THE ELECTRIC COMPANY! HITS AND BITS! 2007
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 5 ก.ย. 2024
- When The Electric Company made its television debut in October 1971, it was instantly clear that it would fulfill its mission of helping struggling and reluctant readers. With a cast that broke new ground in its diversity, clever writing, innovative direction and an original visual and musical style, the show was so effective that by the end of its first season, nearly a quarter of all U.S. grade schools were using The Electric Company in the classroom. Generations of young people learned to read from the series, making it one of the most important and enduring shows in television history. The Electric Company's Greatest Hits & Bits is a clip-filled celebration featuring many of the series' most popular segments (with Bill Cosby, Morgan Freeman and the multi-talented Electric Company cast), and includes new interviews with cast members Jim Boyd, Judy Graubart, Skip Hinnant, Tom Lehrer, Rita Moreno and Joan Rivers, as well as with series creator Joan Ganz Cooney.
To everyone who left the comment we all were there I'm 62 and I still love
Wow. Gen Xer here. My generation was so ver......y ver...y luck... y. And I've only realized today why I've always seemed to have recognized Rita Moreno, Morgan Freeman et al. without ever quite where I saw them first. Very lucky!
Im 56 years old and this was one of my favorite shows not only at school but home too. Its funny and a nostalgic feeling watching this show after all these years
That year it began, I was 10, i already knew how to read. I just looked for the comedy. And it was (and still is) funny!!!!! I'm proud of being part of that legacy!!!
I grew up with THE ELECTRIC COMPANY. I am now 53 years old but I can watch the complete season again now and enjoy it as much as I did when I was 5.
I say to myself God damn we had it so good we didn't know about it until right now yeah the older I get the more I appreciate the all these old shows that that kept us honest and kept us from trouble and we just had fun because we were kids and that was our job my job was to have fun and not to get into trouble because it was embedded in US it wasn't taught to us for me it was embedded and that's one of the things that hopefully some kids will have it today let it be in better than you of course let your parents tell you what's good and what's not and then you just hopefully you take it from there and you you take it with you as you continue this thing called life and that way you can reminisce about your own wonderful world and how all these good things came about and how they kept you in shape
Vincent A. DeJesus, I could watch it all again, too!
I think he should have ordered tea with ‘scream’ from Dracula….😂🤣😂. Or maybe he’s actually screaming for ice cream, too!
The complete season.How can I get my hands on a set.
FACTS
I am definitely a member of the generation that grew up yelling, "Hey You GUYS!" at the top of our lungs on the playground.
Never watched the show because it was not aired in Europe but I know that catchphrase, also the Morgan Freeman sequences are great
and we all loved it when we heard Sloth bellow Hey You GUYYYYYYS when he rescued the Goonies!
This show was so brilliant. To be honest, I prefer this masterpiece than the 2000’s remake. I wish they had ALL the episodes available for us.
Everything about it was just amazing. The writing, the comedy, the songs, the acting, the animation, and the cast will always remain the greatest.
Agreed🤝🏻👍👍💓📺
I still have my The Electric Company album.
Won't get rid of it EVER😁💓
This is when TV and PBS was pretty decent!!
"HEY YOU GUYS!!!!" is perhaps the single greatest catch phrase in the history of television.
This was honestly the Best Hour I've spent as an adult revisiting one of my most Favorite shows of my childhood! I'm almost in Tears watching these wonderful memory filled performances!!
I saw Rita Moreno in concert a few years ago in Boston on the 4th of July.And, as soon as she came out on stage, I yelled out,”Hey You Guys!”That is what inspired me until this day!!!
I am 53 years old and yall got me humming the theme song at work all day long!! HEY YOU GUYS!!! THANK U Guys for the great great memories!
Electric Company was our Laugh-In
Yes it was! That's a great analogy
Sesame Street lives
Perfect way to describe this show
Exactamundo!
One thing,how was the person or people able to look at the word/words they had to read in 3 or 5seconds?I'd like for TEC to show Letterman episodes "The Lady and the Beagle","Don't Toy With Me","Plummeting Plant" ," A Shattering Experience"," A Big Nothing","Mighty Crazy at the Bat","Chocolate Judge",and the long version of "In the Beginning"..The win/wind Letterman episode and Fargo reading wind in 3 seconds.
It's the fact that they talked to us as if we were on the same level that made this so mind-blowing. No one was talking "baby talk" and dumbing it down. As a kid I actually used to feel almost like I was getting away with something when I watched this because it was so entertaining! It barely even registered that it was educational.
When I was probably about 5 or 6 in the 1st and 2nd grades the teacher had a tv in the classroom and every morning we got to watch Sesame Street and Electric Company! I enjoyed the adventures of Spidey!
Morgan Freeman got me to read. I loved Easy Reader.
I was able te see some of these episodes. Morgan Freeman is my favorite!!! My mother has introduced me to audiobooks and how I would love if Morgan would read a calm mellow book to help many of us fall asleep. His voice carries a warm goodnight hug. Very relaxing after a stressful day in our demanding healthcare system. This man can benefit all from his one in a billion voice!!! Anything suitably such as a bedtime story in his voice will be a relaxing hit to recharge so many of his favorite fans!!!!! What a way to start a beautiful day ahead. ❤
I'm so glad I grew up in that decade!❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤
My getaway of the 70s
I was one of those kiddos who got excited when the teacher said to roll out the TV, cause we were going to watch The Electric Company!!🤗
Once in awhile we got Sesame Street, and Mr. Rogers too!
No lessons, or homework on those days was another reason I liked em!
Mulligan Stew was another one we saw on occasion, 321 Contact, but now I'm forgetting some of the others they showed in the afternoon, oh yeah, Zoom was a later one in the decade, or the 80's?!
Back then you watched shows when they were on, cause we had no VCRs!
Watching it now is nostalgic, as I've forgotten so many of the characters like Dracula, and Letterman, (good thing they didn't make his first name David, narf! 🥴) but I wish they had added one of the Spiderman skits!
That's the one's I liked as a kid!!
My Mom stayed in another room when I watched at home, cause she said she hated "all the yelling" Hey You Guys, and in the skits! (I found that odd, cause she was always yelling at me!😁🤭)
Born in 1971. I had no idea I was learning to read by watching the show , but when I got to 1st grade & we started learning phonics, it was so easy because it was already drilled into my head. I still love watching clips, especially spiderman. Plus, Morgan Freeman is always Easy Reader to me, no matter how many iconic movie roles he's in.
Kids of the short circus from the electric company show 1971 through 1977
In memory of Irene Cara, an original member of the Short Circus. #heyyouguys!
💔👍👍💓💓
My mom was a former teacher, who started teaching me to read when I was just a few months old. So, I already knew all of the reading stuff that the show was teaching. Which freed me to focus on learning the really important things from it: comedy, costumes, and songs.
I was 8 years old when this premiered. I was the only kid in my family who went to afterschool care because my parents were working and sibs were still in school. The director of the CDC center was a former teacher. We could watch TV after homework was finished and had a homemade snack. Sesame Street, The Electric Company and Zoom were the only programs we could watch. We all looked forward to the shows.
How I loved the Original Electric Company, it brings good memories from my childhood as well as learning my vocabulary words and their correct pronunciations at the same time...
I'm 54, and because of electric company I could already read by the time I entered kindergarten 🙃!!! Thanks, Electric Company!!! Now if I could only read more instead of watching TH-cam!!! Help me Morgan Freeman!!!!
That was awesome! I couldn't stop smiling the whole time. One of my favorite shows from back in the day!
Top to bottom and left to right, The Electric Company is outta sight!
I'm amazed that Tom Lehrer did those songs! Wow!
Holy cow. Joan Rivers, Zero Mostel and MFing GENE WILDER did the voice work for Letterman?!?!?! My whole world is being rocked to the core right now. How did I never know this until now? This is CRAZY.
I didnt know that until now either, lol! How sweet.
Grew up watching this classic PBS show.
Rita had such a great voice
Awesome
Very wonferful clean fun. Nothing but love and respect to Rita Moreno, Morgan Freedom, and those GUYS!💕🤣
"Congratulations to the electric company on 50 years of teaching kids to read & write & another 50 years to come".
I still love the Electric Company to this day and have the DVD set. I even love Rita Moreno! "HEEEEEEEEEEEEYYYYYYYY YYYYYYYYOOOOOOOOUUUUUU GUUUUUUUUUUUUYYYYYYYYYYYYYSSSS!!"
RIP Gene Wilder, Zero Mostel, Joan Rivers, Jim Boyd
And Luis Ávalos.
And Denise Nickerson.
Lee Chamberlin
Robert Douglas Grant, Jr - Short Circus (Zack)
Gregg Burge also
Thank you for the great memories of a great childhood show.
Nice to spend an hour with a constant smile with tears welling up the entire time.
The songwriting on this show was brilliant.
@Director HFerreira you didn't watch the video
I still have the Album.😎👍👍🎶🎶
This show helped me read at three years old and I absolutely loved it! I have the DVD set and showed my son at the same age. He also became an early reader and loved the show too. Still a smart and funny show 😄
❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤ LOVED THIS SERIES. ONE OF THE BEST KID SHOWS EVER! The 1st time I was aware of Rita Moreno, Irene Cara and Morgan Freeman.
I so loved this show when I was a kid, along with Sesame Street and Mr. Rogers Neighborhood.
Sesame Street, Mr. Roger's Neighborhood, and Electric Company made up the Holy Trinity of PBS educational programming. And then the 4th seemed to be easily mixed between Zoom, Villa Alegre (would love to get at least a compilation of all the animated bits, both the quickies that introduced each episode, and the fables and myths of Latin America; like the one about why ravens are black today); and 3-2-1 Contact.
Then the networks started showing reruns of the original Mickey Mouse Club until the 1970s MMC came out...
Remember, Hodgepodge Lodge,Carrascolendas,Big Blue Marble,Barbapapa Music and Me,Rainbow's End,Bits and Bytes,etc.
@@seanmontgomery801 Hodgepodge Lodge! With Miss Jean! Holy shirt, I thought I was the only one who remembered that!
@@nowthatsjustducky we '70s-'80s babies had the best TV💯💪
Who was the woman that hosted "Music and Me" ,the PBS show?She has a beautiful voice and I Loved when she said Listen.Is she still with us today?
Man, the Easy Reader theme song was cool af. Umph, umph, umph. Groovy baby!
Such a quality lineup.
Besides my folks reading to me, this program helped me to be a top reader in my early grades!!
At 55, I still remember so much of the Electric Company. I'm sure it positively colored so much more of my perceptions as a growing child than I'm even aware of. Great actors guided us towards a fun new way of learning.
Rita Moreno's take on Diana Ross is so funny
schools should use this again in classrooms.
Omgosh💖💖🙋♀️ Memories, wonderful kid memories. I'm 50(12-12-1971), I use to watched this after school. Thank you!!🙋♀️💖
I loved the Electric Company then. Still love it and always will.
I learned how to read when I grew up watching the Electric Company before it got cancelled. 😭😭😭😭😭
And finally, some 24 minutes into the show, the world's very first Siri (known then as Stanley--lol)!
This. Having this when I knew no better set the foundation for me to navigate my life. Thank you.
Electric Company was better than Sesame Street!
Loved the cast & cartoons & songs.
The show taught me to read full books by age three!
This series should still be taught in schools. 💕👏👏👏👏
I agree 💯💯💯💯💯
Both were great kids shows!!!
Nope.Electric Company was altogether different ,not better at all.I liked both shows,very entertaining.
It's not that The Electric Company was better. It's just that The Electric Company was appealing to elementary students, while Sesame Street was appealing to kindergarteners. They're both great.
@@MadAngel209 I felt Electric Company offered more in the way of education - especially phonics.
I'm home this Saturday night and out of the blue I felt like watching this and it so much memories for me oh so beautiful hey you guys
I think parents enjoyed this as much as the kids!
Sesame Street 3785. Last
Sesame Street started in my kindergarten year, The Electric Company started in my 2nd grade. We did not use either in my school. But I watched it at home. Loved em both. I was reading above the level but kids are easily entertained.
The line is "All for One, One for All!" I remember so much of this, 45 years later. Oh my!
All for me, and nothing for yourself!
All at the beginning, and all at the end!
Greatest show ever. I cried when it ended. Wish they'd shown "Thanks to TH" - my favorite vaudeville style number with Morgan Freeman and Lee Chamberlin.
The short circus and the letter people live isn’t not waving 🖐 Is a dance 🎸
And people and kids cheering and clapping 👏 and 1970s
@ Clemdane:
Seeing Lee Chamberlin & Bill Cosby in the movie, "Let's Do It Again" made me flash back to, "The Electric Company".
@@joeydavis9778 Oh my God, thank you! I didn't know about that one. I'll be hunting it down soon
Lee Chamberlin ❤!!
Great trip down Memory Lane!
The True talent that was better than SNL even to this day. Thanks for the childhood memories. All the performers in that show should receive a lifetime achievement award.
When I was little, I loved this show so much I would sing the songs and act out the skits from it, and go around hollering “Hey, you guys!” like Rita M. I must have driven my mom and nans (grandmother) nutty-nuts!
O.M.G.!!!! I was SO SURE that I would FINALLY find out.... ABOUT NAIOME.... DARN!!!!!
The Electric Company was BY FAR the most instrumental in my learning of reading & writing. I loved this show's presentation and ability to work grammar into a learning exercise in such a fun and inventive way. Rita and Morgan were such inspirations to achieve toward. No disrespect to Jungle Judy or Crank, I loved the entire cast and Short Circus equally too. The Electric Company dropped at a point in time that I do not think can be ever replicated. A shame in a way, but us GenXers NOW know exactly what this show meant to our cognitive development. I wouldn't want it any other way in retrospect.
Remember, Some of Us, Late Baby Boomers also grew up with and loved this show.📺😁💓
Joan Rivers was one of the best narrators.
And you also had Zero Mostel and Gene Wilder in the Letterman cartoons too, which I believe were animated by John Hubley, who had helped found the UPA cartoon studio and was one of the creators of Mr. Magoo.
Sesame Street 3706 teddy bear
On the Electric Company, how did they determine who would narrate the word reads and which personality would have to read a word in 3 or 5 seconds or words in 5 seconds and was the word(s) always random?
Im geeking at the fact that this show came out the year i was born !!!😮
I remember this show from my childhood
I totes loved this show as a tiny slip of a maiden! This show, Sesame Street and Mr. Rogers. Those were my Big Three
This show is as awesome as it was years ago. Thank you for putting this up, it brings back such wonderful memories.
Loved this show!!!!!
Oh my god, the dam has burst and I'm being flooded with so many happy,good memories!!
loved this show in the 1970s. Watched it on channell 11 on PBS in chicago everyday back then.
Loved this show.
I love that show when I was a kid and I still love now.
i grew up watching this show & sesame street! the only shows my mother let me watch during the daytime! i love & miss these shows
Grew up with it loved it wish kids today would watch this show
these shows were the best for children's channel tv so i watched these shows i think i had some favorite ones too like this one and i hope they find the time too put these back on and maybe even get it in stores so we can watch it again and over thanks
this is a true find. AND i became a SUPER great reader because of this show
IF the dislikes are because of cosby WHATEVER
Awwww the segment with Grover and Crank! that was adorable. I loved this show! I'm finding out that many of my hazy memories (and many of my internal monologues, haha) are from this show!
I loved this program have so many memories it was a classic like zoom and sesame street, ripples, these were great programs.
Great clip! I wanted to watch this in a chair in second and third grade. Those mean teachers in the Muscogee County School District, Johnson Elementary School, Columbus, Georgia, forced us to read from the damn SRA Reading Lab garbage and watch other shows on the TV...on the floor.
Love & Gratitude.💜🙏💜
Go good things.
Sony's.
Tdks cadette things. Sys. Mr. D. Branch.
Checking in.
Nice
That was AWESOME! What great memories!!!! LOVE LOVE LOVE!
Not to mention all the stuff they didn't have time to include like Paul the Gorilla, the Short Circus, running sketches like Love of Chair & Victor Borge doing his punctuation bit. This show will always kick ass.
Love the Electric Company! they were all wonderful.
That giant segment has a very mature undertone. ;)))))
This show was revolutionary!
I always looked up to the electric teen.
This was.one.of.my favorite show
I grow up on Electric Company in Jamaica.
This was a great show. My sister and I loved it and still do. Rita and Morgan were so fun and talented on this show.
So cool!
Good to see again.
6:40 - You know, when I first saw this sketch, parodying The Six Million Dollar Man, I almost thought it was the real thing. $6.39? Must have been the effects budget for that episode. LOL. Seriously though, thanks for the memories folks.
Ironically big sister Sesame Street had their own parody. "The Six Dollar Man."
Al
I wonder if they can show See Sam sit in the sun sipping soda, the one where Hattie Winston has the 4 nightmares ,the Letterman skits ,Buddy and Kelly's of song battle,3 and 5 second Word reads,etc.
Sesame Street 4057.
When the world was concerned about the good will of kids
I would have loved to be part of The Electric Company. I actually love reading.
thank you so much for this!! I grew up watching this as a kid. There was a section where kids had to solve a mystery, that section was my favorite
20:02 forty years later, and this still has me laughing so hard my eyes are wet and my sides hurt!!
Hahaha. I forgot about that one. That was one of my favorite sketches
I agree 💯💯💯💯💯
Every time without fail. I’m 56
The letter people
I vaguely remember the end of one episode, in which the crank began singing the theme, signaling the end of the show: "We're gonna' turn it off, We're gonna' shut-off the power . . ."; and maybe one of Rita Moreno's characters came along and stopped him.
I was in tears.
Joan Rivers was the announcer of Letter man ❤
Andy, played by Jim Boyd, was my favorite!
I find this stuff with Electric Company cast interviews fascinating, because the show always fascinated me, and I really picked up literacy from watching it back in 1973. I recall going around reading text off walls at that age, and I also remember that my mother showed me how to do pencil-writing.
I love the black vampire 🧛🏿♂️💕
...wut?
Vincent the vegetable vampire!
@@benjaminspecland8947 Morgan Freeman was Vincent the Vegetable Vampire. He(and not Sesame Street's The Count) was my introduction to the Count Dracula character.
30:29 looks like a very early Season 3 cast photo. They just added Gregg Burge and Bayn Johnson and they look so YOUNG here.
Sadly, Burge died of a brain tumor in Atlanta on July 4, 1998 at age 40.