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(More customer reviews)First shown on PBS, "The Electric Company's Greatest Hits and Bits" is a fun look back at the 1970's TV Show. It consists of several clips from the show as well as interviews with cast members Skip Hinnant, Jim Boyd, Rita Moreno and Judy Graubart as well as contributors to the show Joan Rivers and Tom Lehrer. There is also an interview with Joan Ganz Cooney who helped create the show. The special features include deleted interviews with the cast members and an audio review with Tom Lehrer.
For the most part, "The Electric Company's Greatest Hits and Bits" is an enjoyable documentary. At the time it debuted in October 1971 it was a groundbreaking show with a fully integrated cast teaching children how to read using comedy and music. It's always fun to watch a show as an adult that you loved as a kid and catch some of the references you missed back then. Easy Reader was of course based on Easy Rider but it was interesting to hear Skip Hinnant say that he stole largely from "Get Smart" when doing Fargo North, Decoder; Jim Boyd saying J. Arthur Crank was based on Ralph Cramden; and Rita Moreno saying "Hey you guys" came from Abbott and Costello. There are plenty of clips from the show including animated ones such as "The Adventures of Letterman" and several based on Tom Lehrer's delightful songs including "Silent E" and "-ly". The live action skits include "I'm in love with a giant" and "The Super is eating his supper" which is fun to watch just to see the cast trying to keep a straight face as water pours down on them.
Since this is a documentary and not full episodes of "The Electric Company" adults will probably enjoy this DVD more than children. It does have quite a bit of praise for Morgan Freeman, currently the most famous of the then unknown actors, but it stops just short of going overboard on the praise. While it was nice to see Hinnant, Boyd, and Graubart, I hope other actors from the show such as Luis Avalos, Hattie Winston, and Lee Chamberlain show up in interviews on future DVDs. For some reason the show focuses solely on the adult members of the cast, with no mention at all of the Short Circus and the child actors, a bit surprising since Irene Cara was a member of the Short Circus for awhile.
"The Electric Company's Greatest Bits and Hits" is good nostalgic fun.
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When The Electric Company made its television debut in October1971, it was instantly clear that it would fulfill its mission of helpingstruggling and reluctant readers. With a cast that broke new ground in itsdiversity, clever writing, innovative direction and an original visual andmusical style, the show was so effective that by the end of its firstseason, nearly a quarter of all U.S. grade schools were using The ElectricCompany in the classroom. Generations of young people learned to read fromthe series, making it one of the most important and enduring shows intelevision history. The Electric Company's Greatest Hits & Bits is aclip-filled celebration featuring many of the series' most popular segments(with Bill Cosby, Morgan Freeman and the multi-talented Electric Companycast), and includes new interviews with cast members Jim Boyd, JudyGraubart, Skip Hinnant, Tom Lehrer, Rita Moreno and Joan Rivers, as well aswith series creator Joan Ganz Cooney.
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