The Electric Company: Difference between revisions
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''The Electric Company'' was an [[Edutainment Show]] that ran from 1971-77 on [[PBS]] (and the last two seasons reran until 1985) from Children's Television Workshop, the company that previously brought the world ''[[Sesame Street]]''. Its main purpose was to teach reading to reluctant readers by using [[Sketch Comedy]], but its clever writing, memorable characters (such as Easy Reader, Fargo North Decoder, J. Arthur Crank, Jennifer of the Jungle, Paul the Gorilla), appearances by [[Spider-Man]], animated inserts with the superhero Letterman, and psychedelic Scanimation visuals made it a cult hit with all ages.
The cast was made up of a diverse group of performers such as Rita Moreno, who was already a well-known actress in her own right. [[Bill Cosby]] was a cast member in Season 1, and "The Adventures of Letterman" shorts featured the voices of [[Gene Wilder]], Zero Mostel, and [[Joan Rivers]]. But most notable was a young and then-unknown [[Morgan Freeman]], who played Easy Reader ([[Old Shame|and has been trying to live it down ever since]]). Other cast members included Skip Hinnant (best known as the voice of ''[[Fritz the Cat (animation)|Fritz the Cat]]''), Judy Graubart (a member of the improvisational comedy troupe ''The Second City''), Luis Avalos, Jim Boyd, Hattie Winston, and Lee Chamberlin. In addition to the adult cast, there was a [[Fake Band]] called the Short Circus, which consisted of 11- to 17-year-olds; [[Two First Names|June Angela]] was the only member of the Short Circus to stay the whole series' run. Other notable members included Irene Cara, later to become a hit-making solo artist and one of the stars of the original ''[[Fame]]''; Todd Graff, brother of ''[[Mr. Belvedere]]'' actress Ilene Graff, and Denise Nickerson, at the time known for playing Violet Beauregarde in ''[[Willy Wonka and The Chocolate Factory]]''.
[[Retool]]ed and [[The Electric Company (2009)|rebooted in 2009]].
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{{tropelist}}
* [[The Bad Guy Wins]]: Surprisingly for a children's show, sometimes Spider-Man would fail to defeat the [[Villain of the Week|Villain Of The Day]].
* [[Bread, Eggs, Breaded Eggs]]: Here, it's an educational tool. Two silhouetted faces going "Ch." "Ew." "Chew." "Bl." "Ew." "Blew." And so on.
* [[Chain of Corrections]]
* [[Crossover]]: Big Bird, Grover and Oscar the Grouch from ''[[Sesame Street]]'' all paid visits in separate episodes.
** The "Spidey Super Stories" comic.
** A primetime [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]] special in 1974, ''Out to Lunch'', featured the ''Electric Company'' cast and the ''Sesame'' Muppets.
* [[Cut a Slice, Take the Rest]]: A staple. When it was used in a live segment, the character doing so remarked that he'd "learned this from the Spellbinder [Letterman's animated foe]."
* [[Educational Song]]: Frequently used, perhaps the most memorable being "Silent E."
* [[Evil Sorcerer]]: Letterman's foe the Spellbinder, a diminutive wizard in a turban who would play malicious pranks by switching letters in words, like turning a farmer's "rake" into a "snake". Fortunately, the hero was wearing his "C" shirt that day and turned it into a "cake". (Which the sneaky villain promptly stole while the hero and farmer were occupied eating it.)
* [[Everything's Better with Monkeys]]: Paul the Gorilla.
* [[Genius Ditz]]: Fargo North may qualify.
* [[Jungle Princess]]: Jennifer of the Jungle.
* [[No Celebrities Were Harmed]]: Fargo North appears to have been based on [[Peter Sellers]]' Inspector Clouseau, although the voice is more of a rip-off of [[Get Smart|Maxwell Smart]] (Skip Hinnant admitted this was on purpose in the PBS pledge drive special ''The Electric Company's Greatest Hits and Bits'').
** The recurring character of Dr. Dolots was an amalgam of [[The Marx Brothers|Groucho and Harpo Marx]].
* [["On the Next..."]]: Usually follows a format in which a clip from the next episode plays, and a cast member announces, "Tune in next time, when [character] says [a word or phrase appears onscreen, accompanied by one [[Sound Effect Bleep]] for each syllable]."
** Episodes from the last four seasons recycle these as opening teasers, with "Tune in next time" replaced with, "Today on ''The Electric Company''..."
* [[Parental Bonus]]: With an adult and teenage cast, the humor in the skits derived from how people in those age groups would interact among themselves. For example, a large number of skits featured married characters.{{context}}
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▲* [[Soap Opera]]: "Love of Chair," a [[Parody]] of the [[CBS]] soap opera ''Love of Life'' that even used the same continuity announcer (Ken Roberts).
▲* [[The Speechless]]: Spider-Man, in the "Spidey Super Stories" live-action skits, speaks only with word balloons.
* [[Vegetarian Vampire]]: Morgan Freeman's Vincent the Vegetable Vampire, of course (though [[Word of God]] says that he was originally supposed to be [[Dracula]]).
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{{Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Children's Program}}
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Edutainment Show]]
[[Category:American Series]]
[[Category:Sketch Comedy]]
[[Category:Marvel Universe]]
[[Category:
{{DEFAULTSORT:Electric Company, The}}
▲[[Category:TV Series]]
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