The Electric Company is an American children's educational series for young children aged 4–8 on PBS

Public Broadcasting Service

The Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....

, derived from the 1971 series. The series premiered as a four-episode mini-marathon on PBS on January 19, 2009, then became a weekly series with an episode shown each Friday. On September 7, 2009, it became a daily series. Like the original, this version is produced by Sesame Workshop

Sesame Workshop

Sesame Workshop, formerly known as the Children's Television Workshop , is a Worldwide American non-profit organization behind the production of several educational children's programs that have run on public broadcasting around the world...

. The series is sometimes referred to as The New Electric Company to distinguish it from the 1970s series. It airs on PBS

Public Broadcasting Service

The Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....

.

Conception

The new version has similar short animations, sketches, and music videos to those seen in the original show, but each episode also features a story line designed to teach four to five vocabulary words with a mix of hip-hop

Hip hop music

Hip hop music, also called hip-hop, rap music or hip-hop music, is a musical genre consisting of a stylized rhythmic music that commonly accompanies rapping, a rhythmic and rhyming speech that is chanted...

- or contemporary R&B

Contemporary R&B

Contemporary R&B is a music genre that combines elements of hip hop, soul, R&B and funk.Although the abbreviation “R&B” originates from traditional rhythm and blues music, today the term R&B is most often used to describe a style of African American music originating after the demise of disco in...

-style music.

Each story revolves around the Electric Company, a group of teenage literacy super heroes who battle a group of neighborhood villains dubbed the Pranksters. The heroes' headquarters is the Electric Diner, where their friend Shock, a beat-boxing

Beatboxing

Beatboxing is a form of vocal percussion primarily involving the art of producing drum beats, rhythm, and musical sounds using one's mouth, lips, tongue, and voice. It may also involve singing, vocal imitation of turntablism, and the simulation of horns, strings, and other musical instruments...

 short-order cook, works, and also appears in short-form segments.

In the show's nod to the original series, each episode's opening has a Company member call to the others to assemble by yelling "Hey, you guys!!"—a line that (as yelled by Rita Moreno

Rita Moreno

Rita Moreno is a Puerto Rican singer, dancer and actress. She is the only Hispanic and one of the few performers who have won an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar, and a Tony, and was the second Puerto Rican to win an Academy Award....

) led off the opening sequence of seasons two, five, and six. Other nods to the original series include appearances by Paul the Gorilla and updated versions of the soft-shoe silhouette segments in which words are sounded out.

The revival includes interactive Web elements and is promoted and extended via community-outreach projects. The first season consisted of 28 weekly episodes. An additional season of twelve more episodes began airing January 2010. The third season debuted February 7, 2011, with new Company member Marcus and new Prankster Gilda.

The Electric Company

The Electric Company consists of two friends who are also friends of two siblings, a brother and a sister, who protect the neighborhood from the Pranksters. They all have the power to throw word balls, blue magical balls that create words on any surface. In season 3, a new character, Marcus Barnes, joined the company. In addition, each member has a special skill:

• Hector Ruiz: The oldest member of the Electric Company. He has the power to replay any image that he sees, much like a video camera
  Camcorder
  A camcorder is an electronic device that combines a video camera and a video recorder into one unit. Equipment manufacturers do not seem to have strict guidelines for the term usage...
  
  . Hector is very athletic and good at basketball. He is portrayed by Josh Segarra
  Josh Segarra
  Josh Segarra Born on June 3, 1986 is an American actor who plays Hector Ruiz, Jessica Ruiz's older brother, on the television show The Electric Company. Segarra is from Longwood, Florida and is of Puerto Rican descent. He is fluent in Spanish....
  
  . In Season 3, Hector owns The Electric Diner, since it would go out of businiess if, Mr. Watson didn't let him run the diner. Hector is the leader of the company and always the one to go to if there is trouble and he has a strong rivialry with Manny.
• Jessica Ruiz: Hector's younger sister. She has a power similar to her brother's—she can replay any word or phrase that she hears, much like a tape recorder
  Tape recorder
  An audio tape recorder, tape deck, reel-to-reel tape deck, cassette deck or tape machine is an audio storage device that records and plays back sounds, including articulated voices, usually using magnetic tape, either wound on a reel or in a cassette, for storage...
  
  . Jessica is occasionally brash, especially when it comes to dealing with the Pranksters, particularly Manny. Beginning with Season 2 she hosts a vocabulary segment at the beginning of each episode. She is portrayed by P-Star
  P-Star
  Priscilla Star Diaz is an American rapper, actress, and former beauty pageant contestant, best known by her stage name P-Star. She is most notable for her role as Jessica Ruiz in the 2009 version of The Electric Company....
  
   (Priscilla Diaz).
• Lisa Heffenbacher: A sweet, well-liked girl. She has the power to unscramble any anagram
  Anagram
  An anagram is a type of word play, the result of rearranging the letters of a word or phrase to produce a new word or phrase, using all the original letters exactly once; e.g., orchestra = carthorse, A decimal point = I'm a dot in place, Tom Marvolo Riddle = I am Lord Voldemort. Someone who...
  
  s that she finds. In the Season 3 premiere she appears on a hovering TV screen announcing that she will no longer be around as much because she is going places with a science program, and Hector will keep her posted on everything that happens. Lisa is portrayed by Jenni Barber. She is constantly has a strong rivialry with Annie since she caused her so many problems like saying one of her ancestors was a traitor and swapping her brains with her to make Lisa look bad. Lisa is also a very good scientist.
• Keith Watson: The second youngest member of the Electric Company, he can generate images in mid-air, which comes in handy when explaining difficult words. Keith is logical and level-headed and frequently creates solutions for dealing with the Pranksters' tricks. He is portrayed by Ricky Smith. Keith barely appeared sometimes and he is good at basketball just like Hector and may beat him at "Horse" sometimes and his father was the owner of The Electric Diner. Keith first discover his power while playing basketball with Hector when saying he wants a "E" since they were playing Horse and threw a wordball at the word.
• Marcus Barnes: The newest youngest member of the Electric Company, who made his debut in Season three. He first discovered his wordball power while playing baseball. He uses math skills like numbers and can solve math problems. And really has cravings for waffles along with a love of pickles. He is portrayed by Coy Stewart
  Coy Stewart
  Tyson Coy Stewart better known as Coy Stewart is an American actor. He currently has a role in the TBS sitcom Are We There Yet? as Kevin Kingston-Persons, taking Philip Bolden's place.-Early life:...
  
  . Francine gets his name mistaken for "Marty Farms" and he bought a ball that didn't even work from her twice, but got his $5 back.

Allies

• Shock: A short-order cook at the Electric Diner, where the Company converges when trouble occurs. Shock rarely speaks directly, instead he beat-boxes
  Beatboxing
  Beatboxing is a form of vocal percussion primarily involving the art of producing drum beats, rhythm, and musical sounds using one's mouth, lips, tongue, and voice. It may also involve singing, vocal imitation of turntablism, and the simulation of horns, strings, and other musical instruments...
  
   and uses his hands to act out ideas. He appears in some segments with Jessica. He is played by Chris Sullivan
  Chris Sullivan (actor)
  Chris Sullivan is an American actor, vocal percussionist, and a regular cast member of the American public television show for children The Electric Company....
  
  .
• P.J. Watson: Keith's cousin, played by Kyle Massey
  Kyle Massey
  Kyle Massey , is an American actor, dancer, singer, comedian and rapper from Atlanta, Georgia. He is perhaps best known for starring in the Disney Channel sitcom That's So Raven, in which he played Cory Baxter, and in the Disney show Cory in the House, a spin-off of That's So Raven...
  
   (only shown season 2). He got starred in Lisa's movie and got help from Lisa to write a paper from back home about a old western story in a refrigerator
  Refrigerator
  A refrigerator is a common household appliance that consists of a thermally insulated compartment and a heat pump that transfers heat from the inside of the fridge to its external environment so that the inside of the fridge is cooled to a temperature below the ambient temperature of the room...
  
  .
• Leo Watson: The proprietor of the Electric Diner and Keith's father. In Season 3, he opens up a new restaurant and passes the diner to as Hector becomes the owner. He is portrayed by L. Steven Taylor.
• The Great Calvero: The local magician who performs in the park. He is portrayed by Jason Antoon
  Jason Antoon
  -Stage career:He is best known for his role in the 2000 Tony Award-winning musical Contact. For his performance, he received a Drama Desk Award nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Musical.-Movie career:...
  
  .
• Bandini: Calvero's brother, who is trapped in a painting, but The Electric gang got him out of the painting and got reunited with Calvero.
• Mario: Shock's best friend, who is a hip hop emcee who makes guest appearances alongside Shock in some musical segments. He is portrayed by Lin-Manuel Miranda, who also contributes music to the show.
• Sabi or Sammy Spamboni: Manny's little brother, who was frozed by Manny so many times but gave the Electric Company advice to how unfreeze Keith and he never got in trouble with his mother expect Manny.
• Paul the Gorilla
  Gorilla
  Gorillas are the largest extant species of primates. They are ground-dwelling, predominantly herbivorous apes that inhabit the forests of central Africa. Gorillas are divided into two species and either four or five subspecies...
  
  : Paul was a recurring character on the original show and was brought back for the new series.
• Dax: A skeleckian who is sometimes getting the company tied up in his problems, such as getting shrunk and having a steering wheel stolen. He is a good friend of Lisa's.
• Polly Hashimoto: A Japanese American
  Japanese American
  are American people of Japanese heritage. Japanese Americans have historically been among the three largest Asian American communities, but in recent decades have become the sixth largest group at roughly 1,204,205, including those of mixed-race or mixed-ethnicity...
  
   secretary and author of the public library. She appears in the episode called "One Smart Cookie."

The Heffenbacher Family

The following family members only appear in "Revolutionary Doughnuts":

• Caroline: Lisa's mother. When asked, she reveals the family tree of the Heffenbachers and then explains to her daughter that Cordelia is a traitor.
• Mildred: Lisa's aunt. She generously allows her niece and her friends to find out about Cordelia.
• Cordelia Heffenbacher: Lisa's great-great-great-great-great grand aunt. She has been first mentioned by Annie Scrambler saying that is a traitor, but Lisa proves that Annie is wrong. Cordelia has distracted the British Redcoats by offering them doughnut
  Doughnut
  A doughnut or donut is a fried dough food and is popular in many countries and prepared in various forms as a sweet snack that can be homemade or purchased in bakeries, supermarkets, food stalls, and franchised specialty outlets...
  
  s.

The Merry Pranksters

The Merry Pranksters are the Electric Company's rivals, and they never win. In the Prankster Cam segments, every one of the Merry Pranksters explain about the letters with Manny talking about punctuation

Punctuation

Punctuation marks are symbols that indicate the structure and organization of written language, as well as intonation and pauses to be observed when reading aloud.In written English, punctuation is vital to disambiguate the meaning of sentences...

.

• Francine Carruthers: The leader of the Merry Pranksters. She has the same power as the Electric Company—the ability to generate word balls. Francine has a very high opinion of her own intelligence. Most of her plots involve making herself look good at the expense of the Company. In Season 3, she gets an assistant, named Gilda Flip. She usually calls Marcus "Marty Farms" and usually get 100 or 200 presents for her birthday. She is portrayed by Ashley Austin Morris
  Ashley Austin Morris
  Ashley Austin Morris is an actress who has played the villainous Francine Carruthers on the PBS revival of The Electric Company since its debut in 2009. A profile on Broadway.com lists her hometown as San Antonio, Texas...
  
  .
• Annie Scrambler: A girl who is frequently envious of the accomplishments of others. She has the power to scramble any word or sentence with a stomp of her foot which results in making new words, but sometimes she scrambles the existing words to create nonexistent ones. Annie is often jealous of the Electric Company's good luck and sometimes works with her uncle Sigmund (Mark Linn-Baker
  Mark Linn-Baker
  Mark Linn-Baker is an American actor and director famous for his role as Larry Appleton on the television sitcom Perfect Strangers.-Early life and career:...
  
  ), a hypnotist, to get back at her rivals. She will work with the Electric Company if she has to, such as to help her uncle out in "Bananas". She is portrayed by Sandie Rosa.
• Danny Rebus: A suave, sophisticated Prankster. He can turn any sentence into a rebus puzzle
  Rebus
  A rebus is an allusional device that uses pictures to represent words or parts of words. It was a favourite form of heraldic expression used in the Middle Ages to denote surnames, for example in its basic form 3 salmon fish to denote the name "Salmon"...
  
  . Most of his messages make fun of the Electric Company. Danny is very proud, yet with a touchy personality, easily being offended. He often charges the Electric Company with making him look bad, prompting vengeance. He has helped the Electric Company out on occasion, despite being a Prankster. He is portrayed by William Jackson Harper.
• Manny Spamboni: The loudest of the Merry Pranksters. He is the only member of the group that does not have any powers, but he is quite skilled in the art of robot
  Robot
  A robot is a mechanical or virtual intelligent agent that can perform tasks automatically or with guidance, typically by remote control. In practice a robot is usually an electro-mechanical machine that is guided by computer and electronic programming. Robots can be autonomous, semi-autonomous or...
  
  ics and mechanics. Manny is rude and crude, and uses his many gadgets to make trouble for the Electric Company. He is spoiled by his mother who says he is her "little angel". He is portrayed by Dominic Colón.
• Gilda Flip: The newest member of the Merry Pranksters and Francine's assistant and doesn't have any powers just like Manny and her only gagdet is her Flip Phone. She is portrayed by Carly Rose Sonenclar
  Carly Rose Sonenclar
  Carly Rose Sonenclar is an American child actress, singer and songwriter.- Early life :Carly was born in New York City and resides in Westchester County, New York. She began singing at age 2, imitating several of the performers on the early years of American Idol...
  
  .

Allies

• Sigmund Scrambler: Annie's uncle who works as a hypnotist. He is slightly bumbling, but helps Annie in her pursuit of bothering the company. He is played by Mark Linn-Baker
  Mark Linn-Baker
  Mark Linn-Baker is an American actor and director famous for his role as Larry Appleton on the television sitcom Perfect Strangers.-Early life and career:...
  
  .
• Sandy Scrambler: Annie's aunt who is a hypnotist, like Sigmund Scrambler. She is played by Ana Gasteyer
  Ana Gasteyer
  Ana Kristina Gasteyer is an American actress of stage, film, and television. She is best known for her comedic roles when she was a cast member on Saturday Night Live from 1996 to 2002.-Early life:...
  
  .
• Antigone Carruthers: The C.E.O of the Antigone Carruthers Corporation and Francine's mother. She is portrayed by Julie Halston and usually calls the Electric Company, "The Electricians".
• Mrs. Spamboni: Manny's mother.

The Adventures of Captain Cluck

• Captain Cluck (voiced by Emily Hahn) is a little-girl superhero
  Superhero
  A superhero is a type of stock character, possessing "extraordinary or superhuman powers", dedicated to protecting the public. Since the debut of the prototypical superhero Superman in 1938, stories of superheroes — ranging from brief episodic adventures to continuing years-long sagas —...
  
   who is chicken-themed. She has brown hair with high short curly pigtails and a pink mask with a matching cape. She has the ability to correct things.
• The Poultry Patrol are the chicken
  Chicken
  The chicken is a domesticated fowl, a subspecies of the Red Junglefowl. As one of the most common and widespread domestic animals, and with a population of more than 24 billion in 2003, there are more chickens in the world than any other species of bird...
  
  s who belong to Captain Cluck. In one of the segments, they all have female names revealed with apostrophe
  Apostrophe
  The apostrophe is a punctuation mark, and sometimes a diacritic mark, in languages that use the Latin alphabet or certain other alphabets...
  
  s and "s" at the end because they're hen
  Chicken
  The chicken is a domesticated fowl, a subspecies of the Red Junglefowl. As one of the most common and widespread domestic animals, and with a population of more than 24 billion in 2003, there are more chickens in the world than any other species of bird...
  
  s. They are named Amy, Cluck, Fay, Fran, Jan, Jen, Jean, and Joan.
• The Lost Girl is an African American
  African American
  African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
  
   girl who only appears in the comma segment in which she is confused as she looks at her shopping list.

Pets Home Alone

• Donnie is a yellow canary with green wings and a matching tail. Donnie likes to call all of his fur-covered friends, "Fuzzball" and plays with Nuggets' hamster ball to pretend to be an astronaut.
• Nuggets (voiced by Jeff Bennett
  Jeff Bennett
  Jeffrey Glenn "Jeff" Bennett is an American voice actor and musician, listed "among the top names in the voice-over field", best known as the voice of Johnny Bravo in the series of the same name...
  
  ) is a pink Hamster
  Hamster
  Hamsters are rodents belonging to the subfamily Cricetinae. The subfamily contains about 25 species, classified in six or seven genera....
  
   who appears in some live action backgrounds.
• Petunia (voiced by Oprah Winfrey
  Oprah Winfrey
  Oprah Winfrey is an American media proprietor, talk show host, actress, producer and philanthropist. Winfrey is best known for her self-titled, multi-award-winning talk show, which has become the highest-rated program of its kind in history and was nationally syndicated from 1986 to 2011...
  
  ) is a blue bulldog
  Bulldog
  Bulldog is the name for a breed of dog commonly referred to as the English Bulldog. Other Bulldog breeds include the American Bulldog, Olde English Bulldogge and the French Bulldog. The Bulldog is a muscular heavy dog with a wrinkled face and a distinctive pushed-in nose...
  
   with a pink bow on her head. She sits right next to a Green-Skinned Mummy
  Mummy
  A mummy is a body, human or animal, whose skin and organs have been preserved by either intentional or incidental exposure to chemicals, extreme coldness , very low humidity, or lack of air when bodies are submerged in bogs, so that the recovered body will not decay further if kept in cool and dry...
  
   in the live-action and she doesn't like taking baths.
• Tom (voiced by Rachael Lillis
  Rachael Lillis
  Rachael Lillis is an American actress and voice actress. She studied acting in Boston and New York City and has appeared in various theater and independent films....
  
  ) is a peach-colored cat
  Cat
  The cat , also known as the domestic cat or housecat to distinguish it from other felids and felines, is a small, usually furry, domesticated, carnivorous mammal that is valued by humans for its companionship and for its ability to hunt vermin and household pests...
  
  , he is very nice and shy and knows how to use a laptop and knows the website "NachosforPets.com" and he put himself in the nachos after Nuggets rushed through the word tomatoes for Tom.

In the Haunted House

• Werewolf (voiced by Leslie Carrara-Rudolph) is a werewolf
  Werewolf
  A werewolf, also known as a lycanthrope , is a mythological or folkloric human with the ability to shapeshift into a wolf or an anthropomorphic wolf-like creature, either purposely or after being placed under a curse...
  
   with brown fur. He lives in a haunted house with Bat and Mummy.
• The Brown Bat
  Bat
  Bats are mammals of the order Chiroptera "hand" and pteron "wing") whose forelimbs form webbed wings, making them the only mammals naturally capable of true and sustained flight. By contrast, other mammals said to fly, such as flying squirrels, gliding possums, and colugos, glide rather than fly,...
  
  (voiced by Cree Summer
  Cree Summer
  Cree Summer Francks , best known as Cree Summer, is a Canadian actress, musician and voice actress. She is perhaps best known for her role as college student Winifred "Freddie" Brooks on the NBC sitcom A Different World...
  
  ) is the only flying monster. He lives in a haunted house with Werewolf and Mummy. Bat was once given a present by a monster which turned out to be a mini-version of the monster.
• Mummy is a green-skinned mummy
  Mummy
  A mummy is a body, human or animal, whose skin and organs have been preserved by either intentional or incidental exposure to chemicals, extreme coldness , very low humidity, or lack of air when bodies are submerged in bogs, so that the recovered body will not decay further if kept in cool and dry...
  
   who wears toilet paper. He lives in a haunted house with Bat and Werewolf. Mummy does not like peas but he likes pie.
• Aunt Hilegard is a green-skinned witch with a turbo broomstick. She also has red goggles
  Goggles
  Goggles or safety glasses are forms of protective eyewear that usually enclose or protect the area surrounding the eye in order to prevent particulates, water or chemicals from striking the eyes. They are used in chemistry laboratories and in woodworking. They are often used in snow sports as well,...
  
   for her flight.

Others

• The Three Red Gorillas (voiced by Jim Cummings
  Jim Cummings
  James Jonah "Jim" Cummings is an American voice actor who has appeared in almost 100 roles. He has appeared in classic animated movies such as Aladdin and The Lion King, as well as taking on roles in more current films, such as Bee Movie, Princess and the Frog, and Winnie the Pooh.-Personal...
  
  , Tress MacNeille
  Tress MacNeille
  Tress MacNeille is an American voice actress best known for providing various voices on the animated series The Simpsons, Futurama, Tiny Toon Adventures, Animaniacs, Disney's House of Mouse, Courage the Cowardly Dog, Rugrats, All Grown Up!, Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers, and Dave the...
  
   and Tim Curry
  Tim Curry
  Timothy James "Tim" Curry is a British actor, singer, composer and voice actor, known for his work in a diverse range of theatre, film and television productions. He currently resides in Los Angeles, California....
  
  ) - The Gorilla in the middle is completely female. All these gorillas demonstrate things with words that start with "gr," "fl," "dr," have "oo," "ink," and end with "mb", "ing" and "ed".
• Special Agent Jack Bowser (voiced by Diedrich Bader
  Diedrich Bader
  Karl Diedrich Bader , better known as Diedrich Bader, is an American actor, voice artist and comedian. Many know him for his roles as Oswald Lee Harvey on The Drew Carey Show, Lawrence from the film Office Space, the Tae Kwon Do instructor Rex from Napoleon Dynamite, Tank "Shredder" Evans in Surf's...
  
  ) is a blue android dog
  Dog
  The domestic dog is a domesticated form of the gray wolf, a member of the Canidae family of the order Carnivora. The term is used for both feral and pet varieties. The dog may have been the first animal to be domesticated, and has been the most widely kept working, hunting, and companion animal in...
  
   who wears a black sweater
  Sweater
  A sweater, jumper, pullover, sweatshirt, jersey or guernsey is a garment intended to cover the torso and arms. It is often worn over a shirt, blouse, T-shirt, or other top, but may also be worn alone as a top...
  
   with a white horizontal stripe on it and is trapped in the treats/things. This sketch is a parody of the TV Series 24
  24 (TV series)
  24 is an American television series produced for the Fox Network and syndicated worldwide, starring Kiefer Sutherland as Counter Terrorist Unit agent Jack Bauer. Each 24-episode season covers 24 hours in the life of Bauer, using the real time method of narration...
  
   and in fact the sketch lasts 24 seconds.
• Music Man is a deep-voiced singer who appears in many segments. He is the only character from the first two seasons to appear in the third season since he appeared in "Wordball Games" fully animated in a different style of Flash animation and actually had spoken dialogue for the first time. He is portrayed by Reggie Watts
  Reggie Watts
  Reggie Watts is a Seattle-based comedian and musician. His shows are mostly improvised and consist of stream of consciousness stand-up in various shifting personae, mixed with loop pedal-based a cappella compositions. He also performs regularly on television, radio, and in live theater...
  
  .
• Pet Shop Owner: A wacky pet-owner who owns many unusual pets, which causes his customers to leave. This segment was replaced with "Pets Home Alone."
• Josephine: An African American
  African American
  African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
  
   girl who wants to sell things to the people and the mummy who live in houses.
• Felix & Oscar: The animated version of The Odd Couple
  The Odd Couple
  The Odd Couple is a 1965 Broadway play by Neil Simon, followed by a successful film and television series, as well as other derivative works and spin offs, many featuring one or more of the same actors. The plot concerns two mismatched roommates, one neat and uptight, the other more easygoing and...
  
  who appear in many segments. Felix is an elderly man wearing a green shirt who makes comments and Oscar is the dim-witted, lanky, and tall teenaged boy who lives with Felix and has to live without most of his teeth, socks, or deodorant. Although their names aren't revealed, Felix was referred to as Old Man in one episode.
• The Two-Headed Long-Necked Monster
  Monster
  A monster is any fictional creature, usually found in legends or horror fiction, that is somewhat hideous and may produce physical harm or mental fear by either its appearance or its actions...
  
  : Completely female and skilled at skiing
  Skiing
  Skiing is a recreational activity using skis as equipment for traveling over snow. Skis are used in conjunction with boots that connect to the ski with use of a binding....
  
  , they have light green skin. They often argue about their jacket they're wearing. One head with red eyes, lips and antenna
  Antenna
  Antenna may refer to:-Science and engineering:* Antenna , also known as an aerial, a transducer designed to transmit or receive electromagnetic Antenna (pl. antennas in radio/TV, antennae in biology) may refer to:-Science and engineering:* Antenna (radio), also known as an aerial, a transducer...
  
  e wants it zipped while the other head with blue eyes, lips and antennae wants it unzipped. They both end up down the hill blaming each other and their purple hooded jacket
  Jacket
  A jacket is a hip- or waist-length garment for the upper body. A jacket typically has sleeves, and fastens in the front. A jacket is generally lighter, tighter-fitting, and less insulating than a coat, which is outerwear...
  
   loses its zipper
  Zipper
  A zipper is a commonly used device for temporarily joining two edges of fabric...
  
  .
• Ray and Fay: Blue monsters with horns on their heads. These names do rhyme. Ray tries to offer flowers to Fay who's sitting in a bench. She wears pigtails.

Cast

Cast members include P-Star

P-Star

Priscilla Star Diaz is an American rapper, actress, and former beauty pageant contestant, best known by her stage name P-Star. She is most notable for her role as Jessica Ruiz in the 2009 version of The Electric Company....

 as Jessica, Jenni Barber as Lisa, Josh Segarra

Josh Segarra

Josh Segarra Born on June 3, 1986 is an American actor who plays Hector Ruiz, Jessica Ruiz's older brother, on the television show The Electric Company. Segarra is from Longwood, Florida and is of Puerto Rican descent. He is fluent in Spanish....

 as Hector, Ricky Smith as Keith, Coy Stewart

Coy Stewart

Tyson Coy Stewart better known as Coy Stewart is an American actor. He currently has a role in the TBS sitcom Are We There Yet? as Kevin Kingston-Persons, taking Philip Bolden's place.-Early life:...

 (Tyson Stewart) as Marcus Barnes, and Chris Sullivan

Chris Sullivan (actor)

Chris Sullivan is an American actor, vocal percussionist, and a regular cast member of the American public television show for children The Electric Company....

 as Shock.

The Celebrities who have appeared on the show include Pete Wentz, Samantha Bee

Samantha Bee

Samantha Bee is a Canadian comedic actress and author best known as a cast member on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.-Early life:Bee was born in Toronto, Ontario into an unconventional family...

, Ne-Yo

Ne-Yo

Shaffer Chimere Smith, Jr. , better known by his stage name Ne-Yo, is an American pop and R&B singer-songwriter, record producer, dancer and actor. Beginning his career as a songwriter, Ne-Yo penned the hit "Let Me Love You" for singer Mario...

, Mario, Sean Kingston

Sean Kingston

Sean Kingston is a Jamaican-American singer. He pursued a music career and debuted in 2007 with the album Sean Kingston.-Early life:...

, Marc Ecko

Marc Ecko

Marc Eckō is an American fashion designer, entrepreneur, investor, artist, and philanthropist. He is the founder and Chief Creative Officer of Marc Eckō Enterprises, a billion-dollar global fashion and lifestyle company...

, Jack McBrayer

Jack McBrayer

Jack McBrayer is an American actor and comedian. He gained national exposure for his characters on "Late Night with Conan O'Brien"...

, Tiki Barber

Tiki Barber

Atiim Kiambu Hakeem-Ah "Tiki" Barber is an American football running back who is currently a free agent. He was drafted by the New York Giants in the second round of the 1997 NFL Draft. He played college football at Virginia....

, Whoopi Goldberg

Whoopi Goldberg

Whoopi Goldberg is an American comedian, actress, singer-songwriter, political activist, author and talk show host.Goldberg made her film debut in The Color Purple playing Celie, a mistreated black woman in the Deep South. She received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress and won...

, Kyle Massey

Kyle Massey

Kyle Massey , is an American actor, dancer, singer, comedian and rapper from Atlanta, Georgia. He is perhaps best known for starring in the Disney Channel sitcom That's So Raven, in which he played Cory Baxter, and in the Disney show Cory in the House, a spin-off of That's So Raven...

, Common, Swizz Beatz

Swizz Beatz

Kasseem Dean , better known by his stage name, Swizz Beatz, is an American record producer, DJ, rapper and painter. At the age of 17, he gained attention in the hip-hop world through his friendship with rapper DMX. Grady Spivey and rapper Cassidy helped launch his label Full Surface Records...

, Good Charlotte

Good Charlotte

Good Charlotte is an American rock band from Waldorf, Maryland that formed in 1996. Since 1998, the band's constant members have been lead vocalist Joel Madden, lead guitarist and back-up vocalist Benji Madden, bass guitarist Paul Thomas and rhythm guitarist and keyboardist Billy Martin...

, Jimmy Fallon

Jimmy Fallon

James Thomas "Jimmy" Fallon, Jr. is an American actor, comedian, singer, musician and television host. He currently hosts Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, a late-night talk show that airs Monday through Friday on NBC...

, Dwight Howard

Dwight Howard

Dwight David Howard is an American basketball player for the Orlando Magic of the National Basketball Association . Howard, who usually plays center but can also play power forward, had an outstanding high school career at Southwest Atlanta Christian Academy...

, David Lee of the Golden State Warriors

David Lee (basketball)

David Lee is an American professional basketball player who is a power forward and center for the Golden State Warriors of the National Basketball Association . He played college basketball for the University of Florida and was selected by the New York Knicks in the first round of the 2005 NBA...

, Christopher Massey

Christopher Massey

Christopher Michael Massey is an American actor, comedian and rapper best known for starring as Michael Barret in Nickelodeon television series Zoey 101. Massey has received many awards and nomination including a Young Artist Award and Emmy Awards nominations...

, Wyclef Jean

Wyclef Jean

Wyclef Jean is a Haitian musician, record producer, and politician. At age nine, Jean moved to the United States with his family and has spent much of his life in the country...

 and Doug E. Fresh

Doug E. Fresh

Douglas E. Davis , better known by the stage name Doug E. Fresh, is an American rapper, record producer, and beat boxer, also known as the Human Beat Box...

. Besides his brief appearances in season one, Kyle Massey had a recurring role in season two as PJ, Keith's eccentric cousin.

Mark Linn-Baker

Mark Linn-Baker

Mark Linn-Baker is an American actor and director famous for his role as Larry Appleton on the television sitcom Perfect Strangers.-Early life and career:...

 appears occasionally as Annie's uncle Sigmund. Broadway actor-composer Lin-Manuel Miranda does occasional guest appearances and contributes music to the show. He also appears in a season-two episode as Mario, Shock’s friend.

Tommy Kail, the director of Miranda's In the Heights

In the Heights

In the Heights is a musical with music and lyrics by Lin-Manuel Miranda and a book by Quiara Alegría Hudes. The story explores three days in the characters' lives in the New York City Dominican-American neighborhood of Washington Heights....

, is one of the musical directors with Bill Sherman and the actor-musician Chris Jackson, a star of the original Broadway production of that show. Members of the hip hop comedy troupe Freestyle Love Supreme (of which Miranda, Sherman, Jackson, and Sullivan are members) make sporadic appearances in the musical segments as well.

Episode descriptions

Pilot (2006)

• The New Electric Company

Season 1 (2009)

• Skills
• Scent of a Human
• Lights, Camera, Beetles!
• Call Me Tiki
• Lost and Spaced
• Trouble Afoot
• The Skeleckian Hiccups
• Dirty Laundry
• He Ain't Heavy, He's Just Frozen
• Scrambled Brains
• Abracadabra Cadabra Ca-Green!
• Game On
• War of the Words
• Mighty Bright Knight
• The Orangachoke
• Gravity Groove
• The Limerick Slam
• Pop Goes the Easel
• Electric Accompany
• The Wordball is My Oyster
• Franscent
• The Flube Whisperer
• Out to Launch
• Fromage Here to Eternity
• Friends or Aunts
• A Whole New Francine
• Mighty Bright Fight
• Oh, Danny Boy

Season 2 (2010)

• Wicked Itch
• One Bad Apple
• One Smart Cookie
• The Unmuffins
• Madame President
• Goodnight, Robot
• The Great Compromise
• The Potato Custom
• Bananas
• Bluefoot
• Jules Quest
• Revolutionary Doughnuts

Season 3 (2011)

• Off Target
• A Fistful of Confetti
• Spooky Summer Soirée
• Revenge of the Zeros
• Pies for Puppies
• Prankster Holiday
• The Wordball Games
• The Incredible Return-a-Ball
• Wiki Wiki Walter
• Shrink, Shrank, Shrunk!
• Tip it or Dip It
• The Junior Assistant

From season 1

• "Follow Through" - Lisa Heffenbacher
• "Love" - Manny Spamboni
• "Help Me Clear My Name" - Hector Ruiz

From season 2

• "Don't Undo Undanny" - Danny Rebus and Jessiza Ruiz
• "Separate the Truth From the Lies" - Lisa
• "Observe the Ape" - Lisa, Annie Scrambler, Sigmund and Natalie McNally
• "Good Friends Good as Gold" - Jessica, Jules and group
• "Great" - Lisa and Cordelia Heffenbacher

From season 3

• "Wordball on His What?" - Hector, Jessica and Marcus Barnes
• "Gilda's World Record Breaking Song" - Gilda Flip and kids
• "Little Puppies" - Jessica and puppies
• "The Electric Company Doesn't Like You" - Danny and Manny
• "Take Back This Return-a-Ball" - Francine Carruthers, Gilda, Hector, Keith, Jessica and chorus
• "Beatbox" - Doug E. Fresh
  Doug E. Fresh
  Douglas E. Davis , better known by the stage name Doug E. Fresh, is an American rapper, record producer, and beat boxer, also known as the Human Beat Box...
  
   and crowd
• "I Love My Power" - Manny
• "When You Don't Appreciate A Zero" - Danny and Annie

Positive

The show received generally positive reviews from critics, and currently has a 74/100 score on metacritic.com, based on eight reviews. Newsday

Newsday

Newsday is a daily American newspaper that primarily serves Nassau and Suffolk counties and the New York City borough of Queens on Long Island, although it is sold throughout the New York metropolitan area...

said "With a visual sensibility that mimics a video game, Web browser and iPhone, as well as a hearty online presence with a social-networking bent, the new Electric Company seems to deliver."

Entertainment Weekly

Entertainment Weekly

Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...

said "Though the hip ’n’ urban vibe seems overly calculated, did studies show that eight-year-olds respond to beatboxing white dudes? And the cast is aggressively up with people. You gotta love new characters."

Negative

Reviews that cited negative aspects of the show compared it to the 1970s Electric Company.

• The New York Daily News
  New York Daily News
  The Daily News of New York City is the fourth most widely circulated daily newspaper in the United States with a daily circulation of 605,677, as of November 1, 2011....
  
  said, "The only problem here is that once in a while the producers and cast get so enthusiastic about their production numbers [that] their words become almost unintelligible."

• The New York Times stated that although the new series is respectable, "it all feels a little corporate somehow" and "today’s children will certainly find it watchable and will have better language skills after spending time with it. They just aren’t likely to still be holding it in their hearts 35 years from now."

• The Los Angeles Times
  Los Angeles Times
  The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
  
  called the story aspects of the show "unnecessarily complicated and off the point," citing that the 1970s series "spent more time teaching, at no cost to entertainment".

• The Washington Post praised the new series, but stated that it reminded them of Ghostwriter
  Ghostwriter (TV series)
  Ghostwriter is an American television program created by Liz Nelson and produced by the Children's Television Workshop and BBC One. It began airing on PBS on October 4, 1992, and the final episode aired on February 13, 1995...
  
  , not the 1970s Electric Company. "The original show; low concept, high energy, knew that words didn't have to have literal superpowers in order to be worthwhile and, occasionally, magical."

External links

• Official Web Site
• Season one press kit
• Season two press kit
• Season three press kit
• Literacy Learning with The Electric Company