The Electric Company (1971)

Genre

comedy, family

Country

United States

Length

6 seasons, 780 episodes

Rating

7.3 of 10 from 26 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

This children's series uses sketch comedy and short segments to help kids learn reading and grammar. It was made for students who had already watched Sesame Street, so the jokes are a bit more grown-up.

quirkyplayfuleducationallivelyenergeticretrolightheartednostalgic

What happens

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 created by Joan Ganz Cooney, Lloyd Morrisett, and Paul Dooley. The series aired on PBS for 780 episodes over the course of its six seasons from October 25, 1971, to April 15, 1977. The program continued in reruns until October 4, 1985. The Electric Company later reran on Noggin, a channel co-founded by the CTW, from 1999 to 2003. Noggin also produced a compilation special for the show. The Workshop produced the show at Reeves Teletape Studios in Manhattan. The Electric Company employed sketch comedy and various other devices to provide an entertaining program to help elementary school children develop their grammar and reading skills. Since it was intended for children who had graduated from CTW's flagship program, Sesame Street, the humor was more mature than what was seen there. The show was directed by Robert Schwarz (1971 and 1977), Henry Behar (1972–1975), and John Tracy (1975–1976). Writers included Dooley, Tom Whedon, Christopher Cerf (1971–1973), Jeremy Stevens (1972–1974), John Boni, and Amy Ephron (1972–1973). In many areas, a preview special, Here Comes The Electric Company, was seen in syndication through sponsor Johnson Wax on many local commercial stations during the week before its 1971 debut. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

Trailer

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• Kids' Writes (1981)
• The Krofft Supershow (1976)
• Sesame Street Unpaved
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• The Why Why Family (1996)
• Zoom (1972)