Editing The Electric Company (section)

==Cancellation==
''The Electric Company'' was canceled in 1977 at the height of its popularity. Unlike its counterpart ''[[Sesame Street]]'', which licensed its [[The Muppets|Muppet]] characters for merchandising, ''The Electric Company'' never had a stand-alone brand or character that could have helped to generate additional profits. The only significant items the show licensed were comic books and a [[Milton Bradley]] board game of the Fargo North, Decoder character. Licensing rights were also granted to Mattel Electronics for two educational-based video games for the [[Intellivision]] console in 1979.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.intellivisionlives.com/bluesky/games/credits/learning.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020603111741/http://www.intellivisionlives.com/bluesky/games/credits/learning.html|url-status=usurped|archive-date=June 3, 2002|title=Intellivision: Children's Learning Network}}</ref> These games featured both the show's title logo on the game's packaging and label and the first several notes of the theme song played on the title screen of the games.

Also, the PBS stations and statewide networks that aired the show often complained of the Children's Television Workshop "soaking up so much money in public television", said veteran television producer Samuel Gibbon, who worked on the show. "The stations demanded that one of the programs—either ''Sesame Street'' or ''The Electric Company''—be put into reruns to save money. By that time, ''Sesame Street'' was a cash fountain for the Workshop. The show was almost supporting itself by then with all the productions, books, records, and games. There was no way, it was felt, that they could reduce the number of original shows of ''Sesame Street''. But the thought was that if we produce two final seasons of ''The Electric Company'' that were designed to be repeated, that would give the show four more years of life."<ref>[http://www.tvparty.com/lostelec2.html tvparty.com]</ref> Most PBS programs at the time were produced entirely by local stations, instead of being the work of independent producers like CTW. The final episode of ''The Electric Company'' featured a short musical and dance number featuring the final cast members (with the exception of Bill Cosby, Lee Chamberlin, both of whom had long since left the show and Rita Moreno, who did not take part in this episode) including the then-current members of the Short Circus. The lyrics of the song summed up the closure of the series:

{{Blockquote|We're glad you came to call. We really had a ball. The show is done; we hate to run; we're sorry, but that's all.}}

After the last original episode on April 15, 1977, ''The Electric Company'' continued on PBS in reruns until early October 1985.