Wiktor Wise
Do Not Bother This Giant Person is a video from the educational children's television series, The Electric Company. The show was produced by the Children's Television Workshop and broadcast from 1971 to 1977, with reruns until 1985. The series aimed to teach children reading skills through filmed and taped sketches, and Do Not Bother This Giant Person is one such sketch. In it, a slow reader is given a message to read by his friend, but he struggles to sound out the words and understand their meaning until it is too late. This sketch, like others in the series, often featured celebrity cameos, such as Morgan Freeman and Bill Cosby.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Name of Show | The Electric Company |
| Format | Educational children's television series |
| Original Run | October 25, 1971 - April 15, 1977 |
| Number of Episodes | 780 |
| Number of Seasons | 6 |
| Original Cast Members | Morgan Freeman, Rita Moreno, Bill Cosby, Judy Graubart, Lee Chamberlin, Skip Hinnant, Ken Roberts |
| Production Company | Children's Television Workshop |
| Network | Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) |
| Objective | To teach children reading skills through filmed and taped sketches |
| Notable Sketches | "Love of Chair", "Fargo North, Decoder", "Letterman", "Slow Reader", "Here's Cooking at You", "Road Runner", "Clayton", "Monolith" |
| Spin-Offs | "Spidey Super Stories" featuring Spider-Man |
| DVD Releases | "The Best of the Electric Company: Volume 2" |
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What You'll Learn
- The show's objective was to teach children to read
- The show featured celebrity cameos, including Morgan Freeman and Bill Cosby
- The show's characters included Letterman, a superhero spoof
- The show was produced by Children's Television Workshop
- The show was almost entirely filmed in Reeves Teletape Second Stage, Manhattan, New York City
The show's objective was to teach children to read
The Electric Company was an educational children's television series produced by the Children's Television Workshop and broadcast from 1971 to 1977. The show's objective was to teach children to read, focusing on more advanced reading concepts beyond what was taught in Sesame Street. The series featured a variety of sketches, songs, and animated shorts to engage young viewers and reinforce reading skills.
One memorable sketch titled "Do Not Bother This Giant Person" highlighted the importance of reading. In this sketch, a slow reader is given a message to read by his friend, but he struggles to sound out the words and understand their meaning. Unfortunately, the message is "Do not bother this giant person", and the reader only realizes what it says after he has already angered the giant. This sketch emphasizes the practical importance of reading and encourages children to develop their reading skills.
The Electric Company also featured celebrity guests such as Morgan Freeman, Rita Moreno, and Bill Cosby, who added to the show's appeal. The series was innovative in its use of advanced CGI and animation techniques, and it is considered a predecessor to modern sketch-based shows like Mad TV and Saturday Night Live.
The show's impact extended beyond its initial run, with DVD releases and a potential revival in 2005. The Electric Company left a lasting legacy, not only as a beloved children's program but also as a pioneer in educational entertainment, inspiring similar programs aimed at teaching children to read and expand their literacy skills.
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The show featured celebrity cameos, including Morgan Freeman and Bill Cosby
The Electric Company was an educational children's television series produced by the Children's Television Workshop and broadcast from 1971 to 1977. The show aimed to teach children reading skills through filmed and taped sketches. The series is considered a predecessor to modern sketch-based shows such as Mad TV and Saturday Night Live.
The show featured celebrity cameos, including Morgan Freeman, Bill Cosby, and Rita Moreno. Freeman and Hattie Winston played a couple trying to sleep in the "Bedsheet Ghost" sketch, where the husband is spooked by weird noises while the wife remains nonplussed. Freeman also appeared in the Slow Reader sketch, where a slow reader is given a message by his friend but struggles to sound out the words and understand their meaning until it is too late. Bill Cosby voiced the "Gary Gnu" character, an anthropomorphic typewriter on wheels that hummed to itself, said a letter and a short word, and typed them on itself.
Other notable cast members included Judy Graubart, Lee Chamberlin, Skip Hinnant, and Ken Roberts, who was the narrator of some segments during the first season. The show also featured appearances by Spider-Man and other characters outside of the Super Story segments, such as Jennifer of the Jungle, Paul the Gorilla, and Easy Reader.
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The show's characters included Letterman, a superhero spoof
The Electric Company was an educational children's television series produced by the Children's Television Workshop and broadcast from 1971 to 1977. The show aimed to teach children reading skills beyond the basics taught by shows like Sesame Street. It did so through filmed and taped sketches, some of which were recycled in later seasons. The show also featured animations, including an anthropomorphic typewriter on wheels that would say a letter and a short word, accompanied by typing.
Letterman was not the only superhero on The Electric Company. The show also featured Spider-Man, who would sometimes fail to defeat the villain of the day. In one episode, Spider-Man captured one of the Queen Bee's minions, but she escaped while her other minions stung him badly. In another episode, Spider-Man met the Blue Beetle.
The Electric Company also featured a number of adult actors and is considered a predecessor to modern sketch-based shows like Mad TV and Saturday Night Live. The original cast included Morgan Freeman, Rita Moreno, Bill Cosby, Judy Graubart, Lee Chamberlin, and Skip Hinnant. Ken Roberts, a soap-opera announcer, narrated some of the segments during the first season.
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The show was produced by Children's Television Workshop
The Electric Company was an educational children's television series produced by the Children's Television Workshop, also known as Sesame Workshop, and broadcast from 1971 to 1977. The show's primary objective was to teach children to read, focusing on more advanced reading concepts beyond the alphabet and numbers taught by its companion series, Sesame Street. The Electric Company featured a range of celebrity cast members, including Morgan Freeman, Rita Moreno, Bill Cosby, Judy Graubart, Lee Chamberlin, and Skip Hinnant.
The show's format included various sketches, parodies, and segments that engaged and entertained young viewers while reinforcing reading skills. One such sketch, titled "Slow Reader," featured a character who struggled to read messages from his friend, often with humorous consequences. Another sketch, "Here's Cooking at You," was a send-up of Julia Child, with Judy Graubart playing "Julia Grown-Up." The show also included new segments of the Looney Tunes characters Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote, produced by Chuck Jones.
The Electric Company also incorporated animated shorts, such as "Monolith," set in outer space, which introduced segments discussing sound clusters. The show often used music and sound effects to enhance the learning experience. For example, during the "Tune-in-next-time" teasers, a series of Minimoog sounds mimicked the modulation of the redacted words, allowing children to guess the words before they were revealed. The music for these segments featured a funky instrumental groove with a call-and-response between horns and a scratchy wah-wah electric guitar.
The Electric Company was considered a pioneer in children's educational television, and its impact extended beyond its initial run. The show's success led to the release of DVD boxed sets, including "The Best of the Electric Company: Volume 2," which featured episodes from seasons one through five and a documentary on the show's effects. There were also rumours of a possible television revival in 2005, with Sesame Workshop planning an updated version of the show. The Electric Company's influence can also be seen in the format of modern sketch-based shows such as Mad TV and Saturday Night Live.
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The show was almost entirely filmed in Reeves Teletape Second Stage, Manhattan, New York City
The Electric Company was an educational children's television series produced by the Children's Television Workshop for the Public Broadcasting Service. The show was almost entirely filmed in Reeves Teletape Second Stage, Manhattan, New York City. The show ran from 25 October 1971 to 15 April 1977, with 780 episodes broadcast over the course of six seasons.
Reeves Teletape Second Stage was located at 81st & Broadway in Manhattan. During the 1970s, the studio boasted some of the most advanced CGI in the industry. Despite this, the studio later went bankrupt, and the building is now home to a branch of the Staples store.
The Electric Company was created to teach children to read via filmed and taped sketches. The show is considered a predecessor to modern sketch-based shows such as Mad TV and Saturday Night Live. The show's cast included Morgan Freeman, Rita Moreno, Bill Cosby, Judy Graubart, Lee Chamberlin, and Skip Hinnant. Ken Roberts, a soap-opera announcer, narrated some of the segments during the first season.
The show's first season featured a number of unbilled children on-camera with the show's cast, a practice that was quickly dropped. The show's music was directed by Joe Raposo, who also wrote songs for the show throughout its run. Gary William Friedman was the music director and composer for season four and wrote around 40 songs, including the popular Spider-Man theme song.
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Frequently asked questions
"Do Not Bother This Giant Person" is a video from the educational children's television series, The Electric Company.
The Electric Company was a children's television show produced by the Children's Television Workshop for the Public Broadcasting Service. It ran from 1971 to 1977 and aimed to teach children reading skills through filmed and taped sketches.
The original cast included Morgan Freeman, Rita Moreno, Bill Cosby, Judy Graubart, Lee Chamberlin, and Skip Hinnant.
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