The Electric Company
Show 1
TV Flash files “Show 1” as a desk essential hour — The Electric Company (1971–1977) on PBS, season 1, episode 1, aired 1971-10-25, 30 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S01E01: listed hour 1 of 780 in the The Electric Company guide, first listed hour of season 1. It aired 1971-10-25 (30 min). No earlier hour is listed in this guide. Next is “Show 2” (S01E02). Broadcast log — titles and dates, not a plot bible.
Essential hour: “Show 1”. Show 1 opens CTW's reading hour as sketch. Literacy variety for kids past Sesame: phonics that slap, a cast that later looked like a prestige reunion, syllables as stand-up on PBS.
Viewer FAQ
Where does Show 1 sit in the The Electric Company guide?
S01E01 is listed hour 1 of 780 — first listed hour of season 1, season 1 episode 1.
When did The Electric Company S01E01 air?
Show 1 aired 1971-10-25 and is listed at 30 minutes.
Is this just Sesame Street for older kids?
It is CTW's reading-focused companion: sketch comedy and phonics for kids who had already graduated from the Street. Same shop, different classroom.
In the series
Why this series still plays
Hey, you guys: CTW's reading hour as sketch comedy, with Morgan Freeman's Easy Reader, Rita Moreno, and phonics that slap. Literacy variety for kids who had already graduated from Sesame Street. A cast that later looked like a prestige reunion, doing syllables like stand-up on PBS.
Open on a summons. Hey, you guys: PBS's The Electric Company (1971–1977), a Children's Television Workshop production associated with Paul Dooley and Joan Ganz Cooney, teaches reading skills to kids slightly older than Sesame Street's core audience with sketch comedy, songs, and animations. Morgan Freeman's Easy Reader, Rita Moreno, Judy Graubart, Skip Hinnant do syllables like stand-up. Live-action Spider-Man segments became cult nostalgia. Literacy variety for graduates of the Street. A cast that later looked…
Filed against
- Morgan Freeman as Easy Reader / Various
Morgan Freeman’s Easy Reader made The Electric Company’s phonics slap like stand-up — 1970s CTW reading hour as sketch comedy, Rita Moreno, Hey you guys, literacy variety for kids who had already graduated from Sesame Street. TV Flash…
- Rita Moreno as Various
Rita Moreno slapped phonics like stand-up on The Electric Company — Hey, you guys, Easy Reader in the same literacy hour — then sits in the 1970s catalog beside One Day at a Time’s Lear-adjacent single-mom multi-cam. CTW variety for kids…
- Judy Graubart as Various
Judy Graubart’s Electric Company various made phonics slap like stand-up — Hey, you guys, CTW’s reading hour as sketch comedy, Morgan Freeman’s Easy Reader, Rita Moreno, literacy variety for kids who had already graduated from Sesame…
- Skip Hinnant as Various
Skip Hinnant sketched through The Electric Company as various — CTW's reading hour as comedy, phonics that slap, a literacy variety hour for kids who had already graduated from Sesame Street. Hey, you guys. TV Flash files him as 1970s PBS…