The Electric Company Returns
Morgan Freeman, Spider-Man celebrate new job opportunity. by Travis Fickett <http://tv.ign.com/email.html> May 13, 2008 - Cue the "lights on" metaphors, because PBS is bringing The Electric Company back to television. The updating of the kids' classic, produced by the Sesame Workshop, will be aimed at 6 to 9 year olds. The series will once again focus on helping children learn - with a specific goal of increasing reading habits. The original series ran from 1971 to 1977 and featured a much younger Morgan Freeman in a variety of sketches and vignettes, including playing Dracula. No word yet on what future mega-star will take the role of host on the new show. The original series also featured vignettes with Spider-Man, and it's unclear whether Marvel Studios will be allowing their character to participate in the children's series. Variety reports the Sesame Workshops Scott Cameron as saying: "The literacy crisis today is as pervasive and alarming as it was in 1971 when we created the first version of The Electric Company. We know that if struggling readers don't get the literacy help they need by the end of second grade, they are in danger of never catching up." http://tv.ign.com/articles/873/873830p1.html [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
