Hey You Guyyyyys, The Electric Company Is Back!
If The Electric Company’s executive producer Karen Fowler gets her wish, a revolution is about to break out on playgrounds across America -- and it’s going to have kids singing, rapping, and dancing as they celebrate the power of reading.
The Electric Company invites kids into a world where reading is hip, and where dignity, play, and self-respect are hard-wired into their language and self-expression. The show is a vibrant, dynamic celebration of this self-expression, with an energy that captures kids’ curiosity, inspires confidence, and encourages them to continue their learning.
“This show was not conceived as a show,” Fowler says. “It was conceived as a revolution. Let’s make it cool to be smart in the playgrounds of America. Why not? Why can’t you sing ‘I have every possibility on the planet, I can be anything I wanna be’?”
Sesame Workshop and The Electric Company believe that you definitely can sing about these things – and that you can learn a great deal about the spoken and written word as you do so. Contagious, upbeat music takes center stage, incorporating hip hop as an effective method for learning and practicing language skills. “Hip hop is just fun with language in your mouth,” Fowler points out. “It’s the found sound.”
The show seeks to address an alarming literacy crisis. Millions of children between the ages of 6 and 9
| The Electric Company cast. |
are struggling to read, with 27 percent of public school fourth graders scoring below basic levels on reading exams. The statistics for minority students are even more shocking: of public school fourth graders, 54 percent of African American students and 51 percent of Hispanic students read below grade level.
Scott Cameron, Sesame Workshop’s director of education and research, explains that early intervention is necessary to help these struggling students catch up. “All the research shows that if we don’t try to help these children before they hit fourth grade, they’re at risk of never becoming fluent readers.”
As children’s media opportunities continue to expand, so have the opportunities they present to educate. Sesame Workshop president and CEO Gary Knell says that when it comes to media choices, today’s children are living in a time of great abundance but also great deficiency. “The Workshop is addressing this by transforming the platforms children are using daily into tools to contend with the literacy crisis,” Knell says.
Launch producer Jodi Nussbaum echoes Knell’s sentiment. “Kids are among the biggest users of multi-platform media. So the power and success of The Electric Company is in the fact that we are on TV, on the web, in after-school centers, in malls with a live show, and on mobile devices. We are wherever kids are.”
Pop culture as an effective teaching tool
To ensure its success, The Electric Company encourages learning through the use of today’s freshest pop culture -- particularly hip hop, spoken word, and celebrity appearances. The educational curriculum incorporates words connected to topics that today’s kids are interested in – be it sports, music, or aliens.
| The Electric Company cast. |
The creators of the street smart, urban show understand that kids this age want to be taken seriously, and don’t want to be talked down to or presented with material they deem childish. “For a struggling reader who feels self-conscious about his abilities, there’s nothing worse than being handed a book that’s at the right reading level, but looks embarrassingly “babyish,” Cameron says. “So we’ve tried very hard to make The Electric Company something that any self-respecting 9-year-old – or 15-year-old, for that matter – would feel excited to engage in with friends.”
And wherever kids are, the show seeks to shift their mindset toward the idea that literacy skills are important, and have a significant bearing on their own lives. While extensive research went into developing and integrating the educational curriculum, Cameron points out that this process of weaving education into the entertainment should not be apparent to kids as they view the show. “If we do our job well, kids won’t have a clue that so much went into it; they’ll just have a great time.”
The Electric Company airs on Fridays on PBS KIDS GO! It is funded in part by the U.S. Department of Education and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
Notable Quotes
“Silent ’e‘ is a ninja!” (Shock)
“We’ve got mad, mad, super-bad, special skills!” (The Electric Company)
“Welcome to my city filled with electricity, where you can be anything you wanna be.” (Wyclef Jean in the music video
“You have to look a little harder, dig a little deeper, get the whos, the whats, the wheres and the whys. You have to answer all the questions, question all the answers, separate the truth from the lies.” (Jessica)
“I’ve got a pocket full of H’s that I’m not afraid to use!” (Jimmy Fallon in the music video Pocket Full of H’s)
The Electric Company Theme Song:
The power we perfected is electrically connected,
So use it as directed and expect to be respected.
Turn it on and you will see
That you belong in the company!
Feel the power!
Feel the power!
Feel the power!
Yo! And plug it in!
Plug it in, everybody!
Electric Company!
Electric Company!
Electric Company!
Trivia
Much of the show is shot on the streets of
Chris Sullivan, who plays “Shock,” is certified to teach preschool.
The show’s head writer, Willie Reale, is a MacArthur Fellowship recipient and a Tony and Academy Award nominee.
The revamped 2009 show has retained a few favorite elements of the 1971 version. These elements include silhouette blends, Paul the Gorilla, and Rita Moreno’s tag line, “Hey, you guys!”
When cast member Jenni Barber shouted, “Hey you guys!” during an early morning shoot, someone from a nearby building yelled, “Shut up!” out the window.
Priscilla Star Diaz, who plays “Jessica,” is known as P. Star to her fans.
Ricky Smith, who plays “Keith,” once won a $250 educational IRA when he sang Marvin Gaye’s I Heard It Through the Grapevine during half-time at a New York Knicks game.
Celebrity Appearances
Whoopi Goldberg
Kyle Massey
Tiki Barber
Common
Jack McBrayer
Wyclef Jean
Sean Kingston
Ne-Yo
Jimmy Fallon
Mario
Ana Gasteyer
Kelly Ripa
Episode Runtime
PBS KIDS GO!Website
http://pbskids.org/electriccompany/
Proud Sponsor of The Electric Company
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