Why you need to DVR the new “Electric Company”

When our son was just old enough to start watching videos (about 3 years old) my husband went out and bought old episodes of the Electric Company. While we watched with him, we laughed at the old skits, the retro clothes and some of the dances.

While we laughed we also remembered and marveled at how much impact this show had on us as kids being raised in the inner city. After hours of watching shows like the Brady Bunch and the Partridge Family, it was important for us to see images of neighborhoods that looked like ours. Brownstones, the art of graffiti, city street lights and fire hydrants were all things that were everyday images to us, growing up in Brooklyn. To see those pictures depicted on T.V. while learning to read were a wonderful way to grab the attention of children of all races in all places.

Who knew that the stars of The Electric Company would become some of our beloved actors of all time. Morgan Freeman, aka Easy Ready became an Icon who helped teach us to read.

Today our son is six and The Electric Company has made a wonderful return. As I watched today, it was a pleasure to see some old school skits remixed, as well as stars like Wyclef reminding our children that they could become President while dancing to a new version of the electric slide. There is no other show on television that gives you the true experience of a diverse cast, with the coolest music ever.

If we support this show, and make our children watch this, one day they too will  be looking back on the same show and reminising about it with their children. The Electric Company is a tradition of diversity that is golden and should be cherished just like Sesame Street. We should not allow this show to be cancelled again. It should become an example of the world we want our children to grow up in.

Somewhere in this new cast, there is the next Morgan Freeman or Rita Moreno. So take some time and DVR it. Watch it with your children, dance and sing and enjoy your child learning to read with the help of some of todays awesome talents. Let’s not allow another important show be taken away from our children.