# HEY YOU GUYS! Anyone remember "The Electric Company?" **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 17, 2002, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-you-guys-anyone-remember-the-electric-company/114466 "2002-06-17T05:04:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Dale\_The\_Bold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/41988e/32.png) [@Dale\_The\_Bold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_The_Bold)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2002, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-you-guys-anyone-remember-the-electric-company/114466/21 "2002-06-17T14:29:45Z")
I remember watching The Electric Company, but I don’t remember anything about it. Wasn’t there an angry woman in a director’s costume who was always yelling? I also remember 3-2-1 Contact. “The Bloodhound Gang!” I still remember the one where they saw a ghost in the window, but discovered it was a paper cut-out attached to a train set. “3-2-1 Contact, is the reason, is the season, for everything…” something something. I don’t remember all the lyrics. ---
**Author:** ![Thunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a8b319/32.png) [@Thunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thunder)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2002, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-you-guys-anyone-remember-the-electric-company/114466/22 "2002-06-17T14:39:45Z")
Crank has five seconds to read the word. Can you read it before him? (word appears) (Crank says it) CLANG CLANG CLANG WHOOP WHOOP WHOOP CLANG CLANG CLANG SIREN WHOOP SIREN APPLAUSE! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Tranquilis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tranquilis/32/3639_2.png) [@Tranquilis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tranquilis)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2002, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-you-guys-anyone-remember-the-electric-company/114466/23 "2002-06-17T15:29:41Z")
Oh, yeah! Loved that show. Nostalgia… ::Hmmm:: ---
**Author:** ![Olentzero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/90ced4/32.png) [@Olentzero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Olentzero)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2002, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-you-guys-anyone-remember-the-electric-company/114466/24 "2002-06-17T15:57:01Z")
Oh, man, talk about bringing up some childhood memories. I didn’t dig it as much as I did _Sesame Street_ mainly because I was just a tad too young for _EC_, but it was a cool show nonetheless. My father was a DJ in Brattleboro VT around the time _EC_ made its debut, and in the collection of 45s we had still hanging around the house, there was one with three or four :30 promos for the show. They were all skits of a man and a woman talking about the show (probably two of the people who were in it). In one of them, the fellow thinks the show is a drama about meter readers, and he waxes poetic about all the action he thinks is going to be on the show. My favorite line from that skit is him saying in a Jersey accent: “Fighting off hawstile dawgs…” I left that record behind when we moved. Damn, I wish I still had that. ---
**Author:** ![Cap\_n\_Crude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Cap\_n\_Crude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cap_n_Crude)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2002, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-you-guys-anyone-remember-the-electric-company/114466/25 "2002-06-17T16:42:49Z")
I grew up on that show – I never liked Sesame Street, and Mr. Rogers was boring, so The Electric Company was tha shizzit. ---
**Author:** ![Sunshine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Sunshine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunshine)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2002, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-you-guys-anyone-remember-the-electric-company/114466/26 "2002-06-17T17:04:55Z")
I loved the typewriter guy who would roll in sort of singing to himself, “noonie noonie noonie…” and then would type something on himself and whatever he typed would happen. Like if he typed “train” a train would drive in an run him over. And also, the two guys who felt what the other one was feeling. Like, he’d pick up a rock and hit himself in the head and the other guy would get a headache. My friend and I used to play that (only, it actually hurt!) ---
**Author:** ![Scarlett67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scarlett67/32/7387_2.png) [@Scarlett67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarlett67)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2002, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-you-guys-anyone-remember-the-electric-company/114466/27 "2002-06-17T17:14:27Z")
“Faster than a rolling O . . . Able to leap capital T in a single bound . . . It’s a word . . . It’s a plan . . . It’s . . . LETTERMAN!” I gotta start watching the Noggin reruns. ---
**Author:** ![screech-owl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/82dd89/32.png) [@screech-owl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/screech-owl)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2002, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-you-guys-anyone-remember-the-electric-company/114466/28 "2002-06-17T17:17:29Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Dale The Bold \* > \*\*I remember watching The Electric Company, but I don’t remember anything about it. Wasn’t there an angry woman in a director’s costume who was always yelling?.. \*\* [Since the computer ate my first response, here we go again.] Yup. Rita Moreno in archtypical ‘director’s garb’ - jodhpurs, riding boots, beret and a megaphone (don’t remember what kind of shirt). The lead actor in whatever she was directing would always blow his/her line on the word on the cue card (held by Jennifer, IIRC), with the ‘sound of the day’ conveniently highlighted. These errors would send Rita into a slow-boil, condescending turmoil, punctuated with a sreaming tirade (again, IIRC, she had a riding crop, too, slapping it against the cue card). One particular episode involved a minature town set, and everyone was admonished to '…[not] step on the little church…", which of course, Rita did accidentally at the end of the scene to everyone’s dismay. {I think the “Fargo North, Decoder” guy played the scene annoucer, with the scene board/clapper-thingy.} Oh, and Bill Cosby (IIRC) as Superman arguing with a drycleaner over getting the wrong outfit from the dry-cleaners: he received the “Supperman” outfit instead of the “Superman” one. Heh. Killed me as a kid. Amazing, isn’t it: I can’t remember the important stuff in my life, but I remember an old tv show? But it was a good one. ---
**Author:** ![auntie\_em](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5e9695/32.png) [@auntie\_em](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/auntie_em)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2002, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-you-guys-anyone-remember-the-electric-company/114466/29 "2002-06-17T17:30:30Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Scarlett67 \* > \*\*“Faster than a rolling O . . . > Able to leap capital T in a single bound . . . > It’s a word . . . > It’s a plan . . . > It’s . . . LETTERMAN!” > \*\* ::Musical Fanfare:: _Browmp-browmp-BROWWWWWWMMMMM!_ 😃 I, too, loved “The Electric Companeeeeeeee!” Remember the song “Punc-punc-punc-PUNC! -tuation!” That Asian gal with the long hair could really boogie. 😃 My question is this: Was it Sesame Street or Electric Company that had the thing with the two silouettes facing each other, saying a word, you know like: Silhouette 1: Buh. Silhouette 2: Utt. Both: Butt. ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2002, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-you-guys-anyone-remember-the-electric-company/114466/30 "2002-06-17T17:48:45Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Sunshine \* > **I loved the typewriter guy who would roll in sort of singing to himself, “noonie noonie noonie…” and then would type something on himself and whatever he typed would happen. Like if he typed “train” a train would drive in an run him over.** That was Sesame Street, I’m pretty sure. I LOVED the Electric Company. I had such a crush on spider man. I also loved 3-2-1 Contact (I had a crush on the tall geeky guy with the white-boy-fro and the glasses) …anyone remember Math Net? ---
**Author:** ![Winston\_Bongo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a9adbd/32.png) [@Winston\_Bongo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Winston_Bongo)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2002, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-you-guys-anyone-remember-the-electric-company/114466/31 "2002-06-17T17:50:09Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by SuperLorie \* > \*\* > > The major memory about that show that sticks out in my mind is the Blue Beetle once sang “I would if I could, but I can’t, so I won’t. Please forgive me if i don’t! I hope I’m not misunderstood…I would if I could, but i can’t, etc”. Anyone else recall that, or am I crazy? (or both?) > Lorie \*\* You’re not crazy – I remember that song, too! Weird how things like that stick in your head for years . . . Here’s another one that I’ve always remembered, courtesy of Mr. Freeman: “There’s a hole. . . There’s a hole . . . There’s a hole in the bottom of the seeeea!” And who could forget “Fiddler on the Chair”? ---
**Author:** ![JohnBckWLD](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d6d6ee/32.png) [@JohnBckWLD](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnBckWLD)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2002, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-you-guys-anyone-remember-the-electric-company/114466/32 "2002-06-17T19:21:28Z")
On our PBS affiliate it followed Villa Alegre…A Bi-lingual Spanish education show…The segue into the Electric Co theme, from what I remember was; Goodbye amigos I will see you tomorrow, A Villa All-egre, A Villa Alegre. Fah la la la la la la la la la-la-la-la. ---
**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:** [June 17, 2002, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-you-guys-anyone-remember-the-electric-company/114466/33 "2002-06-17T20:03:09Z")
\*o/` Can't, couldn't, wouldn't, shouldn't! Is that all you can say? Can't, couldn't, wouldn't, shouldn't! That's all...now go away! o/` \* Remember Upside-Down Town. Or the monsters (Dracula, Frankenstein, Wolf-Man)? J. Arthur Crank (I still get the refrain from _Spaghetti with a Spoon_ stuck in my head sometimes)? Nobody’s posted [this site](http://www.yesterdayland.com/popopedia/shows/saturday/sa1327.php) yet, have they? jayjay ---
**Author:** ![Zappo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b3f665/32.png) [@Zappo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zappo)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2002, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-you-guys-anyone-remember-the-electric-company/114466/34 "2002-06-17T20:17:57Z")
Heeeeeeyyy you guys! Oh man, I was beginning to think I had hallucinated the entire show. I loved Fargo North, Decoder and Easy Reader. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Miskatonic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.miskatonic/32/310_2.png) [@Mr.Miskatonic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Miskatonic)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2002, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-you-guys-anyone-remember-the-electric-company/114466/35 "2002-06-17T20:39:01Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by screech-owl \* > \*\* > > [Since the computer ate my first response, here we go again.] > > Yup. Rita Moreno in archtypical ‘director’s garb’ - jodhpurs, riding boots, beret and a megaphone (don’t remember what kind of shirt). The lead actor in whatever she was directing would always blow his/her line on the word on the cue card (held by Jennifer, IIRC), with the ‘sound of the day’ conveniently highlighted. These errors would send Rita into a slow-boil, condescending turmoil, punctuated with a sreaming tirade (again, IIRC, she had a riding crop, too, slapping it against the cue card). > \*\* Wasn’t it Morgan Freeman who was holding the cue cards and thus took the brunt of riding crop swats. I don’t think you coiuld get away with that these days… _You’re a secret agent man. Who’s after the secret plan…How do you act so they don’t know you’re a spyyy?_ _Normally \ Normally \ Nor-mal L-Y_ ---
**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:** [June 17, 2002, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-you-guys-anyone-remember-the-electric-company/114466/36 "2002-06-17T20:58:12Z")
“Who’s the Dummy That’s Writing This Show???” Was that an “Electric Co.” or “Sesame Street” catch-phrase? And which show was “Wanda the Witch” on? I know it was one or the other… Anybody remember “Zoom”? Or “Vegetable Soup?” The latter show disturbed me as a kid. I remember the “Outerscope 7” skit with these little puppets with really big hands. It just bugged me and gave me the creeps for some odd reason. ---
**Author:** ![screech-owl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/82dd89/32.png) [@screech-owl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/screech-owl)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2002, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-you-guys-anyone-remember-the-electric-company/114466/37 "2002-06-17T20:58:29Z")
Yup. Quite possibly/most likely Morgan Freeman holding the cue cards. Gee, I guess I’ll just HAVE to watch the show again to make sure… 😃 ---
**Author:** ![GolfWidow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a698b9/32.png) [@GolfWidow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GolfWidow)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2002, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-you-guys-anyone-remember-the-electric-company/114466/38 "2002-06-17T21:14:47Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Art Vandelay, Architect \* > [BAnybody remember “Zoom”? Or “Vegetable Soup?” \*\* I was wondering if anyone was going to mention “Zoom.” Another great show. I wonder if it was a show that was only shown up North? Everyone I have asked here in Florida has no idea what I’m talking about when I mention “Zoom” or “Electric Company.” ---
**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:** [June 17, 2002, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-you-guys-anyone-remember-the-electric-company/114466/39 "2002-06-17T21:20:30Z")
Well I grew up in Buffalo, NY and I saw “Zoom.” Have to admit I don’t remember too much about the show, except all the kids with the same striped shirts, that girl that did that somewhat impressive arm twirl trick (a pre-David Letterman show “Stupid Human Trick”) and all the drawings about “doodle-bugs.” ---
**Author:** ![auntie\_em](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5e9695/32.png) [@auntie\_em](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/auntie_em)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2002, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-you-guys-anyone-remember-the-electric-company/114466/40 "2002-06-17T21:41:37Z")
**GolfWidow** , just tell your doubting Florida buddies to send a self-addressed, stamped envelope to _Box 350, Boston Mass, OHHH-two-WUUUNN-three-FOOOUUURR…_ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-you-guys-anyone-remember-the-electric-company/114466.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-you-guys-anyone-remember-the-electric-company/114466.md?page=3)