The Electric Company!
Categories: Money & Work, Media
Words cannot describe how elated I was to pick up my Child Magazine today, and learn that
The
Electric Company has recently debuted a best-of box set DVD.Dude! I LOVED The Electric Company! Remember? HEY YOU GUYS!!!!! We're gonna turn it OOOON! We're gonna bring you the POOOWWEEERR!! Remember? With young stars like Rita Moreno, and Morgan Freeman as "Easy Reader"? I think I learned how to read my first words watching that show, watching the silhouetted people sound out the words:
"Buh!" "At!" "Bat!"
"Cuh!" "At!" "Cat!"
Remember???
I'm so buying this box set the next time I'm in the States, if not for my daughter, then for me. And for those of you who may not be familiar with The Electric Company (the series did end, after all, back in 1977, almost ... *gulp*...THIRTY YEARS ago), you really need to pick this up for your kids. It's worth it just for seeing these mega-stars when they were just starting out -- and I guarantee, the series will help your kids learn to read.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
thordora 3-13-2006 @ 2:54PM
I LOVED the Electric Company! WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!
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Ms Sisyphus 3-13-2006 @ 3:02PM
ME TOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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maria 3-13-2006 @ 3:12PM
30 years ago - say it ain't so - I LOVED the Electric Company!
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foodmomiac 3-13-2006 @ 3:20PM
Excellent!!!
This show is the reason I learned how to read! Each episode featured a word of the day, but they wouldn't say it out loud. They just held it up. And, I'd get so frustrated! I begged my parents to help me learn to read just so I could see what the word of the day was. Loved that show.
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Sara 3-13-2006 @ 3:23PM
I loved that show, I think I was watching it in reruns too. Do you remember The Bloodhound Gang? That was my favorite; I can even recall part of the theme song! Thanks for the tip!
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Bonnie 3-13-2006 @ 3:29PM
Wow - I feel so old. Thirty years!!! Hands down my favorite show during those formative years. And the Bloodhound gang was too smart for words! "If you've got the cri-ime, we've got the ti-ime, we're the bloodhound gang!"
(BTW - what on earth do kids what these days which replaced The Electric Company??)
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P.Gardiner 3-13-2006 @ 3:49PM
I picked the set up at Costco a few weeks ago, my 8 year old loves it. I pick one up & mail it to Trinidad if you'd like.
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jenn_mama 3-13-2006 @ 3:55PM
Wow! I loved that show! I am sooo excited! That was the only show back then that had a character with *my* name, Jennifer of the Jungle. Can't wait to get it for the boys.
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Cathy 3-13-2006 @ 4:27PM
Spiderman! I have got to get this for the next birthday in our house.
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Jenny 3-13-2006 @ 4:28PM
I'm so torn. Do I buy it for my sister's upcoming 39th birthday, or do I buy it for my kids?
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Laura 3-13-2006 @ 4:48PM
I bought it the Tuesday it came out and just about died when I finally had it in my posession. It is as wonderful as I remember it- you must get it as soon as possible.
Morgan Freeman as Easy Reader will reaffirm your faith in humanity.
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Matthew Miller 3-13-2006 @ 5:23PM
Of course, the Bloodhound Gang was from 3-2-1 Contact. :)
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Stefania Pomponi Butler 3-13-2006 @ 5:29PM
Loved. Buying. Now.
"punc-punc-punc-tu-ation..."
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Uncle Roger 3-13-2006 @ 6:28PM
Easy Reader is my hero. I simply, to this day, can't pass up anything with words on it without reading it. Period.
Our 3.5yo loves it too.
It's interesting to see Bill Cosby there on a kid's show, smoking a cigar... My, how times have changed.
btw, I've yet to find anything currently produced that's at all equivalent, but our local PBS stations run the far more recent Between the Lions (http://pbskids.org/lions/) which seems functionally equivalent (though nowhere near as cool.)
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momma2mingbu 3-13-2006 @ 7:04PM
Another big Electric Company fan here!
That show got me in big trouble once though! I think maybe they were working on exclamations or something and the sentence they were using was "The TV is on fire!" You can imagine, after I shouted it along with them a couple of times, the look on my mom's face when she raced into the living room to see what was going on! LOL!
I love Between the Lions! I think it's really well done, clever cartoons, wonderful puppets. My kids have learned a lot from it.
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Mama Grouch 3-13-2006 @ 10:09PM
I remember a skit where they were detectives and ran around singing:
"Who dunnit? Whooo dunnit? Whooo dunnit was it youuuuu?"
I have been singing that for 25+ years now, I think it is time to find out how the rest of the song goes!! I can't wait!
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Jennifer 3-14-2006 @ 10:43AM
You know, I did not get that "Fargo North, Decoder" was a pun until YEARS later. And I was scared to death of Spiderman! Ahhhhh, memories. I definitely learned to read from this show too. Must get DVD.
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Mama Kelly 3-20-2006 @ 8:43PM
OMGs I may just have to buy it --- even though my youngest is 6 and prob too big for it ----
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