The Electric Company

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.

Although I love its great predecessor, "Sesame Street," this show was a lot more beneficial to me as a child because I learned to read at an early age. I have been told that the reason the show ceased was because of production costs, but I still think it holds value today as a teaching tool. I think "Electric Company" was one of the best educational shows PBS ever produced. The clothing and hair may be retro, but the songs (by Tom Lehrer and also the late, great Joe Raposo, a truly talented composer for both "Electric Company" and "Sesame Street," as well as the composer of the infamous "Three's Company" theme, "Come and Knock on Our Door") are timeless. "T-I-O-N," "N'T," the "If" song, "L-Y," and "I Like Fish Food" are my top five "Electric Company" songs. Noggin has done a great service by airing the reruns of all six seasons (not the final two seasons as PBS did in the 1980s). Thanks, Nickelodeon (even if you are a subsidiary of Viacom)!

...this show was!!

I remember this show so vividly, and thanks to the Noggin Network, old memories have now surfaced!!

My favorites on the show were when either Skip Hinnant (JJ) or Jim Boyd (Andy) would get themselves in a mess. J. Arthur Crank was a hoot!! Favorite one-liner..."somebody stole steal!!" ...but here's Harry...high in the sky...having his lunch..."Harrrrrrry...you forgot your lunch!!"..."A Peck on the Neck"..."House" (animated musical number)..."SpiderMan" (always was terrified of the Tickler because my sister would say she would get him on me or she would tickle my feet...what can you say for a naive eight-year old at the time?)..."Letterman" (there's where I get my nickname "Rolling O" from)..."Love of Chair"..."Bleached blonde Blanche blinked in the blinding blizzard"..."SuperGuy is a meatball"..."Tilt" by the Short Circuit ("stop playing pinball with my heart")..."My Name is Buddy, Buddy is my Name"...Paul the Gorilla with Jennifer of the Jungle..."A Very Short Book"...I could go on for hours...and at my age then, I would have LOVED to have met Denise Nickerson (Allison) in person!! She was downright cute...and still is today!!

Wow...the Electric Company...a true blast from MY past!!!

When I was a child, I remember watching The Electric company with my friends and family. The actors were amazing, and the skits were unforgettable. I adored Morgan Freeman's cowboy sketches! Jim Boyd's character, the inimitable 'Crank', remains my personal favorite to this day. I loved Luis as 'Yankee Doodle'. In all of the historical skits, he looked like he was having as much fun as the viewers! Luis is an amazing talent, and I've been taping all of his movies just to see him in other roles. Rita, Judy, Lee and Hattie were all wonderful, too! Skip Hinnant is also very talented and funny: When he was in a scene portraying a Romeo type character, and Rita was the angry director screaming at him, he muttered "The things I do for art," and then

slammed himself back against the wall when she glared at him! I couldn't stop laughing!!! I also enjoyed him as "Roy the Toy Boy".

My favorite sketches are: "Boris the Boxer" (Jim plays a toothless boxer who has been hit in the head quite a bit, and throws punches when he hears a bell), "Greedy Greg Grabbed The Green Grapes" (Jim again), the "--ing" song (sung by Brenda, who was 'swing-ing' and 'sitt-ing' on a bee that was 'sting-ing' her), "Pandora the Brat" (Rita Moreno), "Nitty Gritty" (Hattie), "The Galloping Saddle" (Morgan and Jim), "Springing From A Sponge", "Yankee Doodle" "The Mad Conductor" ("YAGA! Are you trying to turn me into a little bowl of pasta???" Luis yells at Jim, who can't seem to play the right note on his tuba), "Grouch" (Morgan introduces the sketch, where two cavemen, Jim and Luis, are busy pounding rocks. Luis tries to show Jim something, and he growls: "GRRR!" and then pops Luis on the head with the stone hammer. "OUCH!!!" Luis cries... the scene repeats itself several times before it dawns on them that they have created a new word! Vaudeville music strikes up, and they dance around (with the dazed, confused look that only Jim can effect!) chanting "Grouch! Grouch! Grouch!" LOL!!! I still howl with laughter whenever Jim pulls that face!), and "Skunk In The Trunk", where Jim opens a trunk and discovers "...a pretty little kitty---with BAD BREATH!!!"

As an adult, I still love this show (maybe TOO much!) and I would recommend it to people of any age who like to laugh and have fun. Life is too short to frown all of the time! Let Electric Company "turn you on" and "bring you the power"... of laughter and positive vibes!

I give this show 10/10 stars.

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.