The Electric Company

I watched every episode of "The Electric Company" with my children. When they got too "old" for the genre, I had occasion to watch it by myself-this led to a lot of teasing, but I thought "Dracula" and "Easy Reader" were just great. Today I was surfing the Children's TV Show Archives, and naturally clicked on "Electric Company." DEJEVU! Morgan Freeman was the actor portraying my favorite (vicariously enjoyed) characters! The first time I saw Morgan Freeman in my adult life was in "Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves." He looked sooo familiar, but I just couldn't place him! What a rush! ...life has come full-circle for me. A fan of this man all my life-and I never realized it! What a treat!

I can remember this show like it was yesterday. When I was in school,everyday after lunch we would go back into the classroom,and our teacher(dear sweet Mrs. Edge)would turn to the station where the show was on(it came on at 12:30 in the afternoon),and she would tell us that their were certain words and sounds like "ch",and "sh" that would be announced on the show,and IT WAS MANDATORY,that we watch the show,cause you'll never know if Mrs. Edge would give us a word to say or used in a sentence,and it came directly from that show.

The Electric Company was that show. It may have been a great show,but it was educational as well. I always looked forward to it coming on everyday. We couldn't wait for Rita Moreno to yell "Hey you Guys!",and we would yell right along,if you wasn't too loud or gotten or Mrs. Edge's last nerve. She was a very good teacher. I can remember some of the characters like Crank, J.J., Sylvia or Jennifer with Paul the Gorilla. Morgan Freeman was everyone's favorite because he could not only entertain the kids,but at the same time teach them about words and phrases,and other lessons of interest(my teacher worship the ground he walked on everytime he was on the air).

Oh yeah,how can I forget other characters like "Letterman",and learning to read from your friendly-neighborhood "Spiderman",and most importantly.....silent "e"....Who can remember the song.... "Who can turn a can into a cane","Who can turn a man into a mane"......and so forth.....

One of the best shows for my childhood. I'm surprised it didn't last very long,but it would be nice if someone did a remake of the show that encourages children to learn more and be entertain at the same time. Great show of the 1970's!!!!

Out of all the educational shows that I can remember as a child, I enjoyed this one the best. The skits that I remember the most are "I Hate To Take A Nap", "Cha-Cha-Cha-Cha Chimney", "Act Your Age", "N'T", All the skits mimicking Johnny Cash, "Randy" and being a horror fan I mostly enjoyed the monster characters. I enjoyed the Short Circus and having a crush on Jessy and Buddy and the songs "Poison", "Knock, Knock, Rock" and "Tilt". I loved this show and I wish that it would come on regularly on TV. I did not have Noggin so I wish that all kids had the opportunity that I had as a kid to enjoy these educational shows that are far more better and "cleaner" than todays children's shows.

Maybe, just maybe.

One thing I liked about this show was the endless variety of sketches. It was like a Laugh-In episode for kids.

Skip (Fritz The Cat, no lie) Hinnant as Fargo North, Decoder. It took me years to finally get the pun.

J. Arthur Crank, Jennifer of the Jungle, Easy Reader, (another late pun) Pandora the brat, The Mad Scientist...great characters all.

And the Short Circus was one of the most talented bunch of kids since the original Mickey Mouse club.

A word about Pandora though. Rita Moreno wore this REALLY high skirt in that role. I wonder if her character ever became an accidental 'symbol' for those old enough to get it. She looked damn fine like that if you think about it. The females in the Short Circus too. That is, when they became teenagers.

The one problem with certain 1970's children's shows was the way some females dressed. Shouldn't be wearing minis or hot pants if you're entertaining kids. 'New Zoo Revue' was guilty of this as well.

The comedy was brilliant however. And even though the design and images are dated beyond belief, it's still great fun.

Hey You Guys! I really loved the Electric Company even though it was five years before my time. I can say that I learned a lot from this show. Just basic reading and grammatical skills that so many kids are lacking these days. This show was really fun and there were a lot of people who made it that way. They really need to make more educational programs just like this so that kids can keep an opened mind as to what's out there rather than relying on other TV shows that don't really have any educational value and do very little to stimulate young minds.

I'm surprised that this show isn't in syndication and hasn't been released on DVD and VHS because the Children's Television Workshop could profit very well from it.