New Zoo Revue

This popular and multi-award winning children's television show, which completed a 17-year run in 1989, is now being repackaged for home video by the creators. The five initial releases are: Manners/Responsibility, Practical Jokes/Moving Away, Temper Tantrums/Drugs, Getting Attention/Saving, and Blame/Running Away. We watched the episodes on "Drugs" and "Blame." The regular NZR quintet--Doug, Emmy Jo, Charlie the Owl, Henrietta Hippo, and Freddie the Frog--get into an ethical quandary and then use their noggins and a couple of good tunes to resolve the issue by show's end. In "Drugs," Charlie the Owl creates a "happiness" pill that causes him more problems than bliss, and leads the entire gang to the realization that you "can't get happiness from a pill." The list of drugs mentioned in the show--heroin, speed, reds--are a bit outdated, yet the principles espoused throughout are timeless. And in "Blame," a baseball through Doug's window sets the whole crew to arguing and pointing fingers, before common sense sets in, and everyone learns that taking responsibility is a far nobler and wiser course of action than laying the blame on one's playmates. Emmy Jo's miniskirt and Doug's doo are relics of an age of fashion long past, yet the superb storytelling abilities (arguably relics of a golden age of children's television long past) will certainly bring new young viewers to this excellent series. Highly recommended. (Available from: Atlas Enterprises, 9301 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 509, Beverly Hills, CA 90210.)