The 1982 television movie The Electric Grandmother is based on the short story “I Sing the Body Electric!” by Ray Bradbury, which in turn started as an identically titled episode of The Twilight Zone written by Bradbury. It is a real shame there seem to be no good copies of this little gem. The copies on YouTube look pretty terrible. The best copy I could find was on Internet Archive and it isn’t perfect.

The story centers on three children, Tom, played by a pre-E. T. the Extra-Terrestrial Robert MacNaughton, Agatha, played by Tara Kennedy, and Timothy, played by Charlie Fields. Edward Herrmann plays their father Henry. The story, told in flashback by an elderly Tom, begins with the devastating blow of the death of the children’s mother. An annoying aunt, Clara, played by Madeleine Sherwood, arrives to help, adding to their troubles.

Not long afterwards, the family receives a mysterious message from a company called Fantoccini Ltd. offering to supply an electrical grandmother to nurture all the family’s needs. The father and boys cheerfully welcome the new addition, Grandma, played by Maureen Stapleton, while Agatha resists.

Immediately after watching this, I watched the first version of the story, “I Sing the Body Electric!” on The Twilight Zone. Sadly, this is not a fan favorite among Zoners and I am one of its few defenders. I love The Twilight Zone but I feel it would have been even better had Ray Bradbury not fallen out with Rod Serling, resulting in this being Bradbury’s only Twilight Zone episode. The two filmed versions are more alike than different, retaining many of the same elements. The TV episode father is named George Rogers, played by David White, and the two daughters are named Karen, played by Dana Dillaway, and Anne, played by Veronica Cartwright. The only name that is the same in all three versions—TV episode, short story, and TV movie—is Tom as the eldest son, played in the TV episode by Charles Herbert. Bradbury loved the name Tom.

After viewing the TV movie, I expressed admiration for it and some guy told me it was no good compared to the TV episode because Tara Kennedy’s performance could not hold a candle to Veronica Cartwright’s powerful portrayal. I don’t remember who told me this as it’s been 44 years. At the time I had not seen the episode of The Twilight Zone but this time I watched it immediately afterward. I actually preferred the TV movie actors in every case except for Tara Kennedy as the recalcitrant daughter. She is not in the same league with the exceptional Veronica Cartwright, but I felt she did fine with the part as written until the big emotional scene in which she was called upon to weep hysterically. Such a scene is of course one of the most difficult kind for an actor of any age to do. Regardless of how some viewers might feel, Tara Kennedy was nominated for a Young Artist Award.

Maureen Stapleton was wonderful as the Grandmother in The Electric Grandmother and I liked her better than Josephine Hutchinson in The Twilight Zone although she was also good.

Neither filmed version can possibly be as overwhelmingly good as the tear-inducing short story, originally titled “The Beautiful One is Here” when it appeared in McCall’s Magazine in August 1969.

Additional points in favor of The Electric Grandmother are it was not shot on a California studio back lot, but takes place in a snow-covered winter landscape. The special effects and props are great and they were able to do much more than The Twilight Zone episode. The Electric Grandmother has a few unintentionally hilarious scenes, at least, I remember my family laughing when they saw them. There is a funny/frightening scene of the grandmother recharging herself which scared a few kids. Both versions are highly recommended, but read the story! It can be found in the collection I Sing the Body Electric! If you read it you may choke up watching either version just thinking of the words of the story.