The Electric Company

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This article is about an American television program. For electric utilities, see electric company.

The Electric Company
Genre	Children's television series
Running time	30 minutes
Starring	Morgan Freeman Judy Graubart Luis Avalos Skip Hinnant Rita Moreno Jim Boyd Lee Chamberlin (1971-1973) Hattie Winston (1973-1977) Bill Cosby (1971-1973) Danny Seagren (1974-1977) Gene Wilder Mel Brooks Joan Rivers Zero Mostel The Short Circus: June Angela Irene Cara (1971-1972) Gregg Burge (1973-1975) Stephen Gustafson (1971-1975) Janina Mathews (1975-1977) Réjane Magloire (1975-1977) Rodney Lewis (1975-1977) Melanie Henderson (1971-1975) Douglas Grant (1971-1973) Todd Graff (1975-1977) Denise Nickerson (1972-1973) Bayn Johnson (1973-1975)
Country of origin	United States
Original channel	PBS
Original run	October 25, 1971–April 15, 1977
No. of episodes	780

The Electric Company was an educational American children's television series produced by the Children's Television Workshop (now Sesame Workshop) for PBS in the United States. PBS broadcast 780 episodes over the course of six seasons, from 1971 to 1977. CTW produced the show at Reeves Teletape Second Stage in Manhattan.

The Electric Company employed sketch comedy and other devices to provide an entertaining program to help children of primary school age develop their reading skills. It was intended for children who had graduated from CTW's flagship program, Sesame Street.

Contents 1 Performers 2 Regular sketches 3 The Short Circus 4 Music 5 Visuals 6 Corporate credits 6.1 Friday closing credits 7 Show numbering 8 Season 1 Credits 9 Season 2 Credits 10 Season 3 Credits 11 Season 4 Credits 12 Season 5 Credits 13 Season 6 Credits 14 Rebroadcast and rebirth 14.1 DVD releases 14.2 Possible television revival 15 Trivia 16 External links

[edit] Performers

The original cast included Morgan Freeman, Rita Moreno (it was Moreno who screamed "Hey, you guyyyyys!!" to open the show in seasons two through six and first screamed the phrase in episode 19), Bill Cosby, Judy Graubart, Lee Chamberlin, and Skip Hinnant. Most of the cast had done stage, repertory, and improv work, with Cosby and Moreno already well-known from film and television. Ken Roberts, who was best known as a soap-opera announcer, was the narrator of some of the segments during the first season.

Jim Boyd, who was strictly an off-camera voice actor and puppeteer in the first season, began appearing on-camera in season two, mostly in the role of J. Arthur Crank. Luis Avalos also joined the cast in that season.

Bill Cosby was a regular in season one, and occasionally appeared in new segments during season two, but thereafter he left The Electric Company. Nevertheless, segments Cosby had taped in seasons one and two were repeatedly re-run in shows produced throughout the following four seasons of the show, and Cosby was billed as a cast member throughout the show's entire run. Similarly, Lee Chamberlin also left after the second season, but many of her segments were also repeatedly re-used. Consequently, Chamberlin was also billed as a cast member for the show’s entire run.

Added to the cast at the beginning of season 3 was Hattie Winston, a talented actress and singer who later appeared on the show Becker. Beginning in the fourth season, Danny Seagren appeared in the role of Spider-Man.

[edit] Regular sketches

Some of the regular sketches performed on The Electric Company included the following:

• The Adventures of Letterman—Segment featuring the work of animators John Hubley and Faith Hubley, wherein the title character, a super hero wearing a varsity sweater, foiled the mischief of the evil Spell Binder. Featured the vocal talents of Zero Mostel, Joan Rivers (who narrated the segments), and Gene Wilder (most of the time), the skit debuted during season two, and it was one of the most popular segments of the show. The Adventures of Letterman was parodied in Season Six as Litterman.
• The Blue Beetle—a bumbling superhero (Jim Boyd) who would often make matters worse instead of better for people who he tried to help, unrelated to the DC Comics hero of the same name. He wore a mask, a hood with antennas, wings attached to his back, tennis shoes, boxer shorts, and a T-shirt with "Blue Beetle" written on it, all of which were all colored blue except for the letters U and E of the word “blue.” He was also often put up against Spider-Man, who he was both jealous of and intimidated by. One of his favorite taglines was, "I would if I could, but I can't, so I won't."
• Clayton—Introduced in season five but became a recurring character in season six, a Claymation character animated by Will Vinton who often commented on the previous skit or introduced a new concept.
• The Corsican Twins—Twin brothers (Skip Hinnant and Jim Boyd) who could hurt each other by punching, biting, kicking, etc., himself, all while reinforcing sounds.
• Count Dracula—Send-up of the Bram Stoker literary character, played by Morgan Freeman. Sometimes, he was often seen with Frankenstein's monster (Skip Hinnant) and the Wolfman (Jim Boyd). Known in one skit as Vincent the Vegetable Vampire.
• The Director—A hapless auteur (Rita Moreno), dressed as an old-style Hollywood film director, tried in vain to make her actors read the correct line as printed on an oversized cue card held by Marcello (Morgan Freeman). The director used her riding crop as a pointer to the cue card, but she usually ended up whacking the cue card in anger with the crop startling Marcello. Several flubbed takes were depicted before the director gave up in frustration. Common director lines included “Marcello!!!!!” “Aaaaanndd ROLL ’EM!!” and “Aaaaaction!”
• Dr. Doolats—Parody of Dr. Doolittle and Groucho Marx (with a Harpo Marx wig) in which the title character (Luis Avalos) used words to cure his patients.
• Easy Reader—"Easy Reader, that's my name, umm, umm-umm!"—Segments featured the title character, a smooth hipster who loved to read at every opportunity and every printed thing he saw (Morgan Freeman), teaching words of the day. Often associated with Val the Librarian (Hattie Winston). His name was a pun on the title of the the film Easy Rider.
• Fargo North, Decoder—An Inspector Clouseau-type detective (Skip Hinnant) tried to decode scrambled word messages and phrases. His name was a pun based on Fargo, North Dakota. Sesame Street 's Big Bird appears in one segment, asking him to help decode a message. It is also a reference to the decoding style of reading education.
• Five Seconds—Midway point of the show where viewers were challenged to read a word within a five-second time limit. From 1973–1975, in a spoof of Mission: Impossible, the word would self-destruct in a Scanimate animation sequence after the time limit expired. ("The word you see here will self-destruct in five seconds. Can you read it before it does?") After 1975, the viewers had to read the word before a cast member (often a member of the Short Circus) did.
• Giggles, Goggles—Two friends (usually Rita Moreno and Judy Graubart) conversed when one of them misused a word (e.g., "flack" as in "flap," when the other was talking about something with the word "flap"). Several words, similarly tied by prefix or suffix, were humorously misused until they get back to the original word. "That's what I was trying to tell you!" remarked one of the characters, after which the other fumeed in frustration.
• Here's Cooking at You—Send-up of Julia Child, with Judy Graubart playing Julia Grown-Up.
• J. Arthur Crank—Jim Boyd's plaid-wearing character who often interrupted sketches to complain when spellings or pronunciations confused him. In early episodes, he was just a voice on the phone, much like an irate viewer on a radio call-in show. In one sketch he sang a song devoted to his spiritual cousin Oscar the Grouch.
• Jennifer of the Jungle—George of the Jungle send-up with (Judy Graubart) and Paul the Gorilla (Jim Boyd). Usually opened with Jennifer swinging on Viney the vine, yeling, "Oy-yoi-yoi-yoi...!"
• The Last Word— Always came at the end of the show; featured in season one instead of the next-show teasers from later seasons. The camera would show a barely lit incandescent bulb on a pull-chain switch hanging from a wire. The voice of Ken Roberts would state "And now, the last word" gravely. A single word would appear, usually one that had been featured earlier in the episode. An unseen cast member would read the word aloud, reach his/her arm into the shot, and turn the light off by tugging the pull chain.
• Love of Chair—Spoof of the soap opera Love of Life about a boy (Skip Hinnant) sitting on a chair. Announcer Ken Roberts (who, appropriately enough, also announced for Love of Life) read the day's story, told in the style of the old Dick and Jane primers, with questions asked at the end in a dramatic tone. The last question asked was always "And...what about Naomi?" Seen primarily during the 1971–1972 season. A shot of the boy sitting on the chair was used for the Friday closing credits during the first season.
• Mad Scientist—Another monster-based parody, this time with an evil scientist (Morgan Freeman) and his assistant, Igor (Luis Avalos) trying to read words.
• Mel Mounds—A disc jockey (Morgan Freeman) who introduced songs, usually by the Short Circus. Known for the phrase "Sounds righteous, delightious, and out-of-sighteous! Heavy, heavy, (finger snap) heavy! Ha-ah!"
• Millie the Helper— Rita Moreno as an eager but point-missing trainee in various professions. Millie's bellowed catchphrase, "Hey, you guys!", soon became a part of the show's opening.
• Monolith—An animated short, set in outer space, used to introduce segments discussing a sound cluster. A huge Washington Monument-type structure begins to collapse to the strains of the Richard Strauss composition "Also sprach Zarathustra" (also the theme of the film 2001: A Space Odyssey), and the appropriate sound cluster would be chisled from the structure (i.e. "alk," "oo," "ow," "all," "ee"). A skit based on a scene from the film 2001 was usually built around this segment (with the characters always cowering in fear and awe as the music begins).

• Phyllis & The Pharoahs— 50's doo-wop group with Rita Moreno on lead vocals. Their hits include "Phantom Of Love", "Grease", and "Is It Love?"
• Pandora—Rita Moreno's bratty but lovable curly-headed blonde girl, who tried to outwit the "adults" around her.
• Road Runner—New segments of the Looney Tunes character and his pursuer, Wile E. Coyote, produced and directed by Chuck Jones. These segments reinforced reading skills. These segments, unlike the classic Warner Bros. shorts, were completely devoid of sound, save for sound vocal effects such as laughing and sound effects such as the switching of a traffic light or the bouncing on a trampoline.
• Sign Sing-Along—Sometimes the last sketch on a Friday episode, filmed segments were married to a sing-along type song (e.g., "I like fish food; you do, too/Don't look now, your hair is blue"), with filmed snippets of a sign with said words. Sung once through, after which the viewers were expected to supply the lyrics the second time around ("All right, now we'll be quiet, and you sing it!") while a wah-wah-muted trumpet and bassoon duo played the melody of the words. Alternate: vignettes depicting literal translations of road signs (e.g., slow-motion action of children playing for a Slow Children sign).
• The Six Dollar and Thirty-Nine Cent Man—a spoof of The Six Million Dollar Man with Jim Boyd as "Steve Awesome", who had far more bionic features than his more serious counterpart. Introduced in season five and became a recurring sketch in season six.
• Slow Reader—Originally a set of animated shorts, but at least one live-action sketch was shot based on the same characters and theme. A bald-headed slow reader is given a message to read by a delivery man and has trouble sounding out the words. Each message is advice he needs to follow (e.g., "Do not bother this giant person," "Go away," "Duck!" "Keep off the grass"), but winds up not understanding the words or meaning until it is too late.
• Soft-Shoe Silhouettes—Two cast members appeared in silhouette, one giving the prefix of the word, the other the suffix, to form a new word (e.g., "th-" and "-ing" to form "thing"). Most notable for the soft-shoe-type music that played during the segment. Done twice through, sometimes with the viewer trying to read the word the second time through. The song usually ended with the two saying a soft "yeah!"

Parodies of this skit have aired on the following:

• • Family Guy - In the episode "Mr. Saturday Knight," where Peter is one of the silhouetted characters reading the words. He quickly becomes frustrated at his inability to keep up with the other character, and attacks him.
  • Madtv - Part of a larger Sesame Street parody depicting Big Bird catching and spreading avian flu on the street. The silhouetted characters sound out the words "flu," "fever," and "fatal."
  • Saturday Night Live - Miranda Richardson hosted) in a short film called "Dieter's Dream." The silhouettes alternate with the words "whore" and "nun" to make the nonsense word "whorenun," describing Miranda Richardson's character in the film.
  • Nike Athletic Wear’s Boom television advertisement campaign from the late 1990s.
  • Avenue Q (Broadway musical adult parody of Sesame Street) - Between two scenes, a male silhouette appears saying the word "come," followed by a female who says the word "mitment." The two alternate until the female takes over, saying the word "commitment."

• Spidey Super Stories—Short pieces that featured the Marvel Comics character Spider-Man (which was provided to CTW free of charge) and cast members from the show. Stories involved the web-masked super hero (Danny Seagren) foiling mischievous characters involved in petty criminal activities (such as burglary or assault). Interestingly, Spider-Man spoke only in cartoon word balloons appearing over his head, which were accompanied by electronic punctuation sounds for emphasis when the appeared on-screen. Also, unlike in the pages of Marvel Comics, he was never seen out of costume as his alter-ego, Peter Parker. Debuted during season four and was the basis for a spin-off comic book.
• Vaudeville Revue (also called The Stage)—Skits and songs were presented—variety show-style on-stage, with music fanfare and canned applause to introduce and end each segment.
• A Very Short Book—Typically the last sketch of an episode in which a very short story is read by a member of the cast. Based on nursery rhymes or fairy tales and having a humorous ending. Always finished with the words "The End."
• Vi's Diner—Customers tried to read simple menus to place their order at proprieter Vi's (Lee Chamberlin) eatery. Grover from Sesame Street made a guest appearance in a season-two skit because he was lost and in tears, and he needed the help of Vi and J. Arthur Crank to get back home.

[edit] The Short Circus

• June Angela—Julie
• Irene Cara (1971–1972)—Iris
• Stephen Gustafson (1971–1975)—Buddy
• Melanie Henderson (1971–1975)—Kathy
• Douglas Grant (1971–1973)—Zach
• Denise Nickerson (1972–1973)—Allison
• Bayn Johnson (1973–1975)—Kelly
• Gregg Burge (1973–1975)—Dwayne
• Janina Mathews (1975–1977)—Gail
• Réjane Magloire (1975–1977)—Samantha
• Rodney Lewis (1975–1977)—Charlie
• Todd Graff (1975–1977)—Jesse

Another regular part of the show was the Short Circus (the name a pun on short circuit), a singing group of kids whose songs also facilitated reading comprehension. June Angela was the only Short Circus member to remain with the show during its entire six year run (she was 11 when production began, and 17 during its final season); others lasted anywhere from one to four years. Irene Cara appeared only during the first season and would go on to become a major pop star (Fame, Flashdance). Cara was replaced by Denise Nickerson, best known for her appearance as Violet Beauregarde in the 1971 film Willy Wonka And The Chocolate Factory.

The other three original members of the Short Circus were Melanie Henderson (who, at 13, was the oldest of the original group), Stephen Gustafson, and Douglas Grant. For the show's third and fourth seasons, Grant and Nickerson were replaced by talented dancer Gregg Burge and Broadway actress Bayn Johnson.

Except for June Angela, an entirely new Short Circus was cast for the 1975–1977 seasons because previous members were getting too old. The new hires were Todd Graff (Ilene Graff's brother, who went on to become a successful writer and actor as an adult, co-starring in James Cameron's The Abyss), Rodney Lewis, Réjane Magloire (who would later go on to provide vocals for the music groups Indeep and Technotronic), and Janina Matthews.

In the first season, a number of unbilled children were also used on-camera with the show's cast, as on Sesame Street, but this concept was very quickly dropped.

Because of the frequent reuse of segments, a practice derived from Sesame Street, actors continued to appear after their departures from the cast.

[edit] Music

• Joe Raposo, who was famous for his work on Sesame Street, was the music director of the series for seasons 1–3.
• Gary William Friedman served as the music director of the series for Season four, writing some 40 songs, including the popular Spider-Man theme song.
• Tom Lehrer wrote ten songs for the series. L-Y and Silent E are among the more memorable.
• Dave Conner was the music director of the last two seasons of the series.
• Clark Gesner wrote several songs for the series including most of the sign songs but never served as the show’s music director.

The original soundtrack album won a Grammy award for the show's cast.

[edit] Visuals

The series was notable for its extensive, innovative use of early computer-generated imagery, especially Scanimation, 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 one: for instance, June Angela, in a cute costume, was shown dancing alongside the word "tap."

The font featured for most of the words displayed on-screen was Franklin Gothic. It was used for the entire series.

[edit] Corporate credits

Each show ended with one of the cast members announcing, "The Electric Company gets its power from the Children's Television Workshop." After the copyright notice, the list of corporate sponsors would be flashed on the screen. An instrumental version of the show's theme (starting in 1973, and changed each season) played beneath the music; prior to this, a specific musical score played during the corporate credits.

The corporate sponsors—which included such entities as the Ford Foundation and the Carnegie Corporation of New York—were flashed one or two at a time for the first five seasons and scrolled during the sixth season. Here are the actual credits for seasons 1-6: Production funding for The Electric Company is provided by the Bureau of Libraries and Educational Technology, the National Center for Educational Technology, the United States Ofiice of Education, Mobil Oil Corporation, the Department of Health, Education and Welfare, PBS-Affiliated Stations, the Carnegie Corporation of New York, and by unrestricted general program grants from the Ford Foundation and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

[edit] Friday closing credits

As with most PBS children's-related programming produced by CTW, the Friday episodes featured closing credits along with a full-length version of the same music that played over the corporate credits list.

The video that played beneath the scrawling list of credits changed from season to season, and were as follows:

• Season 1—Skip Hinnant in his Love of Chair character, sitting completely still or doing some other action (such as sleeping). Midway through the season, the music changed from a full-length instrumental specific to the corporate credits to an upbeat, marching band-type instrumental version of the show's theme. The second theme ended with crashing sound effects, momentarily startling the boy from his sleep.
• Season 2—Cast members, entering the room one-by-one. The Short Circus—dressed in marching-band uniforms—entered the room first, followed by dual versions of the adults (each actor in dual roles), who entered as him/herself along with the character he/she is most noted for playing (e.g., Morgan Freeman entering both as himself and as Easy Reader). At the end of this sequence, the last one in the room would close the door, and the picture would break up in pieces and crash down. Other times, a hammer would appear in the bottom right of the screen and hit it, causing the same type of breakage. The same instrumental theme from latter season-one episodes was used.
• Season 3—Begins with The Short Circus playing their musical instruments over a chroma key, then walking off as they dance to the beat of the music. About midway through came a montage of clips from various skits, capped with a clip of Paul the Gorilla dancing across the screen. The theme was rescored; it had more of a rock feel, thanks to a prominently heard electric guitar. The corporate credits theme was a hybrid of the Friday credits theme (the first part) and a slower-tempoed instrumental version of the opening theme (for the second half).
• Season 4—Not featured on shortened episodes that aired on Noggin (or on either of the the DVD sets) but is believed to be clips from the Spidey Super Stories skits. The closing theme was again rescored; for the first time since early in the series, it was the same version used in the corporate credits and featured a Moog synthesizer.
• Season 5— Filmed clips of the Short Circus along with focus-group clips from an elementary school and behind-the-scenes action from the Teletape production studio. Another rescore of the theme could be heard, with horns prominent this time to create a definite easy-listening feel; it was played at a slower tempo for the corporate credits. This sequence was used as the opening of a 1975 documentary on the success of the series in schools that was included in The Best of The Electric Company Vol. 2 DVD boxed set.
• Season 6—Clips from classic skits, sometimes tied together (such as sneezing, people coping with high wind gusts, water, etc.). Once again, the theme was rescored, this time using a prominently heard Moog synthesizer leading the acoustic instruments.

[edit] Show numbering

A total of 780 episodes were produced in the show's six-season run, 130 per season. The first four seasons (1971–1975) were numbered 1–520. The season-five shows (1975–1976) were numbered 1A–130A, and the season-six shows (1976–1977) were numbered 1B–130B. This was done because these two seasons were designed as year-long curriculum for schools.

Starting with season three (episode 261), a show's number would be presented in the sketch-of-the-day teaser segment, which would highlight a particular sketch that would be shown during that episode. The voice of a cast member would say a variant of, "Today on The Electric Company, the so-and-so says, '(censored),'" and the action would freeze as the graphic of the word of the day—or card with the word of the day printed on it—became visible to viewers. The censored words were replaced by a series of harsh electronic sounds that sounded something like a theremin played out-of-tune in the amount of syllables required for each word. The still action would linger on the screen for several seconds, then fade to black, where the show number would become visible in a Scanimate animation. The next-show teaser, which was introduced in season two without music, worked in the same way, and usually used a different take of the music heard during the sketch-of-the-day teaser, except that there was no show number shown. In season six, the electronic sounds were made less harsh-sounding.

In season 1, however, after the title sequence, the sound of a striking match would be heard, and a fade-up from black would reveal a hand holding a lit match and "show #x" handwritten on a piece of paper that was placed in such a way so that it could blend with the surrounding objects in-frame. Instead of the next-show teaser, Ken Roberts's voice could be heard, saying, “And now, the last word,” and the trademark light bulb would be shut off by a hand doing whatever the last word was. In season two, after the opening sequence, the words "The Electric Company" would disappear from the familiar logo, and the show number would appear in its place through the use of a Scanimate animation and an electronic whooshing sound.

It is interesting to note that some episodes in seasons 3–5 have serious technical errors with either their sketch-of-the-day teaser segments or their next-show teaser segments, which is probably because of the failure of the linear analog video-editing equipment. Episodes that have these errors in their sketch-of-the-day teasers include 1A, 8A, 15A, and 60A. Sometimes the music starts too late, ends too early, or plays too long. Sometimes the video does not appear at all—only a show number appears and only part of the teaser music plays. Sometimes the errors are negligible, with the teaser music only playing a fraction of a second longer than usual. For season six, because the teaser music was changed to a shorter, self-contained composition, these errors do not occur.

[edit] Season 1 Credits

• Executive Producer: David D. Connell
• Producers: Samuel Y. Gibbon, Joan Ganz Cooney, Ralph Rogers
• Director: Bob Schwarz
• Head Writer: Paul Dooley
• Writers: Tom Dunsmuir, Jeremy Stevens, Albert Rosenzweig, Alan Refee, Elaine Laron
• Production Designer: Bill Bonhert
• Music Director: Joe Raposo
• Head Lyricist: Elaine Laron
• Film Producer: Edith Zornow
• Associate Producers: Andrew B. Ferguson Jr., Naomi Foner
• Production Editor: Diana Wenman
• Production Assistants: Marsha Chaykin, Lois Fortune, Jewelle L. Gomez, Anne W. Graveson, Jack L. Roberts, Peter Turner, IV
• Production Stage Manager: Charles Raymond
• Stage Manager: Alfred Broderick
• Assistant to the Producer: Florence Weinshoff
• Associate Director: Harriett Wohl
• Costume Designer: Ramsee Mostoller
• Music Coordinator: Danny Epstein
• Set Decorator: Nat Mongioi
• Assistant Set Decorator: Hector Collazo
• Graphics: Frank D'Amario, Fred Rogers
• Assistant Designer: C. Murawski
• Film Editor: Madeline Anderson
• Director of Operations: Ronald L. Weaver
• Production Supervisor: Nannette Eiland Flynn
• Unit Manager: Patrick Pleven
• Technical Director: Phillip Griddle
• Lighting Director: David M. Clark
• Audio: Allan B. Rosenstein
• Video: Rolf Wahl
• Technical Consultant: Walt Rauffer
• Sound Effects: Bernie Fambrough
• Videotape Editors: Ben Wilder, John Hutchison, II, Conrad Carrano, Joe O'Dough
• Hair Stylist: Lee Trent
• Make-up: Mickey Scott
• Wardrobe: Grisha Mynova
• Vice President of Electric Company Research: Edward L. Palmer
• Research Directors: Vivian Horner, Ph.D., Barbara Fowles, Ph.D.
• Chairman, Board of Advisors: Gerald S. Lesser, Ph.D.

[edit] Season 2 Credits

• Director: Hank Behar
• Assistant Director: Stan Spiro
• Head Writer: Tom Whedon
• Writers: Tom Dunsmuir, Thad Mumford, Jeremy Stevens
• Music Director: Joe Raposo
• Film Producer: Edith Zornow
• Associate Producers: Naomi Foner
• Production Editor: Diana Wenman
• Costume Designer: Ramsee Mostoller
• Music Coordinator: Danny Epstein
• Set Decorator: Nat Mongioi
• Film Editor: Madeline Anderson
• Director of Operations: Ronald L. Weaver
• Technical Consultant: Walt Rauffer
• Technical Director: Jerry Keller
• Sound Effects: Bernie Fambrough, Dick Maitland
• Videotape Editors: Ben Wilder
• Hair Stylist: Lee Trent
• Makeup: Mickey Scott
• Wardrobe: Grisha Mynova
• Vice President of Electric Company Research: Edward L. Palmer
• Research Directors: Vivian Horner, Ph.D., Barbara Fowles, Ph.D.
• Chairman, Board of Advisors: Gerald S. Lesser, Ph.D.

[edit] Season 3 Credits

• Executive Producer: Samuel Y. Gibbon
• Producers: Andrew B. Ferguson Jr., Joan Ganz Cooney, Ralph Rogers
• Director: Henry Behar
• Head Writer: Tom Whedon
• Writers: John Boni, Sara Compton, Tom Dunsmuir, Thad Mumford, Jeremy Stevens, Jim Thurman
• Production Designer: Ronald D. Baldwin
• Music Director: Joe Raposo
• Film Producer: Edith Zornow
• Studio Producer: Charles Raymond
• Associate Producers: Wibby Ritchey, Florence W. Friedman
• Production Editor: Diana Wenman
• Curriculum Coordinator: Kathleen Corkett
• Assistant to the Producer: Gale Ross
• Production Assistants: Laura Sheiner, Stanley Spiro, Betty Rothenberg, Angela Van Wright
• Associate Director: Stanley Spiro
• Stage Managers: Brooks Fountain, Michael Dutton
• Choreographers: Patricia Birch, Gerri Dean
• Costume Designer: Ramsee Mostoller
• Assistant Music Director: Dave Conner
• Music Coordinator: Danny Epstein
• Set Decorator: Nat Mongioi
• Graphics: Len Rosolio
• Assistant Designer: Gene Fabricatore
• Graphics Coordinator: Marsha Chaykin
• Scenic Artists: David Lowry Norvid Roos
• Script Supervisor: Pamela Webber
• Film Department Supervisor: Madeline Anderson
• Animation Coordinator: Lois Fortune
• Assistant Production Editor: Winston Ferguson
• Director of Operations: Ronald L. Weaver
• Production Supervisor: Frieda Lipp
• Technical Director: Ralph Mensch
• Lighting Director: Richard Weiss
• Audio: Art Rosalin
• Video: Jerry Keller
• Technical Consultant: Walt Rauffer
• Sound Effects: Dick Maitland
• Videotape Editors: Patrick McKenna, Jerry Newman, Ben Wilder
• Hair Stylist: Lee Trent
• Make-up: Mickey Scott
• Wardrobe: Grisha Mynova
• Vice President of Electric Company Research: Edward L. Palmer
• Research Directors: Vivian Horner, Ph.D., Barbara Fowles, Ph.D.
• Chairman, Board of Advisors: Gerald S. Lesser, Ph.D.
• Vice President for Production: David D. Connell
• Facilities by: Teletape

[edit] Season 4 Credits

Unknown

[edit] Season 5 Credits

• Executive Producer: Samuel Y. Gibbon
• Producer: Andrew B. Ferguson Jr., Joan Ganz Cooney, Ralph Rogers
• Director: John Tracy
• Head Writer: Tom Whedon
• Writers: John Boni, Sara Compton, Tom Dunsmuir, Thad Mumford, Jeremy Stevens, Jim Thurman
• Production Designer: Ronald D. Baldwin
• Music Director: Dave Conner
• Film Producer: Edith Zornow
• Studio Producer: Wibby Ritchey
• Associate Producers: Kathleen Corkett, Joan Lufrano
• Production Editor: Diana Wenman
• Curriculum Coordinator: Sandra Kavanaugh
• Assistants to the Producer: Gale Ross, Aleti Olivi
• Production Assistants: Dana Zorah, Andrea Cvirko
• Associate Director: Richard Forrest
• Stage Managers: Mortimer J. O' Brien, Lois Fortune
• Choreographer: Liz Thompson
• Costume Designer: Ramsee Mostoller
• Music Coordinator: Danny Epstein
• Set Decorator: Nat Mongioi
• Graphics: Len Rosolio
• Assistant Designer: Gene Fabricatore
• Graphics Coordinator: Lauria Sheiner
• Scenic Artists: David Lowry, John Sherman, Nick Annino
• Script Supervisor: Pamela Webber
• Film Department Supervisors: Madeline Anderson, Michael Breddan
• Animation Coordinator: Nanine Valen
• Assistant Production Editor: Winston Ferguson
• Director of Operations: Ronald L. Weaver
• Production Supervisor: Frieda Lipp
• Unit Manager: Glenda Jones
• Technical Director: Ralph Mensch
• Audio: Art Rosalin
• Video: Bryan Keen
• Technical Consultants: Walt Rauffer, Teddy Dangel
• Sound Effects: Dick Maitland
• Videotape Editors: Patrick McKenna, Jerry Newman, Ben Wilder
• Hair Stylist: Lee Trent
• Make-up: Mickey Scott
• Wardrobe: Grisha Mynova
• Vice President of Electric Company Research: Edward L. Palmer
• Research Directors: Vivian Horner, Ph.D., Barbara Fowles, Ph.D.
• Researchers: Cornelia Brunner, Hylda Clarke, Ada Simonetti
• Chairman, Board of Advisors: Gerald S. Lesser, Ph.D.
• Vice President for Production: David D. Connell
• Facilities by Teletape

[edit] Season 6 Credits

• Executive Producer: Samuel Y. Gibbon
• Producers: Andrew B. Ferguson Jr., Joan Ganz Cooney, Ralph Rogers
• Director: Bob Schwarz
• Head Writer: Tom Whedon
• Writers: John Boni, Sara Compton, Tom Dunsmuir, Thad Mumford, Jeremy Stevens, Jim Thurman
• Production Designer: Ronald D. Baldwin
• Music Director: Dave Conner
• Film Producer: Edith Zornow
• Studio Producer: Wibby Ritchey
• Associate Producers: Kathleen Corkett, Joan Lufrano
• Editors: Diana Wenman, Winston Ferguson
• Curriculum Coordinator: Sandra Kavanaugh
• Assistant to the Producer: Aleti Olvi
• Production Assistants: Andrea Cvirko, Patricia Rout
• Associate Director: Diana Wenman
• Stage Managers: Mortimer J. O'Brien, Lois Fortune
• Choreographer: Liz Thompson
• Costume Designer: Ramsee Mostoller
• Music Coordinator: Danny Epstein
• Set Decorator: Nat Mongioi
• Graphics: Len Rosolio
• Assistant Designer: Robert Hoppe
• Graphics Coordinator: Laura Sheiner
• Scenic Artists: David Lowry, Nick Annino
• Script Supervisor: Pamela Webber
• Film Department Supervisor: Michael Breddan
• Animation Coordinator: Nanine Valen
• Director of Operations: Ronald L. Weaver
• Production Supervisor: Frieda Lipp
• Technical Advisor: Walt Rauffer
• Unit Manager: Glenda Jones
• Technical Director: Ralph Mensch
• Lighting Directors: David M. Clark, Richard Weiss
• Audio: Art Rosalin
• Video: Bryan Keen
• Sound Effects: Dick Maitland, Nancy Tafoya
• Videotape Editors: Patrick McKenna, Jerry Newman, Ben Wilder
• Hair Stylist: Lee Trent
• Make-up: Mickey Scott
• Wardrobe: Grisha Mynova
• Vice President of Electric Company Research: Edward L. Palmer
• Research Director: Barbara Fowles, Ph.D.
• Researchers: Cornelia Brunner, Hylda Clarke, Ada Simonetti
• Chairman, Board of Advisors: Gerald S. Lesser, Ph.D.
• Vice President for Production: David D. Connell
• Facilities by Teletape

[edit] Rebroadcast and rebirth

Following the last original episode on April 15, 1977, the series continued on PBS in reruns until October 1985, with the final two seasons (1A–130A and 1B–130B) shown in rotation. These are the episodes that are the most familiar to viewers.

The earlier 1971–1975 shows did not resurface until January 31, 1999, when the Noggin network, which was partly owned by Sesame Workshop at the time, rebroadcasted the show as a result of its co-ownership of the network. A two-hour feature-length compilation special, which was aired on TV Land, re-introduced the series to a new generation whose parents grew up watching the show. Noggin ran 65 select episodes until 2003, when they were pulled from the program lineup because Sesame Workshop sold its half of the network to Viacom, which already owned the other half. The shows were cut subtly to fit Noggin's shorter running time and free up time for various interstitial segments produced for the network. These deletions included the episode numbers, the Scanimate word animations, the segments 15 seconds and shorter, and the teasers for the next episodes (in seasons 2-6).

[edit] DVD releases

The series was not seen since it was pulled from Noggin’s schedule until Sesame Workshop (under license to Shout! Factory and Sony BMG Music Entertainment) released a DVD boxed set on February 7, 2006 (The Best of the Electric Company), that included 20 uncut episodes from all six seasons, plus outtakes and introductions and commentary by Rita Moreno and June Angela.

Due to the overwhelming (and somewhat unexpected) popularity of the initial DVD release, a second boxed set was released on November 14, 2006 (The Best of the Electric Company Volume 2). This second volume contained 20 episodes from seasons 1–5 and a 30-minute documentary on the effects of in-school viewings of The Electric Company from 1975. Cast members Luis Avalos, Jim Boyd, Judy Graubart, Skip Hinnant, and Hattie Winston provided commentary and reflected on their years on the show. However, the original content of at least four of the episodes presented in the second DVD set has been altered. In some cases, material that was originally broadcast in a particular episode has been removed completely while material from other episodes has been included. For example, episode 60A, which is included in the Volume 2 series, originally contained the Spider-Man episode "Spidey Meets the Prankster" and used a scene from the episode as the opening teaser. The teaser has been removed completely after the opening credits leaving only the episode number, and at the start is an episode of "The Six Dollar and Thirty-Nine Cent Man." Also removed following the Letterman sketch in this episode is the clip of the Short Circus singing "Stop!" and a Road Runner-Wile E. Coyote cartoon. Clayton appears in this episode as well, even though he supposedly only appeared in season six. These altered episodes also contain special effects used to segue from one sketch to another that were not used in the show's original run. The material seen in these altered episodes is not what was originally shown when the episodes were first broadcast.

It is rumored that additional DVDs may be produced in the future.

[edit] Possible television revival

In 2005, rumors surfaced that Sesame Workshop was planning a new version of The Electric Company. If the plans go forward, the updated revival could return to the airwaves in 2007—which will coincide with the 26th anniversary of the conclusion of the original TEC.

An hour-long television show called The Electric Company's Greatest Hits & Bits was broadcast on many PBS stations in late 2006. It included interviews with cast members and voice talent, as well as creator-producer Joan Ganz Cooney.

[edit] Trivia

• Writer Thad Mumford went on to have a very successful career writing and producing sitcoms, including the final years of M*A*S*H, ALF, and A Different World.

• Moreno's “Hey, you guyyyyys!!” signature line—along with part of the opening from season one—is spoofed in the Family Guy episode "Hell Comes to Quahog."

• Tom Whedon, head writer from Season 2 on, also wrote for The Dick Cavett Show, Benson, Alice and The Golden Girls. His son Joss has also written for television, creating Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, and Firefly.

[edit] External links

• The Electric Company at the Internet Movie Database
• The Electric Company at TV.com
• The Electric Company official Web site
• Tom Lehrer's "Silent-E"
• Opening Intro for The Electric Company
• TVO theme songs
• The Electric Company at MySpace