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Zooman :: Zoom
 

Zoom.jpg ZOOM was an educational television show, created almost entirely by children, which aired on PBS from January of 1972 to February of 1978. A new version of the show, also on PBS, premiered in 1999 and ended production in 2005. Both versions were produced by WGBH-TV in Boston. Christopher Sarson was ZOOM's creator and original producer (1972-1974). ZOOM encouraged children to "turn off the TV and do it!" On the show, a rotating cast of seven kids (known as ZOOMers) performed various activities such as games, plays, poems, recipes, jokes, and science experiments, all suggested by viewer contributions. The mail-in request became a pop culture reference for its exhortation of "PO Box 350, Boston, Mass 0-2-1-3-4: send it to ZOOM!". There was also a language game on the show called Ubbi-Dubbi.

ZOOM was a new kind of series when it premiered on January 3, 1972. Unlike other children's fare at the time, it was for the most part unscripted. Far from seeking to capitalize by making stars of the child actors, the contracts prohibited their making any television appearance or doing commercials for three years after they left the show.

ZOOM was intended to inspire children to be active investigators, creators, and problem-solvers. The show's ZOOMSci segment, for example, featured on the later incarnation, encouraged viewers to try the activities shown on ZOOM and to send in their results.

When ZOOM made a comeback in 1999, parents who had grown up watching the show could now share it with their own children, and found that it was very much the same as it had been in the 1970s. The theme song was similar, there was still Ubbi-Dubbi, and the ZOOMers continued to play games and perform skits suggested by other children. However, with the advent of the Internet, the "0-2-1-3-4" jingle was rarely sung, supplanted by one that emphasized "PBSKids, dot org!". Also, when reading aloud the names of contributors, the later version provided only first names and abbreviated surnames (e.g., "Paul T."), presumably as a compromise between crediting the children and meeting modern privacy expectations for child safety.

The last year of taping was 2005, many episodes taking place off of the ZOOM set. The decision to cancel the show was largely due to falling ratings, with the last season's ratings down almost a fifth from the previous year. There is currently talk of putting ZOOM on either PBS Kids Sprout or a soon-to-be 24-hour digital PBS Kids Go! Channel. The first ZOOM series lasted six seasons (1972–1978) and featured 49 ZOOMers. The second ZOOM series lasted seven seasons (1999–2005) and featured 33 ZOOMers. At the end of every season of the second series, cast members who had grown too old were replaced by new cast members.

Cast members

First Series (1972–1978) *

First Season (Early 1972): Joe, Jon, Nina, Tommy, Kenny, Nancy, Tracy
Second Season (1972-1973): Cast 1: Kenny, Nancy, Tracy, Ann, David, Jay, Maura; Cast 2: Ann, David, Jay, Maura, Bernadette, Leon, Luiz; Cast 3: Bernadette, Leon, Luiz, Danny, Edith, Lori, Neal
Third Season (1973-1974): Cast 1: Danny, Edith, Lori, Neal, Donna, Mike, Timmy; Cast 2: Donna, Mike, Timmy, Danny II, Hector, Rose, Shawn
Fourth Season (1974-1975): Andrae, Carmen, Cate, David II, Harvey, Norman, Red, Tishy, Tommy II, Tracey
(This was the only season that featured more than seven ZOOMers at one time.)

Note: ZOOM lost its funding after the end of the fourth season. It was off the air from the summer of 1975 until January of 1976, when it was brought back in reruns.

Fifth Season (Late 1976): Arcadio, Chris, Jennifer, Karen, Levell, Nell, Ron
Sixth Season (1977-78): Amy, Carolyn, Chee, John, Nicholas, Shona, Susan

Some PBS stations continued to broadcast reruns of the series as late as early 1980.

During the 1970s version of the series, WGBH never disclosed the ZOOMers' last names. Listed below are some cast members' full names which have come to light in later years.

  • David Alberico (1972-73)
  • Nicholas Butterworth (1977-1978)
  • Mike Dean (1973-1974)
  • John Lathan (1977-1978)
  • Danny McGrath (1973-1974)
  • Leon Mobley (1972-1973)
  • Edith Mooers (1973-1974)
  • Maura Mullaney (1972-1973)
  • Harvey Reed (1974-1975)
  • Jon Reuning (1972)
  • Jay Schertzer (1972-1973)
  • Joe Schrand (1972)
  • Nancy Tates (1972)
  • Tommy White (1972)
  • Bernadette Yao (1972-1973)

Second Series (1999–2005)

Season 1 (1999): Lynese Browder, Keiko Yoshida, David Toropov, Zoe Costello, Pablo Velez, Jared Nathan, Alisa Besher.

Season 2 (2000): Caroline Botelho, Kenny Yates, Alisa Besher, Jessie Ogundbadero, Ray McMoore, Claudio Swartz, Zoe Costello.

Season 3 (2001): Kaleigh Cronion, Eric Rollins, Rachel Redd, Kenny Yates, Kevin "Buzz" Barrett, Caroline Botelho, Frances Domond.

Season 4 (2002): Garrett DiBona, Estruado Mazzu, Aline Toupi, Caroline Botelho, Matt Runyon, Rachel Redd, Kaleigh Cronion.

Season 5 (2003): Garrett DiBona, Mike Hansen, Elena "Shing-Ying" Sheih, Estruado Mazzu, Kortney El-Savio, Aline Toupi, Caroline Botelho.

Season 6 (2004): Kyle Larrow, Mike Hansen, Francesco Singh, Maya Morales, Elena "Shing-Ying" Sheih, Kortney El-Savio, Cara Harvey.

Season 7 (2005): Kyle Larrow, Nick Henry, Taylor Garron, Francesco Singh, Noreen Raja, Emily Marshall, Elena "Shing-Ying" Sheih.

Theme song

The lyrics of the theme song for the original series are as follows:
(spoken)Cha cha cha, ZOOM!
Come on and zoom, zoom, zoom-a zoom!
We're gonna zoom-a, zoom-a, zoom-a, zoom-a zoom!
Everybody's movin' it, everybody's doin' it,
Everybody's writing the show, yeah!
So would you zoom, zoom, zoom-a zoom?
Come on and zoom-a zoom-a zoom-a zoom!
I'm (name of ZOOMer)!, etc.

(until)

Who are you? (jazz trumpet) What do you do?
Me and you (jazz trumpet continues)
Let's hear from you! We need you!
We're gonna zoom, zoom zoom-a zoom!
Come on and zoom-a zoom-a zoom-a zoom!
Come on, give it a try,
We're gonna show you just why,
We're gonna teach you to fly high!
(Repeating)
Come on and zoom!
Come on and zoom, zoom!

This is the theme song during season seven of the 2000s version. (Clapping.)

ZOOM!
Everybody!
C'mon!
ZOOM-ZOOM!
Zoom, zoom, zoom-zoom, ZOOM...
Baila Chico Chica Baila!
ZOOOOOOOOM!

Come on and ZOOM ZOOM ZOOMA ZOOM...
(zoom) (zoom) (zoom)
ZOOMA ZOOMA ZOOMA ZOOM
Zoom, ZOOM ZOOM!
Everybody!
ZOOM ZOOM ZOOMA ZOOM...
(zoom) (zoom)
ZOOMA ZOOMA ZOOMA ZOOM

(until)

Uh huh, uh HUH!
Yeah!
Hey (name of ZOOMer)!
C-mon everybody!
Bobble dooble deeba deep!

We're all plugged into one world now.
So let's talk.
We wanna hear from you.
C'mon, give it a try!
And if you like what you see
Turn off your TV
And do it!!

(until)

ZOOM, ZOOM, ZOOM

(until)

Come on and ZOOM ZOOM ZOOMA ZOOM...
ZOOMA ZOOMA ZOOMA ZOOM
Everybody!
ZOOM ZOOM ZOOMA ZOOM...
Hey hey hey!
ZOOMA ZOOMA ZOOMA ZOOM...

ZOOM!!!

Trivia

  • In the Hard 'n Phirm music video for their song π, they parody ZOOM in a program called ZAP. The kids are named Dabir, Jessica, Steve, Susan, and twins Hector & Diego. The show is produced by "WHNP" (whose ident is a clear take-off on WGBH's famous "outline" ident) and is "funded by a grant from the Windsor Pneumatics Foundation".
  • Taylor is the only ZOOMer to also be on ZOOM's "successor show" FETCH! with Ruff Ruffman.
  • made two specials about the events of Sept. 11, 2001. One is called Zoom:America's kids respond; the 2nd was called Zoom:America's kids remember.
  • Frances is the daughter of old time ZOOMer Leon Mobley.
  • Frances & Rachel are step sisters

External links

ARTICLES

MEDIA

Children's television series | PBS network shows | 1970s TV shows in the United States | 1990s TV shows in the United States | 2000s TV shows in the United States

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "ZOOM".

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