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 3)

 

Chapter 3: A Show with Ten Kids

ZOOM Season 4, which premiered in 1974, was great, but it had … ten ZOOMers. The only season to have them. They included (deep breath) Andrae Morgan, Cate Wadsworth Duddy, Carmen Hernandez, Tracey Dunlap, Tishy Flaherty, David Azzoto, David "Red" O'Brien, Tommy Schultz, Harvey Reed, and Norman Christian. Unlike the previous ZOOMers, these ZOOMers wore red and yellow shirts rather than red and blue ones.

It was during this season ZOOM released the "Come On and ZOOM" cast album, which shares its name with what I'm writing now. None of the Season 4 ZOOMers were in the first three seasons, and none of them would be returning for the next.

Season 5 of ZOOM premiered in 1976, and there were seven kids in the cast again - maybe because WGBH wasn't used to the ten kids Season 4 had. The new ZOOMers were Nell Cox, Levell Thomas Gethers, Ron Richmond Savel, Arcaido Gonzalez, Chris Blackwell, Jennifer Hardy, and Karen Wing Lew. 

Once 1976 became 1977, it was time for ZOOM Season 6. These new ZOOMers were Carolyn Malcolm, Amy Clark Ross, Shona Wiseman de Nile, Susan Hobbie Wolf, Nicholas Butterworth, Chee Kim, and John Lathan, and they went back to wearing red and blue shirts.

In 1978, after six seasons, ZOOM was cancelled, and the video you see above was the final scene. Though this wasn't the first time it was cancelled (see the previous chapter). 

After the show ended, a book by author Pam Benson was made called "ZOOMers Revisited: Where are they now?." The book was about what the ZOOMers were doing after they were on the show.

In 1998, a VHS tape of ZOOM called "The Best of the 70s" was released. It was re-released in DVD form ten years later as "Back to the 70s." Despite the book and videos, that would not be the end of the show. (FORESHADOWING)

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Come On and ZOOM: Part 2

 

Chapter 2: ZOOMing Into Success

Season 1 of ZOOM was a big hit. The show received critical acclaim and many positive reviews. In fact, it was such a big hit, it was clear that WGBH wanted more. And more they did! A second season was in production, and Kenny, Nancy, and Tracy were back, but with some new ZOOMers.

Who were the new ZOOMers? Maura Mullaney, Ann Messer, David Alberico, and Jay Schertzer. This new season brought many new Dos, Guests, Games, Songs, Stories, Plays, Raps, and Barrels.

The cast changed again the same season. Maura, Ann, Jay, and David stayed, while we met new ZOOMers Luiz Gonzalez, Bernadette Yao, and Leon Mobley.

Bernadette was well-known for the "arm trick" she did when she was introduced in the theme song. I'm even friends with her on Facebook (as well as Ann and Joe). Once again, new Games, Plays, Guests, Mail, Dos, Stories, and Songs.

And once again there was ANOTHER cast change in the same season. Luiz, Bernadette (does arm trick), and Leon returned, while new ZOOMers Edith Mooers, Lori Boskin, Danny Malloy Normas, and Neal Johnson Robinson were introduced.

With all these cast changes, the ZOOMers at home needed to know about them, so the ZOOMers on the show welcomed the new ZOOMers with a song called "How Do You Do" when they were introduced. This new cast brought even more new segments.

Two ZOOM books were published this season - the ZOOM Catalog (which I own) and Do a ZOOMDo.

Let’s move onto Season 3. Season 3 brought even more new ZOOMers - Danny McGrath, Mike Dean, Donna Moore, and Timmy Price Rudman. Edith, Lori, and Neal stayed. This season gave us new Plays, Mail, Games, Guests, Dos, Raps, and Songs.

The second cast for this season was Hector Dorta, Mike, Donna, Rose Clarkow, Timmy, Shawn Miranda Reed, and Danny. During this third season, a ZOOMer told the viewers the show was getting cancelled, and encouraged them to send letters, photos, and other content to keep it on air, and guess what? It TOTALLY worked! ZOOM stayed on air.

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Come On and ZOOM: Part 1

 

This blog is all about ZOOM, the PBS Kids show produced by WGBH Boston by kids, for kids, and starring kids. Once I started this blog, I decided that we should open it with a series of posts about ZOOM's history. My name is Maddie, and this is Come On and ZOOM!

Chapter 1: We're Starting Soon

This is Christopher Sarson. In the 70s, he would make something no kids show has been before.

There was a British show called "Why Don't You Switch Off Your Television Set and Do Something Less Boring Instead?". The programme featured real kids doing activities sent in by viewers. Sarson decided to make a PBS children's show inspired by this programme, but for an older audience than Mister Rogers' Neighborhood.

The show was initially going to be called "ZOOM In, ZOOM Out," but later shortened to ZOOM. ZOOM it was!

With the name finally in tow, WGBH, Boston's PBS affiliate, made a pilot starring seven kids known as ZOOMers - Dr. Joseph Shrand, Jon Reuning, Tommy White, Kenny Marshal Pires, Nina Lille, Nancy Tates, and Tracy Tannebring. The ZOOMers, who all wore red and blue shirts, would do activities sent in by viewers, in segments such as ZOOMDo, ZOOMPlay, ZOOMGoody, ZOOMBarrel, ZOOMGame, ZOOMRap, ZOOMMovie, ZOOMGuest, and Tracy Asks. The ZOOMers would also sing covers of popular songs.

The kids had two word games - Fannee Doolee, a woman who only likes things with double vowels, and Ubbi Dubbi - a secret language where you would put "ub" in front of each vowel. Their address? ZOOM, Z double O M, Box 350, Boston Mass, 02134. Just sing it!

ZOOM premiered on PBS in January 1972. It was a bold and unique new show - one where viewers could write anything for it.

In 1973, the original ZOOMers released an album called "Playgrounds."

Christopher and WGBH didn't think ZOOM would be successful enough, and didn't think a second season would be made.

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