Joss Whedon

The Best of The Electric Company

Still the Easy Reader

"HEY YOU GUYS!" "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."

If you were a child in the 70’s or early 80’s, you immediately recognize those opening lyrics. It meant it was time for the television to teach us to read, by sneaking education into our brains in the guise of funny sketches, catchy songs, and the adventures of superheroes like Spiderman and Letterman. If you grew up after that time period, you probably learned from television programs that featured Elmo or a big purple dinosaur. I weep for you.

Aimed at kids who had "graduated" from Sesame Street, The Electric Company was loaded with talent. Bill Cosby. Rita Moreno (she’s won a Tony, an Oscar, a Grammy, and an Emmy, yet people will still shout "Hey you guys!" at her in the street). Head Writer Tom Whedon (father of Joss Whedon who created Buffy the Vampire Slayer). Joan Rivers, Gene Wilder, and Zero Mostel provided the voices in "The Adventures of Letterman". An as yet unknown Morgan Freeman played the very hip Easy Reader, and many other characters. (Seeing a semi-afroed Morgan Freeman singing about reading floored me, I had no idea he was on the show.) I wonder if he’s is so popular for film narrations because we all were indoctrinated to his smooth voice as Easy Reader.

Those of you who were stuck with Barney (and those of us feeling nostalgic) can see what you missed with The Best of The Electric Company, released by Shout!Factory. The DVD set contains 20 episodes that span the six year production run of the show. It also contains a 21-page booklet (more of a pamphlet) of the show’s history, thus allowing you to practice the reading skills you got from the show. Special Features are spread throughout the four-disc set:

* Cast Interviews
* Creative Team Interview
* Joan Ganz Cooney "Then and Now" -she is the founder of the Children’s Television Workshop
* Outtakes
* Karaoke Version of "Silent E"
* Show Trivia
* Episode Introductions by Rita Moreno

Shout!Factory continues to impress by repeatedly releasing quirky and cool DVDs. Lately they seem to have tailored their releases to my tastes. If they are paying attention, I hope they get to work on a DVD of 3-2-1 Contact! soon. (No I don’t really think they are reading this, but don’t even pretend you don’t want to see episodes of The Bloodhound Gang)