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{{Infobox television|
| show_name = Encyclopedia
| runtime = approx. 30 min
| starring = Ethyl Eichelberger
Jim Fyfe
Faith Prince
Carol Schindler
David Sterry
| country = USA
| network = HBO
| first_aired = September 19, 1988, 7:30pm
| director = Joshua White
| producer = Patti Kaplan
|}}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's Saturday Night Live: Patricia Marx, Brian McConnachie, and Mitchell Kriegman. The series featured the band BETTY, who performed both the opening and closing themes as well as individual songs for selected topics. TopicsThe series covered the following topics: A- air
- alchemy
- alligator
- ambidexterity
- amoeba
- antler
- ant
- archaeology
- armor
- atom (song)
- Attila the Hun (song)
- avalanche
B- Bach, Johann Sebastian
- bagpipes
- ballet
- bat
- bee
- Beethoven, Ludwig van
- blood
- bones (song)
- boomerang
- Brahms, Johannes
- brain
- brontosaurus
C- camel
- carnivore
- caveman (song)
- census
- chain reaction (song)
- chlorophyll
- Cleopatra
- cockroach
- comet
D- Darwin, Charles
- democracy
- desert
- diet (song)
- dragonfly
- dream
- duck
- dust
E- earthquake
- echo (song)
- egg
- Einstein, Albert
- emotion
- equator
- Ericson, Leif (song)
- etiquette
- evaporation
| F- feet
- fingerprint
- fire
- firefly
- fish (song)
- food chain
- freezing
- Freud, Sigmund (song)
G- gene (song)
- geography
- germ
- geyser
- gland
- gladiator
- glass
- glockenspiel
H- hair
- Hammurabi (song)
- heart
- heat (song)
- hermit
- hiccup
- hieroglyphics
- hummingbird
I- ichthyology
- identical twins
- income tax
- infinity (song)
- insect
- insomnia
- instinct
- insurance
- intestine
- invertebrate
J- Jefferson, Thomas
- jellyfish
- jester
- judo
- jugular vein
- July 4th
- jumping beans (song)
- jungle
- Jupiter
K- kaleidoscope
- kangaroo
- key
- kilt
- knee
- knight
- knot (song)
- knuckles
| L- ladybug (song)
- larynx
- latitude and longitude
- lava
- Leaning Tower of Pisa
- leap year
- leech
- Lincoln, Abraham
- Louis XIV of France
- lyre
M- magic
- mammal
- memory
- metrics
- migration
- moon
- mosquito
- moth (song)
- muscle
- mutt
N- Napoleon Bonaparte
- navigation
- neanderthal
- necktie
- nerve (song)
- Niagara Falls
- nomad
- North Pole and South Pole
O- ocean
- octave (song)
- octopus
- optical illusion
- optimist
- organ
- ozone
- oyster
P- paleontology
- parachute
- Pasteur, Louis
- pendulum
- percussion
- phobia (song)
- piranha
- platypus
- pterodactyl
- pyramid
Q- quarantine
- quark
- quarry
- quartet
- quartz
- quasar (song)
- quicksand
- quilt
- quintuplets
- quorum
| R- radar
- rainbow
- rat
- reflex
- REM
- reptile
- robot
- rocket (song)
- roller skate
- rubber
S- senses
- skeleton
- skin
- skunk
- snoring
- snow
- Statue of Liberty
- sugar (song)
T- tears
- teeth
- telephone
- termite
- test pilot
- thumb
- trampoline
- tropical (song)
- turtle
- Tutankhamen
U- UFO
- ultraviolet rays
- umbrella
- unicycle
V- valedictorian
- Venus flytrap
- vertigo (song)
- veterinarian
- vocabulary
- vulture
W- walrus
- wart hog
- Washington, George
- water
- weather
- whale
- whistle (song)
- White House
- windmill
- Wright brothers
XY- yak
- yawn
- yodeling
- yoga
- yo-yo
Z- Zapata, Emiliano (song)
- ZIP code (song)
- zipper
- zoology
|
AwardsDaytime Emmy Awards: - Outstanding Achievement in Costume Design: Calista Hendrickson
- Outstanding Achievement in Makeup: Paul Gebbia
MerchandisingVideoAll episodes were released on VHS in the late 1990s. They are no longer available commercially, but often appear on ebay. External links- The New York Times: CTW Romps Onto Cable With 'Encyclopedia' by Alison Leigh Cowan [https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=940DE4DC1239F93BA2575AC0A96E948260&n=Top/Reference/Times%20Topics/Subjects/C/Cable%20Television&pagewanted=1]
- {{IMDb title|id=299291|title=Encyclopedia}}
- {{TV IV|Encyclopedia}}
- {{TV Guide|Encyclopedia}}
{{HBONetwork Shows}} 6 : HBO network shows|American educational television series|1988 American television series debuts|1980s American television series|English-language television programs|HBO Family |