''Encyclopedia'' is a television series created by the HBO Network and the for-profit branch of the Children's Television Workshop (CTW) (now known as Sesame Workshop), Distinguished Productions, Inc. (DPI), (now which has been folded into Sesame Workshop). The series premiered on the HBO network in 1988. Each episode covered a letter or series of letters in the alphabet, with short skits of sketch comedy devoted to up to twelve corresponding encyclopedia topics. Several topics were related through song. Three of the six writers of the show had also been writers for

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

's ''

Saturday Night Live ''Saturday Night Live'' (often abbreviated to ''SNL'') is an American late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC and Peacock (streaming service), Peacock. ...

'':

Patricia Marx Patricia Marx is an American humorist and writer. She currently works as a staff writer for ''The New Yorker'', and teaches at Columbia University, Princeton University and 92nd Street Y. Born in Abington, Pennsylvania, she earned her B.A. from ...

, Brian McConnachie, and

Mitchell Kriegman Mitchell Kriegman (born June 4, 1952) is an American television writer, director, producer, consultant, story editor, author, composer and actor. He is the creator of ''Clarissa Explains It All'' (1991) for Nickelodeon, ''Bear in the Big Blue Ho ...

. The series featured the band

BETTY Betty or Bettie is a name, a common diminutive for the names Bethany and Elizabeth. In Latin America, it is also a common diminutive for the given name Beatriz, the Spanish and Portuguese form of the Latin name Beatrix and the English name Beat ...

, who performed both the opening and closing themes as well as individual songs for selected topics.

Topics

The series covered the following topics:

Awards

Daytime Emmy Awards The Daytime Emmy Awards, or Daytime Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Bestowed by the New York–based National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (N ...

: *Outstanding Achievement in Costume Design: Calista Hendrickson *Outstanding Achievement in Makeup: Paul Gebbia

Merchandising

Video

All episodes were released on VHS in the late 1990s. They are no longer available commercially, but often appear on

eBay eBay Inc. ( ) is an American multinational e-commerce company based in San Jose, California, that facilitates consumer-to-consumer and business-to-consumer sales through its website. eBay was founded by Pierre Omidyar in 1995 and became ...

External links

*''The New York Times'': CTW Romps Onto Cable With 'Encyclopedia' by Alison Leigh Cowa

*

{{HBONetwork Shows HBO original programming American children's education television series 1988 American television series debuts 1989 American television series endings 1980s American children's television series English-language television shows HBO Shows (series) WITHOUT Episode info, list, or Article Television series by Sesame Workshop