Those of us who were young in the 70s may remember the old PBS series ZOOM. It was show for kids, by kids and a lot of fun. It ran for 7 seasons back then. It was revived in 1999. But the current season will be the last for now.
Link.
I think that’s a cryin’ shame.
I wasn’t alive to see the original, but I have watched the new Zoom for all six years (and will probably catch the seventh). Hopefully Hot Seat will be entertaining, bubut ubit wubon’t bube thube subame wubithubout ubUbbubi Dububbubi. (UbI tubypubed thubat buby huband.)
Hopefully, the kids that are watching will remember the fun they saw on the show and take its advice: if you like what you see, turn off the TV and do it!
mobo 8. of New Jersey (200 miles away from Boston, Mass…you know the rest)
Darn, now no one will understand me when I speak Ubbi Dubbi. Dubbarn Ubbit!!
o/ Ohhhhh-Two-Ooooone-Three-Fooooour! Send it to ZOOM! o/
And I AM old enough to remember that from the original series…
Incidentally, I remember that I had a ZOOM shirt (not really a ZOOM official licensed shirt or anything, just one with the horizontal blue and red stripes that they all wore).
Write to them and complain!
Send it to ZOOM!
Zee Double Oh Em
Box three five oh
Boston, Mass
Oh two one three four
Send it to ZOOM!
That is still burned into my brain…scary.
You realize that, as far as I know, that address only works if you want to send something to the show.
If you do want to complain, the contact address on the website of the PBS network responsible for this show (and a great many others) is:
WGBH
PO Box 200
Boston, MA 02134
I remember the original run well. Years later in college, I found that one of my roomates at the co-op was one of the original Zoom kids. She was flabbergasted when I spoke Ubbi Dubbi to her and did the “elbow trick”. She told me she had honestly never met anyone before who had actually watched the show.
The part of the show my sister and I always envied was when the kids climbed on the giant letters at the end. My roomate confirmed that yes, that was indeed the most fun part of the show.
Wow. I loved Zoom in the 70’s. It was my favorite show. As soon as I saw the thread title, I started singing jingle (write ZOOM - Z -double-o M…) and was amazed to find, after reading through this, that I was remembering it accurately after all these years. As gotpasswords said, it is burned into my brain and that IS scary. Especially when I consider that I can’t find my housekeys from day to day and I tend to forget what I need at the grocery store as soon as I arrive at my local Publix. But at age 36, I can still sing the Zoom song.
Sigh.
Scary! That little sing-song tune is etched in my brain, too! Yubikes!
Okay, now I’m glad it’s dying.
Not only have they “funkified” the theme song, they’ve apparently added episodes where the ZOOMers go out into the “real world” for the entire show. Today’s episode took place entirely on a boat, and although there was a recipe and two science experiments (on the boat), most of the show involved life on a boat, and featured shots of the ZOOMers commenting what the experience was like. This is ZOOM, not a reality show!
I’m sure future episodes will stick to the old formula, this is an unusual addition to the program. I can see why it’s getting cancelled- to keep it fresh, they’re going to have to keep re-inventing over the decades to keep it interesting and appealing to kids, it will eventually keep looking less and less like what it originally was. Like Sesame Street.
Fubarubewubell, shubow! Tubo nubew uband ubexcubitubing ubedubucubatubinubal vubentubers wube gubo!
Oh no!
LilMiss has not missed an episode, new or repeat, in over five years! She loves her ZOOM!!
She has become excited about science due to ZOOM, told horrible jokes thanks to ZOOM, and we annoy relatives by speaking Ubbi Dubbi in front of them!
(OK, she also has a HUGE crush on Kenny and Mike, but you didn’t hear that from me!)
(End overusage of exclamation points)
We tried watching DragonflyTV, but that program does nothing for her- she enjoys the levity of ZOOM.
GAH! The elbow trick! The one thing I, as a mere five-year old, could never fathom!
How in the HECK is it done?!
And I, too, am saddened by the passing of a great show. 
I vaguely remember the original show doing this once… I believe they were making maple syrup in Vermont or something equally bizarre. I recall the Zoom kids walking among trees in the snow with grownups showing them how to tap trees… anybody else remember this?
There was also a “reality style” show on the original series where all the kids talked about how they felt after one of the show’s contributors died.
Of course, my only cite for these is the dim and ambiguous memories dredged from long unaccessed gray matter.
Aw…I will miss Zoom.
lurved it when I was 12 and my older kids loved the past few seasons (around 2001). Haven’t watched it since…
I, too, have the jingle burned into my brain.
My daughter looked a great deal like Chloe when she was that age (she is 15 now).
Leviosaurus, gonna leave me in suspense here?!
Sorry, I thought it was a rhetorical question. I don’t really know how to describe it, it’s easier to demonstrate, but I’ll try:
Once you’ve got the basic moves down, the trick is to do all it in one smooth motion. You know you’re doing step 2 right when you can hear an audible smack as your forearms collide (it shouldn’t be hard enough to hurt, though - this isn’t karate.) Let the inertia carry your arms into the follow through in step 4.
If you can do it fast enough, the effect makes it look like your forearms temporarily switch places at the elbows, or become tied at the elbows, hence the “elbow trick”.
I can’t remember the stupid mailing address song, or which groceries I’m supposed to bring home tonight, but I can remember this? Geez… :smack: