The Electric Company

Though the hip 'n' urban vibe seems overly calculated--did studies show that 8-year-olds respond to beatboxing white dudes?--and the cast is aggressively up with people, you gotta love new characters.

With a visual sensibility that mimics a video game, Web browser and iPhone, as well as a hearty online presence with a social-networking bent, the new Electric Company seems to deliver.

Today’s children will certainly find it watchable and will have better language skills after spending time with it. They just aren’t likely to still be holding it in their hearts 35 years from now.

New technology is good. The latest educational research is good. This new crew is a superhero team we could support--even if we don't quite understand how Wordball solves crimes. None of that was ever what the original "Electric Company" was about, though.

Like everything else in the world, the show is faster, louder and busier, which would not necessarily seem to be the best environment for learning.

Appealing to a super-sophisticated generation of kids is likely to be the biggest challenge for Sesame Workshop, which is producing The Electric Company for PBS.

The only problem here is that once in a while the producers and cast get so enthusiastic about their production numbers, their words become almost unintelligible.