is a Cuban character actor. He has made numerous film and television appearances, most notably in the 1970s children's television show, The Electric Company...
as a garden-shop proprietor who incorporated words into his planting tips, accompanied by the unpredictable plant-language-speaking guard plant Maurice (Jim BoydJim Boyd (actor)Jim Boyd is an American actor, born in Philadelphia.Boyd spent four years in the Air Force and studied at the American Academy for Dramatic Arts....
). - Phyllis and the Pharaohs: A 1950s-style doo-wopDoo-wopThe name Doo-wop is given to a style of vocal-based rhythm and blues music that developed in African American communities in the 1940s and achieved mainstream popularity in the 1950s and early 1960s. It emerged from New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, Baltimore, Newark, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati and...
group with Rita Moreno on lead vocals and the entire male adult cast on backup. The group's hits include "Phantom of Love," "Grease," and "Is it Love?" - Road RunnerWile E. Coyote and Road RunnerWile E. Coyote and The Road Runner are a duo of cartoon characters from a series of Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoons. The characters were created by animation director Chuck Jones in 1948 for Warner Bros., while the template for their adventures was the work of writer Michael Maltese...
: New segments of the Looney TunesLooney TunesLooney Tunes is a Warner Bros. animated cartoon series. It preceded the Merrie Melodies series and was Warner Bros.'s first animated theatrical series. Since its first official release, 1930's Sinkin' in the Bathtub, the series has become a worldwide media franchise, spawning several television...
character and his pursuer, Wile E. Coyote, produced and directed by Chuck JonesChuck JonesCharles Martin "Chuck" Jones was an American animator, cartoon artist, screenwriter, producer, and director of animated films, most memorably of Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies shorts for the Warner Bros. Cartoons studio...
. These segments reinforced reading skills through the use of words printed on signs that the characters encountered. Unlike the classic Warner Bros. shorts, however, these segments were virtually silent and only used occasional sound and verbal effects. - Sign Sing-Along: Often shown at the last sketch on a Friday episode, these films featured footage of signs with various words and were married to a sing-along-type song. They were always sung once through, after which the viewers were expected to supply the lyrics the second time around ("All right, now we'll be quiet, and you sing it!") while a wah-wah-muted trumpet and bassoon duo played the melody of the words.
- The Six-Dollar and Thirty-Nine-Cent Man: A spoof of The Six Million Dollar ManThe Six Million Dollar ManThe Six Million Dollar Man is an American television series about a former astronaut with bionic implants working for the OSI...
with Jim Boyd as Steve Awesome, Luis Avalos as Awesome's boss Oscar, and Hattie Winston as the General. The other adult cast members played various villains. It was introduced in Season Five and became a recurring sketch in Season Six. - Slow Reader: A set of animated (and occasionally live-action) shorts in which a bald-headed slow reader was given a message to read by a delivery man. Each message had advice that he needed to follow (such as "Do not bother this giant person," "Go away," "Duck!" "Keep off the grass"), but because of his inability to sound out the words he often wound up in trouble. In later seasons, a few of these sketches were rewritten and reanimated with a much smarter slow reader who did not fall victim to any impending dangers. The live action shots starred Skip Hinnant in the title role.
- Soft-Shoe Silhouettes: Two cast members appeared in silhouette, one uttering the initial sound of a word ("th"), and the other uttering the rest of the word ("ing"). The two then pronounced the whole word ("thing") in unison. Most notable for the soft-shoe music composed by veteran songwriter Joe RaposoJoe RaposoJoseph Guilherme Raposo, OIH was a Portuguese-American composer, songwriter, pianist, television writer and lyricist, best known for his work on the children's television series Sesame Street, for which he wrote the theme song, as well as classic songs such as "Bein' Green" and "C is for Cookie"...
, which played during the segment. Done twice through, sometimes with the viewer trying to read the word the second time through. - Spidey Super StoriesSpidey Super Stories"Spidey Super Stories" was a live-action, recurring skit on the PBS children's television series The Electric Company. Episodes featured the Marvel Comics character Spider-Man, provided to the Children's Television Workshop free of charge, and was played by puppeteer Danny Seagren...
: Short pieces featuring the Marvel ComicsMarvel ComicsMarvel Worldwide, Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American company that publishes comic books and related media...
character Spider-ManSpider-ManSpider-Man is a fictional Marvel Comics superhero. The character was created by writer-editor Stan Lee and writer-artist Steve Ditko. He first appeared in Amazing Fantasy #15...
and cast members from the show. Stories involved the web-masked super hero (Danny Seagren) foiling mischievous characters involved in petty criminal activities such as burglary or assault. Unlike the comic strip, Spidey was never seen out of costume as his alter-ego, Peter ParkerSpider-ManSpider-Man is a fictional Marvel Comics superhero. The character was created by writer-editor Stan Lee and writer-artist Steve Ditko. He first appeared in Amazing Fantasy #15...
, and he spoke via speech balloons that the home audience had to read. It debuted during Season Four and was the basis of a spin-offSpin-off (media)In media, a spin-off is a radio program, television program, video game, or any narrative work, derived from one or more already existing works, that focuses, in particular, in more detail on one aspect of that original work...
comic book, Spidey Super StoriesSpidey Super Stories"Spidey Super Stories" was a live-action, recurring skit on the PBS children's television series The Electric Company. Episodes featured the Marvel Comics character Spider-Man, provided to the Children's Television Workshop free of charge, and was played by puppeteer Danny Seagren...
, an easier-to-read comic that was produced by Marvel ComicsMarvel ComicsMarvel Worldwide, Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American company that publishes comic books and related media...
from 1974 to 1981. - Vaudeville Revue: Skits and songs were presented in variety-show style on stage, with music fanfare and canned applause to introduce and end each segment. Also called The Stage.
- A Very Short Book: Sometimes the last sketch of an episode, it featured a well-known nursery rhyme or famous story read by a cast member who turned the pages of a book with moving pictures. The stories usually had a humorous ending that was different from their true counterparts.
- Vi's Diner: Lee Chamberlin played the proprietor of an eatery where customers tried to read simple menus to place their orders.
- Wild Guess: Game show spoof (similar to You Bet Your LifeYou Bet Your LifeYou Bet Your Life is an American quiz show that aired on both radio and television. The original and best-known version was hosted by Groucho Marx of the Marx Brothers, with announcer and assistant George Fenneman. The show debuted on ABC Radio in October 1947, then moved to CBS Radio in September...
) with announcer Ken Kane (Bill Cosby) and host Bess West (Rita Moreno) in which the contestant would take a wild guess at what the day's secret word was. If he or she failed to guess the word (which always happened), West would give three clues as to what the word was. Occasionally, Ken Kane's brother Wayne Kane (Morgan Freeman) would fill in as substitute announcer.
Selected recurring characters
- Blond-Haired Cartoon Man (Mel BrooksMel BrooksMel Brooks is an American film director, screenwriter, composer, lyricist, comedian, actor and producer. He is best known as a creator of broad film farces and comic parodies. He began his career as a stand-up comic and as a writer for the early TV variety show Your Show of Shows...
): This character read words that appeared on the screen, but they often showed up in the wrong order, made no sense, or otherwise drove him to frustration ("Who's the dummy writing this show?"). - The Blue Beetle (Jim Boyd): A bumbling super hero with a mask, a hood with antennae, wings, tennis shoes, boxer shortsBoxer shortsBoxer shorts are a type of undergarment worn by men. The term has been used in English since 1944 for all-around-elastic shorts, so named after the shorts worn by boxers, for whom unhindered leg movement is very important.Reasons for a preference for boxers can be attributed to their variety of...
, and a T-shirt that bore his name, the Blue Beetle often made matters worse instead of better for people who he tried to help. He often challenged Spider-Man, whom he was both jealous of and intimidated by. One of his favorite taglines was "I would if I could, but I can't so I won't. Please forgive me if I don't." - Clayton: Introduced in Season Five and a recurring character in Season Six, Clayton was a Claymation character animated by Will VintonWill VintonWill Vinton is an American director and producer of animated films. He was born in McMinnville, Oregon, near Portland. He has won an Oscar for his work, and several Emmy Awards and Clio Awards for the work of his studio.- Education :...
who often commented on the previous skit or introduced a new concept. - The Corsican TwinsThe Corsican BrothersThe Corsican Brothers is a novella by Alexandre Dumas, père first published in 1844. It has been adapted many times on the stage and in film.-Adaptations:*The Corsican Brothers , directed by film pioneer and inventor George Albert Smith...
(Skip Hinnant and Jim Boyd): Twin brothers who could inflict pain on each other by hurting themselves while they taught different phonics. - Dr. Doolots (Luis Avalos): A parody of Doctor DolittleDoctor DolittleDoctor John Dolittle is the central character of a series of children's books by Hugh Lofting starting with the 1920 The Story of Doctor Dolittle. He is a doctor who shuns human patients in favour of animals, with whom he can speak in their own languages...
and Groucho MarxGroucho MarxJulius Henry "Groucho" Marx was an American comedian and film star famed as a master of wit. His rapid-fire delivery of innuendo-laden patter earned him many admirers. He made 13 feature films with his siblings the Marx Brothers, of whom he was the third-born...
, Dr. Doolots used words to cure his patients. - Easy Reader (Morgan FreemanMorgan FreemanMorgan Freeman is an American actor, film director, aviator and narrator. He is noted for his reserved demeanor and authoritative speaking voice. Freeman has received Academy Award nominations for his performances in Street Smart, Driving Miss Daisy, The Shawshank Redemption and Invictus and won...
): A smooth hipster who loved to read at every opportunity and every printed thing he saw. He was often associated with Valerie the Librarian (Hattie Winston), and in earlier seasons with Vi (Lee Chamberlin) in her diner. His name is a pun on the title of the film Easy RiderEasy RiderEasy Rider is a 1969 American road movie written by Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper, and Terry Southern, produced by Fonda and directed by Hopper. It tells the story of two bikers who travel through the American Southwest and South with the aim of achieving freedom...
. In the first season, he was dressed more like a hippie. However by the second season, He wore a denim jacket, pants with a turtleneck shirt, and sunglasses. - Fargo North, Decoder (Skip Hinnant): An aloof Inspector ClouseauInspector ClouseauChief Inspector Jacques Clouseau is a fictional character in Blake Edwards' The Pink Panther series. In most of the films, he was played by Peter Sellers, with one film in which he was played by Alan Arkin and one in which he was played by an uncredited Roger Moore...
-type detective who tried to decode scrambled word messages and phrases using different machines. His name was a pun based on Fargo, North DakotaFargo, North DakotaFargo is the largest city in the U.S. state of North Dakota and the county seat of Cass County. In 2010, its population was 105,549, and it had an estimated metropolitan population of 208,777...
. - J. Arthur Crank (Jim Boyd): A plaid-wearing character who often interrupted sketches to complain when spellings or pronunciations confused him. In early episodes, he was just a voice on the phone, much like an irate listener to a radio call-in show. Crank is named after British film mogul J. Arthur RankJ. Arthur RankJoseph Arthur Rank, 1st Baron Rank was a British industrialist and film producer, and founder of the Rank Organisation, now known as The Rank Group Plc.- Family business :...
, and refers to what would be later known as crank calling. - Lorelei (Jim Boyd): An aniform chicken who appeared in live-action scenes.
- Mel Mounds (Morgan FreemanMorgan FreemanMorgan Freeman is an American actor, film director, aviator and narrator. He is noted for his reserved demeanor and authoritative speaking voice. Freeman has received Academy Award nominations for his performances in Street Smart, Driving Miss Daisy, The Shawshank Redemption and Invictus and won...
): A hip disc jockey who introduced songs, usually by the Short Circus. He was known for the phrase "Sounds righteous, delightious, and out-of-sighteous! Heavy, heavy!" - Millie the Helper (Rita MorenoRita MorenoRita Moreno is a Puerto Rican singer, dancer and actress. She is the only Hispanic and one of the few performers who have won an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar, and a Tony, and was the second Puerto Rican to win an Academy Award....
): An eager but point-missing trainee who worked in various professions. Millie's bellowed catchphrase "Hey, you guy[s]!" was first screamed in Episode #19 and became part of the show's opening titles in Seasons Two, Five, and Six. In season six, it is heard that Millie shouts the singular form of "guy" instead of the plural (and oddly enough, the catchphrase was brought back for the reincarnation of the series). Millie was named after the character Millie Helper from The Dick Van Dyke ShowThe Dick Van Dyke ShowThe Dick Van Dyke Show is an American television sitcom that initially aired on the Columbia Broadcasting System from October 3, 1961, until June 1, 1966. The show was created by Carl Reiner and starred Dick Van Dyke and Mary Tyler Moore. It was produced by Reiner with Bill Persky and Sam Denoff....
. - Otto the Director (Rita MorenoRita MorenoRita Moreno is a Puerto Rican singer, dancer and actress. She is the only Hispanic and one of the few performers who have won an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar, and a Tony, and was the second Puerto Rican to win an Academy Award....
): A hapless auteur dressed as an old-style Hollywood film director, Otto tried in vain to make her actors say a line correctly as printed on an oversized cue card held by Marcello (Morgan Freeman), her terrified assistant. She usually went through three takes before giving up in frustration. Moreno modeled the character after Otto PremingerOtto PremingerOtto Ludwig Preminger was an Austro–Hungarian-American theatre and film director.After moving from the theatre to Hollywood, he directed over 35 feature films in a five-decade career. He rose to prominence for stylish film noir mysteries such as Laura and Fallen Angel...
. - Pandora the Brat: Rita Moreno's bratty but lovable curly-headed blonde girl who tried to outwit the adults around her.
- Paul the Gorilla (Jim Boyd): A sidekick and friend of Jennifer of the Jungle who too would appear in a variety of sketches. Paul the Gorilla was named after Electric Company head writer, Paul DooleyPaul Dooley-Personal life:Dooley was born Paul Dooley Brown in Parkersburg, West Virginia, the son of Ruth Irene , a homemaker, and Peter James Brown, a factory worker. Dooley was a cartoonist as a youth and drew a strip for a local paper in Parkersburg. He joined the Navy before discovering acting while at...
. - Vincent the Vegetable Vampire: A send-up of the Bram StokerBram StokerAbraham "Bram" Stoker was an Irish novelist and short story writer, best known today for his 1897 Gothic novel Dracula...
literary character DraculaDraculaDracula is an 1897 novel by Irish author Bram Stoker.Famous for introducing the character of the vampire Count Dracula, the novel tells the story of Dracula's attempt to relocate from Transylvania to England, and the battle between Dracula and a small group of men and women led by Professor...
(or of BlaculaBlaculaBlacula is a 1972 American horror film produced for American International Pictures. It was directed by William Crain and stars William Marshall in the title role about an 18th century African prince named Mamuwalde, who is both turned into a vampire and locked inside a coffin by Count Dracula...
), played by Morgan Freeman. He was often seen with Frankenstein's monster (Skip Hinnant) and the Wolfman (Jim Boyd).
The adult cast also had recurring roles as J.J. (Skip Hinnant), Carmela (Rita Moreno), Brenda (Lee Chamberlain), Mark (Morgan Freeman), Hank (Bill Cosby), Winnie (Judy Graubart), Andy (Jim Boyd), Roberto (Luis Avalos), and Sylvia (Hattie Winston).
The Short Circus
- June AngelaJune AngelaJune Angela is an actress, singer, and dancer best known as Julie, the mainstay member of the Short Circus in the PBS children's television series The Electric Company during its entire six-year run.-The Short Circus:...
as Julie - Irene CaraIrene CaraIrene Cara is an American singer and actress. Cara won an Academy Award in 1984 in the category of Best Original Song for co-writing "Flashdance... What a Feeling." She is also known for her recording of the song "Fame", and she also starred in the 1980 film Fame.She married Hollywood stuntman...
as Iris (1971–1972) - Stephen Gustafson as Buddy (1971–1975)
- Melanie Henderson as Kathy (1971–1975)
- Douglas Grant as Zach (1971–1973)
- Denise NickersonDenise NickersonDenise Nickerson is an American former child actress best known for her roles as the gum-chewing Violet Beauregarde in the 1971 movie Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory and Amy Jennings in the soap opera Dark Shadows.-Career:...
as Allison (1972–1973) - Bayn JohnsonBayn JohnsonBayn Johnson is a former American actress, singer, and dancer best known as Kelly, the female blonde-haired member of the Short Circus in the PBS children's television series The Electric Company from 1973-1975....
as Kelly (1973–1975) - Gregg BurgeGregg Burge-Career:Burge graduated from New York's prestigious Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Performing Arts in 1975. His credits ranged from television's The Electric Company to the stage and film version of A Chorus Line , for which he served as assistant to choreographer Jeffrey Hornaday and...
as Dwayne (1973–1975) - Janina Mathews as Gail (1975–1977)
- Réjane MagloireRéjane MagloireRéjane "Reggie" Magloire is a singer, model, and actress.Magloire was born in Zaire but grew up in New York. She studied Western classical music with heavy emphasis on opera singing...
as Samantha (1975–1977) - Rodney LewisRodney LewisRodney Lewis is founder, President, and Chief Executive Officer of Lewis Energy, an oil and natural gas drilling company.-Biography:Rodney Lewis was born in 1954 and grew up on a ranch in Laredo, Texas...
as Charlie (1975–1977) - Todd Graff as Jesse (1975–1977)
Another regular part of the show was the Short Circus (the name a pun on short circuit
Short circuit
A short circuit in an electrical circuit that allows a current to travel along an unintended path, often where essentially no electrical impedance is encountered....
), a singing group of kids whose songs also facilitated reading comprehension. June Angela
June Angela
June Angela is an actress, singer, and dancer best known as Julie, the mainstay member of the Short Circus in the PBS children's television series The Electric Company during its entire six-year run.-The Short Circus:...
was the only Short Circus member to remain with the show during its entire six-year run (she was 11 when production began and 17 during its final season); others lasted anywhere from one to four years. Irene Cara
Irene Cara
Irene Cara is an American singer and actress. Cara won an Academy Award in 1984 in the category of Best Original Song for co-writing "Flashdance... What a Feeling." She is also known for her recording of the song "Fame", and she also starred in the 1980 film Fame.She married Hollywood stuntman...
appeared only during the first season and would go on to become a pop music star (Fame, Flashdance
Flashdance
Another song used in the film, "Maniac", was also nominated for an Academy Award. It was written by Michael Sembello and Dennis Matkosky, and was inspired by the 1980 horror film Maniac. The lyrics about a killer on the loose were rewritten so that it could be used in Flashdance...
). Cara was replaced by Denise Nickerson
Denise Nickerson
Denise Nickerson is an American former child actress best known for her roles as the gum-chewing Violet Beauregarde in the 1971 movie Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory and Amy Jennings in the soap opera Dark Shadows.-Career:...
, best known for her appearance as Violet Beauregarde in the 1971 film Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory
Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory
Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory is a 1971 musical film adaptation of the 1964 novel Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl, directed by Mel Stuart, and starring Gene Wilder as Willy Wonka. The film tells the story of Charlie Bucket as he receives a golden ticket and visits Willy...
. Nickerson lasted a single season.
The other three original members of the Short Circus were Melanie Henderson (who at 13 was the oldest of the original group), Stephen Gustafson, and Douglas Grant. For Seasons Three and Four, Grant and Nickerson were replaced by dancer Gregg Burge
Gregg Burge
-Career:Burge graduated from New York's prestigious Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Performing Arts in 1975. His credits ranged from television's The Electric Company to the stage and film version of A Chorus Line , for which he served as assistant to choreographer Jeffrey Hornaday and...
and Broadway actress Bayn Johnson
Bayn Johnson
Bayn Johnson is a former American actress, singer, and dancer best known as Kelly, the female blonde-haired member of the Short Circus in the PBS children's television series The Electric Company from 1973-1975....
.
Except for June Angela, an entirely new Short Circus was cast for Seasons Five and Six. The new hires were Todd Graff (Ilene Graff
Ilene Graff
Ilene Graff is an American actress and singer.The Brooklyn native began her professional career as a teenager when she performed as a background singer and commercial actress while attending Van Buren High School in Queens Village...
's brother), Rodney Lewis
Rodney Lewis
Rodney Lewis is founder, President, and Chief Executive Officer of Lewis Energy, an oil and natural gas drilling company.-Biography:Rodney Lewis was born in 1954 and grew up on a ranch in Laredo, Texas...
, Réjane Magloire
Réjane Magloire
Réjane "Reggie" Magloire is a singer, model, and actress.Magloire was born in Zaire but grew up in New York. She studied Western classical music with heavy emphasis on opera singing...
, and Janina Matthews.
In the first season, a number of unbilled children were also used on-camera with the show's cast, as on Sesame Street
Sesame Street
Sesame Street has undergone significant changes in its history. According to writer Michael Davis, by the mid-1970s the show had become "an American institution". The cast and crew expanded during this time, including the hiring of women in the crew and additional minorities in the cast. The...
, but this concept was very quickly dropped.
Because of the frequent reuse of segments, a practice derived from Sesame Street, actors continued to appear after their departures from the cast.
Cameos
The Electric Company also featured a few celebrity guest appearances on the show. An incomplete list follows.- Big BirdBig BirdBig Bird is a protagonist of the children's television show Sesame Street. Big Bird, like many of the other Sesame Street characters, is a Muppet character. He is sometimes referred to simply as "Bird" by his friends....
- Victor BorgeVictor BorgeVictor Borge ,born Børge Rosenbaum, was a Danish comedian, conductor and pianist, affectionately known as The Clown Prince of Denmark,The Unmelancholy Dane,and The Great Dane.-Early life and career:...
- Carol BurnettCarol BurnettCarol Creighton Burnett is an American actress, comedian, singer, dancer and writer. Burnett started her career in New York. After becoming a hit on Broadway, she made her television debut...
- Barbara EdenBarbara EdenBarbara Eden is an American film and television actress and singer who is best known for her starring role in the sitcom I Dream of Jeannie.-Early years:...
- Walt FrazierWalt FrazierWalter "Clyde" Frazier is a retired American basketball player in the National Basketball Association . He was blessed with a unique combination of court vision, quickness, and size for a guard...
- Lorne GreeneLorne GreeneLorne Greene , was the stage name of Lyon Himan Green, OC, a Canadian actor.His television roles include Ben Cartwright on the western Bonanza, and Commander Adama in the science fiction movie and subsequent TV Series Battlestar Galactica...
- GroverGroverGrover is a Muppet character on the popular television show Sesame Street. Self-described as lovable, cute and furry, he is a monster who almost never uses contractions when speaking or singing....
- Elvin HayesElvin HayesElvin Ernest Hayes is a retired American basketball player and radio analyst for Houston Cougars men's basketball, where he played college basketball...
- Michael LandonMichael LandonMichael Landon was an American actor, writer, director, and producer. He is widely known for his roles as Little Joe Cartwright in Bonanza , Charles Ingalls in Little House on the Prairie , and Jonathan Smith in Highway to Heaven...
- Dean MartinDean MartinDean Martin was an American singer, film actor, television star and comedian. Martin's hit singles included "Memories Are Made of This", "That's Amore", "Everybody Loves Somebody", "You're Nobody till Somebody Loves You", "Sway", "Volare" and "Ain't That a Kick in the Head?"...
- Dick MartinDick MartinDick Martin may refer to:*Dick Martin , American illustrator, particularly associated with the Land of Oz*Dick Martin , co-host of Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In*Dickie Martin, British test pilot-See also:*Richard Martin...
- Carroll O'ConnorCarroll O'ConnorJohn Carroll O'Connor best known as Carroll O'Connor, was an American actor, producer and director whose television career spanned four decades...
- Oscar the GrouchOscar the GrouchOscar the Grouch is a Muppet character on the television program Sesame Street. He has a green body , has no nose , and lives in a trash can. His favorite thing in life is trash; evidence for this is the song "I Love Trash". A running theme is his compulsive hoarding of seemingly useless items...
- Gary OwensGary OwensGary Owens is an American disc jockey and voice actor. His polished baritone speaking voice generally offers deadpan recitations of total nonsense, which he frequently demonstrated as the announcer on Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In. Owens is equally proficient in straight or silly assignments and is...
- Dan Rowan
- Jean Stapleton
- Lily TomlinLily TomlinMary Jean "Lily" Tomlin is an American actress, comedienne, writer, and producer. Tomlin has been a major force in American comedy since the late 1960's when she began a career as a stand up comedian and became a featured performer on television's Laugh-in...
- Willie TylerWillie TylerWillie Tyler is an American ventriloquist, comedian and actor. Most of the time, he is credited as Willie Tyler and Lester or Willie Tyler & Lester. He has appeared in many television commercials, sitcoms, and movies. He got his first big break in 1972 on Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In.-Personal...
and Lester
Music
- Joe RaposoJoe RaposoJoseph Guilherme Raposo, OIH was a Portuguese-American composer, songwriter, pianist, television writer and lyricist, best known for his work on the children's television series Sesame Street, for which he wrote the theme song, as well as classic songs such as "Bein' Green" and "C is for Cookie"...
, who was famous for his work on Sesame StreetSesame StreetSesame Street has undergone significant changes in its history. According to writer Michael Davis, by the mid-1970s the show had become "an American institution". The cast and crew expanded during this time, including the hiring of women in the crew and additional minorities in the cast. The...
, was the music director of the series for seasons one through three and wrote songs for the show during its entire run. - Gary William FriedmanGary William FriedmanGary William Friedman is an American musician and composer. He completed his undergraduate work at Brooklyn College, and did advanced training in electronic music at Columbia University....
was the music director for season four and wrote some 40 songs, including the popular Spider-Man theme song. - Tom LehrerTom LehrerThomas Andrew "Tom" Lehrer is an American singer-songwriter, satirist, pianist, mathematician and polymath. He has lectured on mathematics and musical theater...
wrote ten songs for the series, with "L-Y" and "Silent ESilent ESilent e is a writing convention in English spelling. A silent letter e at the end of a word often signals a specific pronunciation of the preceding vowel letter, as in the difference between "rid" and "ride" . This orthographic pattern followed the phonological changes of the Great Vowel Shift...
" among the more memorable. - Dave Conner was the music director for Seasons Five and Six.
- Clark GesnerClark GesnerClark Gesner was an American composer, songwriter, author, and actor. He is probably best known for composing You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown, a musical adaptation of the Charles M...
wrote several songs for the series, including most of the sign songs, but never served as the show’s music director.
The original soundtrack album, released on Warner Bros. Records
Warner Bros. Records
Warner Bros. Records Inc. is an American record label. It was the foundation label of the present-day Warner Music Group, and now operates as a wholly owned subsidiary of that corporation. It maintains a close relationship with its former parent, Warner Bros. Pictures, although the two companies...
, won a Grammy Award
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
for the show's cast.
Visuals
The series was notable for its extensive, innovative use of early computer-generated imageryComputer-generated imagery
Computer-generated imagery is the application of the field of computer graphics or, more specifically, 3D computer graphics to special effects in art, video games, films, television programs, commercials, simulators and simulation generally, and printed media...
, especially Scanimation
Scanimate
Scanimate is the name for an analog computer animation system developed from the late 1960s to the early 1980s.The Scanimate systems were used to produce much of the video-based animation seen on television between most of the 1970s and early 1980s in commercials, promotions, and show openings...
, a then-state-of-the-art analog video-synthesizer system. They were often used for presenting words with particular sounds. Sometimes a cast member would be seen alongside or interacting in another way with a word animation.
The typeface
Typeface
In typography, a typeface is the artistic representation or interpretation of characters; it is the way the type looks. Each type is designed and there are thousands of different typefaces in existence, with new ones being developed constantly....
used for most of the words displayed on-screen during the run was Franklin Gothic
Franklin Gothic
Franklin Gothic and its related faces are realist sans-serif typefaces originated by Morris Fuller Benton in 1902. “Gothic” is an increasingly archaic term meaning sans-serif. Franklin Gothic has been used in many advertisements and headlines in newspapers. The typeface continues to maintain a...
. During season one, the typeface Clarendon
Clarendon (typeface)
Clarendon is an English slab-serif typeface that was created in England by Robert Besley for Thorowgood and Co. , a type company formerly known as the Fann Street Foundry until approximately 1838. The font was published in 1845 after Besley, an employee of the foundry since 1826, was made a partner...
was also used. Spider-Man’s speech balloons were often set in Dom Casual
Dom Casual
Dom Casual is an American typeface designed in 1951 by Peter Dom. It is an informal font that emulates brush script.Dom Casual was often seen in 1960s television programs, such as nearly all Warner Bros. cartoons from 1960-1964 and Hanna-Barbera and Filmways Productions end titles, as well as...
.
Closing credits
Each show ended with one of the cast members announcing, "The Electric Company gets its power from the Children's Television WorkshopSesame Workshop
Sesame Workshop, formerly known as the Children's Television Workshop , is a Worldwide American non-profit organization behind the production of several educational children's programs that have run on public broadcasting around the world...
." After the copyright notice, the list of corporate sponsors would be flashed on the screen. Starting in 1973, and changing with each new season, an instrumental version of the show's theme played beneath the narration; prior to this, a specific musical score played during the corporate credits.
The corporate sponsors, which included such entities as the Ford Foundation
Ford Foundation
The Ford Foundation is a private foundation incorporated in Michigan and based in New York City created to fund programs that were chartered in 1936 by Edsel Ford and Henry Ford....
and the Carnegie Corporation of New York
Carnegie Corporation of New York
Carnegie Corporation of New York, which was established by Andrew Carnegie in 1911 "to promote the advancement and diffusion of knowledge and understanding," is one of the oldest, largest and most influential of American foundations...
, were flashed one, two, or often three at a time during seasons one through five and scrolled during season six.
Corporate credits for all seasons:
- "Production funding for The Electric Company is provided by the Bureau of Libraries and Educational Technology, the National Center for Educational Technology, the United States Office of EducationUnited States Department of EducationThe United States Department of Education, also referred to as ED or the ED for Education Department, is a Cabinet-level department of the United States government...
, Mobil Oil CorporationExxonMobilExxon Mobil Corporation or ExxonMobil, is an American multinational oil and gas corporation. It is a direct descendant of John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil company, and was formed on November 30, 1999, by the merger of Exxon and Mobil. Its headquarters are in Irving, Texas...
, the Department of Health, Education and Welfare, PBS-Affiliated Stations (or Public Television Stations), unrestricted general program grants from the Corporation for Public BroadcastingCorporation for Public BroadcastingThe Corporation for Public Broadcasting is a non-profit corporation created by an act of the United States Congress, funded by the United States’ federal government to promote public broadcasting...
and the Ford Foundation, and by a grant from the Carnegie Corporation of New York."
The donors in the above list would vary by season.
As with most PBS children's-related programming produced by Children's Television Workshop, The Electric Company featured closing credits
Closing credits
Closing credits or end credits are added at the end of a motion picture, television program, or video game to list the cast and crew involved in the production. They usually appear as a list of names in small type, which either flip very quickly from page to page, or move smoothly across the...
along with a full-length version of the same music that played over the corporate credits list on Friday episodes. The corporate credits, however, appeared daily.
The video that played beneath the scrolling list of credits changed from season to season and were as follows:
- Season One: Skip HinnantSkip Hinnant- Career :Hinnant's first major role was as Cathy's boyfriend Ted on The Patty Duke Show from 1963 to 1965, and Schroeder in the original cast of Clark Gesner's You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown during its original off-Broadway run in 1967, where his brother, Bill Hinnant, played Snoopy.He is best...
in his Love of ChairLove of ChairLove of Chair was a recurring sketch on the television program The Electric Company. It was seen primarily during the 1971–1972 season...
character, sitting completely still or doing some other action (such as sleeping). Beginning with Episode 70, the music changed from a full-length instrumental specific to the corporate credits to an upbeat, marching band-type instrumental version of the show's theme. The second theme ended with crashing sound effects, momentarily startling the boy from his sleep. - Season Two: Cast members entering the room one-by-one. The Short Circus, dressed in marching-band uniforms, entered the room first, followed by dual versions of the adults (each actor in dual roles), who entered as him/herself along with the character he/she is most noted for playing (Morgan FreemanMorgan FreemanMorgan Freeman is an American actor, film director, aviator and narrator. He is noted for his reserved demeanor and authoritative speaking voice. Freeman has received Academy Award nominations for his performances in Street Smart, Driving Miss Daisy, The Shawshank Redemption and Invictus and won...
entering both as himself and Easy Reader). At the end of this sequence, the last one in the room would close the door, and the picture would break up in pieces and crash down. Other times, a hammer would appear in the bottom right of the screen and hit it, causing the same type of breakage. The same instrumental theme from the later Season One episodes was used. - Season Three: Begins with the Short Circus playing its musical instruments over a chroma keyChroma keyChroma key compositing is a technique for compositing two images together. A color range in the top layer is made transparent, revealing another image behind. The chroma keying technique is commonly used in video production and post-production...
, then walking off as they dance to the beat of the music. About midway through came a montage of clips from various skits, capped with a clip of Paul the Gorilla dancing across the screen. The theme was rescored, with more of a rock feel thanks to a prominently-heard electric guitar. The corporate credits theme was a hybrid of the Friday credits theme (the first part) and a slower-tempo instrumental version of the opening theme (for the second half). - Season Four: Not featured on any of the episodes that aired on Noggin or either of the DVD sets but can be seen at the end of Episode 475 (available at the iTunesITunesiTunes is a media player computer program, used for playing, downloading, and organizing digital music and video files on desktop computers. It can also manage contents on iPod, iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad....
store). Spider-Man’s hand opens a special Spidey Super Stories comic book in which the show’s logo is seen on the first open page. The hand turns the page, which reveals four panes that contain montages of several clips from the show. In the upper right panel, animation from the song "Silent E" is interspersed with the message Reading can be fun. The hand turns the page again, and a collage of the people involved in the production is revealed that looks like comic-book art. Four panels are seen, and the camera moves in a clockwise motion so that all of the frames can be seen in close-up. Finally, Spider-Man's hand closes the comic book. This closure was also used as a 30-second promo for PBS stations with Jim Boyd (as J. Arthur Crank) doing the voice-over. A rescore of the theme was made, changing the genre from rock to uptempo jazz music. - Season Five: Filmed clips of the Short Circus along with focus-group clips from an elementary school and behind-the-scenes action from the Teletape production studio. Another rescore of the theme could be heard, another jazz-style arrangement, somewhat louder than the 1974-75 version; it was played at a slower tempo for the corporate credits. This sequence was used as the opening of a 1975 documentary on the success of the series in schools that was included in The Best of The Electric Company Volume 2 DVD boxed set; however, the music from the show's opening was used for the documentary.
- Season Six: Clips from classic skits, sometimes tied together (such as sneezing, people coping with high wind gusts, water, using the telephone, etc.). Once again, the theme was rescored, this time using a prominently heard Moog synthesizerMoog synthesizerMoog synthesizer may refer to any number of analog synthesizers designed by Dr. Robert Moog or manufactured by Moog Music, and is commonly used as a generic term for older-generation analog music synthesizers. The Moog company pioneered the commercial manufacture of modular voltage-controlled...
leading the acoustic instruments.
Funding
- Ford FoundationFord FoundationThe Ford Foundation is a private foundation incorporated in Michigan and based in New York City created to fund programs that were chartered in 1936 by Edsel Ford and Henry Ford....
- Carnegie Corporation of New YorkCarnegie Corporation of New YorkCarnegie Corporation of New York, which was established by Andrew Carnegie in 1911 "to promote the advancement and diffusion of knowledge and understanding," is one of the oldest, largest and most influential of American foundations...
- Corporation For Public BroadcastingCorporation for Public BroadcastingThe Corporation for Public Broadcasting is a non-profit corporation created by an act of the United States Congress, funded by the United States’ federal government to promote public broadcasting...
- United States Office of Education
- National Center for Educational Technology (Seasons 2 & 3)
- The Bureau for Libraries and Educational Technology (Season 1 only)
- Mobil Oil CorporationExxonMobilExxon Mobil Corporation or ExxonMobil, is an American multinational oil and gas corporation. It is a direct descendant of John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil company, and was formed on November 30, 1999, by the merger of Exxon and Mobil. Its headquarters are in Irving, Texas...
(Season 1 only) - Public Television Stations (Seasons 4-6)
Show numbering
A total of 780 episodes were produced in the show's six-season run, 130 per season. As with Sesame Street, each episode of The Electric Company was numbered on-screen instead of using traditional episode titles. Seasons One through Four (1971–1975) were numbered 1–520. Season Five was numbered 1A–130A, while Season Six was numbered 1B–130B; the last two seasons were designated as such because they were designed as year-long curriculum for schools.Starting with Season Three, a show's number would be presented in the sketch-of-the-day teaser segment, a parody of soap-opera teasers, which would highlight a particular sketch that would be shown during that episode. The voice of a cast member would say a variant of, "Today on The Electric Company, the so-and-so says, '(censored),'" and the action would freeze as the graphic of the word of the day (or a card with the word of the day printed on it) became visible to viewers. The censored words were replaced by a series of harsh electronic sounds (similar to the sound of a theremin
Theremin
The theremin , originally known as the aetherphone/etherophone, thereminophone or termenvox/thereminvox is an early electronic musical instrument controlled without discernible physical contact from the player. It is named after its Russian inventor, Professor Léon Theremin, who patented the device...
) roughly mimicking the tone and cadence of the word in question. The still action would linger on the screen for several seconds, then fade to black, where the show number would become visible in a Scanimate
Scanimate
Scanimate is the name for an analog computer animation system developed from the late 1960s to the early 1980s.The Scanimate systems were used to produce much of the video-based animation seen on television between most of the 1970s and early 1980s in commercials, promotions, and show openings...
animation in a random color. The music for this segment was a repetitive, funky instrumental groove featuring a call-and-response
Call and response
Call and response is a form of "spontaneous verbal and non-verbal interaction between speaker and listener in which all of the statements are punctuated by expressions from the listener."...
between horns and a scratchy wah-wah
Wah-wah pedal
A wah-wah pedal is a type of guitar effects pedal that alters the tone of the signal to create a distinctive effect, mimicking the human voice...
guitar.
The next-show teaser, which was introduced in Season Two without music, worked in the same way, and usually used a different take of the music heard during the sketch-of-the-day teaser, except that the voice said "Tune in next time, when..." and there was no show number shown. In Season Six, the electronic sounds were made less harsh-sounding, and new background music featuring lots of horns and a Moog synthesizer
Moog synthesizer
Moog synthesizer may refer to any number of analog synthesizers designed by Dr. Robert Moog or manufactured by Moog Music, and is commonly used as a generic term for older-generation analog music synthesizers. The Moog company pioneered the commercial manufacture of modular voltage-controlled...
was used.
In Season One, however, after the title sequence, the sound of a striking match would be heard, and a fade-up from black would reveal a hand holding a lit match and "Show #x" handwritten on a piece of paper that was placed in such a way so that it could blend with the surrounding objects in-frame. Instead of the next-show teaser, Ken Roberts's voice could be heard, saying, "And now, the last word," and the trademark light bulb would be shut off by a hand doing whatever the last word was. In Season Two, after the opening sequence the words "The Electric Company" would disappear from the familiar logo, and the show number would appear in its place through the use of a Scanimate
Scanimate
Scanimate is the name for an analog computer animation system developed from the late 1960s to the early 1980s.The Scanimate systems were used to produce much of the video-based animation seen on television between most of the 1970s and early 1980s in commercials, promotions, and show openings...
animation and an electronic whooshing sound.
Notably, some episodes in Seasons Three through Five had serious technical errors with either their sketch-of-the-day teaser segments or their next-show teaser segments, which was probably because of the failure of the linear
Linear video editing
Linear video editing is a video editing post-production process of selecting, arranging and modifying images and sound in a predetermined, ordered sequence. Regardless whether captured by a video camera, tapeless camcorder, recorded in a television studio on a video tape recorder the content must...
analog video
Analog video
Analog video is a video signal transferred by an analog signal. An analog color video signal contains luminance, brightness and chrominance of an analog television image...
-editing equipment. Episodes that have these errors in their sketch-of-the-day teasers include 297, 390, 1A, 8A, and 15A—sometimes the music started too late, ended too early, or played too long; sometimes the errors are negligible, with the teaser music only playing a fraction of a second longer than usual.
For Season Six, because the teaser music was changed to a shorter, self-contained composition, these errors do not occur, with the exception of the teaser of 33B shown at the end of 32B (available on iTunes), where the teaser was accidentally cut by a fraction of a second.
Cancellation
The Electric Company was cancelled in 1977 at the height of its popularity. Unlike its counterpart Sesame StreetSesame Street
Sesame Street has undergone significant changes in its history. According to writer Michael Davis, by the mid-1970s the show had become "an American institution". The cast and crew expanded during this time, including the hiring of women in the crew and additional minorities in the cast. The...
, which licensed its Muppet characters for merchandising, The Electric Company did not have a brand or character that could help generate profit. The only significant items the show licensed were comic books and a Milton Bradley
Milton Bradley
Milton Bradley , an American game pioneer, was credited by many with launching the board game industry in North America with Milton Bradley Company....
board game of the Fargo North, Decoder character.
In addition, the PBS stations and statewide networks that aired the show often complained of the Children's Television Workshop
Sesame Workshop
Sesame Workshop, formerly known as the Children's Television Workshop , is a Worldwide American non-profit organization behind the production of several educational children's programs that have run on public broadcasting around the world...
"soaking up so much money in public television," said veteran television producer Samuel Gibbon, who worked on the show. "The stations demanded that one of the programs—either Sesame Street or The Electric Company—be put into reruns to save money. By that time, Sesame Street was a cash fountain for the Workshop. The show was almost supporting itself by then with all the productions, books, records, and games. There was no way, it was felt, that they could reduce the number of original shows of Sesame Street. But the thought was that if we produce two final seasons of The Electric Company which were designed to be repeated, that would give the show four more years of life." Most PBS programs at the time were produced by local stations instead of independent producers like CTW.
Reruns: 1977–1985
- Following the last original episode on April 15, 1977, The Electric Company continued on PBS in reruns until Fall 1985 (giving the show about Eight years of life then expected after production ended) with the final two seasons (1A through 130B) shown in rotation. These are the episodes that are the most familiar to younger viewers.
1999 rebroadcast
The earlier shows did not resurface until February 2, 1999, when the Noggin network, which was partly owned by Sesame Workshop at the time, rebroadcast the show as a result of its co-ownership of the network. A two-hour feature-length compilation special, which was aired on TV LandTV Land
TV Land is an American cable television network launched on April 29, 1996. It is owned by MTV Networks, a division of Viacom, which also owns Paramount Pictures, and networks such as MTV and Nickelodeon...
, re-introduced the series to a new generation whose parents had grown up watching the show.
Noggin ran 65 select episodes until 2003, when they were pulled from the program lineup because Sesame Workshop sold its half of the network to Viacom
Viacom
Viacom Inc. , short for "Video & Audio Communications", is an American media conglomerate with interests primarily in, but not limited to, cinema and cable television...
, which already owned the other half. The shows were cut subtly to fit Noggin's shorter running time and free up time for various interstitial segments produced for the network. These deletions included the episode numbers, the Scanimate
Scanimate
Scanimate is the name for an analog computer animation system developed from the late 1960s to the early 1980s.The Scanimate systems were used to produce much of the video-based animation seen on television between most of the 1970s and early 1980s in commercials, promotions, and show openings...
word animations, the segments 15 seconds and shorter, and the teasers of the next episodes (in seasons 2–6).
During the same period as the Noggin rebroadcasts, numerous fans of the program produced QuickTime
QuickTime
QuickTime is an extensible proprietary multimedia framework developed by Apple Inc., capable of handling various formats of digital video, picture, sound, panoramic images, and interactivity. The classic version of QuickTime is available for Windows XP and later, as well as Mac OS X Leopard and...
and MP3
MP3
MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III, more commonly referred to as MP3, is a patented digital audio encoding format using a form of lossy data compression...
clips from the Noggin rebroadcasts, old over-the-air recordings, and, in some cases, from master recording
Master recording
A multitrack recording master tape, disk or computer files on which productions are developed for later mixing, is known as the multi-track master, while the tape, disk or computer files holding a mix is called a mixed master.It is standard practice to make a copy of a master recording, known as...
s. These were hosted online at various places and received heavy attention from the blogosphere
Blogosphere
The blogosphere is made up of all blogs and their interconnections. The term implies that blogs exist together as a connected community or as a social network in which everyday authors can publish their opinions...
(e.g., Boing Boing
Boing Boing
Boing Boing is a publishing entity, first established as a magazine, later becoming a group blog.-History:...
) until a cease-and-desist
Cease and desist
A cease and desist is an order or request to halt an activity and not to take it up again later or else face legal action. The recipient of the cease-and-desist may be an individual or an organization....
letter took down the most prominent of these sites in 2004.
DVD releases
The series was not seen since it was pulled from Noggin’s schedule until Sesame Workshop, under license to Shout! FactoryShout! Factory
Shout! Factory is an entertainment company founded in 2003 that was started by Richard Foos , Bob Emmer and Garson Foos initially as a specialty music label...
and Sony BMG Music Entertainment
Sony BMG Music Entertainment
Sony BMG Music Entertainment was a recorded music company, which was a 50–50 joint venture between the Sony Corporation of America and Bertelsmann AG...
, released a DVD boxed set on February 7, 2006, called The Best of the Electric Company that included 20 uncut episodes from throughout the show's run, including the first and last episodes, plus outtakes and introductions and commentary by Rita Moreno and June Angela.
Due to the overwhelming—and somewhat unexpected—popularity of the initial DVD release, a second boxed set was released on November 14, 2006 (The Best of the Electric Company: Volume 2). This second volume contained 20 episodes from Seasons 1-5 plus a 30-minute documentary on the effects of in-school viewings of The Electric Company from 1975. Cast members Luis Avalos, Jim Boyd, Judy Graubart, Skip Hinnant, and Hattie Winston provided commentary and reflected on their years on the show. However, the original content of nine episodes presented in this set were altered. In some cases, material that was originally broadcast in a particular episode was removed completely while material from other episodes was included. For example, 60A originally contained the Spider-Man episode "Spidey Meets the Prankster" and used a scene from that sketch as the opening teaser, which was removed completely after the opening credits, leaving only the episode number, and at the start is an episode of "The Six-Dollar and Thirty-Nine Cent Man," which supposedly aired only during Season 6. Also removed following the Letterman sketch in this episode was the clip of the Short Circus singing "Stop!" and a Road Runner–Wile E. Coyote cartoon. Clayton appeared in this episode as well, even though he supposedly only appeared in Season 6. These altered episodes also contain special effects used to segue from one sketch to another that were not used in the show's original run. The other altered episodes are 197, 227, 322, 375, 35A, 57A, 77A, and 105A. The material seen in these altered episodes was not what was originally shown when the episodes were first broadcast.
It is believed that these changes were probably made to avoid repeats of segments that were on the first DVD set, but it is more likely that it was due to ownership rights—the segments that were used to cover up the material not under Sesame Workshop's control (Spider-Man, Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote, etc.) were longer than the excised segments, so the episodes were cut further to get them down to their required 28-minute length.
An hour-long television show called The Electric Company's Greatest Hits & Bits was broadcast on many PBS stations in late 2006. It included interviews with cast members, voice talent, and creator-producer Joan Ganz Cooney
Joan Ganz Cooney
Joan Ganz Cooney is an American television producer. She is one of the founders of the Children's Television Workshop , the organization famous for the creation of the children's television show Sesame Street. Cooney received her B.A...
. The special was produced by Authorized Pictures and distributed by American Public Television
American Public Television
American Public Television is the largest syndicator of programming for public television stations in the United States.-History:...
, and was designed to be seen during pledge drives. It was released on DVD on March 6, 2007.
iTunes
In early 2007, Apple Inc., through its iTunesITunes Store
The iTunes Store is a software-based online digital media store operated by Apple. Opening as the iTunes Music Store on April 28, 2003, with over 200,000 items to purchase, it is, as of April 2008, the number-one music vendor in the United States...
service, started selling 15 previously-unavailable episodes of The Electric Company. "Volume 1" contained Episodes 5, 13, 23, 128, 179, 249, 261, 289, 297, 374, 416, 475, 91A, 8B, and 32B.
In late 2007, another collection of 15 episodes dubbed "Volume 2" became available from iTunes. The new additions were Episodes 2, 36, 40, 75, 142, 154, 165, 172, 189, 218, 245, 290, 337, and 350. Repeated from Volume 1 was Episode 8B, erroneously labeled as 658, even though it is correct if the A–B designations were disregarded (1A–130A are 521–650, 1B–130B are 651–780).
It is unclear if these episodes were altered from the versions originally shown on television. Shout! Factory representatives indicated that it had no plans for another DVD set, implying that episodes distributed via iTunes would not be available in another format.
2009 revival
In May 2008, Sesame Workshop began production on a new version of The Electric Company that began airing on PBS Kids GO!PBS Kids GO!
PBS Kids GO! is an educational television brand used by PBS for programs intended for older children, rather than the original PBS Kids. It is primarily broadcast on PBS stations during the afternoons...
January 23, 2009. The revival includes interactive Web elements and community-outreach projects. Karen Fowler serves as executive producer. Unlike the 1970s series, in which the Electric Company refers to a troupe of actors in comedy sketches, the new series refers to a group of super heroes who battle villains in the name of literacy.
Season 1 premiered on January 23, 2009, and consisted of 28 episodes. None of the segments used in the 1970s were used in the revival (with the exception of new versions of the soft-shoe silhouettes and an occasional appearance of Paul the Gorilla, although these are infrequent), nor were any of the original actors (although June Angela has a cameo as a woman on the street). In addition, the theme used of the new version had no musical relation to the 1970s theme.
Season 1 was nominated for eight Emmy Awards in 2010 and won five.