07/31/2021
Before there was Chicken Soup for the Soul, there was Vegetable Soup. THEME SONG: Come on along and join us Come on along We're gonna have some fun Come on along and join us In a little bowl of Vegetable Soup It takes all kinds of vegetables All kinds of vegetables All kinds of vegetables To make a Vegetable Soup. Produced by the Bureau of Mass Communications, New York State Education Department, Vegetable Soup was a melting pot of live-action, animation, puppets, dramas, and games. In two seasons, 78 episodes were produced, with over 200 segments used and reused. To many, Vegetable Soup may best be remembered for the Outerscope serials. These segments opened 70 of the 78 Vegetable Soup episodes, and were always fresh. The first serial starred five puppet kids, all with big hands, who have built a crude but effective spacecraft called Outerscope. During the first season, Outerscope I traveled the galaxy, with each stop giving the kids a lesson in cooperation and harmony between different cultures and races. The latter serial, Outerscope II, sent the five kids in different directions in search of a medallion. Other elements in Vegetable Soup included: The Big Game Hunt, a staple late in the first season, had a girl ready to make up games at any time. Her only threat came from the ever-changing face of bad-tempered Long John Spoilsport. (Long John Spoilsport returned for a live-action game show, The Big Job Hunt, which dominated ten shows of the second season.) Nigel the boa constrictor, segments of which were available independently to schools and media centers. Woody the Spoon (really the voice of Bette Midler), sharing recipes. But perhaps the greatest memory of Vegetable Soup was its versatility. At its peak in 1982, the show could be found on local PBS affiliates (for which it was originally devised), commercial syndication, Nickelodeon, and TBS. That's a program of harmony we just don't see today. Vegetable Soup was produced by the New York State Education Department (NYSED), Bureau of Mass Communications, under a grant from the then U.S. Office of Education, Department of Health, Education and Welfare.
