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Zoboomafoo
Genre	Comedy Educational Children's
Created by	Martin Kratt Chris Kratt Leo Eaton
Starring	Chris Kratt Martin Kratt Gord Robertson Jovian Samantha Tolkacz (Season 1) Genevieve Farrell (Season 2)
Theme music composer	Sterling Jarvis Pure West
Opening theme	"Me and You and Zoboomafoo"
Ending theme	"Animal Friends Song" "Me and You and Zoboomafoo" (instrumental)
Composer	Pure West
Country of origin	Canada United States
Original language	English
No. of seasons	2
No. of episodes	65
Production
Executive producers	Leo Eaton Micheline Charest (1999–2000, uncredited) Peter Moss (2000–01) Chris Kratt Martin Kratt
Running time	28 minutes
Production companies	Earth Creatures Maryland Public Television CINAR Corporation
Original release
Network	PBS Kids (U.S.) CBC Kids (Canada)
Release	January 25, 1999 (1999-01-25) – November 21, 2001 (2001-11-21)

Zoboomafoo is a live-action/animated children's television series that originally aired on PBS from January 25, 1999, to November 21, 2001. After the original run on public television, reruns were shown on PBS Kids Sprout until 2012. A total of 65 episodes were aired. A creation of the Kratt Brothers (Chris and Martin Kratt), it features a talking Coquerel's sifaka lemur named Zoboomafoo, performed by Canadian puppeteer Gord Robertson (who had also puppeteered on Jim Henson's Fraggle Rock), and mainly portrayed by a lemur named Jovian, along with a collection of returned animal guests.

Production

Zoboomafoo was produced by PBS Kids, CINAR Corporation (now folded into WildBrain), and the Kratt brothers' Earth Creatures company. Paragon Entertainment Corporation, who previously worked on Kratts' Creatures, was slated to be involved with Zoboomafoo before being replaced by CINAR.

Partial filming for the series took place on location at the Duke Lemur Center in Durham, North Carolina. The claymation segments were filmed at a studio in Etobicoke, Ontario, Canada. Although the last new episode aired on PBS Kids in November 2001, many PBS stations continued to rerun Zoboomafoo episodes in syndication through 2009. Select stations aired reruns as late as 2017. In addition, Sprout aired reruns until February 2012. The show was broadcast in the United States, Canada, Latin America, Brazil, Australia, New Zealand, Europe, Middle East, and India.

After the series ended, in 2003, the Kratt Brothers began another series titled Be the Creature on the National Geographic Channel. In 2011, they created the animated series Wild Kratts, which currently airs on PBS Kids and TVOntario.

Jovian (a captive Coquerel's sifaka housed at the Duke Lemur Center) portrayed Zoboomafoo in the live-action segments (with his parents Nigel and Flavia sometimes serving as stand-ins). On November 10, 2014, he died of kidney failure in his home at the age of 20.

Cast

• Chris Kratt as himself
• Martin Kratt as himself
• Jovian and Gord Robertson as Zoboomafoo
• Samantha Tolkacz as Jackie (Season 1)
• Genevieve Farrell as Amy (Season 2)

Segments

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• Zoboomafoo Theme Song
• The Kratt Brothers Arrive, Calling for Zoboo, and Snacktime
• The Mystery Animal (Song: “Who Could It Be?”)
• Zobooland Story #1
• Mystery Animal Leaves (Song: "I Feel Different")
• Duck/Animal Helpers with Jackie/Amy
• A Journey to Visit Animals (Song: “Going to the Closet”)
• Exploring the Wild and Seeing Animals
• Back to Animal Junction and Another Mystery Animal
• Zobooland Story #2
• Ending Theme: Animal Friends
• Zoboo and Kratt Brothers Leave Animal Junction
• Kids Introducing Their Pets
• Meeting Animals Disclaimer (PBS and Treehouse TV airings only, shown after the credits in the latter)
• Jokes From Zoboomafoo (PBS airings only)
• End Credits

Episodes

Series overview

Season 1 (1999–2000)

Season 2 (2000–01)

Awards and nominations

Zoboomafoo received the 2001 Emmy for Outstanding Directing in a Children's Series and a Parents' Choice Award for Spring 2001 and Silver Honor for Fall 2001.

Other media

There are also several video games for the PC based on Zoboomafoo, where children learn the alphabet and animals that correlate to each letter. Some of the letters have interactive games to go with them, such as a coloring page.

References

1. PBS Publicity (February 10, 2000). "PBS and Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing To Launch PBS Kids Books". PBS. Archived from the original on May 26, 2020. Retrieved May 26, 2020.
2. "CINAR, PBS and the Kratt Brothers Become Partners on". Bloomberg. April 13, 1999. Retrieved May 26, 2020.
3. US Copyright Office Document No. V3455D786 / 2000-06-19
4. "Remembering a star: Jovian, lemur host of Zoboomafoo, passes away". Duke Lemur Center. November 11, 2014. Archived from the original on November 12, 2020. Retrieved July 31, 2020.
5. "Remembering a Star: Jovan, Lemur Host of Zobomoofaoo Passes". Duke Lemur Center. 2014. Archived from the original on November 14, 2014. Retrieved June 16, 2017.
6. ^ "WebVoyage". USA: US Copyright Office. Archived from the original on June 29, 2012. Retrieved May 20, 2011.
7. Williams, Donna (May 21, 2001). "PBS Wins Two More Daytime Emmys at Televised Ceremony". PBS News Archive. New York, NY. Archived from the original on February 14, 2015. Retrieved April 17, 2013.
8. Fries, Laura. "Zoboomafoo". Parents' Choice Awards: Television. Parents' Choice. Archived from the original on February 4, 2015. Retrieved April 17, 2013.
9. "Zoboomafoo". Parents' Choice Awards: Television. Parents' Choice. Archived from the original on February 14, 2015. Retrieved April 17, 2013.
10. "Old Games Finder". Old Games Finder. Archived from the original on November 7, 2017. Retrieved June 16, 2017.

Notes

1. ^ Information is taken from the opening and ending credits of each episode.

External links

• Zoboomafoo at IMDb

• 1990s
• Television

• 1990s American animated comedy television series
• 1990s American children's comedy television series
• 1990s Canadian animated comedy television series
• 1990s Canadian children's television series
• 1999 American television series debuts
• 1999 animated television series debuts
• 1999 Canadian television series debuts
• 2000s American animated comedy television series
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• Nature educational television series
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• American television shows featuring puppetry
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• Claymation television series
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• Television series by Cookie Jar Entertainment
• American television series with live action and animation
• Canadian television series with live action and animation
• Television series about brothers
• Television series about mammals
• Fictional lemurs
• Television series created by Chris Kratt
• Television series created by Martin Kratt
• Television characters introduced in 1999
• Children's television series about talking animals