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!

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Come On and ZOOM (Chapter 5)

 

Chapter 5: Tell Me, Tell Me What to Do

Auditions for Season 3 of ZOOM were held and the season was filmed in 2000. The new season was ready in 2001. Caroline and Kenny stayed in the cast, while five new ZOOMers were introduced. Their names?:

…Kevin Barrette, otherwise known as Buzz…

…Eric Rollins…

…Frances Dormond…

…Kaleigh Cronin…

…and Rachel Redd. Just like Caroline, Kenny, Claudio, Jessie, and Ray in the previous season, we got enough time to know these new ZOOMers.

This season also had a few changes as opposed to the first two seasons. One was the intro - the beginning of it was shot outdoors, about the ZOOMers picking each other up and heading to the show, and had the ZOOMers saying their name and doing something like blowing bubbles or looking through a telescope when they were introduced, making it more reminiscent of the 70s intros.

The Address/E-Mail song was replaced by a few new E-Mail songs. Remember, the PBSKids.org site domain was introduced when this season was in production, so it was on the new songs, replacing the old "triple w dot pbs.org" lyric the first two seasons had. In one episode, the ZOOMers did a sound off song about the PBSKids.org link!

CafeZOOM interferes with ZOOMZnacks and ZOOMa Cum Laude became ZOOM Into Action.

…and most episodes ended with one of the ZOOMers on a computer reviewing a part of the ZOOM section of PBSKids.org.

The same year Season 3 premiered, not all things would be sunshine and rainbows at ZOOM, as on September 11th, the Twin Towers caught on fire and collapsed during a plane crash. Things were about to get serious.

The Season 3 ZOOMers reunited for a special that aired days after 9/11 called "America's Kids Respond," in which they talked about their experiences and feelings with the infamous terrorist attacks.

Once 2000 became 2001, it was time for auditions and taping for Season 4 of ZOOM. The new season, which was the most important ZOOM season ever, premiered in 2002.

"But Maddie," I hear you saying, "why was Season 4 the most important ZOOM season?"

Why? Because this season introduced us to a goddess sent down from heaven, the best person ever, ALINE BARTA!!! She was a new ZOOMer this season.

Other new ZOOMers this season included Matt Runyon, who would go on to become the most underrated ZOOMer in the show's history…

…Garrett DiBona…

…and Edgar Estuardo Alvizures, otherwise known as just Estuardo. Kaleigh, Caroline, and Rachel stayed in the cast.

I believe nothing new changed during this season, except for maybe the fact that the website promos took place by a computer on the set (where Matt had his introduction in the theme song).

After Season 4, America remembered 9/11 on its first anniversary, so ZOOM released a special called "America's Kids Remember." The special not only featured Caroline and Aline (being the amazing and awesome ZOOMer the latter is), but also former ZOOMers Alisa, Kenny, Buzz, Eric, Kaleigh, and Rachel, as they talked about their experiences with 9/11 and looked back on the attacks a year later. This special was filmed in 2002, either during or after Season 5 (I’m assuming during, as we can see the ZOOMers in this special with the Season 5 ZOOMers in a picture on the ZOOM website).

…this was the cast I was referring to in the last paragraph. Most TV shows have four seasons, and ZOOM hit five when the fifth season was picked up. Caroline, Kenny, Rachel, Kaleigh, Zoe, Alisa and the gang proved they had enough stardom as Sesame Street, Arthur, Barney & Friends, Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, Thomas & Friends, Teletubbies, Clifford the Big Red Dog, and Between the Lions. Season 5 taped in summer 2002 and aired in 2003. Caroline, Aline, Estuardo, and Garrett remained in the cast, and welcomed three new ZOOMers…

…Kortney Sumner…

…Mike Hansen…

…and Elena Sheih, otherwise known as Shing-Ying.

This season's intro started with the ZOOMers playing baseball. Other than that, I think it didn't have any changes.

During this season, three ZOOMers hosted a special on PBS Kids called the PBS Kids Pet-tacular. The ZOOMers totally should've gone on to other kids shows, especially Aline. She SHOULD'VE hosted the Sunny Side Up Show on Sprout. That I would've LOVED to see her do.

You know how I said Season 3 had changes to the show? The next season had EVEN MORE!

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Come On and ZOOM (Chapter 4)

Chapter 4: Back to Basics

This is Kate Taylor (on the right). She was the executive producer of ZOOM in the 70s, and was also the executive producer of Arthur from 1996 to 2000 and Peep and the Big Wide World. In the early 90s, there were rarely any live-action shows on PBS for kids, so Taylor decided it was best for WGBH to bring back ZOOM.

…And so a pilot was made in 1996. The ZOOMers in this pilot were Enid (whose family is from Puerto Rico), Marcus, Hayley Denker, Esther Mira, Daniel, Georgina, and Chad Nelson. To make ZOOM appealing to 90s kids, WGBH and PBS would have to leave some of the 70s staples behind - gone were the song covers and the red and blue shirts - the ZOOMers would now wear their own clothes.

The new ZOOM would have many segments from the original series, but one that the original didn't - ZOOMSci, a science experiment segment. Because of this, the National Science Foundation would sponsor the new ZOOM when it launched.

The "Best of the 70s" video that I mentioned in the previous chapter had a preview of the new ZOOM, which had different ZOOMers - Alisa Besher, Lynese Browder, Zoe Costello, Keiko Mathewson, Jared Nathan, David Toropov, and Pablo Velez Jr. ZOOMSci was mentioned, as well as a few other segments (ZOOMBarrels were renamed ZOOMZingers). At the end of the preview, it said that the new show would premiere in 1999.

…And it did, on January 4th. The new ZOOM had many new ZOOMGames, ZOOMZingers, ZOOMPlayhouses (formerly ZOOMPlays), CafeZOOMs (formerly ZOOMGoodies), ZOOMScis, ZOOMAlongs (another new segment), Zoops (yet another new segment), Whatzups (sort of like a rehash of Tracy Asks), ZOOMa Cum Laudes, ZOOMGuests, ZOOMVids (formerly ZOOMVideo), ZMail (formerly ZOOMMail), ZOOMChats (formerly ZOOMRaps), Fannee Doolees, uband ubof cubourse Ubbububbi Dubbububbi (err…Ubbi Dubbi). 

Also during this season, the direct-to-video specials "Party with ZOOM" and "The Making of ZOOM" were released, both starring the Season 1 cast as they did fun party stuff and gave us a behind-the-scenes look at their show respectively.

The new ZOOM was slowly proving popular, almost as much as the original show in the 70s. Not only was a card game called ZOOMOut released…

…But two books were also published, ZOOMZingers and Fun with Friends, both complied by author Amy E. Sklansky. 

Once 1999 became 2000, not only was it a whole new decade and a whole new millennium, but it was also time for Season 2 of ZOOM, which premiered in January after a showing of The Making of ZOOM. Zoe and Alisa stayed in the cast, while we were introduced to five new ZOOMers, who were…

Caroline Botelho…

…Kenny Yates…

…Claudio Jimenez…

…Jessica (or Jessie) Ogungbadero…

…and Ray Filme.

Just because Pablo, Jared, Keiko, David, and Lynese were no longer in the cast doesn't mean they were forgotten. The five former ZOOMers returned for the second-to-last Season 2 episode and had their own pages on the ZOOM section of pbs.org. 

During this season, new books were published also by Miss E. Sklansky - ZOOMDos You Can Do and Fun Outside. Both books featured activities from both Seasons 1 and 2, information on Ubbi Dubbi and Fannee Doolee, a behind the scenes look at Season 2, and what the Season 1 cast is up to now.

The second season had a few changes - there were new segment openings (such as ZOOMSci and CafeZOOM) and ZOOMAlong was renamed ZOOMPhenom. However, the next season had even MORE changes!

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