Every ZOOM Season, Ranked

 

Madeline Fretz - I may not have watched ZOOM, but I discovered it in elementary school and now I'm a diehard superfan! Since the show has a magazine format, there may be segments I get bored by while others I really enjoy. Since I ranked all eight (both original and "reboot") seasons of Sprout's The Good Night Show, Noah Darden ranked Blue's Clues seasons, and DeviantArt users rank Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends and Total Drama seasons, it felt like a no-brainer to rank ZOOM! As you see in the image above, I'm only ranking the seven seasons of the 1999 series, so no 1972 series, here (if I DO rank seasons of THAT version, stay tuned). With all that said, let's zoom in on ZOOM's seven seasons!

Final seasons are usually the worst seasons of a TV show by fans, and it's not surprising season 7 is my least favorite of the seven ZOOM seasons that were produced. Season 6 brought in some changes to add more viewers to the show and bring back those that had lost track, but now it was as plain as day.

First off, they changed the theme song. The season 7 theme song may sound like a 2000s pop-style rendition of the 70s theme song, but to me, it feels too generic and corny especially when in comparison to the theme song of the previous six.

Another change, but one I'm not so sure about, is the funding credits. In the first six seasons, the sponsors were shown on cardboard signs, but in season 7, this is no longer the case, probably because it represented the homeless? But still, ZOOM fans loved the funding credits with the cardboard, and I believe someone made a fan video of them.

But the biggest issue I have with season 7 is that it spent less and less time in the studio set (Studio Z, I believe it was called) and more and more time outdoors or in the brightly colored ZOOMzone/ZOOMroom, the ZOOMers' greenroom - heck, there were two freaking episodes that took place outdoors despite studio segments being featured in both! What I want to highlight is how having outdoor segments affected ZOOM.

Despite the intro, Fannee Doolee, credits, ZOOM In On (ZOOMout in season 6), and the aforementioned two episodes taking place outdoors, segments like ZMail, ZOOMchat and some ZOOMscis in the greenroom, not to mention the joke wall carried over from season 6, the studio is still featured in every episode of season 7, but just like Sesame Street with Elmo's World and Blue's Clues season 6 with Blue's Room, I feel like attempts were made to save time to make room for the non-studio segments. The studio segments in season 6 feel rushed, meaning everything goes by so quickly.

Sesame Street, Barney & Friends, and Tweenies had outdoor episodes, too, but still had studio-bound segments (these shows mostly took place in the studio sets), Blue's Room, the aforementioned Blue's Clues spin-off only went on location in one episode, Bear in the Big Blue House only went on location for the spin-off Breakfast with Bear, never on the main show, and The Sunny Side Up Show only had outdoor segments, not full broadcasts. As you can tell, despite being for a younger audience than ZOOM, all six of these shows handled having outdoor segments and episode much better, while ZOOM in its seventh season spent way more time outdoors and in the ZOOMzone than the studio, when in the first five seasons the studio was (mostly) where it was at. I'm sorry, but I just cannot get behind all of this. This is not what I watch ZOOM for.

But this season isn't all that bad, many of you out there can agree with me. I haven't heard the season 7 address song yet, but I do like that they brought it back (fan demand maybe?) and having the 70s flashback was a nice touch. The episodes had their fair share of moments, too, and I'm going to go over what I thought about them:

• Episode 0182, also known as Boat Trip on the Alabama - This is my favorite episode of the season, despite it being an on-location episode. When I was on a boat trip with my fourth grade class, this is what I thought of.
• Episode 0183 - I dig Nick's ZOOM In On segment in this episode, especially his house and cool room. I also like that they used "Flight of the Bumblebee" over Taylor and Emily's fingerprint ZOOMsci. However, I do find it baffling that the ZOOMplayhouse "Whodunit" in this episode was hilariously long while the other segments were shorter (and as a result, there was no stinger, unlike most of the other episodes).
• Episode 0184 - I thought the spoon-on-nose WhatZup in this episode was quite nice, Emma from the ZOOM Into Action segment was quite cute, and I also like The Caterpillar Hunter (Emily in an Australian accent) and especially that she brought in an Ubbi Dubbi-speaker.
• Episode 0188 - After seeing the ZOOMzinger in this episode, I'd say it's a neat idea to turn words into other words. Bravo to Shing, Noreen, and Francesco! And I also like that they brought back the cup game from season 1!
• Episode 0189 - The only thing I have to say about this episode is the sun poem by Kyle and Taylor, especially since it took place on the Alabama like in 0182.
• Episode 0191 - I think it was fresh (no pun intended) to have Noreen in her bathroom for the water filter ZOOMsci (and pictures of the other ZOOMers in theirs).
• Episode 0192 - I love the idea behind the WhatZup in this episode - kids singing songs that were popular at the time. Not to mention the stinger was kinda nice. Nothing much else to say about this episode.
• Episode 0193, also known as How We Became ZOOMers - Unlike 0182, this episode is just meh. Not as interesting as what the show's given us in the past, especially since they focused more on CampZOOM than everything else and it's kinda sad.
• Episode 0194 - Haven't seen it since I gave it a page for ZOOMerpedia, but I do like that Shing had Ming Tsai in her ZOOM In On - nice to have another celebrity guest. And "I Never" sounds like an interesting game!
• Episode 0196 - I especially like the music accompanying the ZOOMplayhouse "Want to Buy a Duck?" - after all, I recognized it from split-screen credits from PBS KIDS Preschool Block with Miss Rosa. The play itself was also kinda cool and funny. I also liked the WhatZup - get on down and dance! But what I don't like about this episode was that the ZOOMgame was kind of mean-spirited - playing bowling and knocking down pins with the other team's faces on them? I'm sorry, but that's a no-go from me.
• Episode 0200 - Nice to have William Tell Overture (which was also in season 1's The Making of ZOOM) again (this time, it's in the Jim and Judy segment). There's almost never a dull moment on ZOOM, so I'd say rebuses and mirror messages are promising.
• Episode 0201 - And now we come to the last episode of the whole show. I didn't pay attention to it that much, but I do like that the ZOOMguest segment with Phoebe took place in the Grand Tetons, since I went there once. I also like the segment after this episode's ZOOMsci, with a girl writing a letter to ZOOM that gets sent to the ZOOMzone. With all that said, I'd have to say this is my least favorite episode.

I may do episode guides for ZOOMerpedia for the remaining episodes of this season, but after I do, I'll have no desire to revisit season 7 again. With a revamped theme song and lots of outdoor segments, it's clear to see why this is my least favorite ZOOM season, and maybe yours, too.

I really wanted this season to be ranked higher, I really did, especially since it had my three favorite ZOOMers. But while season 7 was a tad bad, season 4 is pretty good.

I put this season here because it may be boring and uninteresting, but like all seasons of ZOOM, some of the segments are pretty spot-on! I put some of my favorites in the picture above, while other highlights include Aline's Spanish Lullaby in 0122, the Blindfolded Blocks ZOOMgame (I remember seeing those blocks at a friend's house) and dancing cereal ZOOMsci in 0124, the Human Dome ZOOMgame in 0128, the Day at the Beach ZOOMplayhouse in 0134, and I also like Estuardo's ZOOMreviews Books of "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?" in 0140. I'm pretty sure you remember that, and Eric Carle's others books.

Another thing I have to point out about season 4 is ZOOMer usage - some ZOOMers are used more than others, less than others, and each are used enough. It's also the only season with Matt, and I'd have to say he's pretty underrated, especially since he was the only one-season wonder in the cast.

What's this, you may be asking, a "new-ZOOMer" (5-7) season ranked higher than an "OG-ZOOMer" season (1-4)? It's true, and unlike season 4, there's quite a bit to like about season 6.

This is the first season to have the joke wall, ZOOMout, and the First Lego League Competition, and unlike season 7, they aren't used as much. If season 6 were the final season of ZOOM, I would've been satisfied!

Now, I want to talk about the ZOOMers. The ZOOMers this season are great, not as much as the ones from the first four seasons, but I'd have to say they still have their moments. I recall going on a ZOOM fansite from the 2000s where it was said the ZOOMers starting in season 5 were too "peppy," and that Cara's room in 0175 made her look that way. If these ZOOMers had been around since show one, I doubt anyone would've complained.

Some things I like about this season are the ZOOMguest Lucas in 0162, the Alice in Wonderland tribute that is 0166 (I also liked that they showed footage from the 70s version), the on-location WhatZups in 0168 and 0174, the Who's Playing Romeo ZOOMplayhouse in 0168, the Anasi the Spider ZOOMplayhouse in 0170, and of course, the Ubbi Dubbi MC in 0171. Nice having some musical numbers on a usually non-musical show!

Overall, season 6 may seem different, but at least it's still ZOOM at it's core. Go check it out sometime!

We're into the really good seasons now, folks! Everything that was there in season 1, season 2 improves, and then some. We go from blowing a feather in the air, spoons and coins on noses, making chocolate-covered pretzels, and making permanent sandcastles to more challenging things like two people jump roping, drawing while blindfolded, math problems, and even a backpack survey! ZOOM's pretty comparable to popcorn - I used to pop mine in the microwave for 60 seconds and liked it, then changed to 1:30 and it's even better, though I may like season 1 more.

Highlights of this season include ZOOMplayhouses "There's No Such Thing as Monsters" (0042), "Nursery Rhymes with a Twist" (0063), and "The Family Couch" (0079), the waiter skits, the "As the World ZOOMs" stinger with Kenny and Jessie, the jokes, the CafeZOOMs - you name it, even if season 2 is ranked lower than some other seasons, literally everything is a win-win. This is also the season where they start having episode with themes, like pigs in 0044, balls in 0047, and bugs in the aforementioned 0063.

But I think most of my fellow fans can agree that the best episode of season 2 is the penultimate episode, 0080, which serves as not only an episode, but a love letter to the first season. It's a reunion show bringing back the five ZOOMers (Keiko, Jared, Pablo, Lynese, and David) who departed after their season was up, pairing them up with the season 2 newbies (Kenny, Ray, Jessie, Claudio, and Caroline), and this goes to show you how much the ZOOMcrew loved making this show and thus cared about their fans!

One thing my third favorite season of ZOOM does better than the other seasons is the cast lineup, there's no one-season wonders, so season 5 is like Total Drama All-Stars, or should I say, ZOOM All Stars - we have four ZOOMers from season 4 and three from season 6.

This season also aims to teach children about world cultures, with the ZOOMers talking about their own at times and several ZOOMguest segments taking place around the world, like Karla from Cuba in 0150. I think I may have learnt a thing or two from watching!

Highlights of season 5 include almost the entirety of 0142, the bottle car in 0154, the Ubbi Dubbi MC (again), Matt Williams' son ZOOMguest Jake in 0158, and the Reunion ZOOMplayhouse in 0161 - again, you can tell how much the ZOOMcrew loved making the show because they poked fun at Caroline's four season run - she said she was still on the show, yet this was her last episode. And we can't forget about America's Kids Remember (yes, it's part of season 5 since it was filmed during production of that season despite premiering beforehand), the second 9/11 special that brings back six ZOOMers from the past!

Overall, season 5 serves as a transition between the "old-ZOOMer" seasons and the "new-ZOOMer" ones, and may be the perfect one to watch if you're a diehard ZOOMfan.

But as good as season 5 is, it's got nothing on the next two seasons! This is the original season, first ZOOM season overall since 1977, and is thus fun to both watch and rewatch!

It's no wonder most ZOOMfans consider season 1 to be their favorite - the cast is iconic, hilarious, talented, their hearts are in the right place, need I go on?

For the ZOOMers, the most important thing about filming ZOOM was the friends they made along the way, and you can see them rattling off one another and having a great time, especially in the segments that feature more than one ZOOMer. Some of the highlights of this season include the feather in the air ZOOMgame in 0001, the spoon on nose ZOOMzinger in 0002, the dime on nose ZOOMzinger in 0003, the cup game in 0014, the Little Red Riding Hood in Ubbi Dubbi ZOOMplayhouse in 0021, charades and the story machine in 0035, and the Ubbi Dubbi skits.

This was also the season that gave us two video specials - Party with ZOOM, in which Pablo and Alisa host the ZOOMers making party food and crafts and play games (I especially like that they referenced another one of my favorite shows when playing Charades), plus visits with ZOOMguests, and The Making of ZOOM (AKA Episode 0041), hosted by Jared and Zoe, who show auditions, bloopers, the ZOOMzone and a fake movie trailer of the ZOOMers escaping it, and making the open. It's another love letter to this season, and if you haven't watched it yet, please do, though be prepared for emotional overdrive when you get to "Friendship."

When I decided to do this list, I knew which season was going to take the top spot.

Season 3 is the season where ZOOM went from a good kids' show to a great kids' show to a terrific kids' show. It improves what was there in the first two seasons up a notch. There are a lot of segments here where all seven ZOOMers are together, such as the ZOOMgames, sure, but also the occasional musical numbers (Twinkle Twinkle Little Star in Ubbi Dubbi, Are You Sleeping in Ubbi Dubbi in 0113, Sound Off, Bang Bang Choo Choo Train in 0116, and the skit with Frances as a conductor, The Bean Song in 0121), and ZOOMplayhouses where everyone gets a part, such as A Day at the Movies in 0082.

This season also makes for some memorable moments, aside from the aforementioned musical numbers, we get ZOOMin' with the ZOOMers (0119), which shows the ZOOMers in the ZOOMzone topped off with the ZOOMplayhouse "A Mixed-Up Fairy Tale," and more themed episodes, such as the Halloween one, balloons in 0084, coins in 0090, and ice in 0095. What I don't like about this season, however, is that 0096 was focused on feet. This - having an episode of a kids' show about feet - and Dan Schneider and him showing his actors' feet on iCarly and Victorious are why foot fetishes are a bad idea.

At the end of the day, season 3 is ZOOM gold and nothing will top it!

And there you have it, a ranking of every ZOOM season from worst to best! It's safe to say that all seven have their moments and are thus enjoyable and watchable after all these years, even season 7 to an extent! How do you rank the ZOOM seasons? Let me know in the comments, and I'll see you all next time!

The Great ZOOM Mural

 

Madeline Fretz - A month ago, my friend Noah Darden (Thomperfan) made a massive art project featuring almost every Sesame Street character ever. I decided to do the same thing, but with every ZOOMer ever, and now here you go! (Click on the image to see it fullscreen!)

The Great ZOOM Mural is a tribute to both ZOOMs as well as the 1996 pilot. I made sure to include not only the ZOOMers, but the logos for ZOOM, WGBH, and PBS Kids, Ubbi Dubbi, several posters, a picture of ZOOM creator Christopher Sarson, and a sign reading "Welcome Back! We sure have missed you!" (more on that on Parents and Kids Share Together).

Oh, and BTW, here are the signs in the mural. They're too small to look at in the actual picture!

I hope you enjoyed this picture, and keep an eye out for more exciting ZOOM projects in the future. Thanks for reading! Bubye (that's Ubbi Dubbi for "bye")!

Oh, and one more thing, please ignore the fact that some ZOOMers are missing or have almost disappearing eyes.

ZOOMing Out

 

Madeline Fretz - Have you ever read my ZOOM fanfic ZOOMing Out (FKA "The Sad Goodbye")? If you haven't, I'm going to sum it up for you today (SPOILERS BEWARE!!!). ZOOMing Out takes place during the filming of Season 3 in summer 2000. The first part of the fic is about a typical day on the ZOOM set - ZOOMers singing their theme song and then hanging out in the ZOOMZone. Keiko from Season 1 appears (as she was in an old article about Season 5(?) auditions) and gets to sing a song with then-current ZOOMer Caroline ("Man or ZOOMer"). Now, I tend to treat my fanfics like real movies, so I can totally picture Salma Hayek (or at least someone like her) playing Future Caroline (https://zoom-fanon.fandom.com/wiki/ZOOMing_Out)

Kate Taylor and Marcy Guthner, who both worked on the show, come in and tell the kids that their show has been canceled due to PBS funding cuts. As I mentioned in Come On and ZOOM, the original show was going to get cancelled when it was in its third season, but, after receiving many content from fans, WGBH decided to keep the series. That's why I had the show get cancelled around Season 3. After that, the ZOOMers (and ZOOMCrew) spend some time in the fic packing up props and other ZOOMBelongings, reminiscing about the good times they've had and singing fun songs. You may note that this fic is starting to get akin to my 2020 Season 7 fanfic "The End of the Road," in which ZOOM also gets cancelled and the ZOOMers have to say goodbye to one another, but takes place during the show's actual final season.

Later, the ZOOMers break up and choose their own paths in life. For example, Rachel goes to space camp (with Keiko) and meets a new friend. When we see the ZOOMers getting new jobs, we notice how sad they are and how they long to be with their friends and show again. While Kenny and Caroline weren't married in real life and kids aren't supposed to live in houses by themselves, I just had them do these things. 

Our villain is Harold the Troll, who lives in a small door in a North Carolina house, plans to demolish the ZOOM set and kidnap the ZOOMers. Caroline and Kenny receive a tape of WGBH studios in Boston catching fire, no thanks to Harold and his cohorts, and send it to Rachel. After seeing how horrific the tape was, the ZOOMers have to get back together again.

Now, to you, this fic may sound like The Muppets (same songs, same plotholes), albeit with some originality. While I didn't mention the songs played in the time saving montage and cleaning montage, they would obviously be 80s songs.

In one scene, Rachel and Kaleigh discover an attic filled with old WGBH stuff, including tapes of old school ZOOM. As I said in the commentary (second chapter), this scene was inspired by a scene in an old movie I remember seeing (maybe The Secret Garden)?

At the end of the story, Keiko washes the trolls away (hooray for her!), Caroline and Kenny get married (which, as I said, never happened in real life), and Pablo shows up at the wedding, helping Keiko play the organ. The fanfic ends with ZOOM fans outside, holding up signs (again stolen from The Muppets) and the ZOOMers singing "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now." I had so much fun making this story and I hope you have fun reading it. Bye, ZOOMers!

Wall of ZOOMers

 

Made this on Thursday. I decided to draw pictures of the best child actors in television history and hang them up in my wall.

Now, I know you may be asking "Where's Jared?", "Where's Maya?", "Where's Taylor?". Now, the reason for this: when thinking about what ZOOMers to draw, I decided to go with A). Not dead B). The ones I remember seeing the most (even though I was born after ZOOM ended). Enjoy!

Come On and ZOOM (Chapter 6)

 

Chapter 7: Here We Are in the Future

In 2002, PBS noticed a ratings drop, and ZOOM was no exception.

The people at WGBH saw this and realized that if they didn't do something sooner, ZOOM would fade into obscurity, never to be seen again.

Season 6 of ZOOM was taped in summer 2003 and premiered in 2004. Kortney, Mike, and Shing-Ying stayed in the cast, while new four ZOOMers included…

…Cara Anderoli…

…Maya Morales…

…Kyle Larrow…

…and Francesco Tena.

This season had some new changes to the intro - it now had the ZOOMers at a theme park, the lyrics "You Call the Tune" and "We're Starting Soon" were removed, and there was a roll call with the ZOOMers next to pictures of them dancing instead of them introducing their names.

The joke segments now took place through a joke wall (think Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In) instead of a door on the set.

This season had a story arc with the ZOOMers in the First Lego League.

And finally, some segments such as ZOOMTales and ZOOMVid were dropped. ZOOMVid was replaced by a new segment called ZOOMOut, which was basically ZOOMGuest with ZOOMers.

…and with the new ZOOMers, new theme song, new segment, and new story arc, Season 6 of ZOOM was ready for the world.

It was time for 2004, so Season 7 of ZOOM was taped in the summer of that year and aired in 2005. This season had LOTS of changes, but let's start with the ZOOMers. Kyle, Francesco, and Shing-Ying stayed in the cast, and four new ZOOMers included…

…Nick Henry, who was adopted along with his three siblings…

…Emily P. Marshall, who was also in commercials for Papagino Pizza, Comcast, and Dunkin Donuts…

…Noreen Raja, whose parents are Pakistan and Irish…

…and Taylor Garron, who was a cast member on the first season of another WGBH kids show (which I'll get to later).

The theme song for this season was changed, while still having the same lyrics - it had the ZOOMers dancing in front of a brick wall with the logo on it and them next to a film strip of clips of them when they were introduced.

ZOOMOut from the previous season became ZOOM In On.

The ZOOMers no longer held up cardboard signs in the funding credits.

and the ZOOMers spent some segments in a colorful room.

Season 7 had two outdoor episodes. 

In the season premiere, the ZOOMers spent the entire episode on a Black Dog Tall Ships schooner called Alabama in Vineyard Haven, Massachusetts.

Francesco and Emily made a ZOOMSci to keep their water bottles from spilling on boat trips…

…Shing-Ying made apple brownies in the Alabama's galley…

…the ZOOMers went swimming and encountered some jellyfish…

…and the ZOOMers measured the boat's speed using a calculator.

In the other outdoor episode, titled "How We Became ZOOMers," the ZOOMers recalled their auditions, bloopers, and their time at CampZOOM, the weekend camp they went to, met each other, and prepared themselves for the show.

The Address Song from the first two seasons was back, but with altered lyrics.

During Season 7 of ZOOM, there was still a ratings drop. The changes from this and the previous season had many changes that upset many original fans, so they quit watching. 

After Season 7 wrapped production in 2004, WGBH and PBS decided it was best for them to end ZOOM, with the final season airing a year later. After all, seven seasons was a good run. 

ZOOM ended on May 6, 2005 with the episode you see above. At the time, Ms. Taylor and her team at WGBH were creating a new show, which was going to be either Design Squad or Hot Seat. Design Squad was to come later, leaving Hot Seat, later Hot Spot, the new show in the works. Hot Seat's first season was originally going to be the same as ZOOM's eighth and final, but plans were scrubbed. Anyways, it's interesting to know what Hot Seat would’ve been like.

The final show, which started production in 2005, aired from 2006 to 2010 on the PBS Kids GO! block. Now, I'm not going to name names, but it was a reality game show hosted by an animated orange dog who would sent his contestants - six live-action human kids, out on challenges in the real world.

This ran for five seasons and 100 episodes compared to ZOOM's seven and 201.

Just because ZOOM was no longer in production at WGBH doesn't mean it was forgotten about. The show's section at PBSKids.org remained up until 2018, but nowadays still does at r53-vip-soup.pbskids.org/zoom.

WGBH still posts about the show on its social media from time to time. So contrary to what people think, they didn't lose the rights to the show. Kate Taylor retired from WGBH in the 2010s. There were even plans to air the show on PBS Kids Sprout (now Universal Kids), the 24-hour preschool channel, but plans fell through, maybe because Sprout was aimed at two to five years olds compared to ZOOM's six to twelve.

And when the COVID-19 pandemic started in 2020, people started doing video chats on ZOOM, a video communications with the same name as the show, but totally different. WGBH started a campaign called ZOOM Into Action where former ZOOMers from both renditions of the show would do activities they did decades ago and participate in video chats on ZOOM (LOl!).

So this is the end of the story. I wrote about the almost complete history of ZOOM, but there was a few stuff I didn't mention. Lemme tell ya. I’ve been through a whole lot over the past few days.

Love it or hate it, ZOOM was (and still is) a great show for kids. WGBH worked hard to make it and it totally worked. Very well. So get out a DVD, tape, digitize old videos, or go to YouTube so you can ZOOM-ZOOM-ZOOMa-ZOOM with the ZOOMers. You won't be disappointed. I promise.

Well everyone. That's the end of this biography. Thanks for reading! Goodbye!

If you want to read all over again, go to the first chapter!

PREVIOUS CHAPTER: https://ohtwoonethreefour.blogspot.com/2021/09/come-on-and-zoom-chapter-5.html?m=0