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

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 October 2024, all episodes from seasons 2-7 and 21 episodes from season 1 have been found and uploaded online. 14 from the first season were uploaded onto YouTube by user ZOOMFan1 and 7 more by Evan's Media Archive.

As of October 2024, the missing episodes from season 1 are 113-127, 129 and 131-133. (128 also isn’t available in its entirety, but the majority of it, including pretty much all the stuff exclusive to the episode, is available in multiple parts from a screen recording.) GBH Boston currently doesn’t have the rights to share or release the episodes, meaning the only chance of finding them is on VHS recordings from when they aired on TV. And despite the best efforts of fans, recordings of these episodes have proven virtually impossible to find. (This is likely in part due to the fact that they were last broadcast in early 2002.)

Clips from some of the episodes have been found, however. Below is a list of known found and lost segments from the missing 20 episodes.

ZOOMsci

Season & Episode	Name	Status
S1 E5	Mystery Seeds	Found
S1 E13	Color Symphony	Lost
S1 E14	Balloon Cars	Lost
S1 E15	Baking Soda Vinegar Boat	Found
S1 E16	Windmills	Found
S1 E17	Newspaper Chair	Found
S1 E17	Moldy Soup	Found
S1 E18	Cantilever	Found
S1 E19	Egg Drop	Found
S1 E20	Glider	Lost
S1 E21	Compost & Biodome	Lost
S1 E22	Rocking Structure	Found
S1 E23	Playing Card Structure	Lost
S1 E24 (?)	Waterwheel	Lost
S1 E25	Crazy Straw Bridge	Lost (archived)
S1 E25	Germinator	Found
S1 E26	Baking Soda Submarines	Found
S1 E27	Naked Egg Drop	Found (Poor-Quality)
S1 E28	Junk Boats	Found (poor quality)
S1 E29	Newspaper Tower	Found
S1 E31	Salt Pendulum	Lost
S1 E32	Marshmallow and Toothpick Shapes	Lost (archived)
S1 E33 (?)	Strongest Shape	Found (Poor-Quality)

ZOOMdo

Season & Episode	Name	Status
S1 E5	String Sculpture	Found
S1 E13	Rainstick	Found
S1 E14	Permanent Sand Castle	Found
S1 E15 (?)	Comic Book File Box	Lost
S1 E15	Flipbook	Found
S1 E18	Marble Painting	Found
S1 E18	Straw Painting	Found
S1 E18	String Painting	Found
S1 E19	Gum Wrapper Chain	Found
S1 E20 (?)	Serpent Tie Creature	Lost
S1 E25	Friendship Bracelet	Lost (archived)
S1 E26	Ping Pong Paddles	Found
S1 E27	Pantyhose Face Doll	Lost (archived)
S1 E28	Papier-Mache Bowl	Found (poor quality)
S1 E32	Papermaking	Found
S1 E33	Yarn Doll	Lost

Café ZOOM

Season & Episode	Name	Status
S1 E16	ZOOMspread	Found
S1 E19	Homemade Pretzels	Found
S1 E20	Yogurt Parfaits	Lost
S1 E21	Tortilla Sandwiches	Lost
S1 E23	Baked Apples	Found
S1 E24	Peanut Butter Treats	Lost
S1 E26 (?)	Apple Triangles	Lost
S1 E26	Fabulous Fruit Kabobs	Lost
S1 E29	Calzone	Lost
S1 E31 (?)	Bagel Faces	Lost

ZOOMalong

Season & Episode	Name	Status
S1 E13	Paper Worm	Found
S1 E16	Door Trick	Found
S1 E18 (?)	Arm Trick	Lost
S1 E21	Cup Game with Words	Lost
S1 E24	Gravity	Lost
S1 E25	Penny Pinch	Lost (archived)
S1 E29	The Flying Trick	Lost
S1 E33 (?)	Hoop Glider	Found
Unknown	Walking Through Paper	Lost

ZOOMgames

Season & Episode	Name	Status
S1 E13	Dr. Pretzel	Lost
S1 E14	The Cup Game	Partially Found
S1 E15	Cracker Whistle	Found
S1 E16	Feelings	Found
S1 E16	Beetle	Found
S1 E16	Octopus Tag	Found
S1 E17	Concentration I	Found
S1 E18	Walk On Knees	Found
S1 E19	Head Ball Race	Found
S1 E20	Turkey Chase	Lost
S1 E21 (?)	Toe-to-Toe	Lost
S1 E23 (?)	Balloon Bounce On Head Relay	Lost
S1 E24	Funny Bones	Lost
S1 E25	Shoe Relay	Lost (archived)
S1 E26 (?)	Pile Up	Lost
S1 E26	Ping Pong Circle	Found
S1 E27	Staring Contest	Found (Poor-Quality)
S1 E27	Down Down Baby	Lost (archived)
S1 E27	Back-to-Back Dash	Lost (archived)
S1 E28	Water Balloon Toss	Found (poor quality)
S1 E28	Compound Words	Found (poor quality)
S1 E29	Bubble Race	Lost
S1 E31	Wink (1 \| 2 \| 3)	Found (Poor-Quality)
S1 E32	Quack-a-Dilly	Lost (archived)
S1 E32	Lemon Roll Race	Lost (archived)
Unknown	The Wind Blows	Lost

Zingers

Season & Episode	Name	Status
S1 E5	Hands Up!	Found
S1 E13	Knot Zinger	Found
S1 E14	Psychic Zinger	Found
S1 E15	Sock Zinger	Found
S1 E16	"Guess What" Zinger	Found
S1 E17	Card Trick I	Found (Listed as "Card Trick 2")
S1 E17	Body Zinger	Found
S1 E18	Headstands	Partially Lost (Poor-Quality)
S1 E18	Homonyms II	Found
S1 E19	Sucking Lemon Wedges	Found
S1 E20	Step Through Your Hands	Lost
S1 E21 (?)	Run, Rabbit, Run	Lost
S1 E22	Sour Candies	Partially Lost (Poor-Quality)
S1 E22	Word Game	Found
S1 E23	Balloon Bouncing	Found
S1 E25	Toe Writing	Lost (archived)
S1 E26	Card Trick II	Found (Part 2 is Listed as Part 1)
S1 E27	How Low Can You Go?	Lost (archived)
S1 E29 (?)	Group Juggling	Lost
S1 E31 (?)	Connect Nine Dots	Lost
S1 E36	Shoelace Zinger	Found
Unknown	Draw Your Name On Your Forehead	Lost
Unknown	Name 10 Body Parts Using 3 Letters	Lost

ZOOMplayhouse

Season & Episode	Name	Status
S1 E13	Trouble In Candy Kingdom	Found
S1 E15	Where's Your Homework?	Found
S1 E19	The Present	Partially Lost
S1 E20 (?)	The bus ride play	Lost
S1 E21	Little Red Riding Hood: An Ubbi Dubbi Fairy Tale	Lost
S1 E22	The Fortune Teller	Found
S1 E24	"Hot Dog Experiment"	Lost
S1 E29	The Sweet Roll	Found (Poor-Quality)
S1 E31 (?)	The Greek Gods play	Lost

Ubbi Dubbi Skits

Season & Episode	Name	Status
S1 E5	Singing Voice	Found
S1 E14	Ring Pop	Lost
S1 E15	Giant Pencil	Found
S1 E17	Weather Report: Earthquake	Found
S1 E18	Jokes	Found
S1 E19	Chips and Dip	Found
S1 E20	Peanut Butter	Lost
S1 E23	Keiko the Magician	Lost
S1 E24 (?)	Weather Update: Sun	Lost
S1 E25	Remote	Lost (archived)
S1 E26	Row, Row, Row Your Boat	Lost
S1 E28	Spot the Dog II	Found (poor quality)
S1 E31	Jared the Chef: Toast	Found (Poor-Quality)
S1 E33	Jared the Chef: Chocolate Milk	Lost

ZOOMChats

Season & Episode	Name	Status
S1 E15	Embarrassing Moments	Found
S1 E17	Friends	Found
S1 E18	Boys and Girls	Found
S1 E23	Meeting New People	Lost
S1 E25	Cheating	Lost (archived)
S1 E26	Peer Pressure	Found
S1 E32	Popularity	Found
S1 E33 (?)	Sports	Lost

ZMails

Season & Episode	Name	Status
S1 E16 (?)	Unknown	Lost
S1 E19	Unknown	Lost
S1 E21 (?)	With Keiko, David, Jared and Pablo	Found
S1 E22	With Lynese, Pablo, Keiko and Alisa	Found
S1 E27	With Lynese, Zoe, Alisa and Keiko	Lost (archived)
S1 E29 (?)	Unknown	Lost

Miscellaneous

Season & Episode	Name	Status
S1 E22	Zoe's Flea Circus	Found

Gallery

Stills (Season 1)

Alisa introducing the Cup Game (114)
Balloon Cars (114)
Cracker Whistle Continued (115) (?)
Serpent Tie Creature (120) (?)
Yogurt Parfaits (120)
Ubbi Dubbi Peanut Butter (120)
Glider (120)
Turkey Chase (120)
The bus ride play (120) (?)
Pantyhose Face Doll (127)
Down Down Baby (127)
Mystery Seeds ZOOM Sci Report (127)
Back-to-Back Dash (127)
Water Balloon Toss (128)
Junk Boats (128)
Papier Mache Bowls (128)
Compound Words (128)
Spot the Dog II (128)
Water Balloon Toss Round 2 (128)
Water Balloon Toss Round 3 (128)
Alisa introducing The Flying Trick (129)
Bubble Race (129)
Pablo making Calzone (129)
Pablo eating Calzone (129)
Zoe in Group Juggling (129) (?)
David in Group Juggling (129) (?)
Quack Diddly Oso (132)
Lemon Roll Race (132)
Marshmallow and Toothpick Shapes (132)
ZCL (132)
Quack-a-Dilly Continued (132)
Lemon Roll Race Continued (132)

Behind the Scenes (Season 1)

Arm Trick (118) (?)
Compost and Biodomes (121)
Little Red Riding Hood: An Ubbi Dubbi Fairy Tale (121)
Waterwheel (124) (?)
Ubbi Dubbi Weather Update: Sun (124) (?)
Alisa messing up in Apple Triangles (126) (?)
Row, Row, Row Your Boat in Ubbi Dubbi (126)
Pablo making Bagel Faces (131) (?)
Bagel Faces (131) (?)
Pablo trying to eat Bagel Faces (131) (?)
Run, Rabbit, Run (131) (?)
The Greek gods play (131) (?)
Ubbi Dubbi Chef: Chocolate Milk (133)
Alisa messing up in Pinwheel Cookies (unaired)
Draw Your Name on Your Forehead
Name 10 Body Parts Using 3 Letters
An unknown clapping game
Sheep Joke
Fish Joke
Jared and Zoe's joke
Pablo and David's Joke

Pictures (Season 1)

Color Symphony (113)
Serpent Tie Creature (120) (?)
Yogurt Parfait (120)
Glider (120)
Tortilla Sandwiches (121)
Compost (121)
Biodome (121)
Playing Card Structure (123)
Peanut Butter Treats (124)
Waterwheel (124) (?)
Friendship Bracelet (125)
Crazy Straw Bridge (125)
Shoe Relay (125)
Pile Up (126) (?)
Apple Triangles (126) (?)
Fabulous Fruit Kabobs (126)
Papier-Mache Bowls (128)
Calzone (129)
Bagel Faces (131) (?)
Papermaking (132)
Yarn Doll (133)
Comic Book File Box (unaired)
Glamorous Glitter Eggs (unaired)
Lemon Slush (unaired)
Magazine Beads (unaired)
Marshmallow Mountain (unaired)
Pinwheel Cookies (unaired)
Stained Glass Cookies (unaired)
Straw Weaving (unaired)
Worry Doll (unaired)
The website image for zebra cake (likely taken from a different cafe, as Zoe didn’t make the zebra cake)