Stars of kids' show Zoom are making a comeback amid the Zoom video conferencing app's success amid the coronavirus pandemic

Slate

The PBS children's show Zoom aired in two iterations. One from 1972 to 1978 and a reboot from 1999 to 2005. "A lot of people are talking about Zoom these days—it’s the name of the videoconferencing software that, thanks to the coronavirus crisis, has quickly gone from semi-obscure tool for working remotely to household name and basic social utility," says Heather Schwedel. "But for some of us, there was another Zoom, one we encountered way before anyone ever dialed into a videoconference: the goofy public television show, starring a cast of regular, non-actor kids, that originally aired in the ’70s and got a millennial reboot in the ’90s. It’s why some of your colleagues and friends get a faraway look in their eyes when you ask them to Zoom—that word transports some of us back to childhood and gives us the urge to sing a ZIP code: 'Oh-two-one-three-four … '" Pablo Velez, a Zoom alum from the reboot, now works at WGBH, where's he has helped launch #ZOOMIntoAction, video segments where former Zoom cast members guide viewers through the same kind of science experiments and do-it-yourself activities that powered the old series.