Evan Tackett's The Electric Company

Jason Marsden

Hynden Walch

Grey DeLisle

William Jackson Harper

Richard Steven Horvitz

Lucas M. Soares

Sesame Workshop

Games Animation Inc.

Krusty Krab Productions

***Evan Tackett's The Electric Company*** is an American adult animated sitcom created by Evan Tackett for Comedy Central and The Bloo DeTour. The show first premiered on September 30, 2002, which led to a series of half-hour episodes. The series focuses on the Electric Company; a group of tween literacy heroes consisting of Hector Ruiz, Jessica Ruiz, Keith Watson, and Lisa Heffenbacher. However, they try to battle a group of neighborhood vandals dubbed the Pranksters. Like *The Simpsons*, *South Park*, *Family Guy*, and *Futurama*,*Evan Tackett's The Electric Company* was designed for mature audiences and features cartoon violence, alcohol and tobacco use, profanity, adult humor, and pop culture references.

*Evan Tackett's The Electric Company* was conceived by Tackett in 1997. Tackett pitched a seven-minute pilot to The Bloo DeTour in May 2001, and the show was greenlit and began production. The series was originally set to premiere in fall of 2001 with the pilot they showed to The Bloo DeTour earlier that year but the episode was declined to be used by The Bloo DeTour (until it was finally preserved on the season 1 DVD in 2006). The producers of the show then decided to "go ahead" and air another first episode on September 30, 2002.

Since its debut on September 30, 2002, TBA episodes of *Really Surreal* have been broadcast. *Evan Tackett's The Electric Company* has been nominated for 16 Primetime Emmy Awards and 14 Annie Awards, and has won three of each. *Evan Tackett's The Electric Company: The Movie*, a feature-length film, was released in theaters worldwide on June 23, 2006, and grossed over $387 million.

## Premise

### Characters

*Main article: List of Evan Tackett's The Electric Company characters*

The series revolves around the Electric Company, a group of tween literacy heroes which consist of Hector Ruiz (voiced by Gregg Berger), a hypersensitive, cocky, yet good-hearted, outgoing, independent, and confident teenager; Jessica Ruiz (voiced by Jennifer Hale), a pampered, kind, witty, sarcastic, intelligent, and dazzlingly beautiful teenager who is Hector's girlfriend; Keith Watson (voiced by Jason Marsden), an awkward, immature, overemotional, dim-witted, clumsy, talkative, and childish teenage boy; and Lisa Heffenbacher (voiced by Hynden Walch), their cheerful, happy-go-lucky, hyper, energetic, gentle, sweet, cute, and yet geeky teenage girl. The heroes' headquarters is the Electric Diner. Living with the group is their sardonic, foul-mouthed, selfish, and ill-tempered server Shock (voiced by Richard Steven Horvitz).

The group's rivals are a group of neighborhood vandals dubbed the Pranksters, consisting of Francine Carruthers (voiced by Grey DeLisle); Annie Scrambler (voiced by Jennifer Hale); Danny Rebus (voiced by William Jackson Harper); and Manny Spamboni (voiced by Gregg Berger).

#### The protagonists/The Electric Company

The **Electric Company** consists of a group of four friends who protect the neighborhood from the Pranksters. They all have the power to throw word balls, blue magical balls that create words on any surface. Each member has a special skill.

* **Hector Ruiz** (voiced by Gregg Berger) is the oldest member and leader of the Electric Company, who has the power to replay any image that he sees, much like a video camera. Hector is very athletic, showing particular skill at basketball. He once had a fear of beetles.
* **Jessica Ruiz** (voiced by Jennifer Hale) is Hector's little sister who is a talented rapper. Jessica has a power similar to her brother's — she can replay any word or phrase that she hears, much like a tape recorder. Jessica is confident, yet occasionally brash, especially when it comes to dealing with the Pranksters, particularly Manny. She loves to rap.
* **Keith Watson** (voiced by Jason Marsden) is the second-oldest member of the Electric Company who can generate images in mid-air, which especially comes in handy when explaining difficult words, and can also magnify images as well. Keith is logical and level-headed and frequently creates solutions for dealing with the Pranksters' tricks. Keith is good at basketball, like Hector. Keith first discovered his power while playing Horse with Hector when saying he wanted an **E** and threw a wordball at the word. His father was the original owner of the Electric Diner.
* **Lisa Heffenbacher** (voiced by Hynden Walch) is a well-liked girl who has the power to unscramble any anagram that she finds. Lisa is very smart and excels at science. She has a strong and constant rivalry with Annie, since the latter caused numerous headaches for her. In the season 7 finale, "Lisa Quits", Lisa announced that she is traveling with a science program. However, Hector keeps her posted with what's happening in the neighborhood. Lisa was completely absent in the eighth season, but returned in the season 9 premiere "The Return of Lisa".

#### The supporting cast

* **Shock** (voiced by Richard Steven Horvitz) is a short-order cook at the Electric Diner, where the Company converges when trouble occurs. Shock rarely speaks directly, instead he beat-boxes and uses his hands to act out ideas. In later episodes, however, he speaks normally. He appears in some segments with Jessica, particularly the closing segment.
* **P.J. Watson** (voiced by Kyle Massey) is Keith's eccentric cousin who appeared in season two. He starred in Lisa's movie and got help from her to write a paper from back home about an old western story in a refrigerator.
* **Leo Watson** (voiced by Rob Paulsen) is the proprietor of the Electric Diner and Keith's father.
* **The Great Calvero** (voiced by Daran Norris) is the local magician who performs in the park.
* **Mario** (voiced by Lin-Manuel Miranda) is Shock's best friend and a hip-hop emcee.
* **Paul the Gorilla** (voiced by Frank Welker) TBA.
* **Dax** (voiced by Billy West) is a Skeleckian and a good friend of Lisa's who sometimes gets the company tied up in his problems, such as getting shrunk and having a steering wheel stolen, and almost getting some cheese stolen by the Pranksters.
* **Raving Rabbids** (voiced by Evan Tackett) - Wild rabbit-like creatures who like to cause havoc and mischief on Rayman's world (where they came from), the human world, and others and are gibberish speaking and yell "BWAH!" whenever they experience adrenaline rushes.
* **Devious Diesel** (voiced by Jim Cummings) - A lazy train who gets fired on every job, TBA.
* **Little Guy**(voiced by AT&T Mike) - He is the king of 123GreenyPhatom. His friends are Dr. Beanson, Gree Guy, Lucas Guy, Geo Guy, and others. His enemies are Doctor, Evil Little Guy 10, and others.
* **Ami Onuki**(also voiced by Janice Kawaye) - one of the members with Yumi Yoshimura.
* **Yumi Yoshimura**  (voiced by Grey DeLisle) -She is the second member with Ami Onuki.
* **Unikitty** (voiced by Tara Strong) - The princess of the Unikingdom who is a cat/unicorn hybrid. She is very happy, playful, cute, and upbeat, but has an angry side that she sometimes struggles to control.
* **Four**(voiced by Michael Huang) -is a number and the main protagonists of his own web series exhibits very surreal mannerisms, including being able to deform characters strongly, reviving them, screeching in order to stun characters, eliminating contestants by sucking them into his body (sending them to the EXIT), and has the ability to shoot energy beams (called "zappies") from his hands.
* **X**(voiced by Cary Huang) -  a mathematics variable and the co-protagonists and appeared alongside Four, another abstract being representing a real-life number or variable.
* **Panty** (voiced by Jamie Marchi) - a blonde-haired pale-skinned angel whose only interests are looking for men to sleep with and basking in the popularity of being an Anarchy sister. She does not take her Ghost-hunting duties as seriously as her sister Stocking, instead preferring to fulfill her personal goal of having sex with 1,000 men on Earth before returning to Heaven. She is generally rude and aggressive to the people around her (including Garterbelt, Brief, Stocking, the men she sleeps with, and most prominently Chuck), and is fond of living the celebrity lifestyle of being an Anarchy sister because it brings her closer to the men and fame she craves. However, she does occasionally exhibit affection toward Stocking and a deep desire for what she believes is best for her, despite their frequent arguing. Although she frequently insults Brief, she sometimes shows a less shallow side to her personality with others. She has the ability to transform her panties into a pistol called Backlace (バックレース *Bakkurēsu*). She occasionally wields a second Backlace using Stocking's panties, doubling her firepower and allowing her to combine them into more advanced firearms such as a submachine gun or sniper rifle. She can weaponize male underwear, though the weapon's size and usefulness depends on the size of the original wearer's penis.
* **Stocking** (Voiced by Monica Rial) - a pink-and-violet-haired goth angel with pale skin and a gluttonous appetite for sugary foods. She doesn't gain weight from consuming sugar, saying that the fat goes to her breasts, allowing her to eat to her heart's content. Although she is generally more level-headed than Panty, she can be just as rude as her sister when angry, particularly when people tamper with her sweets or call her overweight. Whilst she doesn't have the same level of interest in sex as her sister, she does show sexual urges and interests and is generally more interested in masochistic activities, such as bondage and electrocution. Like Panty, Stocking houses more tender feelings than what she usually lets on. For example, despite finding most human men disgusting, she fell deeply in love with a morbid ghost, going so far as attempting to turn her back on Heaven to be with him. She has forgiven Panty on occasions of mistreatment. Her stockings transform into a pair of katanas called Stripe I (ストライプI *Sutoraipu Wan*) and Stripe II (ストライプII *Sutoraipu Tsū*). She owns a stuffed cat doll called Honekoneko (ホネコネコ, lit. "Bone Kitten"), which changes its facial expressions in accordance to Stocking's mood.
* **Hammerman**  (voiced by MC Hammer) -  a superhero and main protagonist in the own TV show and is based on real world rapper MC Hammer.

#### The side/minor characters

* **Mutant Po** (voiced by Himself) - the main protagonist who made PowerPoint videos and who only defeats the two enemies Galvatron and YID. He briefly joined The Electric Company is season 9, replacing Lisa.
* **Timmy Turner**  (Voiced by Tara Strong) - A boy who as Fairly OddParents called Wanda and Cosmo.
* **Cosmo and Wanda**(voiced by Susanne Blakeslee and Daran Norris) - The real Fairly OddParents who make wishes for a boy called Timmy Turner.

#### The antagonists/The Pranksters

The **Pranksters** are the Electric Company's enemies. In the Prankster Cam segments, each of the Pranksters explain letters, how they are used, and what sound they make. Ex. Manny specializing in punctuation and Annie talking about apostrophe-S.

* **Francine Carruthers** (voiced by Grey DeLisle) - The vandalistic leader of the Pranksters. She has the same power as the Electric Company—the ability to generate word balls, except that hers are violet. Francine has a very high opinion of her own intelligence. Most of her plots involve making herself look good at the expense of the Company. In Season 3, she gets an assistant named Gilda Flip. She usually calls Marcus "Marty Farms" and usually gets 100 to 200 presents for her birthday.
* **Annie Scrambler** (voiced by Jennifer Hale) - A girl who is frequently envious of the accomplishments of others. She has the power to scramble any word or sentence with a stomp of her foot which results in making new words, but sometimes she scrambles existing words to create nonexistent ones. Annie is often jealous of the Electric Company's good luck and sometimes works with her Uncle Sigmund, who is a noted hypnotist, to get back at her rivals. She will work with the Electric Company if she has to, such as to help her uncle out in "Bananas".
* **Danny Rebus** (voiced by William Jackson Harper) - A suave, sophisticated Prankster. He can turn any sentence into a rebus puzzle. Most of his messages make fun of the Electric Company. Danny is very proud, yet has a touchy personality, being easily offended. He often accuses the Electric Company of making him look bad, promising vengeance. He has helped the Electric Company out on occasion when it benefits him. Despite being a Prankster, he is also the most moral member of the group.
* **Manny Spamboni** (voiced by Gregg Berger) - The loudest of the Pranksters. He is the only member of the group that does not have any powers, but he is quite skilled in the art of robotics and mechanics. Manny is rude and crude, and uses his many gadgets to make trouble for the Electric Company. He is thought the world of by his mother who says he is her "little angel," although she has put him in his place on occasion, such as chastising him for cheating at a limerick competition.
* **Megatron**(voiced by Frank Welker) - The one of Transformer who one going to defeat Galvatron and with your best friend called You is Dumb also known as YID.
* **You is Dumb** (voiced by Mutant Po) - Megatron's sidekick who defeat Mutant Po once and for all and also, for no reason who help Megatron to create his plans to defeat the Electric Company.
* **Rex Dangervest**(voiced by Chris Pratt) - TBA
* **Lori Loud**(voiced by Catherine Taber) - Francine's best friend who likes to bully people.
* **Emperor Zurg**  (voiced by Wayne Knight) - TBA
* **The Trashed Toons**  - A horde of cartoons that have been stuck in the sewers after being cancelled by their creators or for other reasons. Before the events of the show, they were discovered by the Pranksters in the sewer, and then taken to his lab where they were appointed as his minions. These consist of:
	+ **The Problem Solverz**(voiced by Ben Jones and Kyle Kaplan) - The Problem Solverz consist of Alfe, Roba, and Horace, and are the leaders of the Abandoned Cartoons.
	+ **Barney the Dinosaur**(voiced by Bob West) - a purple dinosaur who likes to annoy people with his I Love You song.
	+ **Festro**(voiced by Peter Browngardt) - a disgusting purple monster from *Secret Mountain Fort Awesome*.
	+ **Ruff Ruffman**(voiced by Jim Conroy) - The dog who brings everyone on his studio but get revenge and have a deal with the Pranksters.
	+ **Gene**(voiced by T.J. Miller) - a meh emoji who likes to make people cancer.
	+ **Chuck Baker** (voiced by Billy West) - an astronaut from *Planet 51* who likes to insult Buzz Lightyear.

## Development

Tackett initially conceived *Evan Tackett's The Electric Company* in 1998 while studying animation at the Kentucky School of Design (KSD). During college, he created his thesis film entitled *Red & Green*, which was submitted by his professor at KSD to The Bloo. Tackett was hired by the company. In 1999 Tackett created a sequel to *Red & Green* entitled *Red & Green & Blue*, which featured Red, Green, and Blue.

Executives at Comedy Central saw the *Red & Green* shorts and contracted Tackett to create a series, entitled *Evan Tackett's The Electric Company*. Comedy Central and The Bloo proposed Tackett complete a 15-minute short, and gave him a budget of $50,000. While he worked on the series, the characters of Red & Green slowly evolved into Hector and Keith.

The Electric Company first appeared on the demo that Tackett pitched to Comedy Central and The Bloo on May 15, 2001. *Evan Tackett's The Electric Company* was originally planned to start out as short movies for the sketch show *Comedy Central Presents*, but the plan changed because *Comedy Central Presents'* budget was not large enough to support animation production. Tackett noted that he then wanted to pitch it to Comedy Central and The Bloo DeTour, as he thought that that was the place to create a prime-time animation show. *Evan Tackett's The Electric Company* was originally pitched to The Bloo DeTour in the same year as *BlooJ's Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends*, but the show was not bought until years later, when *BlooJ's Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends* became successful. Comedy Central ordered 14 episodes of *Evan Tackett's The Electric Company* to air in midseason.

## Production

### Executive producers

The executive producers of the show are Tackett, Bloo J, and Lucas M. Soares.

### Writing

Planning for each episode begins with a table meeting of writers, who discuss the plot ideas as a group. The writers are given index cards with plot points that they are required to use as the center of activity in each episode. A single staff writer writes an outline and then produces a script. Once the first draft is finished, the writers and executive producers call in the actors for a table read. Afterwards, the writers collaborate to rewrite the script as a group before sending it to the animation team.

### Animation

The Bloo provided production services "in case animation proved to be difficult". Animation for the first season was split between Saerom Animation in South Korea, Wang Film Productions in Taiwan, and Fil-Cartoons in the Philippines. Fil-Cartoons also provided ink-and-paint facilities during the first season. Various other animation studios were contracted beginning in season two.

### Music

The show's soundtrack was composed by Walter Murphy, while its theme song was composed by multi-instrumentalist Les Claypool, produced by Devo's singer Mark Mothersbaugh, and was recorded at Mutato Muzika Studios.

## Reception and legacy

In 2016, a *New York Times* study of the 50 TV shows with the most Facebook Likes found that like other satirical comedies, *Evan Tackett's The Electric Company* "is most popular in cities. The show's popularity was more correlated with support for Hillary Clinton than any other show". As of 2008, the franchise has generated $1 billion in total revenue, including $400 million from TV syndication, $400 million from DVD sales, and $200 million from merchandise sales.

### Awards and nominations

*Main article: List of awards and nominations received by Evan Tackett's The Electric Company*

## Broadcast

*Evan Tackett's The Electric Company* premiered and originally aired in the United States on Comedy Central and The Bloo DeTour, September 30, 2002 – present, followed by Adult Swim September 7, 2005 – present, MTV March 7, 2008, and Troll Adult May 28, 2009 – present.

Canadian networks YTV, Teletoon and Global Television broadcast *Evan Tackett's The Electric Company* September 30, 2002 – present.

The series was broadcast in Australia on the following stations: Seven Network aired the series from November 7, 20003 – present, The Bloo DeTour from 2004–present, Network Ten between 2007–present, and on 7mate September 23, 2013 – present.

Audiences in New Zealand received the series on the following stations: TV2 December 24, 2002 – 2010, the BOX from 2003–present, Comedy Central from 2004–present, and on Four from 2007–present.

*Evan Tackett's The Electric Company* currently airs in Ireland on networks Comedy Central, Pick and Sky1.

The series was carried by the following networks in the United Kingdom: Sky1 from August 20, 2003 – present, Channel 4 from 2004–present, and the series is currently repeated on Pick and Comedy Central.

*Evan Tackett's The Electric Company* was also broadcast in Japan on the following stations: The Bloo DeTour from April 5, 2003 – present, Fuji Television from March 20, 2004 – present, Tokyo Broadcasting System from 2004–2005, TV Asahi from September 22, 2006 – present, and on TV Tokyo from 2016–present.

The show has also aired on The Bloo DeTour in other countries including South Korea, China, Russia, Brazil, Spain, and others since 2003.

### Networks

The Bloo DeTour (2002-present)
Adult Swim (2005-present)
MTV (2008-present)
Troll Adult (2009–present)
Paramount Network (2010-present)
 Canada
Teletoon (2006-present)
 United Kingdom & Ireland
Sky1 (2003-present)
Channel 4 (2004-present)
ITV2 (2012-present)

## Other media

### Film

*Main article: Evan Tackett's The Electric Company: The Movie*

### Video games

The series has spawned several major video game releases. The first game based on the series, *Evan Tackett's The Electric Company: Hit & Run*, was announced by Tackett at E3 2004 in May 2004. The game was developed by Ubisoft for PlayStation 2, Xbox, Nintendo GameCube, Game Boy Advance, and Microsoft Windows, and was released by Heavy Iron Studios on January 11, 2005. The second game, *Evan Tackett's The Electric Company: Run, Hector, Run!*, was released on January 31, 2006 for PlayStation 2, Xbox, Nintendo GameCube, and Game Boy Advance. *Evan Tackett's The Electric Company: Party Craze*, a party game, was released on November 14, 2006. On November 18, 2008, *Evan Tackett's The Electric Company: Shock's Luv Shack* was released for Wii, Nintendo DS, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable, and Microsoft Windows. On October 5, 2010, the fourth video game, titled *Evan Tackett's The Electric Company Rally*, was released for Wii, Nintendo DS, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Portable, and Microsoft Windows.

The next game, *Evan Tackett's The Electric Company: Let's Go Tower Defense Play!*, was released on October 18, 2011 for Xbox Live Arcade. *Evan Tackett's The Electric Company: The Pranksters' Revenge* was released on Xbox Live Arcade on March 30, 2012.

The following game, *Evan Tackett's The Electric Company: The Stick of Truth*, was released for Microsoft Windows, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3. The game was published by Ubisoft, and developed by Paramount Interactive. It was released for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in February 2018 and for Nintendo Switch in September of the same year.
Another game, *Evan Tackett's The Electric Company: Revenge of the Villains*, was released for the PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, Windows, and Xbox One on October 10, 2017. The game was published by Ubisoft, developed by Ubisoft San Francisco, and features the show's original cast. The game won the award for "Performance in a Comedy, Lead" with Billy West at the National Academy of Video Game Trade Reviewers Awards, in which Josh Segerra was also nominated for the same category.

Two mobile games based on the show were released. *Evan Tackett's The Electric Company: The Quest for Stuff* was released on February 17, 2014 for iOS and Android. *Evan Tackett's The Electric Company: Role Playing Battle* was released on November 9, 2017 for iOS and Android.

## Merchandise

Since the show's premiere, various forms of merchandise based on the show have been released, such as home media releases, action figures, clothing, food, and more.

In 2004, the first series of *Evan Tackett's The Electric Company* toy figurines was released by Mezco Toyz; each member of the Electric Company had their own toy, with the exception of Keith, of whom two different figures were made. Over the course of two years, four more series of toy figures were released, with various forms of Hector.