Entertainment

IT’S ‘ELECTRIC’

I am happy to report that “The Electric Company” is back on the TV grid – and firing on all cylinders (or is that megawatts?)

This updated version of the ’70s PBS kids show – considered an older-skewing “Sesame Street” at the time – has made the transformation from hip to hip-hop (while still making it cool to learn).

It’s even kept its trademark catchphrase: “Hey guyyyyysssss!”

The show, which kicks off today with a mini-marathon (3-5 p.m./Ch. 13), has funky songs, a new cast of likable characters and sophisticated graphics – complemented by interstitials (some animated) linking each episode’s storyline.

And, like its predecessor, “The Electric Company” has one goal – to teach literacy to 6- to 9-year-olds without making it seem like schoolwork.

It succeeds.

The two episodes I watched – “Lights, Camera, Beetles” and “Lost and Spaced” (the latter airing today) – had fun stories built around the ensemble cast.

The premise of each episode has “The Electric Company” kids using their neighborhood hangout, The Electric Diner, as their meeting place to solve whatever dilemma is thrown their way.

(The show, by the way, is shot in and around New York City and in Newark.)

Each of the four kids – Keith (Ricky Smith), Jessica (Priscilla Diaz), Hector (Josh Segarra) and Lisa (Jenni Barber) – has an educational “superpower.” (Jessica, for instance has total aural recall; Lisa can solve word problems at lightning speed.)

Their adversaries (though not in a mean-spirited way) are the neighborhood “Pranksters,” led by the self-possessed Francine (Ashley Morris), who’s in the Lucy Van Pelt (“Peanuts”) mold.

The Pranksters, also imbued with brainy superpowers, create mayhem – and a sitcom-y mess that’s inevitably cleaned up by Keith, Jessica, Hector and Lisa pooling their individual talents to reach a well-thought-out solution.

The interstitials use traditional animation, quick-cut photography and songs (from the likes of Wyclef Jean and Sean Kingston) to teach literacy and phonics – differentiating between the “a” sound and the “ah” sound, for instance, or using rappers to explain the difference between a soft and a hard “g” (with many examples).

There’s also the occasional segue into science (graphics explaining the Big Dipper, or illustrating the word “terrain”). Some of these are in the interstitials, while others are worked (quickly) into the main storyline.

All told, the graphics and the easy-to-follow, fun storylines are sure to entertain the show’s easily distracted target audience.

Who said learning can’t be fun?

“The Electric Company” moves into its regular 4:30 p.m. timeslot Friday.

“The Electric Company”

Today at 3 on Ch. 13