Bill Cosby, Rita Moreno and Morgan Freemen in the Electric Company in 1971

Most of this is from excepts from "The Best of the Electric Company: Part 1 of 4," which Rita Moreno did in 2006. In October, 1971, when "the Electric Company" started, Bill Cosby was also producing and starring in "the Bill Cosby Show" a half-hour comedy which ran on Sunday Nights on NBC. Over 20 million people were watching "the Bill Cosby show," weekly, so his appearance in the cast of "the Electric Company" from 1971 to 1973 certainly helped it to become a successful show. It helped to teach millions of kids to read. Cosby also did many guest appearances for the Children's television Workshop's first hit series "Sesame Street." Cosby was also involved in producing the CBS hit animated children's series "Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids," (1972-1985) at this time. It was the first cartoon series on American television centered on black kids and the first to teach children moral lessons on every episode.
Rita Moreno is the legendary actress from Puerto Rico who had major roles in two of the greatest movie musicals in history - "Singing in the Rain" (1952) and "Westside Story" (1961). She won an Oscar for her role in "Westside Story." She was also the voice of Carmen Sandiego in another hit children's educational series "Where in the World is Camen Sandiego" (1994-1999). She was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom (an award Bill Cosby won in 2002) in 2004. She co-starred with Dr. Cosby in the television series, "the Cosby Mysteries" (1994).