The Electric Company

The Electric Company
The series title card
Created byPaul Dooley
Joan Ganz Cooney
Lloyd Morrisett
Directed byRobert Schwarz
Henry Behar
John Tracy
StarringMorgan Freeman
Judy Graubart
Skip Hinnant
Rita Moreno
Jim Boyd
Lee Chamberlin (1971–1973)
Bill Cosby (1971–1973)
Luis Ávalos (1972–1977)
Hattie Winston (1973–1977)
Danny Seagren (1974–1977)

The Short Circus
June Angela
Irene Cara (1971–1972)
Douglas Grant (1971–1973)
Stephen Gustafson (1971–1975)
Melanie Henderson (1971–1975)
Denise Nickerson (1972–1973)
Bayn Johnson (1973–1975)
Gregg Burge (1973–1975)
Janina Mathews (1975–1977)
Réjane Magloire (1975–1977)
Rodney Lewis (actor) (1975–1977)
Todd Graff (1975–1977)
The Adventures of Letterman (1972–1977)
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons6
No. of episodes780
Production
Running time28 minutes
Production companyChildren's Television Workshop
Original release
NetworkPBS
ReleaseOctober 25, 1971 (1971-10-25) –
April 15, 1977 (1977-04-15)
Infobox instructions (only shown in preview)

The Electric Company is an American educational children's television series produced by the Children's Television Workshop (CTW, now known as Sesame Workshop). It was co-created by Paul Dooley, Joan Ganz Cooney, and Lloyd Morrisett. The series aired on PBS for 780 episodes over the course of its six seasons from October 25, 1971, to April 15, 1977. The program continued in reruns until October 4, 1985. The Electric Company later reran on Noggin, a channel co-founded by the CTW, from 1999 to 2003. Noggin also produced a compilation special for the show.

The Workshop produced the show at Reeves Teletape Studios in Manhattan. The Electric Company employed sketch comedy and various other devices to provide an entertaining program to help elementary school children develop their grammar and reading skills.[1] Since it was intended for children who had graduated from CTW's flagship program, Sesame Street, the humor was more mature than what was seen there.[citation needed]

The show was directed by Robert Schwarz (1971 and 1977), Henry Behar (1972–1975), and John Tracy (1975–1976), and written by Dooley, Christopher Cerf (1971–1973), Jeremy Stevens (1972–1974) and John Boni/Amy Ephron (1972–1973).

In many areas, a preview special, Here Comes The Electric Company, was seen in syndication through sponsor Johnson Wax on many local commercial stations during the week before its 1971 debut.[2]

  1. ^ Woolery, George W. (1985). Children's Television: The First Thirty-Five Years, 1946-1981, Part II: Live, Film, and Tape Series. The Scarecrow Press. pp. 157–159. ISBN 0-8108-1651-2.
  2. ^ Ad for "Here Comes The Electric Company" from St. Petersburg Times, October 21, 1971, page 8-D. From Google News Archive.

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