Trivia for
"The Electric Company" (1971) More at IMDbPro »

• The typeface used the most often for the words that appeared on the screen was Franklin Gothic. When Spider-Man spoke, however, the Dom Casual typeface was used for his speech balloons.
  
  
• The first 4 seasons were numbered in consecutive order, 1-520. Season 5 was numbered 1A-130A, and season 6, the last season produced, was numbered 1B-130B. A total of 780 episodes were produced, 130 per season, like its sister show, "Sesame Street" (1969), has done since that show began production.
  
  
• Rita Moreno first said "Hey, you guys!" on episode 19 (season 1, show 19), which became the series' catchphrase in episode 131 (season 2, show 1). It opened every episode for the rest of season 2, vanished from episodes 261-520, returned in episode 1A (season 5, episode 1), and lasted until the final episode, 130B (season 6, show 130).
  
  
• The character of Spider-Man was provided free of charge from Marvel Comics. To commemorate the partnership between Marvel Comics and the Children's Television Workshop, Marvel Comics published a special series called "Spidey Super Stories" that featured easy-to-read adventures of Spider-Man that, on occasion, featured members of the Short Circus. A shortened version of the comic that featured only characters from the Marvel Universe appeared in the Electric Company's spin-off magazine.
  
  
• Paul the Gorilla was named after original head writer Paul Dooley.
  
  
• Original head writer Paul Dooley also appeared in filmed sketches occasionally and voiced many one-shot animated characters throughout the show's run.
  
  
• The release of the Best of the Electric Company DVD boxed set on 7 February 2006 marked the first time in Sesame Workshop's history that unedited episodes of actual shows from its library were made available for purchase by the public.
  
  
• The writers and curriculum advisors of the show decided that Spider-Man would never speak on the show because he was drawn without a mouth.
  
  
• Rita Moreno is the only cast member who doesn't appear in the show's finale, "We're Glad You Came to Call", the last sketch of the last episode, 130B.
  
  
• Bill Cosby left the show officially after season two, although he was billed as a featured performer only in season one. He was, however, billed as a cast member throughout the show's entire run.
  
  
• Bill Cosby used the experience as a cast member of the show toward his doctorate in education (EdD).
  
  
• Lee Chamberlin left the series after season two, but she was billed as a cast member for the show's entire run.
  
  
• Because sketches from previous seasons were reused in the same way that "Sesame Street" (1969) reused its sketches, the first season was in production for approximately 26 weeks, and this dwindled down to approximately 13 weeks of production for the sixth and final season.
  
  
• For the "Letterman" sketches, Gene Wilder, who voiced the heroic title character, and Zero Mostel, who voiced the villainous Spell Binder, were so excited to be working with each other again after The Producers (1968) that they recorded their dialogue together, a rarity in animation. The two would work together in one film during the show's run called Rhinoceros (1974). Wilder was also devastated because of Mostel's death in 1977, soon after the show ended production.
  
  
• Fargo North, Decoder, is a pun on Fargo, North Dakota. However, it is also a sly reference to the decoding style of reading education, which is the method that the show employed.
  
  
• Judy Graubart was the first cast member to be seen in the first skit of the first episode and, along with Morgan Freeman, the last cast member to be seen in the final skit of the final episode.
  
  
• The Blue Beetle, then owned by Charlton Comics, also appeared on the show toward the end of its run, although this version was a creation of the show's writers and was unrelated to the version of the super hero seen in the comics. Charlton Comics had ceased publication and was going through bankruptcy hearings at that time. The Blue Beetle character is now owned by DC Comics, and a new, unrelated Blue Beetle has recently come upon the scene, this one a DC Comics creation.
  
  
• Rita Moreno's portrayal of Otto the director was modeled after Otto Preminger.
  
  
• Steve Gustafson named his character after famous drummer Buddy Rich, and June Angela named her character after famous actress Julie Andrews.
  
  
• Each episode of the pseudo-soap opera "Love of Chair" ended with the narrator (Ken Roberts) asking the cryptic question "And what about...Naomi?" referring to Naomi Foner-Gyllenhall, an associate producer of the show during its first two seasons. She is an Oscar-nominated screenwriter (for Running on Empty (1988)), and the mother of actors Jake Gyllenhaal and Maggie Gyllenhaal.
  
  

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