Children's show 'Zoom' a victim of ratings drop

WGBH has decided to pull the plug on its long-running children's television show "Zoom."

The once-pioneering interactive series made by, for, and about children is ending production with its 2005 season, the victim of an increasingly competitive children's programming market and a young audience restless for innovative TV offerings, says Kate Taylor, the show's executive director.

"Kids are looking for the next new thing," Taylor says. "The competition is always putting out new shows, and so is PBS because kids want that." The final season, which was taped over the summer, will air April through June next year.

The five-time Emmy nominee for best children's series may be replaced by a new live-action show, "Hot Seat," which is currently under discussion.

"Zoom," aimed at children ages 6-11, mixes science experiments, plays, games, book reviews, jokes, poems, and volunteer suggestions. Children submitted many ideas for the show via mail and the program's website.

The show, which has drawn as many as 6 million viewers, pulled in only 4 million this year, a million less than last year, WGBH spokeswoman Lucy Sholley said. Some public television stations around the country, faced with a plethora of children's programs for the coveted after-school time slots, were choosing to run "Zoom" at less-desirable times. "The viewership for everything has dropped for all public television," Taylor says. " 'Zoom' wasn't getting the real estate that it had in the first years."

The show was based on the original WGBH "Zoom" series that ran for seven seasons on public television in the 1970s. It began a second seven-year run in 1999 in a new format at a time when children's programming was primarily animated.

"We started developing the new 'Zoom' when there was very little live action for kids in the landscape," Taylor said. " 'Zoom' was a fresh new idea. It had an incredibly successful run the years it was on. But as kids have started watching reality shows, some for adults, some for kids, we started thinking: 'How could we reinvent the show, make it more current?' "

The show's producers revamped "Zoom" this year, giving it a new reality-show segment that took the cast members out of the studio and into towns across Massachusetts. They also updated the look of "Zoom" with new graphics, a joke wall, and an opening filmed at Canobie Lake Park in New Hampshire.

WGBH continued to reinvent the series. For example, during the taping of one episode that will air next year, the cast spent the day on a schooner to see what life is like on the sea.

But during a meeting in August, PBS and WGBH officials decided that instead of revamping the show, they'd start fresh.

"We were all ambivalent about not using the 'Zoom' name and the power of the brand," Taylor says. "But all said, why not come up with a new show idea that points us in the new direction that isn't so hamstrung by anything we have done in the past?"

"Hot Seat," the proposed new show, will also be aimed at 6- to 11-year-olds. It is slated to follow five children as they take on a series of challenges that empower them to take risks and solve problems. It has not been funded or given a green light yet, Taylor says.

News of the cancellation of "Zoom" disappointed Peggy Charren, a longtime activist for children's television and a board member of WGBH. She has been involved with "Zoom" as an adviser since the show's early days.

"Audiences of that age have very few nifty, wonderful, live programs for them," Charren says. " 'Zoom' is one of them. It's very depressing to think it had to go off the air."

William Hoynes, professor of sociology and director of media studies at Vassar College, who studies public television, says that the decision to drop "Zoom" is "not a sky-is-falling moment, but is a serious issue."

"Because of PBS's long track record in educational programming, and as the market has changed in the last decade in the era of cable and satellite television, there is good reason for concern that PBS sees itself playing a catch-up game to hold the audience," Hoynes says, "as opposed to being a leader in pioneering quality educational programming."

WGBH officials say canceling "Zoom"doesn't indicate a retraction in their commitment to producing high-quality children's education programming. "In fact, we're doing more children's programming than we have in a long time," Taylor says.

This fall, the makers of the popular animated "Arthur" series debuted a spinoff, "Postcards From Buster," which combines live action and animation. WGBH has also created several new shows, including the pilot makeover show "Survivor's Guide to High School."

While the impact of the cancellation won't be seen immediately -- "Zoom" will run through June and then repeat -- one thing will be different: The annual lines of children waiting to audition for the show that in the past have gone around the block will not be there next month.

"Things run in cycles," Taylor says. "It's important to push the medium forward. Maybe it will come back again and push the medium forward again."

Catherine Foster can be reached at foster@globe.com