The Electric Company

The Electric Company is an American educational children's television series created by Paul Dooley and directed by Robert Schwarz (1971 and 1977), Henry Behar (1972–1975), John Tracy (1975–1976); written by Dooley, Christopher Cerf (1971–1973), Jeremy Steven (1972–1974) and John Boni/Amy Ephron (1972–1973); and produced by the Children's Television Workshop (now called Sesame Workshop) for PBS in the United States. PBS broadcast 780 episodes over the course of its six seasons from October 25, 1971, to April 15, 1977 (in many areas, a preview special, Here Comes The Electric Company [pilot episode], was seen in syndication through sponsor Johnson Wax on many local commercial stations during the week before its 1971 debut). After it ceased production in 1977, the program continued in reruns until October 4, 1985, as the result of a decision made in 1975 to produce two final seasons for perpetual use. The Workshop produced the show at Second Stage, located within the Reeves Teletape Studios (Teletape), in Manhattan, which had been the first home of Sesame Street. The Electric Company employed sketch comedy and various other devices to provide an entertaining program to help elementary school children develop their grammar and reading skills. Since it was intended for children who had graduated from CTW's flagship program, Sesame Street, the humor was more mature than what was seen there.