Umair Gaines
The Electric Company is an American educational children's television series produced by the Children's Television Workshop (CTW) and later by Sesame Workshop. It first aired in 1971 and ran for six seasons until 1977, with reruns continuing until 1985. A reboot of the show with the same name aired from 2009 to 2011. The original cast included Morgan Freeman, Rita Moreno, Bill Cosby, Judy Graubart, Lee Chamberlin, and Skip Hinnant, with guest stars including Mel Brooks, Zero Mostel, and Gene Wilder. The show employed sketch comedy and various other devices to provide an entertaining program to help elementary school children develop their grammar and reading skills.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Show name | The Electric Company |
| Show type | Educational children's television series |
| Original run | 1971–1977 |
| Reboot run | 2009–2011 |
| Original network | PBS |
| Reboot network | PBS Kids Go! |
| No. of seasons | 6 |
| No. of episodes | 780 |
| Creator | Paul Dooley |
| Developer | Karen Fowler |
| Notable cast members | Rita Moreno, Bill Cosby, Morgan Freeman, Judy Graubart, Jim Boyd, Lee Chamberlin, Jenni Barber, Ashley Austin Morris, Dominic Colón, Andréa Burns, Isabella Palmieri |
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What You'll Learn
Rita Moreno, Bill Cosby, and Morgan Freeman were hosts
The Electric Company is an American educational children's TV series that first aired in 1971. The show was produced by Sesame Workshop and developed by Karen Fowler. It was targeted at elementary school students who were too old for Sesame Street but still needed help learning to read. The show's cast included Academy Award winner Rita Moreno, Bill Cosby, and a then-unknown Morgan Freeman.
Rita Moreno is a Puerto Rican-American actress, dancer, and singer. She is one of a select group of performers who have won an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar, and a Tony Award, also known as the EGOT. She won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role in the 1961 film adaptation of the musical West Side Story. Moreno has also appeared in films such as The King and I (1956) and Singin' in the Rain (1952).
Bill Cosby is an American stand-up comedian, actor, and writer. He is known for his comedy television series The Cosby Show (1984-1992) and has won numerous awards, including several Emmys and Grammys. However, in recent years, Cosby's career and reputation have been severely damaged by numerous allegations of sexual assault, with some incidents allegedly occurring during the time he worked on The Electric Company.
Morgan Freeman is an American actor and narrator. He is known for his distinctive voice and has appeared in numerous films, including The Shawshank Redemption (1994), Million Dollar Baby (2004), and Invictus (2009). Freeman has received multiple Academy Award nominations and won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for Million Dollar Baby. He has also worked as a narrator on various documentaries and films, such as March of the Penguins (2005).
In addition to Moreno, Cosby, and Freeman, The Electric Company featured a talented cast and crew, including comedian and writer Paul Dooley, who created the series and served as head writer, and cast member Judy Graubart, who portrayed various characters such as Jennifer of the Jungle and Julia Grown-Up. The show also included guest stars like Mel Brooks, Zero Mostel, Gene Wilder, and Joan Rivers.
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The Electric Company was created by comedian Paul Dooley
The Electric Company was created by the comedian, actor, and writer Paul Dooley, alongside Joan Ganz Cooney and Lloyd Morrisett. Dooley also served as the show's head writer. The educational children's show ran for six seasons, from 1971 to 1977, with 780 episodes in total. Dooley, who was born in West Virginia in 1928, discovered acting while at college, and moved to New York, where he found success on stage. He also performed as a stand-up comedian for five years, and had stints as a magician and clown.
The Electric Company was aimed at elementary school children, and used sketch comedy to help them develop their reading and grammar skills. The show featured songs, animations, and a cast of characters including Mel Mounds (Morgan Freeman), Millie the Helper (Rita Moreno), and Otto the Director (also played by Moreno).
The show was produced by the Children's Television Workshop (CTW), later known as Sesame Workshop. It was directed by Robert Schwarz, Henry Behar, and John Tracy, and written by Dooley, Christopher Cerf, Jeremy Stevens, and John Boni/Amy Ephron. The original cast included Morgan Freeman, Rita Moreno, Bill Cosby, Judy Graubart, Lee Chamberlin, and Skip Hinnant.
The Electric Company was followed by a reboot of the same name, which aired from 2006 to 2011.
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The show ran from 1971-1977, with reruns until 1985
The Electric Company was a children's television series that first aired in 1971. The show was created by comedian, actor, and writer Paul Dooley, who also served as the head writer. It was produced by the Children's Television Workshop (CTW), the same producers behind Sesame Street, which debuted in 1969. The Electric Company was designed to teach children reading and grammatical skills through sketch comedy, psychedelic graphics, creative animation, mod outfits, and over-the-top characters. The show's cast included Academy Award winner Rita Moreno, Bill Cosby, and a then-unknown Morgan Freeman, who would go on to become a renowned actor and the voice of God. Other cast members included Judy Graubart, who portrayed various characters such as Jennifer of the Jungle and Julia Grown-Up, and Jim Boyd, who played J. Arthur Crank.
The Electric Company ran for six seasons, with a total of 780 episodes produced. The first four seasons, airing from 1971 to 1975, were numbered 1-520. Season five, which aired from 1975 to 1976, was numbered 1A-130A, while season six, airing from 1976 to 1977, was numbered 1B-130B. The last two seasons were designed as year-long curricula for schools. During its original run, The Electric Company aired on more than 250 public TV stations and became a teaching tool in thousands of classrooms across the United States. The show also won two Emmys.
After the show's initial run ended in 1977, reruns continued to air until 1985. During this time, fans of the program created and shared clips and recordings from the show online. In 2004, a cease-and-desist letter took down many of these sites. However, in 2006, Sesame Workshop, in collaboration with Shout! Factory, released a DVD box set titled "The Best of the Electric Company," which included 20 uncut episodes, outtakes, and introductions by Rita Moreno and June Angela. Due to the popularity of the initial release, a second volume was also released in the same year.
A reboot of The Electric Company aired from 2009 to 2011, with reruns continuing until 2014. This version retained some elements of the original show, such as short animations, parodies, sketches, and music videos, while also incorporating educational content focused on vocabulary and math skills. The reboot featured a group of tweens known as the Electric Company, who were often in conflict with a group called the Pranksters, led by Francine Carruthers.
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It was designed to teach children reading and grammatical skills
The Electric Company is an American educational children's television series that was designed to teach children reading and grammatical skills. The show, which first aired in 1971, was produced by Sesame Workshop and targeted elementary school students who were too old for Sesame Street but still needed help with reading. The show's unique format combined psychedelic graphics, wildly creative animation, mod outfits, over-the-top characters, and sketch comedy to create an engaging and entertaining learning experience for its young audience.
The Electric Company's cast included notable names such as Academy Award winner Rita Moreno, Bill Cosby, and a then-unknown Morgan Freeman, who later became the voice of God. The show also featured guest appearances by Mel Brooks, Zero Mostel, Gene Wilder, and Joan Rivers. In addition to its focus on reading and literacy, the show also incorporated music, with Clark Gesner writing several songs for the series, including most of the sign songs.
The series was created by comedian, actor, and writer Paul Dooley, who also served as the head writer. Each episode was numbered on-screen instead of using traditional episode titles, and the final two seasons were designed as year-long curricula for schools. The Electric Company was more than just a television show; it became a teaching tool used in thousands of classrooms across the nation. According to a 1977 report by the Educational Testing Service, the program had a significant impact on its target audience of second-grade children who were struggling with reading, indicating its effectiveness as an instructional supplement.
The show's success in educating and entertaining children led to a reboot in 2009, which expanded its educational focus beyond reading and literacy to include basic math skills. This new version retained the short animations, parodies, sketches, and music videos of the original show while incorporating contemporary music styles like hip-hop and R&B to teach vocabulary words. The reboot also introduced new characters, such as Jessica and Marcus, who visited the Pranksters' space base and used their wits to turn off inventions meant to damage words. The Electric Company has left a lasting legacy, with its innovative approach to teaching reading and grammar skills through entertainment, and its impact on the education of a generation of children.
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A reboot of the show aired from 2009-2011
A reboot of the show, called "The New Electric Company", aired from 2009 to 2011, with reruns playing until 2013 or 2014, depending on the source. The show was produced by Sesame Workshop and developed by Karen Fowler. It ran for three seasons, with 42 episodes in total, and aired on PBS Kids Go! The show is about a group of kids who have the power to create and rearrange words. They are often in conflict with "The Pranksters", who have similar powers but use them to cause trouble. The show features animations, parodies, sketches, and music videos, and each episode teaches four to five vocabulary words through hip-hop or contemporary R&B-style music.
The cast of the 2009 reboot included Jenni Barber, Ashley Austin Morris, Dominic Colón, Andréa Burns, Isabella Palmieri, and many others. The reboot also featured a new series of two-minute animated shorts, "The Adventures of The Electric Company on Prankster Planet", which started airing at the end of each episode of The Electric Company in 2011.
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Frequently asked questions
The original Electric Company, which aired from 1971 to 1977, featured a large cast of hosts, including Academy Award winner Rita Moreno, Bill Cosby, and a then-unknown Morgan Freeman.
Guest stars on the original Electric Company included Mel Brooks, Zero Mostel, Gene Wilder, and Joan Rivers. The show also featured a teen pop band called Short Circus, which included future star Irene Cara.
Yes, there was a spin-off magazine that featured characters from the Marvel Universe. There was also a parody in a humour issue of Marvel's "What if...?" called "Spidey Intellectual Stories".
The Electric Company reboot, which aired from 2009 to 2011, featured a cast of younger actors, including Jenni Barber, Ashley Austin Morris, Dominic Colón, and Andréa Burns.
