New Zoo Revue

The cast and crew of this children's show was first rate in my opinion. In fact, I sometimes catch it occasionally. It was one of the funniest and best shows of that time. I remember watching it when I was a child. I loved Henrietta Hippo and Freddy the Frog and the smart Owl. They were joined by human counterparts like Emmy Jo and the guy and Fran Ryan as Ms. Goodbody. The show was never that much of a hit but among kids like myself who watched it years later. I always enjoyed the silly costumes, the seventies hair and make-up, costumes, and set design. It wasn't anything like it is today as it is with technology but the place was friendly and warm and a memorable part of my childhood.

Like acid flashbacks, "New Zoo Revue" pops up frequently in velvet mornings after a long night on the town. Just this weekend I turned on the TV at 7 a.m. to find an oversize hippo, frog and owl cheerily sharing the screen alongside a human host with a disco lizard mustache, which led me to wonder: Do today's children actually watch this program?

I myself had never heard of this show until recently, but I cannot stop watching it when I come across it. Is it camp? Not quite, since the last time I watched the hostess was painfully struggling off-key to find the melody in the insipid ditty she was warbling. However, her horrendous rendition of an innocuous kiddie tune was offset by the eye-popping wardrobe both hosts were sporting. Oh my, the mile-wide collars, ugly plaids and oddly tapered trousers were mesmerizing in a fashion-wreck sort of way, but they weren't the worst sights to see in the wee hours. So maybe it is camp; after all, the similarly clad cast of CAN'T STOP THE MUSIC were the campiest camp of them all.

Other small pleasures could come from the random guest stars that sometimes join the cast. I swear that was Richard Dawson I saw in a chocolate brown suit alongside the above-mentioned proto-Barney creatures, and if that sight doesn't stir the drug-socked mind, I don't know what does.

Still, this program must seem as odd an entertainment choice to today's kids as "Pokémon" does to me. "New Zoo Revue" is endlessly watchable as a documentary of '70's conservative fashions, television production, and children's programming. And it's strangely fascinating how a television show can seem wholesome to a generation of kids that grew up to appreciate it ironically as adults who can now hone in on tenuous drug allusions throughout it (see also "Scooby-Doo").

I remember watching The New Zoo Revue in the early 70s and thought was one of the best kids shows of the 70s. The "three delightful animals" Henrietta Hippo, Charlie the Owl and Freddie the Frog had "fun learning what we don't know" with their human friends Doug and Emmy Jo.

Over the show's three year run, many subjects were covered including fear, hate, getting along and courage. One episode I remember the most was when Freddie wanted to quit school and Emmy Jo sang a song with a message for him to to stay in school. He learned that school was important for him.

The heart of the show was Doug Momary. He co-created the show with Barbara Atlas, portrayed Doug, wrote the scripts and all the songs used in every episode. He was also married to the actress who played Emmy Jo, Emily Peden.

In the second season, two human characters were added, Mr. Dingle, the store owner played by Chuck Woolery before being best known as a game show host and neighbor Ms. Goodbody, portrayed by veteran actress Fran Ryan. There were numerous celebrity appearances in the third season, including Jim Backus, Jesse White, Richard Dawson and Jo Anne Worley.

The New Zoo Revue was an entertaining show for children to learn about the world around them. It also told young viewers in several episodes "Don't sit around and cry." In other words "Be happy." La la la la la la la la la la la la la la. I'll close with a line from the unforgettable theme song "It's the New Zoo Revue, coming right at you."

They show this up on a local station in Boston and I first saw it when I was 10 or 11 and that was a few years ago and I laughed my ass off!

It's this cheesy kids show from the 70s...the acting is fake, the camera angles are pathetic and the costumes are cheap as can be!

There was one episode and the owl got ticked off or something and wanted to leave and he fell out of a tree but I remember the chick screaming "CHARLIE!!!" but then reacting and waving her hands 20 seconds later and the frog was dancing around in a gazebo and his eyeballs were rolling around in the plastic thing that holds them to the costume (it looked like the frog was drunk!)

I suggest if you're crazy like me to buy the DVD and laugh your ass off!

I dunno if I were a parent that I'd let my kids watch this..it'd probably emotionally scar them for life!

Also look out for the hilarious "outtakes" on this website...the frog and the owl COME OUT and the owl and the frog get "intimate"...that is probably THE funniest thing I've ever seen in my life!

I grew up in the 1950s and 60s, and by the 70s was wearing hair down to my shoulders, a Fu Manchu mustache and smoking a bit of pot. I also wore shirts with very large collars and loud, wide ties that one could use for a lobster bib if one were so inclined. NEW ZOO REVUE understandably was nothing I was watching. At one point, I got rid of my TV and did not get another one until several months later. My first child was born in 1977, my last two in the late 80s. Suffice it to say I have caught up with NEW ZOO REVUE in fairly recent years. It runs every morning on a local channel. It is fascinating to watch in small doses. I am not sure what message it is delivering, but I doubt it has anything to do with drugs and everything to do with manners and behavior. It is not CAPTAIN KANGAROO or BARNEY or THE WIGGLES or even MR. ROGERS, but it is oddly fascinating -- in measured doses. Mainly because of Doug, I think. That hair! Those clothes! And the way they all clumsily dance around at the opening to that horrible theme song! And that frog! Has there ever been such a frog? It vaguely reminds me of a show from way back when that featured two pretty women (Carol and ?) who sat on swings and taught simple messages and occasionally sang in sweet harmony. Quiet lessons for the very young.