The Electric Company Returns to TV
SLJ Staff -- School Library Journal, 5/13/2008 10:39:00 AM
The Electric Company, PBS' hit 1970s educational program, is making a comeback with a newly updated version for today’s High School Musical generation.
The show, whose literacy content is geared toward six- to nine-year-olds, is currently in production and is expected to debut next January.
The earlier program was applauded for its multicultural cast, which included such celebrity performers as Morgan Freeman, Bill Cosby, Rita Moreno, Judy Graubart, Lee Chamberlin, and Skip Hinnant. The new program will once again feature a culturally diverse cast, and Moreno, who screamed “Hey, you guyyyys!!” to open every show, may be back for a cameo role.
“It’s the old one mixed with High School Musical and a Dr. Pepper commercial,” Linda Simensky, senior director of programming for PBS Kids, told The New York Times. Produced by Sesame Workshop, the first episode will take place at a natural foods diner, where four superheroes pledge to use their powers to do good deeds and to eat healthy foods. Episodes will focus on introducing vocabulary words dealing with animals, the body, weather, ecosystems, and the solar system.
The bulk of the show's $25 million cost is coming from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting through the U.S. Department of Education. An outreach program will target 20 low-income, low-literacy areas across the country prior to the show's debut.
