"The Electric Company's" Keith, Shock, Jessica, Hector, and Lisa jump with excitment at The Electric Diner on PBS. Photo courtesy of Anthony Causi.

January 6, 2009 - PBS welcomes back the iconic children’s series “The Electric Company” with a special sneak peek on Monday, January 19. Charged with advancing the idea that reading is cool, “The Electric Company” is a multimedia literacy campaign designed to reduce the literacy gap between low and middle income families.

“The Electric Company” is brought to life with a fifteen minute narrative storyline that is interspersed with segments that include curricular clusters of music videos, sketch comedy, animation, and short films.

The cast of characters is a group of do-gooders who keep the neighborhood safe with their literacy superpowers and solve problems often created by a group of troublemakers called “The Pranksters.” Celebrity guests for the series include: Wyclef Jean, Kyle Massey, Jimmy Fallon, Ne-Yo, Whoopi Goldberg, and Tiki Barber.

The new version of “The Electric Company’s” curricular goals include: decoding, comprehension of connected text, vocabulary and motivation. These goals are incorporated into the show with vocabulary focusing on specific kid friendly themes such as: the body, animals, games, and space.

The series launches on PBS KIDS GO! January 19th with a special two hour sneak peek marathon before it settles into its regular weekly timeslot on Fridays beginning January 23rd (check local listings). For more information, visit the Sesame Workshop website.