# Hey you guuuuuuuys!!!!!! On Sesame Streets red-headed step sibling. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 19, 2017, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-you-guuuuuuuys-on-sesame-streets-red-headed-step-sibling/796751 "2017-09-19T18:47:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![neofishboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/neofishboy/32/444_2.png) [@neofishboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neofishboy)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2017, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-you-guuuuuuuys-on-sesame-streets-red-headed-step-sibling/796751/21 "2017-09-20T00:31:27Z")
> [@Biggirl](#): > > … > > I have always wondered why it didn’t last like Sesame Street has. > > … The hard, cold business reason? Muppets. Think about the tie-in merchandise potential between Sesame Street and The Electric Company for one second and you realize they’re not even playing the same _sport_\*. The reason Sesame Street has lasted longer in the “hearts and minds” of people who grew up with both? Also Muppets. I was just thinking … when I aged out of the target demographic for The Electric Company, I just left those characters behind. Outside of the occasional adulthood nostalgia, I don’t think about them. When I aged out of the target demographic for Sesame Street … hey look! The Muppet Show! A show with a target demographic I’m just aging into! And then movies! Point being, Sesame Street characters gave me many more years of “beloved childhood memories” than did The Electric Company. (Oh man, I just pictured a Sesame Street with no Muppets, in which all of the live-action segments were just the adult cast interacting with children and each other. I don’t think I would have watched that show.) \*Granted, if [McFarlane](https://mcfarlane.com/) studios ever came out with an Easy Reader action figure I’d be all over that shit. ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2017, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-you-guuuuuuuys-on-sesame-streets-red-headed-step-sibling/796751/22 "2017-09-21T23:33:09Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > I don’t think I knew who Rita or Morgan (or Tom Lehrer) were at the time, maybe not even Bill Cosby. But it had Spider-man. Spider-man was a star! Spider-man, where are you coming from Spider-Man, nobody knows who you are! (damn ninja’d) Marvel even put out the Spidey Super Stories series based loosely on the segment (the lettering was extra large so dumb kids could read it.) I had an issue guest starring Ms. Marvel. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2017, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-you-guuuuuuuys-on-sesame-streets-red-headed-step-sibling/796751/23 "2017-09-22T00:07:04Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > Don’t forget that Joan Rivers was the narrator for Letterman. Zero Mostel played the Spellbinder, and Gene Wilder was Letterman himself. Here’s my [favourite sketch](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6jTcJaMx_70). ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2017, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-you-guuuuuuuys-on-sesame-streets-red-headed-step-sibling/796751/24 "2017-09-22T00:09:57Z")
The theme song from Spiderman is the only thing I fondly remember from Electric Company. By the time I was ready to move on from Sesame Street both Electric Company and 3-2-1 Contact were also too young-centric for my tastes. ---
**Author:** ![Olentzero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/90ced4/32.png) [@Olentzero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Olentzero)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2017, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-you-guuuuuuuys-on-sesame-streets-red-headed-step-sibling/796751/25 "2017-09-22T14:56:38Z")
Back when I was a toddler, my dad had a brief stint as a DJ on a station out of Brattleboro. At one point he came home with a 45 of promo spots for TEC, which was just starting out on PBS. I think they may have actually featured the actors from the show. My favorite one revolved around a fellow who thought it was going to be an action show called “The Meter Readers”, and kept up a running commentary about what he thought would make good programming while the other person kept talking about what the show was actually about. At one point the guy burst out with “Fighting off hostile dogs…” in a Long Island accent. It still makes me giggle, forty-odd years later. I stupidly left it behind when we moved out of that house. Might be a collector’s item today. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2017, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-you-guuuuuuuys-on-sesame-streets-red-headed-step-sibling/796751/26 "2017-09-22T16:17:43Z")
I think the thing I remember the most about TEC (other than “Hey you guys!”) is [the things with the two faces](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=INL6hc9yEow). ---
**Author:** ![carlb](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carlb/32/5930_2.png) [@carlb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carlb)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2017, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-you-guuuuuuuys-on-sesame-streets-red-headed-step-sibling/796751/27 "2017-09-22T17:01:50Z")
> [@Biggirl](#): > > [It had Tom Lerher!](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dB2Ff8H7oVo). How could it not last? > > This here is an added paragraph just to make this post bigger and not so easy to overlook because-- This song is LIT and you should listen immediately! > [@Biggirl](#): > > I don’t remember Morgan Freeman being a star like Rita and Bill at the time, however. He could have been. I was 7 or 8, what did I know? > [@Shoeless](#): > > Fargo North, Decoder. It was years before I finally got that joke. All of the above. The public Library in our town was my home away from home when I was a kid; it was a great library considering the size of our town, and I used to wander the stacks endlessly, pulling any book off the shelf that attracted my attention for any reason whatsoever. One day, a book entitled, “Too Many Songs by Tom Lehrer with Not Enough Drawings by Ronald Searle,” somehow caught my eye. I opened it to discover sheet music, lyrics, weird illustrations, and there, toward the back, music and lyrics for, “-LY,” and, “Silent E.” Hey, they were from The Electric Company!! As luck would have it, the library’s record collection included both, “An Evening Wasted with Tom Lehrer,” _ **and** _, “That Was The Year That Was,” and thus started my lifelong love of all things Tom Lehrer. Similarly, the first time I remember seeing Morgan Freeman in anything, my immediate thought was, “Hey, it’s Easy Reader!!” And, yeah, count me as very late to the game with, “Fargo North, Decoder” as well. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2017, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-you-guuuuuuuys-on-sesame-streets-red-headed-step-sibling/796751/28 "2017-09-22T21:18:34Z")
> [@carlb](#): > > One day, a book entitled, “Too Many Songs by Tom Lehrer with Not Enough Drawings by Ronald Searle,” somehow caught my eye. I opened it to discover sheet music, lyrics, weird illustrations, and there, toward the back, music and lyrics for, “-LY,” and, “Silent E.” Hey, they were from The Electric Company!! As luck would have it, the library’s record collection included both, “An Evening Wasted with Tom Lehrer,” _ **and** _, “That Was The Year That Was,” and thus started my lifelong love of all things Tom Lehrer. I was sort of the opposite. I watched _The Electric Company_, but discovered, and loved, Lehrer’s work independently. When I found out later that he did “Silent E” and “-LY”, and others, I was very surprised. I just hadn’t recognized the voice. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_Draper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Don\_Draper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_Draper)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2017, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-you-guuuuuuuys-on-sesame-streets-red-headed-step-sibling/796751/29 "2017-09-22T22:11:42Z")
Oddly, while I remember that I watched “the Electric Company” daily, I only remember bits and pieces. I remember that “Who’s the Dummy Writing this Show?” was a recurring catchphrase. There was a gorilla as a regular character (an actor in a gorilla costume, of course). He never talked, just mimed what he wanted to say. I think everyone called him “Oscar” ??? Rita Moreno had a recurring bit where she was a silent movie director (dressed in the cliche of a pretentious old-time movie director) who was constantly exasperated because her actors couldn’t get their lines right. There was a chorus of kids who did song & dance numbers. But then, I also remember a time when even “The Electric Company” was for little kids and I, being a mature and sophisticated eight-year old, preferred watching the much more grown-up [3-2-1 Contact](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KmQWtGn889E). ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2017, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-you-guuuuuuuys-on-sesame-streets-red-headed-step-sibling/796751/30 "2017-09-22T23:10:13Z")
> [@Don\_Draper](#): > > There was a gorilla as a regular character (an actor in a gorilla costume, of course). He never talked, just mimed what he wanted to say. I think everyone called him “Oscar” ??? Paul. ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2017, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-you-guuuuuuuys-on-sesame-streets-red-headed-step-sibling/796751/31 "2017-09-22T23:26:56Z")
This song requires innocence, else it’s freaky. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/NCl0qIRSxeA/hqdefault.jpg "The Electric Company - Lick a Lolly Song") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCl0qIRSxeA) ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2017, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-you-guuuuuuuys-on-sesame-streets-red-headed-step-sibling/796751/32 "2017-09-22T23:47:31Z")
> [@Don\_Draper](#): > > There was a chorus of kids who did song & dance numbers. The Short Circus, one of whom was Denise Nickerson, who played Violet in the Gene Wilder Willie Wonka, and another of whom was Irene Cara, who had hits in the late 70s/early 80s with “Fame” and “Flashdance (What A Feeling)”. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2017, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-you-guuuuuuuys-on-sesame-streets-red-headed-step-sibling/796751/33 "2017-09-22T23:48:34Z")
[quote=“bobot, post:31, topic:796751”] This song requires innocence, else it’s freaky. [/QUOTE] I knew that was going to be Lick A Lolly before I clicked on it… ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2017, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-you-guuuuuuuys-on-sesame-streets-red-headed-step-sibling/796751/34 "2017-09-23T00:07:04Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > From about age 3 until maybe 6, The Electric Company was my favorite show, slightly edging out Lancelot Link. Slightly off topic but every time I hear Lancelot Link I think of the speech given by the General Monkey in MST3K’s Land of the Apes (starting at 1:30): [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/UqRUj06RDCY/hqdefault.jpg "Involuntary Cliff Diving - MST3K: Time of the Apes") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UqRUj06RDCY) "Lancelot Link _alone_ set us back a hundred years " Hilarious. Now carry on… ---
**Author:** ![CelticKnot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/celticknot/32/3392_2.png) [@CelticKnot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CelticKnot)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2017, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-you-guuuuuuuys-on-sesame-streets-red-headed-step-sibling/796751/35 "2017-09-23T00:21:21Z")
Brings back memories! “Love of Chair” Rita Moreno: “MAKE-UP!” Many years after I watched TEC, I became an elementary teacher. I was astonished to discover that I was teaching my Kindergartners to do what I saw on TEC. We don’t “sound out” words anymore; now we "decode"them, So Fargo North, Decoder is right up with the times. I already knew how to read when I started watching that, so the silhouette faces saying onset and rime (Word beginnings and endings) made no sense to me until I needed to teach it. I wish the original show was back, because it would be much better for our kids to watch than what they do see now. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2017, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-you-guuuuuuuys-on-sesame-streets-red-headed-step-sibling/796751/36 "2017-09-23T00:28:06Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > The Short Circus, one of whom was Denise Nickerson, who played Violet in the Gene Wilder Willie Wonka, and another of whom was Irene Cara, who had hits in the late 70s/early 80s with “Fame” and “Flashdance (What A Feeling)”. It wasn’t until I got the DVDs of _Electric Company_ that I understood the “Short Circus” joke. ---
**Author:** ![Fiveyearlurker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/da6949/32.png) [@Fiveyearlurker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiveyearlurker)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2017, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-you-guuuuuuuys-on-sesame-streets-red-headed-step-sibling/796751/37 "2017-09-23T00:43:51Z")
My son watched every episode of the revived series in about two weeks. I tried to sit him down with an episode of the old version and he lasted five minutes. Tastes change. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2017, 7:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-you-guuuuuuuys-on-sesame-streets-red-headed-step-sibling/796751/38 "2017-09-23T07:39:35Z")
[quote=“bobot, post:31, topic:796751”] This song requires innocence, else it’s freaky. [/QUOTE] > [@jayjay](#): > > I knew that was going to be Lick A Lolly before I clicked on it… I don’t know about that. There was a song about “Old Friend E-D” that takes on a new meaning these days. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2017, 11:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-you-guuuuuuuys-on-sesame-streets-red-headed-step-sibling/796751/39 "2017-09-23T11:41:22Z")
Growing up in the New York area in the 70s, of course I loved the EC. When my son was two (in 2012), I bought the 4-DVD package of episodes. My kid got into them, on three separate occasions: for a couple months when he was almost three (though he was scared of the gorilla), and most recently for a few months when he was almost six (and could finally appreciate the learning-to-read aspect, not to mention his beloved Spider-Man). I was thrilled that the show held up so well today (while also beng quintessentially 70s). Rita and Morgan are of course great, but so are the kids, and the other adult actors (David Avalos — I think that’s his name — died about three years ago, and his obituary made me realize what a wonderful guy he was). Those melting-letters colorful graphic sequences used a then-innovative technology. ---
**Author:** ![Ispolkom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e47774/32.png) [@Ispolkom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ispolkom)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2017, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-you-guuuuuuuys-on-sesame-streets-red-headed-step-sibling/796751/40 "2017-09-25T03:11:42Z")
> [@carlb](#): > > And, yeah, count me as very late to the game with, “Fargo North, Decoder” as well. As a kid growing up in North Dakota, my friends and I were transfixed by _any_ pop-cultural reference to our state. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-you-guuuuuuuys-on-sesame-streets-red-headed-step-sibling/796751.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-you-guuuuuuuys-on-sesame-streets-red-headed-step-sibling/796751.md?page=3)