It’s the ‘New Zoo Revue,’ Comin’ Right at You—Catch Up with Doug and Emmy Jo 50 Years Later (Exclusive)

In the aftermath of Sesame Street’s 1969 arrival, there were a number of educational children’s television shows in the 1970s, among them The Electric Company and Zoom, but one, New Zoo Revue, is currently enjoying a renaissance and capturing the imaginations of fans old and new nearly 50 years after it went off the air.

Hosted by Doug and Emmy Jo (actually co-creator Doug Momary and his wife, Emily Peden, who is happy to go by her stage name), New Zoo Revue ran for 196 episodes between 1972 and 1977. In it, the duo interacts with a number of costumed characters — most notably Freddie the Frog, Henrietta Hippo and Charlie the Owl — in stories designed to help youngsters explore their feelings. Those tales are driven by three songs per episode, Momery composing and performing about 600 in all.

In the following interview, the duo explain how it all came about in the first place and, just as importantly, how and why they’ve been rediscovered all these years later.

WOMAN’S WORLD: So how did this resurgence come about?

Emmy Jo: We have three kids and about a year-and-a-half ago our oldest daughter, Joanna, said, “Mom and Dad, I think it’s time that you had a Facebook page. You have a lot of people out there that love you and you should connect with them.” And I was sort of floored, because my life has been completely out of the public eye for all these years. I said, “Well, I’ll give it a try,” and I really did it more for him. But I’m telling you, we are having a blast. We have met the most wonderful people and I’m so proud of our New Zoo Kids. It’s been very life-giving for us, very exciting.

Doug Momary: We forgot about New Zoo Revue for 40 years. I’ve been in Las Vegas doing production with my own production company for all these years, and all of a sudden we find out that — wow — our show made an impact on people.

Emmy Jo: To hear the stories of what people were doing when they watched the show and what it meant to them … oh my goodness, it’s very emotional sometimes and I’m thankful we had an impact and that we can have a connection now.

WW: After the Facebook page was built, what was the first hint that something was happening?

Doug Momary: We did a Facebook Live and that’s when it kind of took off.

Emmy Jo: And then Joanna decided we needed to go to San Diego Comic-Con; I didn’t even know what Comic-Con was. I’m sure you’ve been there, but it’s an event. That’s really where we met so many people.

Doug Momary: That’s where the fans — we actually call them family — were lined up around the whole place to see us, which was really great.

Emmy Jo: There was one that came up with tears in his eyes. He said, “My mother passed away a few years ago and I always remember I watched New Zoo Revue sitting on her lap when I was a kid.”

Doug Momary: We had a lot of stories like that. One guy came up to Emmy Jo and said, “I’m not in prison because of your show.” And this is a guy with tattoos up one side and down the other; a very muscular, tough-looking guy. It was shocking to hear.

Emmy Jo: Some came from the most wonderful families you can imagine, but some came from very dysfunctional, sad environments. We’ve had many of our New Zoo Kids say, “We fantasized that you were our parents or you were our aunt and uncle and we wanted to live there on that set with you.” Somehow, watching our show and internalizing the values that Doug put in all of his stories and the love and the kindness saved him, he said, and gave him something else to live for. I’m thankful that our show seems to have had a good effect.

WW: New Zoo Revue arrived around the time of Sesame Street, Zoom and The Electric Company, right?

Doug Momary: Well, we were in the same timeframe as when Sesame Street first got on the scene, and where they were teaching 1, 2, 3, A, B, C, I wanted to do something that was more relational. You know, how do you treat your brother and sister? How do you relate to your mom and dad and your teacher? We kind of went the emotional route. And we had a chance to do this, because my mom worked at a toy store in Whittier, California and the owner of the toy store had beanbag frogs that I helped design. She went to my mom and said, “Do you know anybody that could create a show around this frog? I have an opportunity and I’d like to explore it.” And my mom, being a good mom, said, “My son is a playwriting major at Cal State Fuller and he’s working for you. I’m sure he could help you.”

I met with her and she said, “My only requirement is that you use this frog.” So, I went home and I wrote the theme song, sketched out the characters and designed the set. It was set all around a zoo, but the character of Freddie the Frog was born at that time and so was the theme song. We did an audition for the owners of Mattel Toys and a few weeks later we got a call telling us they wanted to do a pilot. They contracted with Sid and Marty Krofft to build our costumes and we got to go into their shop, where I got to say, “No, give Freddy a smile.” All of a sudden we were going to do a pilot.

Emmy Jo: Neither one of us had ever done anything in television before. We had a theater background, but television was very different, so we had a pretty big learning curve, but we had people to help us along the way and it all worked out just fine. We were quite comfortable with it, and I would have to say those years were really fun and we were a very close community.

WW: The show was in production for four years. Did it evolve much during that time?

Doug Momary: It really only progressed in that we got better at it. We were just so fortunate to have really good writers that took my stories and brought them to life. And then composing the songs I was very thrilled to do; it was like a mini-musical comedy every day for kids. Each episode had three songs that furthered the plot along. That was a joy, because my dream was to be on Broadway one day with my own show, but I’ll take doing a musical comedy for kids.

WW: When the show ended, did you consider doing another series?

Doug Momary: I had an opportunity to open a production company in Las Vegas and there was no company like it in Vegas at the time. And, so, I got in on the ground floor of that booming city and was able to use my talents, not as a kid show host or kid show writer, but behind the scenes as a director, producer and writer for ad agencies.

Emmy Jo: We just left that behind us, and my days were filled with violin lessons and swim lessons and being a schoolroom mother and all the stuff that moms do. And I went back to school, got my master’s in marriage and family counseling, and I did counseling for a while. I worked in our church for a while, then we got a little farm and the grandkids started coming. And I’m a pretty good grandmother, I think, just enjoying my grandkids. Then Joanna walks in the house and says, “Mom, your life’s going to change.” And it has. Now Doug has actually developed a new kid’s show.

Doug Momary: I wanted to do a show about digital citizenship, bullying online and all the other stuff that’s going on now, and so I created a show called The Knights of IT, Guardians of the Digital Realm, and it’s kind of like New Zoo. It’s got three songs in it. It’s got an evil kind of sorcerer that plays havoc with the kids, changing their texts and stuff like that. And then it’s got heroes that come in and make it right and say, “Don’t do that, and let’s treat each other with kindness.” So, it’s kind of the same message, because the messages that we did back then are still applicable right now. Maybe even more so.

Emmy Jo: Everybody’s got a phone or is online and there’s online bullying and the ugliness that’s not good or healthy, which have also contributed to suicides. So, I think if we can get funding for it, it’s going to be a very important show. Part of it is born out of the fact that we have all these grandkids, and we can see what’s out there.