Zoom
Created byChristopher Sarson
Developed byWGBH Boston
Opening theme"Come On and Zoom"
Ending theme"Send It to Zoom" (Seasons 1–2 and 7)
"Come On and Zoom" (instrumental)
"Send Us Z-Mail" (seasons 3–6)
ComposerManic Moose
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons7
No. of episodes204
Production
Executive producerKate Taylor
ProducersJonathan Meath[1][2]
Alan Catello Grazioso[3][4][5][6]
Running time28 minutes
Production companyWGBH-TV
Original release
NetworkPBS (January 4, 1999 – September 6, 1999)
PBS Kids (September 6, 1999 – May 6, 2005)
ReleaseJanuary 4, 1999 (1999-01-04) –
May 6, 2005 (2005-05-06)
Related
Zoom (1972 TV series)

Zoom is an American live-action children's television series in which child cast members present a variety of types of content, including games, recipes, science experiments, and short plays, based on ideas sent in by children, and is a remake of the 1972 television program of the same name.[7] Created by Christopher Sarson, the series originally aired on PBS Kids from January 4, 1999 to May 6, 2005, with reruns airing until September 2, 2007, and was produced by WGBH-TV in Boston.

Description

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Zoom premiered in 1999 in largely the same format as the original series, with many of the same games and continued to feature content and ideas submitted by viewers. This second Zoom series ran for seven seasons (1999–2005), each featuring seven children—32 in total—called "Zoomers". It completed taping a pilot episode in September 1995 with a different cast,[8] which was circulated among funders by early 1997 and aired on television in November of that year.[9][10] On December 9, 2004, it was announced that the show had been cancelled after seven seasons. The cancellation was blamed on the rising competition of kids TV, which resulted in a noticeable decline in ratings for the show.[11] The series finale aired on May 6, 2005 on most PBS member stations, without any reference of the show’s ending. Reruns of the final three seasons aired on some PBS stations until fall 2007, when the show was pulled from the PBS lineup entirely.

Season overview

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Season Episodes Originally aired (U.S. dates)
First aired Last aired
1 42 January 4, 1999 (1999-01-04) April 19, 1999 (1999-04-19)
2 40 January 4, 2000 (2000-01-04) April 24, 2000 (2000-04-24)
3 41 January 1, 2001 (2001-01-01) April 11, 2001 (2001-04-11)
4 21 January 25, 2002 (2002-01-25) June 7, 2002 (2002-06-07)
5 20 March 31, 2003 (2003-03-31) July 18, 2003 (2003-07-18)
6 20 April 19, 2004 (2004-04-19) June 7, 2004 (2004-06-07)
7 20 April 4, 2005 (2005-04-04) May 6, 2005 (2005-05-06)

Cast members

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ZOOM Cast member 1 Cast member 2 Cast member 3 Cast member 4 Cast member 5 Cast member 6 Cast member 7
Pilot (1995)[8][9] Enid[9] Marcus[citation needed] Hayley[9] Esther Mira[citation needed] Daniel[citation needed] Georgina[citation needed] Chad Nelson[citation needed]
Season 1 (1999) Zoe Costello Jared Nathan Keiko Yoshida Pablo Velez Jr. Alisa Besher David Toropov Lynese Browder
Season 2 (2000) Ray MacMore Caroline Botelho Claudio Jimenez Alisa Besher Jessie Ogungbadero Kenny Yates Zoe Costello
Season 3 (2001) Frances Domond Kenny Yates Rachel Redd Eric Rollins Kaleigh Cronin Kevin "Buzz" Barrette Caroline Botelho
Season 4 (2002) Aline Barta Garrett DiBona Rachel Redd Matthew Gornstein Estuardo Alvizures Kaleigh Cronin Caroline Botelho
Season 5 (2003) Caroline Botelho Aline Barta Estuardo Alvizures Garrett DiBona Mike Hansen Kortney Sumner Elena "Shing Ying" Shieh
Season 6 (2004) Mike Hansen Kortney Sumner Francesco Tena Cara Harvey Kyle Larrow Maya Morales Elena "Shing Ying" Shieh
Season 7 (2005) Nick Henry Taylor Garron Francesco Tena Noreen Raja Emily Marshall Kyle Larrow Elena "Shing Ying" Shieh

Segments

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Merchandise

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Although the complete series was never released in any format, four video cassettes were released based on the show:

  1. Party with Zoom (June 22, 1999, ISBN 157807200X)
  2. The Zoomers Video Special: The Making of ZOOM! (June 22, 1999)
  3. Zoom: America Kids Respond (October 9, 2001)
  4. Zoom: America's Kids Remember (October 8, 2002)

Additionally, a two-disc set with four full episodes plus various footage from all six seasons of the 1970s version was released on October 28, 2008.[12]

Four books by Amy E. Sklansky compiled from material submitted by viewers were published by Little, Brown and Company:

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "About This Person: Jonathan Meath". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times. 2012. Archived from the original on 2012-11-03. Retrieved 2010-11-13. Jonathan Meath Filmography: Zoom (TV Series)
  2. ^ "Jonathan Meath". Yahoo! TV. 2010-11-13. Retrieved 2010-11-13. The Making of Zoom. Producer. Zoom. Senior producer.
  3. ^ https://www.linkedin.com/in/alangrazioso [self-published source]
  4. ^ "Alan Grazioso". IMDb.
  5. ^ "Fishing with my Grandpa". Hunting Adventures with Roger Morris.
  6. ^ "Montage of ZOOM segments by Alan Grazioso (produced for ZOOM/WGBH-Boston/PBS Kids)". Vimeo. 19 February 2011.
  7. ^ Writer, JOHANNA CROSBY,Staff. "Zoom lens". Cape Cod Times. Retrieved 2024-04-30.((cite web)): CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  8. ^ a b Williams, Mary Elizabeth (October 1, 1995). "Schoolhouse Rock of Ages". Wired. Vol. 3, no. 10. Condé Nast. Archived from the original on April 4, 2019. Retrieved April 4, 2019. This September, a pilot for a new series of Zoom episodes finished shooting, based this time on suggestions delivered not merely to the famous "Box three-five-oh, Boston, Mass., Oh-two-one-three-four!" but to the show's e-mail address as well.
  9. ^ a b c d Bedford, Karen Everhart (March 15, 1997). "Zoom, zoom, zooma-zoom: Kid-power comeback for new generation". Current (published March 17, 1997). Archived from the original on December 27, 2017. Retrieved April 4, 2019. For example, in the Zoom pilot now circulating among funders, boys at the Weston School test their designs for racing cars propelled by balloon exhaust.
  10. ^ Johnson, Steve (November 3, 1997). ""Zoom": What better time to revive a..." Chicago Tribune. Archived from the original on April 4, 2019. Retrieved April 4, 2019. Monday's pilot episode (4:30 p.m., WTTW-Ch. 11) is only dipping a toe in the water to solicit new ideas for segments from viewers; the series isn't scheduled to start until January 1999.
  11. ^ "Children's show 'Zoom' a victim of ratings drop". Boston Globe. December 9, 2004.
  12. ^ Zoom - Cover art and contents for Zoom - Back to the '70s 2-DVD set Archived 2008-12-10 at the Wayback Machine, tvshowsondvd.com, October 7, 2008
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