The Electric Company

Seasons

1971

8.2

TV-G

A comedy variety show that teaches basic phonetic and grammar concepts using live-action sketches, cartoons, songs, and Spider-Man episodes.

Episode List

S1 • E1

1

S1 • E2

2

Featuring: Mel Mounds, Easy Reader and Love of Chair

S1 • E3

3

The third episode of The Electric Company starts out with the short vowel U as Morgan Freeman and assistant Stephen Gustafson spell out three words containing a U in the middle - fun, bun, and but. Rita Moreno then chimes in with four more - bus, bug, tug, and tub, all four of which she writes on a bus stop sign. She later sings the song "Unbutton Your Heart", a lovelorn rock song filled with "un" words like "unkind" and "unzip". Skip Hinnant's character Norman Neat, Man on the Street makes his very first appearance (his first four, in fact!) interviewing passersby about their favorite words. Another first: John and Faith Hubley's cartoon "True Blue Sue" makes its debut to introduce the topic UE to the show. Freeman shows up with another UE word: "glue", in big white letters which he glues to the wall. But perhaps he was a little careless with the glue - he winds up with his hands stuck to his workbench! Next, Freeman and Hinnant don sweaters with letters and recite a short poem about the letters Q and U. The QU sound returns in a game show setting - Wild Guess, featuring announcer Ken Kane (Bill Cosby) and host Bess West (Rita Moreno). Following that is more of the letter U, albeit its long sound, found in words like "dude" and "cute". You'll hear plenty of those kinds of words in the song "An E on the End", which introduces The Electric Company to one of its most popular topics - Silent E. While Tom Lehrer's famous song doesn't show up in this episode, two other famous animations do - one sees the Blond-Haired Cartoon Man (voiced by Mel Brooks) perform his "I am Cute Very" routine ("Who's the dummy writing this show?") and the other tells the story of a talking dog named Spot. Scanimate words include "pup" and "quake" and the last word is "quiet".

S1 • E4

4

S1 • E5

5

Featuring: Easy Reader, J. Arthur Crank, and the song: "I Love You -ING"

S1 • E6

6

S1 • E7

7

S1 • E8

8

S1 • E9

9

This show starts off with the short vowel A as gloved hands spell words like "ran" and "fan". The short A sound returns (to share the stage with the CT blend and the hidden word "act") as Bill Cosby and Morgan Freeman build a monster but find themselves in need of a fact book, a contact, and a reactor. Freeman works his magic on the TH blend and challenges an off-screen Rita Moreno to read the sentence "Thirty thirsty thinkers think through thick and thin". TH also starts the sight word of the day: "that". Mel Brooks' Blond-Haired Cartoon Man reads the sentence "That doesn't swing" but knocks the "that" with his hand, making it swing back and forth. "Perhaps I was wrong!" That's not all - next it's the ALL sound! Lee Chamberlin interviews baseball player Glue-Glove Smith (Freeman) during the All-Star Game, where the tall and the small play together. Next, Moreno plays one of her most famous characters - Otto the Director - bossing around her star actor Cosby, who can't seem to remember the line "All for one and one for all!" (Look out for Morgan Freeman laughing the fourth time he gets it wrong.) If there's one thing the Electric Company knows, it's that consonants can change the way a vowel sounds. The Short Circus demonstrates this in their "He Ho Hi" song, in which the titular three words become "hen", "hot", and "hit" with the application of an ending consonant. After that, it's right back to the A sound as Fargo North (Skip Hinnant) is visited by Pandora the Brat (Moreno), who needs help deciphering a coded message from her friend in which "candy" is replaced by "furpo". To close the show, Easy Reader (Freeman) reads sentences containing topics learned throughout the episode, with the help of his magic paper bag. The last word is "fall".

S1 • E10

10

S1 • E11

11

S1 • E12

12

S1 • E13

13

Featuring: Rita and Lorelei, Mel Mounds, and the song: "Sneaver Song"

S1 • E14

14

Featuring: Haunted House, Mmm, and Letterman

S1 • E15

15

S1 • E16

16

S1 • E17

17

S1 • E18

18

S1 • E19

19

S1 • E20

20

S1 • E21

21

S1 • E22

22

S1 • E23

23

Featuring: The Giggle Goggle Girls, Fargo North Decoder, and Julia Grown-Up

S1 • E24

24

S1 • E25

25

S1 • E26

26

Topics of Show 26 include the consonant B, the BR blend, and OW as in brown. In this show, Millie the Helper learns about the word "bottle", Mel Mounds and J. Arthur Crank cross paths, Broadway Bob treads the vaudeville stage, and Winnie sings "How is Howard". "Love of Chair" sees the boy taking a step and the last word is "barber".

S1 • E27

27

S1 • E28

28

S1 • E29

29

S1 • E30

30

S1 • E31

31

S1 • E32

32

S1 • E33

33

S1 • E34

34

S1 • E35

35

S1 • E36

36

Featuring: Fargo North Decoder and Enough is Too Much

S1 • E37

37

S1 • E38

38

S1 • E39

39

S1 • E40

40

Featuring: the Giggle Goggle Girls and Mad Scientist

S1 • E41

41

S1 • E42

42

S1 • E43

43

S1 • E44

44

S1 • E45

45

S1 • E46

46

S1 • E47

47

S1 • E48

48

S1 • E49

49

S1 • E50

50

S1 • E51

51

S1 • E52

52

S1 • E53

53

S1 • E54

54

S1 • E55

55

S1 • E56

56

S1 • E57

57

The very first topic of this first-season show is the consonant W, heard in a sketch in which Bill Cosby plays Walter, who wants water from the waiter - and ends up getting splashed with it. The ever-popular Silhouette Blends showcases the TH digraph in words like "thief" and "thanks". Then, to demonstrate the other TH sound, Rita Moreno and Judy Graubart encounter... That. What is "That", you may ask? Why, it's the word "that" itself! Next, Skip Hinnant, seeking some much-needed guidance, consults the Great Marasheeshee (Moreno), who informs him of the four ALK's of life - namely, chalk, walk, talk, and stalk. After that, it's a lesson in double letters and their effect on vowel sounds as a cartoon snake eats a P out of the word "supper", and it tastes "super"! Those two words make a comeback as Mike the Word Repairman (Cosby) makes a trip to Vi's Diner to fix a broken word - a "super" with one P too few. Toward the end of the show, the fairy-tale character Cinderella (Graubart) is a contestant on the game show Wild Guess, where she has to answer this question: who wears a glass slipper? She struggles with reading the word "wears", but it does give viewers one last lesson on the consonant W before Love of Chair closes out the episode. Fans of Mel Brooks' Blond-Haired Cartoon Man won't be disappointed as he makes THREE appearances in this show, in the cartoons "That Doesn't Swing", "I am Not Talking", and "I Can't Swim". Scanimate words include "water", "path", and "worm", and the last word is "wave".