Zoobilee Zoo

Zoobilee Zoo is a children's television series featuring actors dressed as humanoid animals that originally aired from 1986 to 1987. It continued to run in syndication until 2000 on several television channels including commercial network television stations, public television stations, The Learning Channel, and the Odyssey Network. The original 65 episodes are currently owned by Hallmark Properties and were produced by DIC Entertainment and BRB Productions. The series was awarded the 1987 Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Costume Design.

Hosted by Ben Vereen, the show centers around a group of six artistic animal friends who live in Zoobilee Zoo and frequently break into song and dance.

Each episode is opened by a greeting from host Ben Vereen, dressed as a spotted snow leopard, who plays the mayor of Zoobilee Zoo. Speaking directly to viewers that he refers to as 'Zoobaroos', Vereen usually appears throughout each episode to summarize the main themes or to perform a song and dance.

The plot in each episode centers around the main characters, called 'Zoobles', as they play together and encounter difficulties common to young children. The primary themes featured in the show consist of cooperation, making friends, and creativity, etc.

Each Zooble character has a certain artistic talent that shapes the way they approach different scenario.

Sandey Grinn as Bill der Beaver in all but 2 episodes (see below), who likes to invent and fix stuff.

Forrest Gardner as Van Go Lion, who enjoys art.

Karen Hartman as Talkatoo Cockatoo, who enjoys reading, writing, and speech.

Michael B. Moynahan as Lookout Bear, who enjoys adventuring and travel.

Gary Schwartz as Bravo Fox, an Ed Wynn-like showman who encourages the talents of theatre and acting.

Louise Vallance as Whazzat Kangaroo, the youngest Zooble who encourages kids to enjoy music and dance.

Ben Vereen as Mayor Ben, a leopard who stars as the host of the show explaining what kind of adventure the Zoobles will be having.
Michael Sheehan as the original Bill der Beaver in 2 episodes. When Sheehan decided to leave the show for other interests, he was replaced by his recommendation Sandey Grinn.

In 2016, an animated demo mini-episode of Zoobilee Zoo was uploaded to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the hit TV series. The demo, made in 2014, was a fan-made collaboration written and animated by fans who grew up watching the show, as well as the original cast members including Forrest Gardner, who did voices for the demo just months before he died after battling lymphoma. A second demo had been in the works, but never materialized.

The following year, four of the surviving 'Zoobles' did a special Skype interview with Brett 'SonicBlu' Blumfield on a November 19th, 2017 livestream of The "Oh! Pawpets!" Show, in the first interview by members of the original cast since Zoobilee Zoo wrapped production (Interview starts at 24:11).

That same year, a internet meme began to spread around social media platforms like Instagram, containing the caption "Snapchat filters got y'all out here lookin like Zoobilee Zoo".