New Electric Company for a New Generation

It's always scary when you hear that an old friend has "had some work done," especially one as beloved as the original Electric Company TV show. Like many people, I had a protective reaction when I heard there was a new Electric Company in the works. What's wrong with reruns? Why mess with perfection?

The original, which aired from 1971 to 1977, taught a generation of kids to read, drawn in by Rita Moreno's irresistible call, "Hey you guuuuuuys!" and kept in our seats by the groovy graphics, funny skits and a cast that, years later, we realize were seriously talented and famous like Morgan Freeman and Bill Cosby.

At the time, did you have any idea that Gene Wilder was the voice of Letterman, Zero Mostel the villainous Spellbinder and Joan Rivers was the narrator? You can lose an afternoon on YouTube watching old episodes!

Now there is a new generation of kids learning to read, and it's a far more media savvy and sophisticated group than we were. Today, 7-, 8- and 9-year-olds have been exposed to a wide — and wild — range of TV, movies and music, not to mention the things they pick up online. A few cartoons and song and dance numbers won't capture the attention this group, so the makers of the new Electric Company had to come up with something more. They needed narrative tension. And a website. Also, some really rocking rap.

They started with the story of four neighborhood kids who have linguistic superpowers, hang out at the Electric Diner, and call themselves The Electric Company. There is a group of rivals, the Pranksters, who try to steal their powers. Wackiness and learning ensue, along with lots of singing and dancing. In many ways the new show really is an update of the old show, with more graphics and relevant music. Just as the Spellbinder was always defeated in the end by Letterman, the kids in the Electric Company always win their skirmishes with the Pranksters.

There are tons of fun celebrity appearances scheduled, including Jimmy Fallon, Wyclef Jean and Whoopie Goldberg. And silent "e" is still one of the most powerful elements in the universe. The new stuff includes Shockwave, the beatboxing short order cook, an interactive website, and an outreach program that takes the reading lessons — and they hope, a new love of reading — to the streets and schools of low-income neighborhoods.

There was a preview episode broadcast a week ago, and a two-hour marathon of four new episodes ran last Friday. Check your local listings for the latest show times — it's on every Friday evening in the San Francisco Bay Area. If the rest of the show is as fun as this very Flight of the Conchords-esque clip, The Electric Company has a chance of getting a whole new group of kids hooked on reading!