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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Storyline
"The Electric Company," aimed at children ages 7 to 10, was designed to teach basic reading concepts to its young viewers. Skits featuring the show's regulars, cartoons, vignettes, and regular features revolved around sound clusters (such as -ly, sh-, oo-) and punctuation marks. On occasion, a fun song was played with the audience challenged to supply the lyrics during the second sing-through. Through the years, different features were added including "Love of Chair" (1971-1973, a spoof of "Love of Life"), "The Adventures of Letterman" (added in 1972), cartoon segments featuring Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner (1973), and Spider-Man (1974). —Brian Rathjen <briguy_52732@yahoo.com>
- Taglines
- Hey, you guys!
- Genres
- Certificate
- TV-G
- Parents guide
Did you know
- TriviaRita Moreno first said "Hey, you guys!" on episode 19 (season 1, show 19), which became the series' catchphrase in episode 131 (season 2, show 1). It opened every episode for the rest of season 2, vanished from episodes 261-520, returned in episode 1A (season 5, episode 1), and lasted until the final episode, 130B (season 6, show 130).
- 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".
- ConnectionsFeatured in The 25th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards (1973)
Top review
Another educational program
This show displayed a variety of sketches that uses comedy and other means of interest to children about education. I remember seeing this show in the early 80s in syndication on PBS. What I've remembered enjoying on the show was a cartoon named Letterman. In which this little superhero teaches grammer with vowels and prepositions and how they are used in a sentence. I also remember the Spiderman episodes. I had to be around six or seven when this show was aired,though the other segments on the show I vaguely remembered. But if someone had mention this show to me I would remember it as if it was yesterday because of the impact it put on me as a child.
helpful•22
- IrockGswift
- May 3, 2003
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- Also known as
- The Reading Program
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- See more company credits at IMDbPro
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