From The N.Y. Times, July 2, 2000
Watch Out Barney! Here Comes Zebby.
By Marcelle S. Fischler

Part 2

''A TV show is developed and promoted and if it is successful, they go to the next step, which is licensing or manufacturing the merchandise,'' Tim Wahl said. ''We went exactly the opposite way. We didn't do it that way by accident. That was our objective. We knew from the beginning that we didn't have the experience in the TV industry and we didn't have the budget to do a Manhattan- style shoot where we could shoot 52 episodes. So we said first things first, let's get people to identify with who the Zebby Zoo character is.''

Tim Wahl, after all, had been wholesaling 8,000 to 10,000 units a week of licensed ''Sesame Street,'' Barney and Arthur products. He knew the market. His brothers knew music.

''A lot of the stuff I write in my head while I'm working,'' said Ed Wahl, concentrating on lessons about manners, safety, family values, counting and spelling. He then sings the compositions into his answering machine.

Along with other partners, the Wahls have invested $350,000 in ''Zebby's Zoo.'' They expect to turn a profit by the end of the year.

When the Telecare show started, Tim Wahl said, hits to the Zebby Web site -- www.Zebbyszoo.com -- soared. Fans, known as Zebheads, started chat rooms. A live ''Zebby's Zoo'' production at the Westbury Music Fair soon followed. Earlier this year, two shows at the Vanderbilt in Plainview were standing room only at $12 a ticket.

''We had a solid foundation,'' Tim Wahl said. ''We had 120,000 kids ages 2 to 7 in Nassau and Suffolk county who not only knew who Zebby Zoo was, but they had merchandise in their bedroom they could identify with. We felt that really helped propel the TV show to its popularity.''

Seven minutes of each episode -- 72 have been made -- are shot on location around the Island, from the Hewlett Fire Department to the Long Island Game Farm in Manorville and the jungle gym in Wantagh Park.

And Zebby has a new line of sliced white bread, baked at Zebby's Bread Company in Toronto. Already one million 24-ounce loaves have been sold. The bread is available at some Costcos, King Kullens, Farmers Bazaars, Key Foods, C-Towns and Waldbaums. Zebby's doughnuts will be out in the fall.

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