The Classic Electric Company Memories Thread

[fuzzygobo]

Two Spidey episodes that haven't resurfaced (yet) where the bad guys get away:

The Bookworm: Easy Reader and Valerie are at the library (where else?), where they find a bin full of books with holes in them. The Bookworm wreaked the havoc (a snake puppet with a forked tongue and googley eyes).
The real damage comes when he heads for the stacks (all those first editions!).
Spidey arrived on the scene, slings his web, but the Bookworm escapes.

All those Agatha Christie murder mysteries with the last page missing...

The Can Crusher: Jim Boyd as the villain, taking a sledgehammer and smashing cans of tomato soup (one splatters all over his costume, but he laughs it off).

Spidey shows up and wonders who could cause such mayhem.
He looks at the Can Crusher...
"You...YOU!"

As Spidey studies the crime scene, Crusher asks Spidey,
"Have you figured it out Web Walker? Wall Crawler? CHANDELIER STOMPER???!!!!"
A fight ensues, and Spidey gets knocked out cold.

Then we get the Crusher's backstory (this is hysterical):
"You see, when I was a little boy, my pet frog jumped into a vat of tomato soup. Now he's trapped inside a can. And I will search the whole world to set my froggy free!"

Spidey gets up from his stupor.
Meanwhile, the Can Crusher lives!!!!!

 

[fuzzygobo]

Another secret/historical perspective:
Back in Spring 1973. Season 2.
My Denise Nickerson crush was riding high.
The Electric Company was only on once a day (10 am, following Sesame Street).
I had to run out to the store with my mom. We came back and I realized I missed the show. I caught the last few seconds of the closing credits. It was Friday's show, so TEC won't be back until MONDAY!!!!
5-year-old me went hysterical, screaming at the tv "ELECTRIC COMPANY YOU GET BACK HERE!!!!!!!!"
Like that helped.

Remember in 1973:
There was no cable.
There were no VCRs, no DVDs.
There was no YouTube, no way to view episodes or clips on demand.
There were only seven channels (we got so many living close to New York City. Most of the rest of the country had to make do with three).
If you wanted to watch a show, you were on the network's timetable. If you missed it, sucks to be you.

I would love to see millennials today cope with 1973 standards. For one day.

To compensate for missing TEC, Saturday's in the summertime were golden. PBS would show the previous week's lineup: Sesame Street, Electric Company, Mr. Rogers, and Zoom. From 7 am to 7 pm, I got my fill.
1973. Shoulda been there. 8)

 

[Xerus]

Another secret/historical perspective:
Back in Spring 1973. Season 2.
My Denise Nickerson crush was riding high.
The Electric Company was only on once a day (10 am, following Sesame Street).
I had to run out to the store with my mom. We came back and I realized I missed the show. I caught the last few seconds of the closing credits. It was Friday's show, so TEC won't be back until MONDAY!!!!
5-year-old me went hysterical, screaming at the tv "ELECTRIC COMPANY YOU GET BACK HERE!!!!!!!!"
Like that helped.

Remember in 1973:
There was no cable.
There were no VCRs, no DVDs.
There was no YouTube, no way to view episodes or clips on demand.
There were only seven channels (we got so many living close to New York City. Most of the rest of the country had to make do with three).
If you wanted to watch a show, you were on the network's timetable. If you missed it, sucks to be you.

I would love to see millennials today cope with 1973 standards. For one day.

To compensate for missing TEC, Saturday's in the summertime were golden. PBS would show the previous week's lineup: Sesame Street, Electric Company, Mr. Rogers, and Zoom. From 7 am to 7 pm, I got my fill.
1973. Shoulda been there. 8)

Yes, as a kid of the 70's, I too had to live without VCR and cable luxuries. And went crazy if I missed an episode of Sesame Street and the Electric Company. Also, while I was in school, PBS aired these cool and creative 15 minute educational shows like The Letter People, Math Patrol, Readalong, Cover to Cover, and Slim Goodbody. And the only times I could watch these shows was when I had a sickday or a snowday.

 

[Xerus]

Does anyone remember this skit? We see J. Arthur Crank (Jim Boyd) sitting on his couch and receives a phone call. It was a game show host, with Morgan Freeman's voice. He told Crank if he could name these four sounds, he will win a big prize. The first sound was a meow, Crank said it was a CAT. The second was a moo and Crank replied COW. The third was a caw and Crank answered CROW. The last sound was a bunch of marching footsteps. Crank said, "Uh, that's a bunch of soldiers marching." "Sorry," said the host, "That was a CATERPILLAR." Crank became shocked and angry and shouted, "Caterpillars don't make loud marching noises like that!" The host replied, "Not if it's wearing sneakers. This one was wearing army boots." and then the host hung up. As Crank sat there confused, he heard a knock on the door. It was Bayn Johnson who wanted to show Crank her new pet caterpillar. Crank asked Bayn to put the bug on the table. He listened and said, "Just as I thought! Caterpillars don't make loud marching sounds!" "Not if it's wearing sneakers," smiled Bayn. And Crank got even more puzzled.

 

[Xerus]

The later Electric Company episodes had guest appearances by the Road Runner and Coyote, animated by Chuck Jones.

 

[fuzzygobo]

The later Electric Company episodes had guest appearances by the Road Runner and Coyote, animated by Chuck Jones.

Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote were the characters closest to Chuck Jones' heart (although he created masterpieces with Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck).

The one short that got to me was the Coyote following the signs "On Your Mark", "Get Set", "Smile" (which he obediently follows) then "Laugh!" It takes a moment, but he gets a good jag going. Then "Shut Up!" Poor Coyote looks like his feelings were truly hurt. "Cry"- my heart really bled for him.
Turns out Road Runner was rigging the signs, making the Coyote change emotions on a second's notice.

 

[Xerus]

Does anyone remember this skit? We see Hattie Winston hosting an awards show. She announced that the Road Runner was going to receive a lifetime achievement award. She took out a trophy and said, "And here's the famous Road Runner!" But instead, Jim Boyd came in wearing a fat Road Runner suit saying, "BEEEEEEEP BEEEEEEEP," really slowly. Hattie demands to know who he is. Jim replied, "I'm the Road Runner," in a very slow voice and he was making really slow steps to the podium. "You're not the Road Runner!" said Hattie, "The real Road Runner is fast. You're an imposter who wants to steal this trophy!" But Jim insisted he was the Road Runner and continued to walk slowly. But just as he was about to grab the trophy, the actual cartoon Road Runner zipped by and snatched it away. Jim became surprised and Hattie smiled and said, "Now that's the real Road Runner!"

 

[fuzzygobo]

Does anyone remember this skit? We see Hattie Winston hosting an awards show. She announced that the Road Runner was going to receive a lifetime achievement award. She took out a trophy and said, "And here's the famous Road Runner!" But instead, Jim Boyd came in wearing a fat Road Runner suit saying, "BEEEEEEEP BEEEEEEEP," really slowly. Hattie demands to know who he is. Jim replied, "I'm the Road Runner," in a very slow voice and he was making really slow steps to the podium. "You're not the Road Runner!" said Hattie, "The real Road Runner is fast. You're an imposter who wants to steal this trophy!" But Jim insisted he was the Road Runner and continued to walk slowly. But just as he was about to grab the trophy, the actual cartoon Road Runner zipped by and snatched it away. Jim became surprised and Hattie smiled and said, "Now that's the real Road Runner!"

Jim looked more like a Thanksgiving turkey than a road runner. 8)

 

[fuzzygobo]

The OR machine.
Slow OR fast:
A snail crawls into the machine, and comes out the other side zipping and zooming leaving trails of dust in his wake (40 years before "Turbo").

Happy OR sad:
A girl walks in laughing her butt off, but comes out bawling her eyes out. This always bothered me, what happened in the machine to leave her tearing up a hankie? If I were her, I'd go back through the machine and be happy again.

The last example:
Clean OR...OR... OR...
A man walks in with an immaculate white suit, but comes out the same.
The machine fixes the problem making him DIRTY!!!! by blowing a ton of black soot on him.

The snail got the best deal.

 

[Katzi428]

IT'LL KILL YA!!