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- "New Zoo Revue" Creator Reveals the 1 Childhood Treasure That Led to Iconic Show's Start (Exclusive)</p>
<p>Angela AndaloroAugust 11, 2025 at 3:00 AM</p>
<p>Doug Momary/instagram (2)</p>
<p>Henrietta, Doug and Emmy (Left), Emmy and Doug today</p>
<p>Doug Momary and Emily Peden, known to fans as Doug and Emmy Jo, created and starred in The New Zoo Revue</p>
<p>In a sitdown with PEOPLE, the couple opens up about making the show, its legacy and the importance of children's television</p>
<p>The New Zoo Revue aired from 1972 to 1977 and continued in syndication for nearly two decades</p>
<p>Children's TV stars Doug Momary and Emily Peden are continuing to connect with fans, five decades later.</p>
<p>Momary and Peden, known to fans as Doug and Emmy Jo, are enjoying a season of life that brings them back together with fans of their show, The New Zoo Revue. The half-hour program aired from 1972 to 1977 and continued in syndication for nearly two decades to follow.</p>
<p>The concept of the show dates back to way before Momary ever imagined a future in television, he tells PEOPLE.</p>
<p>"It started way back when, but it actually started in a toy store in Whittier, Calif. That was where my mom worked, and the owner of the toy store had a beanbag frog named Freddie," Momary says. "The owner of the store was talking to my mom and said, 'I want to do a kid show and I want to base it around this beanbag frog. Do you know anybody that can help?' "</p>
<p>Momary's mom quickly named her son, who was a playwriting major at the time. It was outside of his purview, but he was intrigued by the idea.</p>
<p>"So I went home, I wrote the theme song, sketched out the sets, kind of came up with the characters, and I took it back to her and she said, 'I really like this,'" Momary recalls.</p>
<p>Momary pitched the idea to Mattel before a pilot had even been filmed, playing many of the parts himself, with help from Emmy Jo, as he tried to give them a glimpse of what would become The New Zoo Revue.</p>
<p>"We were in this theater and we were playing our hearts out. I was playing the theme song and I had written songs for three different episodes and we did all of that. We were waiting for a standing ovation. And it didn't happen," he recalls.</p>
<p>"It was like a regular theater audition where you just see all these heads out there and you're hoping somebody will at least smile. But there was nothing," Peden agrees.</p>
<p>They would hear back from the executives, however, and within six months, the pilot was underway.</p>
<p>"We actually came back from our wedding to do the pilot," Peden shares.</p>
<p>With backgrounds in theater, there was "a lot of learning to do" for the newlyweds. Peden shares that while it was "totally different" from anything she'd done before, a helpful cast and crew made for a fun-filled time on set.</p>
<p>"She went to the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York, and was graduating from there. I was a playwriting major at Cal State Fullerton. And so we were just really legit theater people. And so we had to get used to not overacting for the camera and learning how to use a camera," Momary laughs.</p>
<p>The two even had some say in who was cast, sitting in on auditions. They also watched in amazement as Sid Krofft and Marty Krofft — a sibling team of television creators, writers and puppeteers — brought the characters to life.</p>
<p>"Sid and Marty Krofft built our costumes. They didn't actually produce the show, but I got to go to their shop. It was so fun working with them," Momary says. "And it was fun listening to auditions because every dancer inside that costume had to be an accomplished athlete, really, because they were doing dance numbers from the time we hit the stage in the morning till night. So it was fun. It was a dream come true, really."</p>
<p>The two were excited to see how an audience would react to the content, which was focused on emotional intelligence at a time when that often wasn't explored with children.</p>
<p>"When I created the show, we didn't have kids. We just got married and I was going by what I thought kids would like and what I thought they needed at the time," Momary explains. "I envisioned each show to be a moral lesson, basically telling the truth — treat others as you would have them treat you."</p>
<p>"Sesame Street was already doing 1, 2, 3, A-B-C, and we didn't want to do that," he adds. "I wanted to focus more on relationships. How do you relate to your mom, your dad, your sister, brother, kids at school? And so that's kind of the niche that we filled, and we didn't realize how much we filled until we went out on personal appearances years later."</p>
<p>Creatively, much of the work was a joy. Once in a while, however, the business end of things would present challenges.</p>
<p>"When I was writing, I did have some challenges because we were a commercial show with commercial advertisers, and I wanted to do topics that were maybe outside the box. I wanted to do a show on greed, to tell kids, 'Hey, be happy with what you have. Be satisfied with what you have,'" he recalls.</p>
<p>While the idea initially didn't sit well with Mattel, he was able to change their minds.</p>
<p>"They said? 'You want kids to be happy with what they have? We're a toy company.' But they let us do it. And Charlie sang a rousing honky-tonk song called 'I Got What I Need.' And so they let it go. We fought for those topics."</p>
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<p>Whether serious or silly, Peden notes, "The interesting thing is that we could see that children were enjoying it, that parents were enjoying it, that it was great entertainment for them."</p>
<p>"But we had no idea [what it meant] until our daughters started this Facebook page and the other social media outlets that we have," she continues.</p>
<p>"Our New Zoo kids are all grown up now. We didn't know really what it meant to people and how it has touched so many children on a very, very deep level. So it's been very rewarding for us to meet as many as we can. That's what we want to do now, is just meet as many as we can."</p>
<p>The family's appearance online has been a delight for fans, many of whom didn't know what happened to Doug and Emmy Jo after The New Zoo Revue came to an end.</p>
<p>"I had my own production company in Las Vegas and I was producing and directing commercials and videos," Momary says.</p>
<p>"I actually went back to school and I got my master's in marriage and family counseling and went to swim practices and all the things you do when you're a mommy," Peden says of her time at home raising their kids.</p>
<p>Today, Peden says it's "the most rewarding thing" to interact with fans and see what The New Zoo Revue meant to them.</p>
<p>"These little children, they're like little computers and everything you put into their minds stays there. And I hope that everything we put into their mind was gentle and kind and teaching respectfulness. That's been the most rewarding thing for me, to see that it worked," she says.</p>
<p>"These kids have grown up and they're making great contributions in their communities, raising their children or grandchildren, or helping in their professions," she adds. "We've got just about every profession represented in our news. I feel very close to those kids now."</p>
<p>Meanwhile, Momary's working on two new shows, including one with his son.</p>
<p>"One of the shows is called Nights of IT: Guardians of the Digital Realm. It's a combination of animation and live action, and it has songs in it like New Zoo did. It is just a fun way to tell kids, 'Be careful out there,' and they will relate to the characters," he shares.</p>
<p>"Then the other show is a totally animated show, and it's called Safari Town," he continues. "It's fun because it features two kids interacting with other animals, but it's all animated."</p>
<p>Peden has a newsletter on The New Zoo Revue site that's "designed to be kind of interactive," explaining, "I don't want it to be a newsletter. I want people to send in their contributions, our New Zoo kids."</p>
<p>Momary says it's "gratifying" and "a dream come true" to watch his legacy live on.</p>
<p>"My goal, what I wanted to do, was write musical comedies for Broadway," he says. "That was back in the day, and here I got to do that for kids and to be able to do it in that format."</p>
<p>"It's very meaningful to see how three decades of people understand and relate to it — those who were growing up when the show was on and in reruns through the '80s and '90s. It is nostalgia, but yet it is meaningful in today's terms."</p>
<p>"If it was up to us, we'd still be doing it now," he continues. "Because I really think that the topics that we covered back then are even more relevant now, maybe than they were back in the '70s."</p>
<p>on People</p>
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