Soup2Nuts (sometimes referred to as Soup2Nuts Studios, and formerly part of Tom Snyder Productions) was an American animation studio founded by Tom Snyder. The studio is known for its animated comedy series, its use of Squigglevision, a technique of animation that reuses frames to make the animation look more kinetic, and for its style of improvisation in voice acting.
History
Tom Snyder, a teacher at Shady Hill School, began designing computer programs in the 1970s to enhance his 4th to 8th grade classes' learning environments. In 1980, Jere Dykema, the parent of one of Snyder's Shady Hill students, gave Snyder $30,000 to establish Computer Learning Connection (later renamed Tom Snyder Productions) for a 30% equity stake. Dykema also loaned CLC $100,000, which they paid back.
Tom Snyder Productions created and produced its first TV show, Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist in 1995 for Comedy Central. On February 23, 1996, the company announced it would be acquired by Torstar Corporation for more than $10 million. Torstar would provide Tom Snyder with additional cash to expand its education and television operations. 1 Later, the company created and produced Home Movies which aired originally on UPN, but after cancellation, continued on Adult Swim. In 2001, Snyder's television division was renamed Soup2Nuts, named after the company's involvement in the production of programs from beginning to end. Soup2Nuts also produced shorts, book adaptations, commercials, and interactive online series. Tom Snyder Productions and Soup2Nuts were purchased by Scholastic Corporation on December 21, 2001. Tom Snyder Productions continued to develop educational products under Scholastic until 2015.
Soup2Nuts began work on WordGirl, a superhero educational show for PBS Kids, in 2007. It had won numerous national awards including Best Direction for an Animated Children's Program and Outstanding Writing in Animation.
On March 13, 2015, Scholastic announced they were closing the studio. According to Kyle Good, the senior vice president of corporate communications for Scholastic, the decision was made to shut down Soup2Nuts as part of an overall restructuring of the parent company. Good commented, "We are restructuring that part of the business closer to our core businesses which are children's publishing and education. We have other options to continue television programming." Scholastic had cut the number of employees to just nine people earlier in 2015.2
Astroblast! was Soup2Nuts' final production. Scholastic closed Tom Snyder Productions on December 31, 2015; the company's FASTT Math product was acquired by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
Productions
Video games
- Personk (1978)
- The Search Series (1980)
- Snooper Troops: Case #1: The Granite Point Ghost (1982)
- Snooper Troops: Case #2: The Case of the Disappearing Dolphin (1982)
- In Search of the Most Amazing Thing (1983)
- Agent USA (1984)
- Run for the Money (1984)
- American Challenge: A Sailing Simulation (1986)
- Sub Mission (1986)
- Gamma Force in Pit of a Thousand Screams (1988)
- Lane Mastodon vs. the Blubbermen (1988)
- Decisions, Decisions (1988)
- ZorkQuest: Assault on Egreth Castle (1988)
- ZorkQuest: The Crystal of Doom (1989)
- Fizz & Martina (1992)
- Math Mysteries (2000)
- Science Seekers (2000)
Animation
| Title | Creator | Co-produced by | Year(s) | Network |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist | Jonathan Katz | HBO Downtown Productions | 1995–1999; 2002 | Comedy Central |
| Tom Snyder | ||||
| How Do You Spell God? ("The Tale of the Watch" sequence) | 1996 | HBO | ||
| Science Court | Tom Snyder | Burns & Burns Productions | 1997–2000 | ABC |
| Cosby ("A Very Nice Dance" and "War Stories" animated sequences) | 1999 | CBS | ||
| Home Movies | Brendon SmallLoren Bouchard | Burns & Burns Productions | 2001–2004 | Adult Swim |
| The Dick & Paula Celebrity Special | Tom Snyder | FX Productions | 1999 | FX |
| The Lewis Lectures | 2000; released in 2002 | Adult Swim | ||
| Pops! An Animated Musical Adventure (pilot) | Candy Altman | Altman/Mugar Productions | 2001 | WGBH-TV |
| Watering Hole (interstitial series) | Williams Street | 2002 | Adult Swim | |
| Hey Monie! | Dorothea Gillim | 2003 | Oxygen | |
| Fridays (Show & Tell segments) | Various | 2004 | Cartoon Network | |
| O'Grady | Tom SnyderCarl W. AdamsHolly Schlesinger | Noggin, LLC | 2004–2006 | Noggin (The N) |
| Time Warp Trio | Jon Sciezska | WGBH Boston | 2005–2006 | NBC |
| Discovery Kids | ||||
| Sunday Pants (Thadlow's Driving School segments) | Sven GordonStuart Hill | 2005 | Cartoon Network | |
| Assy McGee | Matt HarriganCarl W. Adams | Williams Street | 2006–2007 (Season 1 only) | Adult Swim |
| WordGirl | Dorothea Gillim | Scholastic Media | 2007–2015 | PBS Kids Go! |
| Weston Woods (various shorts) | Various | Weston Woods | 2009–2015 | |
| Between the Lions (animated sequences) | WGBH-TVSirius Thinking | 2009–2010 | PBS Kids Go! | |
| SciGirls (replaced by Curious Media) | Twin Cities PBS | 2010–2015 | ||
| Chuck Vanderchuck's Something Something Explosion | 2011–2015 | pbskidsgo.org | ||
| Sesame Street ("4307" and "4504" animated sequences) | Joan Ganz CooneyLloyd Morrisett | Sesame Workshop | 2012, 2014 | PBS Kids |
| Astroblast! | Bob Kolar | Scholastic Media | 2014–2015 | SproutNBC |
External links
References
"A is for acquisition". The Boston Globe. February 27, 1996. ↩
Koch, David (August 7, 2015). "Scholastic To Shutter Soup2Nuts Animation Studio". Big Cartoon News. Archived from the original on April 7, 2015. Retrieved August 7, 2015. https://archive.today/20150407165858/http://blog.bcdb.com/scholastic-shutter-soup2nuts-animation-studio-8485/ ↩