Dubo yuboubu ubunduberstuband thubis?

If you grew up watching PBS in the Seventies, you just might. That's Ubbi Dubbi, a language from the hit 1972 kids' show ZOOM. You add an "ub" before vowel sounds in words, instantly making a secret code that's easy to grasp, but difficult to master.

While the show only ran for six seasons, it had an earnest appeal that earned it better Neilsen numbers than even that titan of children's television, Sesame Street. ZOOM was one of those rare educational shows for children that didn't make them feel preached at or talked down to, and the cast felt like genuine friends you may know from the neighborhood.

Part of that was because the producers of ZOOM took great care to make sure that these kids didn't turn into overnight celebrities — that wasn't what ZOOM was about. Seven to ten pre-teen cast members, only going by their first names, rotated out every six months or so. Sometimes they would keep a few cast members from the previous season around to guide the new cast, but nobody stuck around more than a few seasons, so kids could still go to school and have a normal childhood.

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In fact, cast members on ZOOM had to sign a contract saying that they wouldn't appear in commercials for a few years after their time on ZOOM in an effort to keep kids — well, kids, and not celebrities.

The cast, referred to as ZOOMers, would play games, read plays, present recipes, do science experiments, riff on modern culture and more, all suggested by some of the roughly 10,000 letters sent in weekly from children watching at home. One notable story was sent in and read, written by a young writer in New York City about a dragon with multicolored eyes... and that writer would grow up to become New York Times bestseller and MacArthur "Genius Grant" recipient, Jonathan Lethem. 

The series was cancelled for lack of funding in 1978. A 1999 revival on PBS Kids ran for seven seasons, but didn't quite capture the magic that could only come from the Seventies golden era of children's TV.