New Zoo Revue

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 just purchased the 6-DVD Season One of New Zoo Revue and I am thrilled! New Zoo Revue and oatmeal were how I started each day as a child. We weren't glued to the television the way kids are today, but we were allowed to watch NZR each morning before school. My parents dressed like Doug and Emmy Jo... shoot my dad even resembled Doug.

While I've read things all over the internet bashing NZR, I love it! Not just for the nostalgia, but for the positive, uplifting messages it gave me (and continues to give as it's still played in different markets across the USA). I learned how to be polite and a good friend. I learned about the seasons and how to think. I learned so much from NZR that has helped shape the person I am today.

I've already watched two of the six DVDs (containing 59 episodes). My two-year old nephew came into the room and stood there thrilled at the music and life-sized animals. I don't have a problem with him watching this show... unlike other shows with large talking/singing animals (Barney, HR PufNStuff, etc.).

I highly recommend this show for anyone who enjoyed it as a kid, missed it as a kid or who knows a kid.

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").

As a kid my ear for singing in key and rhythm was not trained and I appreciated the musical and educational themes of the show because it was about everyday life but honed into experiences I could relate to not overly dramatic and heroic episodes of fantasy escapism. Nor was it overly dry educational silliness and warbling as in Seasame Street. Reviewing the show as an adult I see the weakness of the performances at times but the characters are like seeing old friends and I don't really mind much that they aren't professional level musicians. The energy and tone of the show is still one of the most wholesome of any that have ever been on TV. I'm trying to find out more about the music and songwriters and if it's possible to cover any of the songs for a modern release. Any knowledge to this end would be greatly appreciated if shared with me.

I was unable to find any trace of authorship for the music or lyrics on the show so I just transcribed two of the songs from Season 1, episodes Spring "Song of Life" and Time "Take the Time" which I think are beautiful songs and performed very well. It's probably no coincidence that they come toward the end of the season and toward the end of each episode. I suspect there was a little stage fright which will put a slight shrill in any performance that was slowly overcome as the show progressed. I don't think it's anything a normal child would object to as few children can sing in key without formal training and/or musical talent in their own households.

Most children will see the show as a fun way to make noise, dance around, have some silly laughs, and learn something new about themselves, others, and life consciously or subconsciously. I remember singing along and dancing around whenever there was a repeat on because I had already paid attention the first time and learned my lessons. For all you cynical adults out there who missed this show or still don't "get it", it'll do you good to watch the program even if it makes you uncomfortable in the beginning. The fun will grow on you, too! Please don't deprive future generations of this lovable show, despite it's flaws, by being closed-minded. Let the kids be kids and try being one again yourself once in awhile.

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.