Tuesday, May 13, 2008
PBS Revives ‘The Electric Company,’ Which Shines a Light on Reading - New York Times
PBS Revives ‘The Electric Company,’ Which Shines a Light on Reading - New York Times:
"Steady work has been scarce for actors in gorilla suits since “The Electric Company” went dark in 1977.
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Video clips from the original 'Electric Company' (sesameworkshop.org)
Children’s Television Workshop
Morgan Freeman and Rita Moreno in the PBS show’s 1970s incarnation.
But all that changes this week as shooting begins in Washington Heights and the Lower East Side on an ambitious reboot of the PBS literacy series that turned on a generation of schoolchildren to the rudiments of reading. The first graduates of “Sesame Street” found in “The Electric Company” a companion piece that relied on pun-filled sketches, Spider-Man cameos, and lots of primate shtick, all backed by a Motown beat.
Refitted for the age of hip-hop and informed by decades of further educational research on reading, the 2009 version of “The Electric Company” is a weekly, more danceable version of its former daily self. The series, which is expected to make its debut in January, faces challenges the original never did (trying to stand out amid so much children’s programming and to shake the stigma of educational television) as well as familiar ones (trying to make reading a positive experience for youngsters)."
I loved Electric Company as a kid!
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