Trystan Casey
The Electric Company was an American educational children's television series that aired on PBS from 1971 to 1977. The show, co-created by Paul Dooley, Joan Ganz Cooney, and Lloyd Morrisett, employed sketch comedy and various other devices to provide an entertaining program to help elementary school children develop their grammar and reading skills. The Electric Company is known for its catchy songs, including a song that repeats the words who, what, where, when, why, and how. The show featured a diverse cast, including Morgan Freeman, Rita Moreno, and Bill Cosby, and left a lasting impact on children's television.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Show | The Electric Company |
| Type | American educational children's television series |
| Aired on | PBS |
| Number of episodes | 780 |
| Number of seasons | 6 |
| First aired | October 25, 1971 |
| Last aired | April 15, 1977 |
| Reruns | Until October 4, 1985 |
| Reruns channel | Noggin |
| Reruns period | 1999-2003 |
| Co-creators | Paul Dooley, Joan Ganz Cooney, Lloyd Morrisett |
| Original cast | Morgan Freeman, Rita Moreno, Bill Cosby, Judy Graubart, Lee Chamberlin, Skip Hinnant |
| Narrator | Ken Roberts |
| Theme song singers | Giancarlo Esposito, Clark Gesner |
| Music composer | Eric Rogers |
| Music director | Joe Raposo |
| Songs writer | Tom Lehrer |
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What You'll Learn
- The Electric Company is an educational children's TV series
- The show's music was composed by Eric Rogers and Clark Gesner
- The cast included Morgan Freeman, Rita Moreno, and Bill Cosby
- The show ran from 1971 to 1977, with reruns until 1985
- The Electric Company was produced by the Children's Television Workshop
The Electric Company is an educational children's TV series
The Electric Company is an American educational children's television series produced by the Children's Television Workshop (CTW), now known as Sesame Workshop. It was co-created by Paul Dooley, Joan Ganz Cooney, and Lloyd Morrisett, and aired from 1971 to 1977, with reruns until 1985. The show employed sketch comedy and other devices to provide an entertaining program to help elementary school children develop their grammar and reading skills. The cast included Morgan Freeman, Rita Moreno, Bill Cosby, Judy Graubart, Lee Chamberlin, and Skip Hinnant, and the music was composed by Eric Rogers and Joe Raposo, among others.
The Electric Company had a successful run with 780 episodes over six seasons. It was designed for children who had graduated from CTW's flagship program, Sesame Street, and thus had more mature humor. The show also licensed comic books, video games, and a board game, but unlike Sesame Street, it never had a stand-alone brand or character for merchandising.
The show's premise revolves around a group of kids called The Electric Company, who have the ability to create and rearrange words. They are often in conflict with another group of kids, The Pranksters, who have similar powers but use them to cause trouble. Each episode would feature a "word of the day," with a cast member saying a variant of, "Today on The Electric Company, the so-and-so says, '(bleep') and the action would freeze as the graphic of the word or a card with the word became visible to viewers.
The Electric Company also had a reboot in 2009, which ran until 2014. This new series received generally positive reviews and won several Daytime Emmy awards. It maintained the educational focus of the original series while expanding beyond reading and literacy to include basic math skills.
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The show's music was composed by Eric Rogers and Clark Gesner
The Electric Company was an American educational children's television series that aired on PBS from 1971 to 1977. The show was produced by the Children's Television Workshop (CTW), now known as the Sesame Workshop. The music for the show was composed by Eric Rogers and Clark Gesner, among other notable composers.
Eric Rogers composed the music for the DePatie-Freleng cartoons in the '70s and was an additional music composer for 260 episodes of The Electric Company. He also wrote some new songs, including the arrangement for the theme song. The Grammy Award-winning original soundtrack album was released on Warner Bros. Records.
Clark Gesner wrote several songs for the series, including most of the sign songs, but he never served as the official music coordinator. Gesner's songs often featured common sights and signage from around New York City in the 1970s. His compositions were not only entertaining but also served as useful tools for reading comprehension.
Other notable composers for the series include Gary William Friedman, who was the music director and composer for Season 4 and wrote about 40 songs, including the popular Spider-Man theme song. Tom Lehrer, a satirist and pianist, wrote 10 songs for the show, including "L-Y" and "Silent E." Joe Raposo, one of the CTW's in-house composers, created the music for segments like "Soft-Shoe Silhouettes."
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The cast included Morgan Freeman, Rita Moreno, and Bill Cosby
The Electric Company was an American educational children's TV series produced by the Children's Television Workshop (CTW), later known as Sesame Workshop. It was co-created by Paul Dooley, Joan Ganz Cooney, and Lloyd Morrisett. The series aired on PBS for 780 episodes over six seasons, from 25 October 1971 to 15 April 1977, with reruns continuing until 4 October 1985. The show aimed to help elementary school children develop their grammar and reading skills through sketch comedy and other devices.
The original cast included Morgan Freeman, Rita Moreno, Bill Cosby, Judy Graubart, Lee Chamberlin, and Skip Hinnant. Most of the cast had experience in stage, repertory, and improvisational work, and Cosby and Moreno were already well-established performers on film and television. Ken Roberts, best known as a soap opera announcer, narrated some segments during the first season. Jim Boyd, who was an off-camera voice actor and puppeteer in the first season, began appearing on camera in the second season, playing J. Arthur Crank.
Rita Moreno played a variety of roles on the show. In one sketch, "Vi's Diner", Lee Chamberlin played the proprietor of a diner where customers read simple menus to place their orders. In another, "Wild Guess", a game-show send-up, Bill Cosby played the announcer, Ken Kane, and Rita Moreno played the host, Bess West. Morgan Freeman played Mark, and Cosby played Hank.
The Electric Company cast members went on to have varied careers. Freeman became the voice of God, while Cosby encountered serious legal troubles. Rita Moreno reflected on her experience on the show in an interview with Terry Gross of WHYY's Fresh Air, saying, "I have lots of fans from that time in my life, loads of them. I always saw The Electric Company as a community service on my part. And we really, really worked very, very hard. But it was absolutely worth it. It was such a wonderful, wonderful experiment."
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The show ran from 1971 to 1977, with reruns until 1985
The Electric Company was an American educational children's television series. It was co-created by Paul Dooley, Joan Ganz Cooney, and Lloyd Morrisett, and produced by the Children's Television Workshop (CTW), now known as Sesame Workshop. The show was intended for children who had graduated from CTW's flagship program, Sesame Street, and therefore had more mature humour. It aired on PBS from 25 October 1971 to 15 April 1977, with reruns until 1985.
The Electric Company ran for six seasons, with 780 episodes in total. It was designed to help elementary school children develop their grammar and reading skills. The show employed sketch comedy and various other devices to provide an entertaining program. It featured a mix of live-action sketches, animation, and the occasional puppet. The cast included well-known names such as Morgan Freeman, Rita Moreno, and Bill Cosby.
The show is also notable for its extensive use of early computer-generated imagery, especially Scanimate, a then-state-of-the-art analog video-synthesizer system. The music for the show was composed by Eric Rogers, with additional songs written by Clark Gesner and Tom Lehrer. The original soundtrack album won a Grammy Award for the show's cast.
After The Electric Company ended its original run in 1977, it continued to air in reruns on PBS until 1985. The show also re-ran on Noggin, a channel co-founded by CTW, from 1999 to 2003, and again from 1995 onwards. The Electric Company left a lasting impact on children's television and is remembered fondly by its fans.
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The Electric Company was produced by the Children's Television Workshop
The Electric Company was an American educational children's television series produced by the Children's Television Workshop (CTW), now known as the Sesame Workshop. It was co-created by Paul Dooley, Joan Ganz Cooney, and Lloyd Morrisett. The series aired on PBS for 780 episodes over the course of its six seasons, from October 25, 1971, to April 15, 1977, and continued in reruns until October 4, 1985. The Electric Company later re-ran on Noggin, a channel co-founded by the CTW, from 1999 to 2003.
The show was intended for children who had graduated from CTW's flagship program, Sesame Street, and therefore had more mature humour. It employed sketch comedy and various other devices to provide an entertaining program to help elementary school children develop their grammar and reading skills. The show's cast included Academy Award winner Rita Moreno, Bill Cosby, and a then-unknown Morgan Freeman. Guest stars 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.
The Electric Company was notable for its extensive, innovative use of early computer-generated imagery, especially Scanimate, 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 original soundtrack album, released on Warner Bros. Records, won a Grammy Award for the show's cast.
The final episode of The Electric Company featured a short musical and dance number featuring the final cast members, with the exception of Bill Cosby, Lee Chamberlin, and Rita Moreno, who did not take part in this episode. The lyrics of the song summed up the closure of the series: "We're glad you came to call. We really had a ball. The show is done; we hate to run; we're sorry, but that's all."
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Frequently asked questions
The song was written by Clark Gesner, who also wrote several other songs for the series.
The song was likely released between 1971 and 1977, as part of the American educational children's TV series, The Electric Company.
The song is said to have left a lasting impact on children's television, with its focus on children's literacy and reading skills.
