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Holy racist Arab villain stereotype.
That was my favorite show when I was growing up. I learned when to use apostrophe S from The Electric Company - "with apostrophe S, you don't have to guess, you know it belongs to me!"
I must have this DVD set.
Some of my best memories consist of watching this show with my mom. She really, really loved it. Hee! Thanks ever so much for posting this, Flea, because it really made me smile, and think a lot of my mom and what a great mom she is (and was to the Very Small Me).
When you put a show like The Electric Company next to the crap that's on tv now for kids...wow. Just WOW. What happened?
OMG I so totally loved The Electric Company! I didn't know they had it on DVD - I shall have to add it to my wishlist, just like I've got all the Schoolhouse Rock stuff on my wishlist.
[singing]
Conjunction Junction, what's your function?
Hookin' up words and phrases and clauses.
[/singing]
Thank you for posting that!
I am just enough too old to have not watched either this or Sesame Street--I was reading by 1964 or so--but I bet my brother remembers it all, and my sister, were she alive, would likely remember it as well.
maurinsky, that was my favorite show when I was in high school! One of them anyway!
fyi, the head writer for that show, at least at one point, was Tom Whedon, who used to try out some of the bits on his kid, Joss
thanks flea. Now I need to buy the damn dvds...
I graduated from Sesame Street to Electric Company in about 1974, and I remember loving it.
Funnily enough, however, I didn't have a lot of specific memories of specific shows - -just the memory of watching it.
My parents gave my 6yo son this collection for his birthday last month. Much like you, I started it up wtih much trepidation -- had it aged well? Would my little product of the new millenia's media even be interested in something with such low production values?
I shouldn't have worried. My son's reponse was like Alex's - immediately drawn in, interested, and wanting more.
Because c'mon, Morgan Freeman could never be dated 
I watched a lot of Sesame Street, but not much Electric Company. It just didn't air where I lived.
However, I am eyeballing the first season of the Muppet Show that just came out... I have a $30 gift card to Amazon that I could use...
fyi, the head writer for that show, at least at one point, was Tom Whedon, who used to try out some of the bits on his kid, Joss
I read that somewhere before. And Paul Dooley (Breaking Away, Sixteen Candles) was one of the creators of the show.
Some of my favorite bits were the "-tion" song, the "-ly" song, and, of course, Spider-Man and Letterman.
Man, I actually teared up at the opening segment clip! Oh, nostalgia.
The Electric Company is a bit before my time (most of my friends know I'm a Muppets girl). But it's not before The Husband's time. After reading about the lady on The EC shouting out "Hey You Guys!" during the show, I IM'd the Husband and asked if "Hey You Guys", shouted by Sloth in the Goonies, was a reference to The Electric Co.
In response I get an "OMFG" - it had apparently been driving him crazy for YEARS! He didn't know why, when watching the Goonies, he couldn't figure out where that was from. Apparently The Electric Company has been deeply imbedded in the recesses of his memory but have only been awaked for the occasional & obvious Family Guy reference.
So thanks for helping out The Husband with his longstanding problem.
Wow! The things I missed by growing up in the '80s. Morgan Freeman versus LaVar Burton - it's just not a fair contest.
wow. thank you so much for bringing back those wonderful memories for me! I used to LOVE Electric Co. when I was growing up (even above Sesame Street)!
Wasn't the "ly" song by Tom Lehrer, as well as "Silent E"?
I own the Schoolhouse Rock set and even saw the stage play when it was in town (totally awesome), but I didn't know that Electric Company was available. Funny, I didn't think my mother let us watch too much television, but apparently I was delusional. The basis of almost all of my education and cultural references are Bugs Bunny, Electric Company and Zoom.
Ledasmom
They were indeed. The Electric Company was my gateway to the brilliance of Tom Lehrer.
Waves of love at you for this, Flea...
BTW--Irene Cara was in The Short Circus during the first season.
OMG I want this set! I absolutely loved this show as a kid. Easy Reader was my fav. I remember I learned the word whistle and my second grade teacher was amazed. I told her I learned it on The Electric Company and she had never heard of the show.
I have to get these DVDs. I don't care that my son is only 8 months old. He'll need it sometime. I loved the Electric Company. "A Very Short Book" was one of my favorite bits. Mom didn't let us watch too much TV outside of PBS.
Thanks for laughs -- I loved that show! Definitely gonna think about acquiring the DVDs as well.
Sara, I think Morgan Freeman could definitely be dated, if only for his voice. He's probably a little old for me now.
I adore Electric Company and drool for the DVDs, but DH isn't having any of that, thank you very much, because he's too old to have watched it. Therefore, it cannot be good. But I'll get my kids indoctrinated somehow.
And I loved "A Very Short Book" too!
Ben didn't even need to see the full Letterman clip before making up his mind: "Okay, you can buy that movie!" He was disappointingly unexcited by "Free to Be You and Me" (even though I was so overcome by the intergenerational nostalgia thing that I cried when watching it with Ben), but he is learning to read, so dammit, he'd better love The Company.
But HEY, YOU GUYS! Or rather, HEY, FLEA! I wish you had one of those Amazon Associates buttons so you could earn commission for making me finally order this. You should do that for all your "what we're reading" things...
Surely my sister and I weren't the only ones who spoofed The Company by doing the "shhh...it...shit!" thing?
when my dad would get home from work, he'd stand at the door and yell, "HEEEYYY YOOOUUU GUYYYYYYSSSS!"
we loved it.
Hearing "Free to Be" after 30 years made me cry too, Orange. I wanted to sing along but couldn't because I was all choked up. A land where the horses are free! Where the children are free! And I know it's not far from that land from where we are! Gawd, what a freaking great CD.
And another YES to anything CTW put out between 1970 and 1979.
Speaking of smoking, have you seen the pitch film for Sesame Street that was made to show to possible funders, back when they were trying to get the show off the ground? Instead of having people talking about Sesame Street, a bunch of ur-Muppets dressed in suits are sitting around a table talking about putting the show together. "I think we should put together a show where the advertising is actually letters of the alphabet, and we teach kids to read by selling them the letters!" It's hilarious and a little shocking, because the *ur-Muppets* are smoking. I'd totally forgotten about Bill Cosby smoking in EC until you wrote about it.
I know tons of B-sides from EC, too, beyond "-tion" and "-ly." We're always singing the silent E song chez Krup, as well as "my nephew Alphonzo" and the horrid lollypop song.
Didn't Morgan Freeman also play the King of the Upside-Down Town on the Electric Company?
Man, I need those DVD's.
I wonder if 3-2-1 Contact is out on DVD yet? Remember the episode they did with Kiss to show how the pyrotechnics really worked? Awesome.
So the big question -
Does anyone remember a PBS show called "Villa Allegre," which in my town at least came on eithe rright before or right after Electric company?
Or is it all part of a fever dream of a youth that never was?
Yes!! I remember Villa Allegre!! We didn't watch it a whole lot, but it did air in Chicago.
Best hour and a half on tv was Sesame Street, Electric Company and Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood.
Alright, when they hand out parenting awards you'll be right up there. That one is worth a gold. I was so tempted to order the set, but I fear I'd get the same reation from my husband. I'll have to settle for listening to my 3 yr old sing "Lolly, Lolly, Lolly get your adverbs here." Yea, she has no idea what an adverb is, but then, neither does most of America.
Remember the live action Spiderman? Oh Lawdy, those were the days.
The cigar part is pretty funny. That reminds of me of the old Looney Toon and Disney cartoons that were really produced for naval officers. You know the one with guns, Daffy Duck in a sleek business suit and puffing a cigarette, and then occasionally they'd poke fun and draw big, black and puffy lips on their characters.
(Krup, you need the "Free to Be You and Me" DVD! Turns out Harry Belafonte was a stone-cold fox! And the puppet babies are cute. And Michael Jackson, when he was a sweet-faced teenager?)
Oh, how I wished my kids had any idea how much "Free To Be..." meant to me. Do you know my high school actually put that on as a live show? And I got to sing "When We Grow Up?" Wow. That was so cool. So of course I have the DVD.... and of course, my boys just don't get it.
I think they'll dig Schoolhouse Rock, though. Jake really likes Jack Johnson's version of "Three Is A Magic Number," and I just played Blind Melon's for him tonight. I can't seem to find the original online.
Flea, I second what Orange says -- hie thee to Amazon for thine Associate button and get thine some credit!
OH MY GOD! I forgot about Villa Allegre until RIGHT THIS MOMENT! All I could tell you is that everyone came out and danced and then the whole cheap set goes dark at the end. But I do remember it.
Anyone else remember Vegetable Soup?
Orange, if I got the DVD, perhaps hawt Mr. Belafonte could get me through the weepy parts.
flea, I've never seen this show, but I just can't take my eyes off that picture of Morgan Freeman. That, and the name "Easy Reader", and the rest of your description have had me in fits of giggles.
Krupskaya, I remember Vegetable Soup. ("All kinds of vegetables . . . are in a vegetable soup!)
But what about Jot? He was a round little Christian guy with feet. Impossible to explain if you've never seen it. I remember strange anti-littering commercials with Biblical references ("Help keep God's world clean!")
Man, this is getting too weird.
Flea, thank you!! I too have to say that "Apparently The Electric Company has been deeply imbedded in the recesses of [my] memory" because while I knew I love The Electric Company, I couldn't recall anything from it. Watching those clips, however - wow. I remembered each of them so clearly.
I also remember that my mom would take me with her (of course) to pay bills, and oen of our stops as at the electric company - for our utilities. I was always so disappointed when we got there because I expected so much more!
Thanks!!
Oh, man. I will have to get this. The Boy's already hooked on the Schoolhouse Rock set. (And, MUCH less admirably, on the Syd & Marty Kroft collections he found at the library. "Land of the Lost" obsession redux, anyone? And how many drugs DID ol' HR Puff'n'Stuff?)
Kruspkaya! I was begining to think I had just imagined Vegetable Soup! We used to watch it in school as a special treat, when I was in third grade! I LOVED it.
321 Contact, EC, Zoom, Mr. Rogers, Sesame Street and the Muppet Show. That would be a sweet lineup for a sick day, hmmm?
I do remember Villa Allegre. Did they used to sing "Que Pasa USA", or was that another show, too?
Thanks flea. I've been lusting after the EC videos for a few weeks now. Must... Hold... Back...
Does anyone remember a PBS show called "Villa Allegre," which in my town at least came on eithe rright before or right after Electric company?
Yes! La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la - Villa Allegre! It was mostly in Spanish, with some English. Our lineup was Sesame Street, Mr. Rogers, Electric Company, and either Zoom or Villa Allegre.
PK: Have you ever seen the Mr. Show skit based on HR Pufnstuf? I believe it's called "Druggachuetts", and it is fucking hilarious.
Polli: Que Pasa, USA was a different show, it was a Spanish/English language sitcom.
Oh I loved Electric Company!
What I'm wondering is - what is with that little Noggin sticker on the video clip? Is Noggin going to start showing Electric Company? Cause if they do, that would be great...
Flea: As am ancient and was reading (no thanks to school) by the time of E.C., I was surprised by the enthusiastic comments.
How would you and your readers assess the potential utility of showing this series to kids in the 6-8 age range, who have already received poor instruction at school?
I wasn't surprised, by the way, at Alex's reaction. Kids desperately want to read, and they know when they are learning. Could Alex do a PSA for adults, explaining that epilepsy-inducing light shows do not educate?
Your piece, by the way, adverted today's aneurysm. I'm half-way through Diane McGuinness' Early Reading Instruction. She summarizes the proven methods of reading instruction, and detangles the various idiocies promulgated in the U.S. The policy melt-downs premised upon laughably flawed "studies" are almost incomprehensible.
My scanners' moment: the horrible, undocumented fallacy that kids learn backwards, from whole words to phonemes. The resultant "whole word" doctrine not only causes kids to completely stall before or at third grade, but also conveniently mutuates into "kids can teach themselves to read, just like they learn to talk."
Also: have any of your readers used Jolly Phonics? Reactions?
Julie Martin
breadforthehead.org
OMG! I can't believe this. This is fantastic! I loved, loved, LOVED Electric Company as a kid. Between this show and my Mom, I was freaking out my kindergarten teacher by being able to read and also reading at a 12th grade level in 4th grade (many decades later, I'm still reading at a 12th grade level but that's not the point).
You really need to get whatever little button thing they are talking about. If you could get credit for this, that would be great. Because I will be buying it. My nephew needs this (okay, I'm buying it for myself but I can use him as an excuse).
What I wish I could find - though I suppose I could create it in a few hours at a good university library ....
My mom was a charter subscriber to Ms. Magazine. They used to have feature called "STories for Free Children" (some of which show up in "Free to Be You and Me," but I don't know which came first).
We clipped all those and punched holes in them and put them in a little "book" for me, and I loved that book. And then it disappeared, sometime in my youth. I want it back.
Thank you for this post! I can still "Hey You Guuuuuuuuuuuys" ringing in my memory. And I totally remember Letter Man! Thanks for the trip down memory lane!
"though I suppose I could create it in a few hours at a good university library . . . We clipped all those and punched holes in them and put them in a little "book" . . .
Hopefully via photocopier . . . ! : )
Of course, one of the depressing parts of watching Free to Be You and Me is when it's finished and you switch back to current TV and realize how much more progressive it is than almost anything on TV today . . .
Julie, define "teach themselves to read". I did; my husband did; my college roommate did; my older boy did; her older boy did; her younger boy is working on it. Many kids, if read to sufficiently, do indeed pick up reading without ever having to be taught.
Being dogmatic about any method of encouraging or teaching reading is a bad, bad idea (and besides, phonics only goes so far with the marvellously irrational heap o' letters that is English).
ohmygoddess flea!! Everyone around me keeps talking about EC, and I have like no memories of the show. But watching those few clip - I remember that, I remember the opening of the show, it was so freaky to watch and to know that I knew that! Oh this is on my wish list
And damn it, get an Amazon link so we can all buy through you!
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