The Electric Company

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This article is about an American television program. For electric utilities, see electric company.

Image:Electric company logo.jpg The Electric Company was an educational children's television program produced by the Children's Television Workshop (now Sesame Workshop) for PBS in the United States. PBS broadcast 780 episodes over the course of six seasons, from 1971 to 1977. CTW produced the show at Reeves Teletape Second Stage in Manhattan.

The Electric Company employed sketch comedy and other devices to provide an entertaining program to help children of primary school age develop their reading skills. It was intended for some children who had stopped watching CTW’s flagship program, Sesame Street.

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Performers

The original cast included Morgan Freeman, Rita Moreno (it was Moreno who screamed “Hey, you guyyyyys!!” to open the show in seasons 2 through 6 and first screamed the phrase in episode 19), Bill Cosby, Judy Graubart, Lee Chamberlin, and Skip Hinnant. Most of the cast had done stage, repertory and improv work, with Cosby and Moreno already well known from film and television. Ken Roberts, who was best known as a soap opera announcer, was the narrator of some of the segments during the first season.

Jim Boyd, who was strictly an off-camera voice and puppeteer in the first season, began appearing on-camera in season 2, mostly in the role of J. Arthur Crank. Luis Avalos also joined the cast in that season, with both men filling in for a now-departed Bill Cosby.

Chamberlin left after the second season and was replaced by Hattie Winston, a talented actress and singer who later appeared on the show Becker. Beginning in the fourth season, Danny Seagren appeared in the role of Spider-Man.

Also a regular part of the show was the Short Circus, a singing group of kids whose songs also facilitated reading comprehension. June Angela was the only Short Circus member to remain with the show's cast throughout its run (she was 11 when The Electric Company 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 major pop star (Fame, “Flashdance (What a Feeling)”). Cara was replaced by Denise Nickerson (who previously co-starred as Violet Beauregarde in the 1971 film Willy Wonka And The Chocolate Factory).

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 the show's third and fourth seasons, Grant and Nickerson were replaced by talented dancer Gregg Burge and Broadway actress Bayn Johnson.

Except for June Angela, an entirely new Short Circus was fielded for the two final seasons as some of the other kids were getting too old. The new hires were Todd Graff (Ilene Graff’s brother, who went on to become a successful writer and actor as an adult, co-starring in James Cameron’s The Abyss), 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, actors continued to appear after their departures from the cast.

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Regular sketches

Image:Jimboyd-tec.jpg Some of the regular sketches performed on The Electric Company included the following:

  • The Adventures of Letterman—Animated segment wherein the title character, a superhero wearing a varsity sweater, foils the mischief of the evil Spell Binder. Featuring the vocal talents of Zero Mostel, Joan Rivers, and Gene Wilder (most of the time), the skit debuted during season two, and it was one of the most popular segments of the show. Was parodied in season six as Litterman.
  • The Blue Beetle—a bumbling superhero (Jim Boyd) who would often make matters worse instead of better for people who he tried to help. He wore a mask, a hood with antennas, wings attached to his back, tennis shoes, boxer shorts, and a T-shirt with “Blue Beetle” written on it, all of which were all colored blue. He was also often put up against Spider-Man of 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."
  • Clayton—Introduced in season six, a Claymation character animated by Will Vinton who often commented on the previous skit or introduced a new concept.
  • The Corsican Twins—Twin brothers (Skip Hinnant and Jim Boyd) who could hurt each other by punching, biting, kicking, etc., himself, all while reinforcing sounds.
  • Count Dracula—Send-up of the Bram Stoker literary character, played by Morgan Freeman. Sometimes, he is seen with Frankenstein’s monster (Skip Hinnant) and the Wolfman (|Jim Boyd). Known in one skit as Vincent the Vegetable Vampire.
  • The Director—A hapless director (Rita Moreno), dressed as an old-style Hollywood film director, tries in vain to make her actors read the correct line as printed on an oversized cue card held by Marcello (Morgan Freeman). The director uses her riding crop as a pointer to the cue card, but she usually ends up wacking the cue card in anger with the crop startling Marcello. Several flubbed takes are depicted before the director gives up in frustration. Common director lines include, "Marcello!!!!!" "Aaaaanndd ROLL ’EM!!" and "Aaaaaction!"
  • Dr. Doolats—Parody of Dr. Doolittle and Groucho Marx in which the title character (Luis Avalos) uses words to cure his patients.
  • Dr. Frankenstein—Another monster-based parody, this time with an evil scientist (Morgan Freeman) and his assistant, Igor (Luis Avalos) trying to read words.
  • Easy Reader—“Easy Reader, that's my name, umm, umm-umm!”—Segments featuring the title character, a smooth hipster who loves to read at every opportunity and every printed thing he sees, played by Morgan Freeman, teaching words of the day. Often associated with Val the librarian (Hattie Winston) after 1973). His name is a pun based on the film Easy Rider.
  • Fargo North, Decoder—A detective (Skip Hinnant) tries to decode scrambled word messages and phrases. His name is a pun based on Fargo, North Dakota.
  • Five Seconds—Midway point of the show where viewers were challenged to read a word within a 5-second time limit. From 1973–1975, in a spoof of Mission: Impossible, the word would self-destruct in a Scanimate 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?”) After 1975, the viewers had to read the word before a cast member (often from a featured skit) did.
  • Giggles, Goggles—Two friends (usually Rita Moreno and Judy Graubart) conversing when one of them misuses a word (e.g., “flack” as in “flap,” when the other was talking about something with the word “flap”). Several words, similarly tied by prefix or suffix, are humorously misused until they get back to the original word. “That's what I was trying to tell you!” remarks one of the characters, after which the other fumes in frustration.
  • Here's Cooking at You—Send-up of Julia Child, with Judy Graubart playing Julia Grown-Up.
  • J. Arthur Crank—Jim Boyd's 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 viewer on a radio call-in show. In one sketch he sings a song devoted to his spiritual cousin Oscar the Grouch.
  • Jennifer of the Jungle—George of the Jungle send-up with (Judy Graubart) and Paul the Gorilla (Jim Boyd). Usually opened with Jennifer swinging on Viney the vine, yeling, “Oy-yoy-yoo-yoy...!”
  • The Last Word— Always came at the end of the show; mainly featured in season one. The camera would show a barely lit incandecent bulb on a pull-chain switch hanging from a wire. The voice of Ken Roberts would state "And now, the last word" gravely. 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 their arm into the shot, and turn the light off by tugging the pull chain.
  • Love of Chair—Spoof of the soap opera Love of Life about a boy (Hinnant) sitting on a chair. Announcer Ken Roberts (who, appropriately enough, also announced for Love of Life) read the day’s story, told in the style of the old "Dick and Jane" primers, with questions asked at the end in a dramatic tone. Seen primarily during the 1971–1972 season. A shot of the boy sitting on the chair was used for the Friday closing credits during the first season.
  • Mel Mounds—A disc jockey (Morgan Freeman) who introduced songs, usually by the Short Circus. Known for the phrase “Sounds righteous, delightious, and out-of-sighteous! Heavy, heavy, (finger snap) heavy! Ha-ah!”
  • Monolith—An animated short, set in outer space, used to introduce segments discussing a sound cluster. A huge Washington Monument-type structure begins to collapse to the strains of the Richard Strauss composition "Also sprach Zarathustra" (also the theme of the film 2001: A Space Odyssey), and the appropriate sound cluster would be chisled from the structure (i.e. “alk,” “oo,” “all,” “ee”). A skit based on a scene from the film 2001 was usually built around this segment (with the characters always cowering in fear and awe as the music begins).
  • Road Runner—New segments of the Looney Tunes character and his pursuer, Wile E. Coyote, produced and directed by Chuck Jones. These segments reinforced reading skills. These segments, unlike the classic Warner Bros. shorts, were completely devoid of sound, save for sound vocal effects such as laughing and sound effects such as the switching of a traffic light or the bouncing on a trampoline.
  • Sign Sing-Along—Sometimes the last sketch on a Friday episode, filmed segments married to a sing-along type song (e.g., “I like fish food/You do, too”), with filmed snippets of a sign with said words. Sung once through, after which the viewers are expected to supply the lyrics the second time around ("All right, we'll be quiet and you sing it!") while a wah-wah-muted trumpet and bassoon duo plays the melody of the words. Alternate: vignettes depicting literal translations of road signs (e.g., slow-motion action of children playing for a Slow Children sign).
  • Slow Reader— Originally a set of animated shorts, but at least one live-action sketch was shot based on the same characters and theme. A bald-headed slow reader is given a message to read by a delivery man and has trouble sounding out the words. Each message is advice he needs to follow (e.g., “Do not bother this giant person,” “Go away,” “Duck!” “Keep off the grass”), but winds up not understanding the words or meaning until it is too late.
  • Soft-Shoe Silhouettes—Two cast members appear in silhouette, one giving the prefix of the word, the other the suffix, to form a new word (e.g., “th-” and “-ing” to form “thing”). Most notable for the soft-shoe-type music that plays during the segment. Done twice through, sometimes with the viewer trying to read the word the second time through. The song usually ended with the two saying a soft "yeah!"
    • This was humorously parodied on an episode of Family Guy where Peter Griffin was one of the silhouetted characters reading the words. He quickly becomes frustrated at his inability to keep up with the other character, and attacks him.
  • Spidey Super Stories—Short pieces featuring the Marvel Comics character Spider-Man (which was provided to CTW free of charge) and cast members from the show. Stories involved the web-masked superhero foiling mischievous characters involved in petty criminal activities (such as burglary or assault). Debuted during season four and was the basis for a spin-off comic book.
  • Vaudeville Revue (aka The Stage)—Skits and songs are presented — variety show-style on-stage, with music fanfare and canned applause to introduce and end each segment.
  • A Very Short Book—Typically the last sketch of the episode in which a very short story is read. Usually based on nursery rhymes or fairy tales and having a humorous ending. Always finished with the words “The End.”
  • Vi’s Diner—Customers try to read simple menus to place their order at proprieter Vi's (Lee Chamberlin) eatery. Grover from Sesame Street made a cameo in one skit because he was in tears and lost, and needed the help of Vi and J. Arthur Crank to get back home.
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Music

Joe Raposo was the Music Director of the series from Season 1–3. Gary William Friedman served as the Music director of the series for Season 4, writing some 40 songs, which included the popular Spider-Man theme song. Tom Lehrer wrote ten songs for the series. L-Y and Silent E are among the more memorable. (see link) Dave Conner was the Music Director of the last two seasons of the series

The original soundtrack album won a Grammy award for the show's cast.

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Corporate credits

Each show ended with one of the cast members announcing, “The Electric Company gets its power from the Children's Television Workshop.” After the copyright notice, the list of corporate sponsors would be flashed on the screen. An instrumental version of the show's theme (starting in 1973, and changed each season) would play beneath the music; prior to this, a specific musical score played during the corporate credits.

The corporate sponsors—which included such entites as the Ford Foundation and the Carnegie Corporation of New York—were flashed one or two at a time for the first five seasons and scrolled during the sixth season.

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Friday closing credits

As with most PBS children’s-related programming produced by CTW, the Friday episodes featured closing credits along with a full-length version of the same music that played over the corporate credits list.

The video that played beneath the scrawling list of credits changed from season to season, and were as follows:

  • Season 1—Skip Hinnant in his Love of Chair character, sitting completely still or doing some other action (such as sleeping). Midway through the season, 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 2—Cast members, entering the room one-by-one. The Short Circus - dressed in 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 (e.g., Morgan Freeman entering both as himself and as 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 latter-season-one episodes was used.
  • Season 3—Begins with The Short Circus playing their musical instruments over a chroma key, 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; it had 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-tempoed instrumental version of the opening theme (for the second half).
  • Season 4—Not featured on shortened episodes that aired on Noggin (or on the recently-released DVD) but is believed to be clips from the Spidey Super Stories skits. The closing theme was again rescored; for the first time since early in the series, it was the same version used in the corporate credits and featured a Moog synthesizer.
  • Season 5—Filmed clips of the Short Circus along with focus-group clips from an elementary school and behind-the-scenes action from the production studio. Another rescore of the theme could be heard, with synthisized horns prominent this time to create a definite easy-listening feel; it was played at a slower tempo for the corporate credits.
  • Season 6 – Clips from classic skits, sometimes tied together (such as sneezing, people coping with high wind gusts, water, etc.). Once again, the theme was rescored, this time with a prominently heard Moog synthesizer leading the acoustic instruments.
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Show numbering

A total of 780 episodes were produced in the show’s six-season run, 130 per season. The first four seasons were numbered 1–520. The season-five shows were numbered 1A–130A, and the season-six shows were numbered 1B–130B because these seasons were designed as year-long curriculum for schools. Starting with season three, a show’s number would be presented in the teaser segment of the day’s highlighted sketch. 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 stop as the graphic of the word of the day—or 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 that sounded something like an out-of-tune theremin in the amount of syllables required for each word. 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. 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 there was no show number shown. In season six, the electronic sounds were made less harsh-sounding.

In season one, however, after the title sequence, the sound of a striking match would be heard, and a fade-up to 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.

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Credits

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Syndication

Following the last original episode on April 15, 1977, the series continued on PBS in reruns until late 1985, with the final two seasons (1A–130A and 1B–130B) shown in rotation. These are the episodes that are the most familiar to viewers.

The earlier 1971–1975 shows did not resurface until January 31, 1999, when the Noggin network, which was partly owned by Sesame Workshop at the time, acquired the syndication rights. A two-hour feature-length compilation special, which was aired on TV Land, re-introduced the series to a new generation whose parents grew up watching the show. Noggin ran 65 select episodes until 2003, when they were pulled from the program lineup because CTW 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 to allow for various interstitial segments. These deletions included the episode numbers, the Scanimate word animations, the segments 15 seconds and shorter, and the teasers for the next episodes (in seasons 2-6).

The series has not been seen since then, but Sesame Workshop (in partnership with Shout! Factory and Sony BMG Music Entertainment) released a DVD boxed set on February 7, 2006 (The Best of the Electric Company), which includes 20 uncut episodes from all six seasons, plus outtakes, and introductions and commentary by Rita Moreno. It is rumored that additional DVDs may be produced in the future.

In 2005 it was rumored that Sesame Workshop was planning a new version of The Electric Company. If the plans go forward the updated revival could return to the airwaves in 2007.

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External links

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