The Best of The Electric Company

What's a kid to watch after mastering the alphabet and outgrowing puppets? Back in 1971, the folks that created Sesame Street developed The Electric Company, which put those letters to work in words. This wasn't a dry educational TV show. It drew humor from the freakish and contradictory nature of English grammar. The show was loaded with goofy comedy sketches, songs that rivaled School House Rock, pop cartoons, and Spider-Man. And I wouldn't dare forget the introduction of Easy Reader. In the era of Shaft, he was an urban badass that enjoyed words.

The show was loaded with talented actors, including Bill Cosby (before he discovered bad sweaters), Rita Moreno, and Luis Avalos. They even had Mel Brooks, Gene Wilder, and Joan Rivers (doing voice work on cartoons). Irene Cara (of Fame fame) got her big break as one of the Short Circus kids. However, the true discovery of the show was Morgan Freeman. I would have bought this box set just to see Morgan singing the Easy Reader theme.

This box set has 20 of the 780 episodes that were produced between 1971 and 1977. It's great to see my favorite segments, including Rita screaming, "Hey you guys!," the Letterman cartoon, Morgan as Dracula, tributes to Kubrick's 2001, and the silhouette duo that give the first and last part of words. When I was a kid, we'd repeat the duo sketch with recently-learned dirty words during the bus ride to school.

Since the show was recorded on early '70s video technology, the picture is a bit fuzzy. They used a lot of video effects to put the words into the action and thus further reduce the sharpness. This was something we didn't notice as a kids since we had to adjust the antenna to get the show. But it's not as painful as the transfers on Sony's Soap DVDs.

The bonus features give a great insight into the show. Seven minutes of outtakes contain some great bloopers. The moment Bill Cosby decides on a gift for his girlfriend is a hoot. "Rita Moreno Remembers" lets the multi-Award winning actress give a concise behind-the-scenes view of working on the show. "June Angela Remembers" gives a sense of growing up on an educational TV set.

"Joan Ganz Cooney: Then and Now" starts off with vintage footage of her pitching the show to the PBS stations in 1971 and continues with a recent interview. I only wish they could have gotten Morgan to reminisce. Maybe that's for a second collection? The one big piece of shocking trivia from the bonus features: the show's original head writer was legendary character actor Paul Dooley.

This collection makes a fun nostalgia gift for pals in their late '30s and an educational tool for their kids. It's truly one of those shows you can watch with your kids. Even as a grown man, I'm able to watch these episodes without feeling like a dork. And I think I finally figured out the "ch" situation. In case you don't want to spring for the box set, a single DVD collection comes out on March 7th. -- Joe Corey