It became bigger than the production,' he remembers. 'We introduced a new word which was 'say-zee,' which was 'self-addressed stamped envelope,' because we couldn't afford the postage. Sarson says they responded to all of them. They belted out the zip code, '0-2-1-3-4.' Tens of thousands of kids took them up on the offer. Zoom encouraged creativity and made a zip code famousĪt the end of Zoom episodes, another catchy song had the cast encourage viewers to send them letters, ideas, and original writings and artwork. The cast joked around, sang and danced, played games, spoke Ubbi Dubbi and demonstrated how to make crafts. WGBH once compared it to the sketch comedy show Rowan & Martin's Laugh In. On Zoom, those interactions played out in both scripted and improvised segments. and the interaction of people rather than with any particular storyline.'

Sarson set out to make a program that would deal 'with personalities. Zoom (stylized in all-caps as ZOOM) is a TV show first created in 1972 by PBS affiliate WGBH in Boston, and which ran until 1978. They were eager to make friends but afraid of being laughed at. None of them was real life.' He also observed how his children behaved with peers they didn't know. A frenetic pastiche of singing and dancing, word games, crafts, recipes, videos and volunteerism, featuring a young cast that zooms into action based on ideas. While watching TV with his children in the early 1970s, he found shows like The Partridge Family 'were all false. Television 50 years ago, 'The Electric Company' used comedy to boost kids' reading skillsĬhristopher Sarson tells NPR two forces influenced his vision for Zoom.

Zoom tv show pbs