Kids today

Did you know there's a new version of The Electric Company? I should have--it was in NY Mag months ago. But it wasn't till I stayed home one day last week that I had a chance to see it. And I have to report, that, sadly, it's pretty cheesy. It's trying very hard to be hip and urban. I feel like the original version was too, but it somehow succeeded. Or maybe it's just that now everything from the '70s looks nerdily cool. (Or that it had Bill Cosby and Morgan Freeman--that helps.)

Here's the original Electric Company theme, from 1971.



Six years later, here's one more representative of the seasons I saw in repeats on PBS all through the early '80s.



And here's the new effort:



Eek. Somehow not the same. At all. Maybe it's the white dude who seems like such a poser. Who knows. Hope it still get kids to read, though!

BONUS: While we're swinging down memory lane, let's all watch the Reading Rainbow intro that we remember. Don't know about yours, but my second grade class all sang along each week when we watched this. That must have been cute (or annoying) as hell.



And Square One, the TV show that almost made math fun. Almost.



Feature, Mathman:



And, of course, Mathnet:


Awesome!

K, I'm finished now.