"Zoboomafoo"
Starring Chris and Martin Kratt and, most
importantly, the Conquerel’s Sifaka Jovian who played the talking lemur after
whom the show was named, "Zoboomafoo" taught
us about lemurs and other wildlife when it aired from January 1999 to April
2001. Zoboomafoo, after having produced
a total of 65 episodes, still plays reruns today. The Kratt brothers also have their own show,
another PBS series focusing on wildlife education. Jovian the lemur lived a happy 20 years at
the Duke Lemur Center in North Carolina, and was father to 12 little lemurs. However, news broke on November 10 that
America’s favorite lemur died of kidney failure. #Zoboomafoo started trending as Jovial made
his way up to lemur heaven.
"The Wiggles"
The Australian musical group of guys in a rainbow of shirts is still singing today, but they’re replaced all the original members and have even added a girl. The original Wiggles —Greg Page, Jeff Fatt, Murray Cook and Anthony Field — all retired by 2012. After leaving the show and the group, the yellow Wiggle (founding member Greg) has released solo albums inspired by Elvis Presley. Jeff (purple) underwent and recovered from heart issues. Murray (red) became the new Wiggles’ tour manager. Phillip (blue), who left after their very first album, went on to compose and perform his own award-winning classical music pieces.
"Blue’s Clues"
Around the same time as "Zoboomafoo," we were all watching "Blue’s Clues" — the detective show
for kids starring a blue dog and his owner, the iconic green-striped shirt
wearing Steve. When Steve abruptly left
the show in 2001, rumors spread like wildfire. The show told us he left for college, but in reality we heard tales of
drugs and death. However, these all
proved false. In fact, Steve just didn’t
want to play a children’s TV character his whole life and wanted to further
develop his music career. After leaving
the show, he worked with The Flaming Lips to produce an album and even started
his own band, Steve Burns and the Struggle.
"Barney & Friends"
And speaking of rumors, you may have heard
some about the man behind the purple dinosaur suit, too. But these are equally untrue. Out of the three actors who have played
Barney since he first aired in 1992, none actually faced any of the drug/arrest
rumors. In fact, ex-Barney cast members
have done pretty well for themselves. Selena Gomez and Demi Lovato, both of whom appeared on the show in their
younger years, ventured on to become Disney Channel stars and are now top-40
musicians.
In our present era of teen stars gone rogue (think: Miley Cyrus, Amanda Bynes, etc.), we can look to the success of these former kids TV stars for hope. The characters from these shows that shaped our childhoods will continue to inspire us, even after they’ve left the air.
