IMDb RATING
8.2/10
2.5K
YOUR RATING
A comedy variety show that teaches basic phonetic and grammar concepts using live-action sketches, cartoons, songs, and Spider-Man episodes.A comedy variety show that teaches basic phonetic and grammar concepts using live-action sketches, cartoons, songs, and Spider-Man episodes.A comedy variety show that teaches basic phonetic and grammar concepts using live-action sketches, cartoons, songs, and Spider-Man episodes.
- Won 1 Primetime Emmy
- 3 wins & 6 nominations total
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Featured reviews
Hey You Guys! This Show Was 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.
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.
10navrm-1
Thanks Electric Company!
I had a huge crush on Julie, the cutie from Short Circus. I think it may have been that she was like me, Asian-American, and I could relate to her (don't know how exactly except for appearance). All I know is that she was quite popular here in Hawaii. So without sounding like an obsessed crazed fan, I will simply say that TEC was a great learning tool for me and my three brothers. As a latchkey kid throughout the 70's, this show was a great distraction from the bigger problems around me. I don't have as great a memory about the show's skits and musical numbers, but I do remember episodes of Spidey, Letterman, and Rita Moreno's "Hey you guyyyyys!". I can't watch a Morgan Freeman film without first seeing Easy Reader. The silhouettes of two of the show's cast members compounding words remains vivid. And T-I-O-N, shun-shun-shun-shun....classic! I have never heard of Noggin, but it sounds like a great network(?) in the same vein as TV Land.
My favorite childhood show!
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.
I love it when all the pieces fit!
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 remember!
Reading some of the comments other people have said regarding the "Electric Company" makes me realize that it has been forgotten, and that is a shame! If anyone can tell me more about this "Noggin" cable channel or where to find reruns, it would be much appreciated. I, too, remember the Electric Company, and I watched it fervently from age 7-12. It was a wonderful show that provided the best possible learning environment, by combining education with humor and repetition, and, above all, in small enough doses to aid in memory retention. I think my all-time favorite was "Fargo North, De-Coder." The cast was certainly very talented and very capable, and I have nothing but fond memories of watching this show, while also improving my language skills.
Did you know
- TriviaMarvel Comics allowed the show to use the character Spider-Man for free. To commemorate the partnership between Marvel and the Children's Television Workshop, Marvel published a special comic book series called "Spidey Super Stories," which were easy-to-read adventures of Spider-Man that occasionally featured members of the show's cast. A shortened version of the comic, featuring only characters from the Marvel Universe, appeared in "The Electric Company" 's spin-off magazine. There was even a parody in a humor issue of Marvel's "What if...?" called "Spidey Intellectual Stories", where Spider-Man defeats a super-villain by debating philosophy in a story that even the narrator, the Watcher, finds boring.
- GoofsDuring the song "Apostrophe S" (sung by Lee Chamberlin), after Lee sings "the hat is Jim's and that's that", a white-sleeved arm appears briefly at the bottom right of the screen.
- Quotes
Narrator of 'The Adventures of Letterman': Faster than a rolling "O"! Stronger than silent "E"! Able to leap capital "T" in a single bound! It's a word, it's a plan, it's Letterman!
- Crazy creditsAt the end of every episode is a disclaimer read aloud by one of the cast members stating, "The Electric Company gets its power from the Children's Television Workshop".
- ConnectionsEdited into Spidey Super Stories (1974)
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- The Reading Program
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