The Best of The Electric Company

Easy Reader. “Silent E.” Love of Chair. Jennifer of the Jungle and her ape, Paul. Letterman. If you are a child of the ‘70s, these words will produce a nostalgic shiver of delight, and more than three decades later, The Electric Company still has the power to engage budding readers. Brightening the DVD landscape, this four-disc set contains 20 episodes from the Emmy Award-winning series' 1971-77 run. The Electric Company's target audience was ages 6-10, but its unflaggingly paced variety show format of songs, sketches, vignettes, and animation was more akin to Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In and The Carol Burnett Show than to Sesame Street, making it something of a guilty pleasure for even high schoolers. The high-wattage cast includes Rita Moreno (who also contributes onscreen introductions for each episode), Bill Cosby, and Morgan Freeman. The animated “Letterman” segments feature Joan Rivers as the narrator and Gene Wilder as Letterman (“Able to leap capital “t” in a single bound”) and Zero Mostel as his letter-swiping nemesis, Spell Binder. There are also cameo contributions by such TV icons as Rowan & Martin and, fresh from the Ponderosa, Lorne Greene and Michael Landon. Tom Lehrer contributed songs (such as “Silent E,” featured in Episode #386 on Disc 3) that became generational touchstones. But it's not just the star power that keeps The Electric Company beacon shining today: it's also the infectious spirit of the age-appropriate wordplay and brilliant bits of business designed to reinforce basic literacy concepts. As A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius author Dave Eggers notes in his contribution to the 24-page booklet that accompanies this boxed set, one gets the sense that “the show would have been pretty fun to put together.” DVD extras include cast and crew interviews (with Moreno, co-star June Angela, and creator Joan Ganz Cooney), outtakes, and a karaoke version of “Silent E.” Highly recommended. Editor's Choice. (D. Liebenson)