ZOOM

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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 in both the 1970s and 90s versions became famous for its musical use of WGBH's zip code, 02134. 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. The ZOOMers behaved like actual children rather than like child actors.

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.

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.

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.

Contents

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Cast members

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First Series (1972–1978) [1]


First Season (Early 1972)

  • Cast: 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)

  • Cast: 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)

  • Cast: Arcadio, Chris, Jennifer, Karen, Levell, Nell, Ron


Sixth Season (1977-78)

  • Cast: 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)

Image:Leon-Mobley-Dec-31-04.jpg

  • 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)
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Second Series (1999–2005) [2]

  • Kenny Yates (2000-2001) Seasons 2-3
  • Caroline Botelho (2000-2003) Seasons 2-5
  • Alisa Besher (1999-2000) Season 1
  • Garrett DiBona (2002-2003) Seasons 4-5
  • Lynese Browder (1999) Season 1
  • Zoe Costello (1999-2000) Season 1
  • Frances Domond (2001) Season 3
  • Rachel Redd (2001-2002) Seasons 3-4
  • Eric Rollions (2001) Season 3
  • Aline Toupi (2002-2003) Seasons 4-5
  • Matt Runyon (2002) Season 4
  • Jared Nathan (1999) Season 1
  • Jessica "Jessie" Ogungbadero (2000) Season 2
  • Mike Hansen (2003-2004) Seasons 5-6
  • Kortney (2003-2004) Seasons 5-6
  • Elana "Shing Ying" Yeih (2003-2005) Seasons 5-7
  • Francesco (2004-2005) Seasons 6-7
  • Cara Harvey (2004) Season 6
  • David Tropov (1999) Season 1
  • Pablo Velez (1999) Season 1
  • Ray McMore (2000) Season 2
  • Keiko Yoshida (1999) Season 1
  • Maya Morales (2004) Season 6
  • Estuardo Alvizurez (2002-2003) Seasons 4-5
  • Kyle Larrow (2004-2005) Seasons 6-7
  • Nick (2005) Season 7
  • Emily (2005) Season 7
  • Claudio Swartz (2000) Season 2
  • Norreen (2005) Season 7
  • Taylor (2005) Season 7
  • Kevin "Buzz" Barrette (2001) Season 3
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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 havin' a ball, 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?
How are 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...
Break it down, breaka breaka break it down!
ZOOMA ZOOMA ZOOMA ZOOM
Everybody!
ZOOM ZOOM ZOOMA ZOOM...
Hey hey hey!
ZOOMA ZOOMA ZOOMA ZOOM...

ZOOM!!!

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External links

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