Zoom (partially lost revival of PBS children's series; 1999-2005)

This article has been tagged as Needing work due to its lack of organization.

The show's revamped logo.

Status: Partially Lost

Zoom was a live-action children's series that aired from January 4th, 1999, to May 6th, 2005, produced by WGBH (now GBH) that aired on PBS. It was a revival of another live-action series of the same name that aired from 1972-1978. The show is in the same vain as other popular children's shows that aired on PBS like Sesame Street and The Electric Company, but its cast is made up of kids ages 8 and up and perform various activities like games, plays, poems, songs, and would occasionally start conversations on various topics like prejudice and hospitals, with most topics being submitted by the home audience. The revival became a ratings winner for PBS and switched to the channel's children's block "PBS Kids" halfway through the show's first season. The revival lasted 7 seasons with 200 episodes (outliving its precursor in episode length), ending in May 2005 due to poor ratings.^[1]

Availability

The revival only saw four home media releases in the form of four VHS tapes that were released between 1999 and 2002. After PBS Kids stopped rerunning the show in 2007, a large majority of the show's run has never been seen since and is mostly lost.

As of April 2023, all episodes from seasons 2-7 and 16 episodes from season 1 have been found and uploaded onto YouTube. 14 from the first season were uploaded by YouTube user ZOOMFan1 and 2 more were uploaded by Facebook user Nathan Ng as well.

Uploads of Season 1

Unfortunately, by the time ZOOMFan1 started watching, season 1 would only be syndicated once more from December 2002 to January 2003 and episodes 105-133 that were originally a part of the season would be skipped over.

Also, he accidentally taped over one of the episodes that aired when he recorded season 1 (136), and the episode has yet to surface online in its entirety.

So far, episodes 105-108, 110-111, 113-127, 129, 131, 133, and 136 are the only episodes currently unavailable online.

Lost Footage

Many segments that were filmed for the show remain unaired. Some, if not all of them, are available on the website.

Until the entire first season is uploaded, it can be presumed that all unaired segments from it were released on the "Party With ZOOM" VHS.

Below is a list of lost segments from 25 missing episodes from season 1 and unaired segments from seasons 2-7, gathered from information provided on the website over the years.

Season 1

ZOOMsci

Season & Episode	Name	Status
S1E5	Mystery Seeds	Found
S1E5	Cup Tower	Found
S1E6	Spool Racers	Found
S1E7	Film Canister Rockets	Found
S1E7 (?)	Tongue Roller Survey	Lost
S1E8	Plastic Bag Parachute	Found
S1E10	Newspaper Tower	Found
S1E11	Box Arch	Found
S1E11	Bug Survey	Found
S1E13 (?)	Waterwheel	Lost
S1E13	Color Symphony	Lost
S1E14	Balloon Cars	Lost
S1E15	Baking Soda Vinegar Boat	Found
S1E16	Windmills	Found
S1E17	Newspaper Chair	Found
S1E17	Moldy Soup	Found
S1E18	Cantilever	Found
S1E19	Egg Drop	Found
S1E20	Glider	Lost
S1E21	Compost & Biodome	Lost
S1E22	Rocking Structure	Found
S1E23	Playing Card Structure	Lost
S1E24	Strongest Shape	Found (Poor-Quality)
S1E25	Crazy Straw Bridge	Lost
S1E25	Germinator	Found
S1E26	Baking Soda Submarines	Found
S1E27	Naked Egg Drop	Found (Poor-Quality)
S1E29	Newspaper Tower II	Found
S1E31	Salt Pendulum	Lost

ZOOMdo

Season & Episode	Name	Status
S1E5	String Sculpture	Found
S1E6	Bean Mosaic	Found
S1E7	Tie-Dye T-Shirt	Lost
S1E8	Pet Can	Found
S1E13	Rainstick	Found
S1E14	Permanent Sand Castle	Found
S1E15 (?)	Silly Serpent	Lost
S1E15	Flipbook	Found
S1E18	Marble Painting	Found
S1E18	Straw Painting	Found
S1E18	String Painting	Found
S1E19	Gum Wrapper Chain	Found
S1E20 (?)	Magazine Beads	Lost
S1E25	Friendship Bracelet	Lost
S1E26	Ping Pong Paddles	Found
S1E27	Pantyhose Face Doll	Lost
S1E33	Yarn Doll	Lost
Unknown	Glamorous Glitter Eggs	Lost
Unknown	Worry Doll	Lost
Unknown	Comic Book File Box	Lost
Unknown	Straw Weaving	Lost

Café ZOOM

Season & Episode	Name	Status
S1E8	Pizza Bagels	Found
S1E10	Banana On a Stick	Found
S1E11	Homemade Ice Cream	Found
S1E16	ZOOMspread	Found
S1E19	Homemade Pretzels	Found
S1E20	Yogurt Parfaits	Lost
S1E21	Tortilla Sandwiches	Lost
S1E23	Baked Apples	Found
S1E24	Peanut Butter Treats	Lost
S1E26	Fabulous Fruit Kabobs	Lost
S1E29	Calzone	Lost
S1E31 (?)	Stained Glass Cookies	Lost
S1E31 (?)	Pinwheel Cookies	Lost
S1E36	Banana Orange Frost	Found
S1E36	Frozen Fruit Smoothie	Found
S1E36	Peanut Butter Surprise	Found
Unknown	Marshmallow Mountain	Lost
Unknown	Bagel Faces	Lost
Unknown	Lemon Slush	Lost
Unknown	Apple Triangles	Lost

ZOOMalong

Season & Episode	Name	Status
S1E6	Water/Balloon Trick	Found
S1E10 (?)	Hoop Glider	Found
S1E11	Magnet Hands	Found
S1E13	Paper Worm	Found
S1E16	Door Trick	Found
S1E23 (?)	Walking Through Paper	Lost
S1E25	Penny Pinch	Lost
S1E29	The Flying Trick	Lost
S1E36	Paper Helicopter	Found

ZOOMgames

Season & Episode	Name	Status
S1E5	Ice Transfer	Found
S1E6	The Slide	Lost
S1E7	Peanut Roll Race	Found
S1E8	Human Knot	Found
S1E8	Snatch the Hanky	Found
S1E10	Bubblegum Race	Lost
S1E10	Dots	Found
S1E10 (?)	Pileup	Lost
S1E11 (?)	Toe-to-Toe	Lost
S1E11	Simon Says Not	Found
S1E13	Dr. Pretzel	Lost
S1E14	The Cup Game	Partially Found
S1E15	Cracker Whistle	Found
S1E16	Feelings	Found
S1E16	Beetle	Found
S1E16	Tag	Found
S1E17	Concentration	Found
S1E18	Walk On Your Knees	Found
S1E19	The Wind Blows	Lost
S1E20	Turkey Chase	Lost
S1E21 (?)	Head Ball Race	Found
S1E23 (?)	Octopus Tag	Lost
S1E24	Funny Bones	Lost
S1E25	Shoe Relay	Lost
S1E26	Ping Pong Circle	Found
S1E27	Staring Contest	Found (Poor-Quality)
S1E27	Down Down Baby	Lost
S1E27	Back-to-Back Dash	Lost
S1E29	Bubble Race	Lost
S1E31	Wink (1 \| 2 \| 3)	Found (Poor-Quality)
Unknown	Jellybean Transfer	Lost
Unknown	Balloon Bounce On Head Relay	Lost

Zingers

Season & Episode	Name	Status
S1E5	Hands Up!	Found
S1E6	Back-to-Back Zinger	Found
S1E7 (?)	Ha Ha	Found
S1E11	Toss 'n Clap	Found
S1E11	Toothpick Puzzles	Found
S1E13	Knot Zinger	Found
S1E14	Psychic Zinger	Found
S1E15	Sock Zinger	Found
S1E16	Decipher the Doodles	Found
S1E17	Card Trick	Found (Listed as "Card Trick 2")
S1E17	Body Zinger	Found
S1E18	Headstands	Partially Lost (Poor-Quality)
S1E18	Homonyms II	Found
S1E19	Sucking Lemon Wedges	Found
S1E20 (?)	Step Through Your Hands	Lost
S1E22	Sour Candies	Partially Lost (Poor-Quality)
S1E22	Word Game	Found
S1E23	Balloon Bouncing	Found
S1E24 (?)	Penny Drops	Found
S1E25	Toe Writing	Lost
S1E26	Card Trick 2	Found (Part 2 is Listed as Part 1)
S1E27	How Low Can You Go?	Lost
S1E36	Shoelace Zinger	Found
Unknown	Draw Your Name On Your Forehead	Lost
Unknown	Name 10 Body Parts Using 3 Letters	Lost
Unknown	Run, Rabbit Run	Lost
Unknown	Connect Nine Dots	Lost
Unknown	Group Juggling	Lost

ZOOMplayhouse

Season & Episode	Name	Status
S1E6	The Mixed-Up Genie	Lost
S1E7 (?)	Name unknown that features Jared riding a bus	Lost
S1E13	Trouble In Candy Kingdom	Found
S1E15	Where's Your Homework?	Found
S1E19	The Present	Partially Lost
S1E21	Little Red Riding Hood: An Ubbi Dubbi Fairy Tale	Lost
S1E22	The Fortune Teller	Found
S1E29	The Sweet Roll	Found (Poor-Quality)
S1E33 (?)	Name unknown that featured Jared playing as a TV talk show host interviewing Greek gods played by David and Zoe	Lost

Ubbi Dubbi Skits

Season & Episode	Name	Status
S1E5	Singing Voice	Found
S1E6	Sneezing Powder	Found
S1E8	Dancing Shoes	Lost
S1E10 (?)	Row, Row, Row Your Boat	Lost
S1E11	Cough Drops	Found
S1E15	Giant Pencil	Found
S1E17	Weather Report: Earthquake	Found
S1E18	Jokes	Found
S1E19	Chips and Dip	Found
S1E20	Peanut Butter	Lost
S1E23	Keiko the Magician	Lost
S1E24 (?)	Spot the Dog I	Found
S1E25	Remote	Lost
S1E26 (?)	Weather Report: Sun	Lost
S1E29 (?)	Jared the Chef: Toast	Found (Poor-Quality)
S1E33	Jared the Chef: Chocolate Milk	Lost
S1E36	Unknown Weather Skit	Lost
Unknown	Hiccups	Lost

ZOOMChats

Season & Episode	Name	Status
S1E5	Siblings	Lost
S1E8	Competition	Found
S1E10	Being Left Out	Lost
S1E15	Embarrassing Moments	Found
S1E17	Friends	Found
S1E18	Boys and Girls	Found
S1E20 (?)	Sports	Lost
S1E23	Meeting New People	Lost
S1E24 (?)	In 10 Years	Found
S1E25	Cheating	Lost
S1E26	Peer Pressure	Found

ZMails

Season & Episode	Name	Status
S1E6	With Lynese, Pablo, David and Zoe	Found
S1E16 (?)	Unknown	Lost
S1E19	Unknown	Lost
S1E21 (?)	With Keiko, David, Jared and Pablo	Found
S1E22	With Lynese, Pablo, Keiko and Alisa	Found
S1E27	With Lynese, Zoe, Alisa and Keiko	Lost
S1E29 (?)	Unknown	Lost
S1E36 (?)	Unknown	Lost

Miscellaneous

Season & Episode	Name	Status
S1E22	Zoe's Flea Circus	Found

Additional Segments

In addition to the above, most segments that didn't feature the ZOOMers ("ZOOMGuest", "What's Zup?", etc.) are at large. Other miscellaneous things, such as jokes, poems, the "Today on ZOOM" openings (some of which, in season 1, would feature a ZOOMer introducing the episode's ZOOMAlong) and the stingers after the credits also remain at large.

Season 2

ZOOMDo

Kaleidoscope (made by Kenny; briefly seen in episode 233 at the 26:33 mark)
Bubble Stationery and Homemade Envelopes (made by Zoe)

Cafe ZOOM

Purple Cow (made by Jessie; two versions filmed)
Banana Juice (made by Jessie; two versions filmed)
Orange Dream Soda (made by Jessie; two versions filmed)
Root Beer Float (made by Jessie (?))

ZOOMSci

Mirror Maze (with Jessie (?), Caroline (?), Alisa (?) and Ray (?))

ZOOMGames

Rota
Hop The Pawn
Category Cards
Indoor Bottle Blowing
Thrower
Alphabet Conversation
Marble Toes
Charades (also played in season 1)
Book Balance On Head Relay
ZOOM and Erp

ZOOMPhenom

ZOOMRoom Card Trick (with Kenny and Zoe (?))
Keep In Chair (with Ray and Claudio; also done in season 3 with Frances and Rachel)
Compass (with Claudio)
Paper Fold (with Zoe (?))
House Number Game (possibly unfilmed; website does not provide images)
Hand/Foot Coordination (with Caroline (?), Jessie, Kenny and Alisa (?))

Season 3

ZOOMDo

Sponge Stationery (with Frances)
Pocket Pouch (with Caroline (?))
Masks (with Eric)

Cafe ZOOM

Apple Sailboat, Celery Wagon and Mouse In a Cage (with Frances (?))
Salsa (with Eric (?))

Znack

Peanut Butter and Banana Sandwich (with Eric)
Trail Mix (with Kaleigh (?))

ZOOMGame

Equation Bingo
Squat Relay
Water Tug of War
Nim
Rhyming Pairs
Jump The Creek (with everyone but either Rachel or Frances)
Carolyn's Word Game

Season 4

ZOOMDo

Collage (all ZOOMers)
Recycled Junk Creature (with Kaleigh, Aline, Rachel, and Matt)
Jean Pocket Bag and Jean Leftovers (with Rachel (?))

ZOOMGame

On a Roll (a brief shot of this is seen in the opening)
Going On a Picnic
Pass The Stick
Mixed-Up Sports Relay

Season 5

ZOOMDo

Marionettes (with Estuardo)
Yarn Cards (with Aline (?) in season 7 by Kyle and Kortney)

Cafe ZOOM

Nana's Cookies (with Caroline)

Znack

Tuna Canoes (with Kortney (?))

ZOOMGame

Musical Clothes
Tails (a brief shot of this is seen in the opening)
Dictionary Game

ZOOMSci

Drop on Pennies II (with Mike (?) and Caroline (?))
Pennies and Water (with Mike and Caroline (?))
Soap-powered Boat II

Ubbi Dubbi Skits

Cave Man

Season 6

ZOOMDos

Potato Beads (also made by Shing Ying and Emily in season 7; a shot of Emily holding up a bead-lined skewer looks similar to the website photo; however, as that photo was first released in April 2004, it may have still been made in season 6)

Cafe ZOOM

Buffalo Wings (with Francesco (?) and Cara (?))
Corndogs (with Kyle (?) and Kortney (?))
Eggboats (with Francesco (?); not to be confused with the sci in season 3 of the same name)

ZOOMSci

Game Timer
Secret Candy Safe

ZOOMGame

None, although The Cup Game (originally played in season one, also played in season 7) and All About You (played in season 5), were listed as "new" when season 6 premiered.

Season 7

ZOOMDo

Balloon Badminton (with Noreen)
High Bouncy Ball
Sweater Mittens (with Taylor)

Cafe ZOOM

Monkey Bread (with Taylor (?) and Noreen (?))
Homemade Applesauce (with Kyle (?) and Francesco (?))

Znack

Lettuce Boats (with Nick (?) and Kyle (?)

ZOOMGame

3-Ball Football
Balloon Badminton

ZOOMSci

Deliver a Message (with Nick and Francesco)

ZOOMPlayhouse

Clever Jackyl (briefly shown in episode 709 at the 14:02 mark)
How Ubbi Dubbi Was Started

Remastering of Earlier Seasons

In 2002, the Arthur Vining Davis Foundation began to fund ZOOM. For continuity's sake, the funding credits of all previous episodes were updated to include this.

Season 1 returned to PBS stations in January 2002 to be shown regularly for the first time since September 2000 (a few episodes had been broadcast on some stations in March 2001, but the season had otherwise disappeared from rotation since). Advertised as an "encore presentation" on the website, the season was broadcast on Mondays through Thursdays from January 21 to June 7. Aside from the first episode and the special "The Making of ZOOM," which began and ended the cycle, respectively, all episodes were aired twice on most stations. At the same time, a new, fourth season of the show began premiering on Fridays and aired new episodes up to that point.

After this, season four aired exclusively on weekdays until August, when season 2 began to re-air. As was the case with season 1, it aired on Mondays through Thursdays while the show's fourth season took the Friday timeslot. This continued until December. All episodes of the season were reaired twice on most stations aside from the first; a re-airing of "The Making of ZOOM" on the Thursday of the final week signified the end of the cycle.

During these airings of the first two seasons, the episodes were shown in their remastered forms on local stations. Both of the seasons had originally contained a short segment known as "ZOOM a Cum Laude," in which the ZOOMers would give kids acknowledgment and credit for their work on certain things. During the third season, this segment was removed and replaced with a new one called "ZOOM Into Action," which was similar but focused more on volunteering.

For continuity's sake, local airings of the first two seasons removed the original "ZOOM a Cum Laude" segments and replaced them with "ZOOM Into Action" ones. Because these new segments were made well after the first two seasons were filmed, they didn't show the cast of those seasons or have them narrating, like the original "ZOOM a Cum Laude" segments did.

In addition to this, season 2 saw many of the 30-second stingers originally shown at the end of the episodes shortened to 15 seconds or replaced with a short, 15-second web advertisement.

After a short period from December 2002 to January 2003, season 1 was rerun on Mondays through Thursdays, with season four once again taking the Friday timeslot. Season 3 began re-airing immediately after. Following the pattern of the first two seasons, it aired on Mondays through Thursdays, while season 4 took the Friday timeslot as usual. The show's fifth season premiered on March 31, 2003, and interrupted the cycle for a week of new episodes; it was regulated to Fridays only the following week, while the third season returned to the Mondays through Thursdays timeslot. This continued until early June. During this time, all episodes of the third season except for episodes 301, 321, 322 and 340 were aired twice on most stations.

Like season 2, local broadcasts of season 3 saw the original stingers for the episodes shortened to 15 seconds or replaced with 15-second website advertisements. (In addition to this, a short clip originally shown at the beginning of the first episode was removed. Taking the place of the standard "Today on ZOOM" opening, it featured returning ZOOMers Kenny and Caroline welcoming viewers back to the show and introducing the new season. In later airings, this was replaced with a standard "Today on ZOOM." (It should be noted that this was only used a few times before the episode's final airing on local stations, which preempted it for "ZOOM Out The Vote!" promos.)

WGBY continued to air the episodes mostly as they had originally been broadcasted; however, several episodes of the first two seasons had their “ZOOM a Cum Laude” segments completely taken out. In addition, season 2 had the stingers of it’s first and last episodes (the “web surfing” and “Rapunzel” ads, respectively) replaced with the shorter local ones, and had the closing fundings of the last three episodes shortened to 15 seconds.

Currently, everything from the first two seasons is available online aside from some of the original “ZOOM a Cum Laudes”. The episodes online without their original ZCL are 101, 104, 134, 135, 139, 201, 234, 238 and 240. (101, 104 and 234 are local airings, while the rest are WGBY airings).

Season 3 is currently missing three of its’ original stingers. Two are incomplete versions (318 and 329) while one is missing entirely (306).

Missing Things from Seasons 4-7

Because WGBY was the main station ZOOMFan1 recorded from, almost everything from the original airings of seasons 2 and 3 are available online. Some "ZOOM Into Action!" segments from seasons 4-7 narrated by the ZOOMers aren't, however, as WGBY featured its own version of the segment that didn't feature the ZOOMers and focused on different volunteers from those shown on the local versions. Currently, episodes 401, 404, 405, 410, 412, 413, 501, 503, 505, 507, 508, 509, 512, 518, 716, 717 and 718 are the only local ZITAs from the seasons available.

All episodes of season 6 notably showed the ZOOMers backstage during the credits, but on WGBY, it showed a select group of kids thanking viewers for "ZOOMing on WGBY." Episodes 703-709 of season 7 do this as well. All of the remaining uploads aside from 701, 712, 718 and 720 show standard credits (the first two were specials). Since several of the episodes with the groups of kids are from WGBY, it's possible that some of those featured the ZOOMers on the local versions. Meanwhile, episodes 602 (from a different source), 603, 616 and 618 are the only episodes with the local credits available. Both versions of the credits for episode 604 are missing, as ZOOMFan1's recording reuses episode 603's credits. It's also worth noting that episodes 610, 612, 615, and 620 are all under 28 minutes long; it's unlikely anything was removed in certain broadcasts, and merely due to the fact that season 6's episodes didn't have a standard length.

Local airings of seasons 4 and 5, interestingly, also featured brief shots of scenes from the respective episodes in the openings. Currently, only the versions of episodes 401, 405, 408, 503, 505, 507, and 508 (from a different source) and 518 are available.

"ZOOM Out The Vote"

From August to November of 2004, promos to support the election featuring current ZOOMers were featured on local airings in place of "Today on ZOOM" and the stingers. A few have been found and uploaded by ZOOMFan1, although some are still at large.

As ZOOM also aired during the 2000 election, it's possible that similar promos were aired at the time.

Miscellaneous Things

In ZOOMFan1's recordings, there are two instances when the recording blacks out. Approximately 40 seconds of the ZOOMGuest segment in 236 is missing due to a glitch in the recording. It also blacks out briefly in episode 301 right after Caroline eats the edible spiders.
It's possible that the special "The Making of ZOOM" featured a regular "Today on ZOOM" in airings after the remastering; half of ZOOMFan1's recording of it comes from a local station, but the beginning isn't featured. Of note is the fact that the recording doesn't contain the original stinger for the episode, a preview of season 2. ZOOMFan1 has confirmed that the WGBY version contained it, however. This means it was likely removed during the remastering due to being outdated, like the opening for 301. If so, this supports the idea that the local version contained a "Today on ZOOM" at the time.

Gallery

Stills (Season 1)

Jared and Mr. Bones (105)
Ubbi Dubbi Dancing Shoes (108)
Joke (108)
Joke (108)
Joke (108)
Balloon Cars (114)
Turkey Chase (120)
Pantyhose Doll (127)
Down Down Baby (127)
Mystery Seeds ZOOM Sci Report (127)
Back-to-Back Dash (127)
Bubble Race (129)
Pablo making Calzone (129)
Pablo eating Calzone (129)
Newspaper Tower II (129)
Silly Serpent
Name unknown that featured Jared riding a bus
Zoe in Group Juggling
David in Group Juggling

Behind the Scenes (Season 1)

Keiko in unknown clapping game (?)
Tie-Dye Shirts (107)
Row, Row, Row Your Boat in Ubbi Dubbi (110)
Compost and Biodomes (121)
Little Red Riding Hood: An Ubbi Dubbi Fairy Tale (121)
Ubbi Dubbi Chef: Chocolate Milk (133)
Waterwheel
Alisa messing up in Apple Triangles
Alisa messing up in Pinwheel Cookies
Pablo making Bagel Faces
Pablo trying to eat Bagel Faces
Draw Your Name on Your Forehead
Name 10 Body Parts Using 3 Letters
Run, Rabbit, Run
The Greek gods play
Sheep Joke
Fish Joke
Jared and Zoe's joke
Pablo and David's Joke
Ubbi Dubbi Weather Update: Sun

Pictures (Season 1)

Pileup (110)
Color Symphony (113)
Comic Book File Box (115) (?)
Yogurt Parfait (120)
Tortilla Sandwiches (121)
Playing Card Structure (123)
Peanut Butter Treats (124)
Friendship Bracelet (125)
Shoe Relay (125)
Fabulous Fruit Kabobs (126)
Calzone (129)
Yarn Doll (133)
The website image for zebra cake (likely taken from a different cafe, as Zoe didn’t make the zebra cake)
Apple Triangles
Bagel Faces
Glamorous Glitter Eggs
Lemon Slush
Magazine Beads
Marshmallow Mountain
Pinwheel Cookies
Silly Serpent
Stained Glass Cookies
Straw Weaving
Tongue Rollers
Waterwheel
Worry Doll