Waiting for the return of your favourite show can be very trying on one’s patience. Thursday nights during the few weeks between the fall and winter seasons of Survivor can seem interminable. The wait between May and January for Lost is almost unbearable. But this is really something worth waiting for: after 30+ years, my six year old self’s favourite show is back with all new episodes! As I blogged about back in May, the Electric Company is back this week, the new episodes start airing on PBS and TVO!
I took a quick peek over at the new Electric Company website, and after an initial “hey, you messed with my favourite show!” moment, I think I like it! A lot!! They have a little trailer that shows some promise. It looks like they’ve kept the flavour of the original episodes, with a kind of madcap randomness, but updated for kids of today. For those of you who haven’t had the pleasure of Electric Company Old Skool, you can see it here. (Or you can come over to my place and watch the DVDs with my kids me!)
I’m ridiculously pleased to be on the mailing list for these kinds of releases from Sesame Workshop. Here’s what they had to say about the new Electric Company:
The Electric Company television show is brought to life with a 15 minute narrative storyline that is interspersed with segments that include curricular clusters of music videos, sketch comedy, animation and short films.
The cast of characters of The Electric Company is a group of do-gooders who keep the neighborhood safe with their literacy superpowers and solve problems often created by a group of troublemakers called “The Pranksters.†Stationed from their home base, The Electric Diner, the team consists of four core cast members.
* “Keith Watson,†played by Ricky Smith, is a 13-year-old boy with the power to turn words into graphics/animation.
* “Jessica Ruiz,†played by Priscilla Diaz, is a 13-year-old girl with total aural recall allowing her to replay and display speech as text.
* “Lisa Heffenbacher,†played by Jenni Barber, is a high school student with the power to solve any word problem at super human speed.
* “Hector Ruiz,†played by Josh Segarra, is a 20-year-old college student (and older brother to Jessica) that has the power to visually recall things he’s seen, even if only peripherally.Teaching letter sounds and words through a series of short films that occur within each episode is vocal percussionist, Chris Sullivan, who plays “Shock,†an Electric Company member who works in the diner and provides the beat as the Company carries out its missions.
Season one of the new The Electric Company will feature comedy segments with Live With Regis & Kelly co-host Kelly Ripa, Academy Award winning actress, Whoopi Goldberg, kid comedian and actor, Kyle Massey, former NFL superstar and Today Show correspondent Tiki Barber, rapper Common and 30 Rock’s Jack McBrayer; music videos with Grammy Award winning musician Wyclef Jean and hip-hop superstar Sean Kingston; and original songs from singer/songwriter Ne-Yo, Saturday Night Live’s Jimmy Fallon, rocker Pete Wentz and R&B star Mario.
And, because we’re not in 1976 anymore, Toto, there is an entire interactive section to the new Electric Company website, too:
The new Web site at pbskidsgo.org/electriccompany invites kids to experience the world of The Electric Company within an interactive environment. Launching in conjunction with the television program, the Web site blends elements of popular kid-friendly internet applications that encourage kids to create, share, and rate each others’ video creations and decorate their own profile pages. Kids will also be able to play educational games, based on the curriculum featured in each episode, and win points in support of their favorite The Electric Company characters. The site will stream full episodes that will have aired the day before on TV, Web exclusive behind the scenes segments, cast interviews, outtakes, bloopers and celebrity clips. In addition, extensive downloadable outreach materials will be available to support the TV series and supplement the curriculum that parents, caregivers and teachers will be encouraged to use.
If you live in Ontario, you can catch the new Electric Company with a two hour launch on TVO at 5 pm this coming Monday, January 19, and then Mondays at 5:30 or Saturdays at 9:30. (How happy am I that I’ll be able to watch it with my kids????) You can also catch it on Fridays on PBS.
Sing it with me:
We’re gonna turn it on.
We’re gonna bring you the power
We’re gonna light up the dark of night like the brightest day in a whole new way
We’re gonna turn it on we’re gonna bring you the power
It’s coming down the lines, strong as they can be
Through the courtesy of The Electric Company
The Electric Company. The Electric Company!
(I’m still bummed I can’t get the ringtone for my cell….)
That sounds like a great show. I will program my PVR this week. My D is always looking for games to play on the net and I am a mean mom and won’t let him play on certain sites. PBS sounds like a safe one. He will love it.
loved your blog…a trip down memory lane.
Cuh…
ool…
Cool!
I kinda wonder if they are going to resurrect any more old shows, like, say, ‘H.R. Pufnstuff’, or ‘Holmes and Yo-Yo’?