Customer Reviews

The Best of the Best of Electric Company

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Trust me, you're gonna want more. I made the 'mistake' of buying this(the single-disc version of their 'best of' box set) awhile back because I remembered watching this when i was a kid back in the 70's, but didn't fully remember how much i enjoyed it. So i played it safe and bought this bargain-priced sampler dvd with 5 episodes(spanning the series entire run including the pilot episode). Anyway, when i first saw it again, i just had this big grin on my face as nostalgia of me watching this as a kid went through my mind. Unfortunately, after i exhausted the 5 episodes, i was craving for more. Then i realized...I should've bought the bigger, 20-episode, 'Best of'(@ about $40) box set. Solution? I'll just give this to my nieces to introduce them to this wonderful 70's 'kids' show, while i order the box set for me. Don't worry, i'll share the box set with my nieces as well.

About the show though, it's been said that it was a show for kids to help them learn, and be interested in, reading. The reason why so many adults like it now and can still appreciate it though(outside of it being a nostalgic 70's time capsule), is because it taught its lessons through clever, interesting, or hip comedy skits and animations. It helps that you had a great cast of regulars too like Bill Cosby, Rita Moreno, Morgan Freeman, etc and even Spider-Man! And the list of memorable, long-running skits and animated segments is just too numerous to mention here. And that theme song...catchy as heck. And the ever-changing, opening montage credit sequences set to that theme song...cheesy and fun as heck.

Ok, the dvd. It comes with a few minutes of outtakes, trivia to open and close the episodes, and a nice Rita Moreno interview(who also does the episode intros). I'm not a dvd-expert, but the picture quality looks great considering this is a 70's public broadcasting show. The mono sound you're gonna have to turn up, but hopefully you've got some type of enhanced audio system anyway(some good musical bits plus the theme song demand that you have a stereo hook-up at the very least). Overall, if you're unfamiliar with this show, the 5-episode $10 version is a great intro and highly recommended. But i can almost guarantee you're gonna want to see more and you're probably going to purchase the 20-episode $40 version at some point so keep that in mind. Die-hard fans(esp with kids) should go straight to the box set, or hope they release season sets soon.

I loved The Electric Company when I was growing up in the 70s and 80s. Why they took it off of television is beyond me. My husband and I loved watching the DVD and reminiscing over our favorite characters and sketches. Morgan Freeman is my all time favorite from this show. My 5 and 7 year olds were automatically hooked on the show after one episode! But I do have one complaint about this particular DVD. There is the offer to buy this AND the Best of Electric Company together. My advice...don't buy them together! They fail to tell you that the five episodes on "Best of the Best" are also included on the 4 disc set, so you will have 2 copies of these five episodes if you buy both. But the entertaining and educational memories from this show are priceless; I wouldn't return them for anything!

I had to have these for my son. I believe that we have lost a lot in childrens programming over the last few decades. Unfortunately, it is our children's education that is being lost. Today's programming is being overun with entertainment rather than learning. I happen to find that there are some programs that are educational and entertaining at the same time. Unlike most of today's shows! The Electric Company teaches children in a comical way how to read using phonics. What other show today does that?

After first hand experience with the Electric Company I thought my kids (age 4 and 6) would also enjoy the shows. Sure enough both were transfixed by punctuation ensembles and phonetic banter. What a groovy way to learn (who can resist Easy Reader?).

The Electric Company did a great job of helping me learn how to read when I was a kid, and when I noticed my son has the same problems that I had this DVD was my first idea to help him. The sketches are nice in that they move at a slower pace than TV does these days, so kids have time to absorb what is going on. The humor is always there, and in many cases sneaks up on you before you see it coming. My favorite, it still makes me giggle, is when Winnie muses that "she felt like a girl in a shampoo commercial" while pining for her lover. There is even a few jokes for adults. Nothing racy or off color, but the humor is sophisticated enough to make us grownups laugh. The problem is with the previews at the start of the disk! They are TOTALLY inappropriate for children to watch, one is for a teen movie about college with plenty of sex and adult humor. I didn't watch the rest, having skipped them over before my son started asking questions.
I'm no prude, but the moron who put teen sex-romp previews on a DVD for kids should be getting a negative quarterly performance review.

I bought it for my 8yr. old son that has a speech problem. I loved it as a child and thought it would help. It brought back some good childhood memories. I recieved it very quickly.

Seventies children and lovers of TRUE kid tv take note-this is every bit as good as you remember it, and even better since you get more of the jokes.

The genius of the EC was its ability to teach valuable lessons in punctuation (remember that song from the show?) and basic English spelling and grammar with some memorable characters and slap-happy humor that had you rolling in the aisles. None of that cutesy Barney or New Zoo Revue garbage-this show had GUTS!

Joan Rivers does the narration for LETTERMAN, a super hero who foils the evil deeds of the Spellbinder. Then of course these's J Arthur Crank, a hilarious chronic complainer who lives up to his name. To give an example of the kind of humor on this show, some episodes feature a guy who decodes puzzling phrases called FARGO NORTH-DECODER (get it?). Young Bill Cosby provides some really hilarious early moments. Morgan Freeman mixes comedy and dignity in his legendary characters EASY READER, who convinced kids that it was cool to read, and "DJ Mel Mounds with groovy sounds that were righteous, brighteous, and outta-sighteous." Rita Moreno, one of the show's stars, proveds commentary on the disc (although she is somewhat hard to recognize 30 years later). Oh yeah, young Irene Cara rocks with the Short Circus.

However, you may not want the kiddies to see some of the edited scenes. The slap-happy humor of the show gets raw here. But as a whole, this set the standard as a SESAME STREET for older kids and was in the tradition of SCHOOLHOUSE ROCK (and READING RAINBOW for the current generation) in good "edutainment." You will treasue this DVD, adult or child.

Meanwhile, DVDs of it's nauseating 70s counterpart NEW ZOO REVUE and its modern spawn from hell BARNEY, the TELETUBBIES, ad nauseum would best be shown in Iraqi prisons to torture terrorists or by farmers to show to cows to induce them to produce fertilizer.

Gave this as a gift, but was able to watch it also. Brought back pleasant memories when we had seen these episodes as originals. My daughter really enjoyed the music and dancing.

Talk about a blast from the past. The Greatest of the Electric Company DVD is an excellent educational tool and it brings back great memories from the past.

Remembering how much my brother and I were helped with our reading from watching The Electric Company, I got it to help my kids with their reading. I had forgotten how long the episodes were. So your young ones, might not want to sit through more than 2 episodes at a time. But I think my kids love The Electric Company just as much as my brother & I did when we were little. I think this version of the Electric Company is way better than the "hip-hop" version playing on PBS now.