The Electric Company (2009 TV series)
| The Electric Company | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Starring |
Priscilla Diaz Jenni Barber Josh Segarra Ricky Smith Ashley Austin Morris Chris Sullivan Coy Stewart Carly Rose Sonenclar |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 3 |
| No. of episodes | 52 (list of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Location(s) | Kaufman Astoria Studios |
| Running time | 28 minutes |
| Production company(s) | Sesame Workshop |
| Distributor | PBS |
| Release | |
| Original network | PBS Kids Go! |
| Original release | January 23, 2009 – April 4, 2011 |
| Website | |
The Electric Company is an American television series for young children for grades K-8 on PBS, derived from the 1971 series. The series premiered as a four-episode mini-marathon on PBS on January 23, 2009, then became a weekly series with an episode shown each Friday. On September 7, 2009, it became a daily series. Like the original, this version was produced by Sesame Workshop. The last new episode aired on April 4, 2011. A fourth season was planned, but the show was canceled before it went into production. Subsequent showings were reruns. The series was sometimes referred to as The New Electric Company to distinguish it from the 1970s series. It aired on PBS Kids Go! from 2009 to 2013.
The new version has similar short animations, sketches, and music videos to those seen in the original show, but each episode also features a story line designed to teach four to five vocabulary words with a mix of hip-hop- or contemporary R&B-style music.
Each story revolves around the Electric Company, a group of teenage literacy heroes who battle a group of neighborhood vandals dubbed the Pranksters. The heroes' headquarters is the Electric Diner, where their friend Shock, a beat-boxing short-order cook who also appears in the short-form segments.
In the show's nod to the original series, each episode's opening has a Company member call to the others to assemble by yelling "Hey, you guys!!"—a line that (as yelled by Rita Moreno and then Priscilla Diaz) led off the opening sequence of seasons two, five, and six. Other nods to the original series include appearances by Paul the Gorilla and updated versions of the soft-shoe silhouette segments in which words are sounded out.
The revival includes interactive Web elements and is promoted and extended via community-outreach projects. The first season consisted of 28 weekly episodes. An additional season of twelve more episodes began airing January 2010. A third season debuted February 7, 2011, and ended on March 28, 2011, with new Company member Marcus and new Prankster Gilda.
The Electric Company consists of a group of four friends who protect the neighborhood from the Pranksters. They all have the power to throw word balls, blue magical balls that create words on any surface. Each member has a special skill.
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Wikipedia