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First Graders and "Vegetable Soup"
Throwing in a little bit of everything, Vegetable Soup mixed equal parts culture, cartoons, live-action drama, and life lessons, cooking up a diverse, entertaining dish. Produced by the New York State Department of Education, the show ran simultaneously on both commercial and public television stations, a TV first.
The show’s format consisted of several segments, including the memorable Woody the Spoon cartoon. Bette Midler provided the voice of Woody, who taught kids recipes from around the globe. James Earl Jones voiced another cartoon character on the show, Long John Spoilsport, who taught kids how not to behave in the Adventures in Saniland segments. Long John’s polar opposite was Luther, who gave kids a friendlier role model. Long John also appeared in a segment called 'The Big Job Hunt'. This is a trivia game show that is hosted by Sue and faces two different schools up against each other, to win the ultimate prize, the MAX trophy. MAX is a giant computer that gives the categories for the questions and lets the answering party know if they are right or wrong.
Also on the show were short films, skits, “man on the street” interviews, the show-opening Outerscope spaceship segements, brief biographies of minority professionals, and Real People, a running drama with an ethnically diverse cast.
Vegetable Soup ran every day on PBS and on Saturday mornings on NBC. There was Vegetable Soup I which was the first series and ran for 39 episodes and then two years later, Vegetable Soup II, which premiered in 1977, making a total of 78 episodes. NBC ran both series. It was also available in 15 minute format for school use and school TV broadcast. It may never have gained the success of Sesame Street, but while it lasted, Vegetable Soup showed kids the world was more than white bread, apple pie, and meat and potatoes.
So I'm obsessed with this show. Somebody on ebay sells these tapes and one of these days I am going to get the complete set. But I decided to try them out by getting the first tape, which has four episodes.
Oh my god, the memories just came flooding back. Nigel the boa constrictor and his owner Martin were on the first episode, just like I remembered. So was Woody the Spoon, making guacamole. Damn, it was just great to see black, Latino, and Asian people on children's TV.
So I went in to sub today and popped in the tape for the first graders. They LOVED it -- everything about it. I was kind of amazed because kids today seem to crave the fast paced, post-modern Sesame Street type shows. But sometimes you gotta get back to basics.
I'm definitely going to be finding the rest of these episodes on tape because my kids have to find out what happens to the Outerscope I!!!!
Posted by Rashid on April 11, 2005 5:57 PM
Comments
Hey Frat, thanks for the words in your post. On the subject however, the shows from the 80's had that style and soul to it that makes them memorable. Just thinking about the old school Transformers and G.I. Joe is enough to make you realize that some of these shows today just don't have it.
Commented by Kalimmoja on April 12, 2005 7:57 AM
damn you must really be old..lol..j/k i am a 80's child
Commented by kristal on April 12, 2005 8:46 AM
I SO don't remember that show...but yeah, the shows back in the day were great. It seems like EVERY generation says that though...but we had Reading Rainbow, Today's Special and 3,2,1 Contact and that trumps all else.
Commented by Diddy on April 12, 2005 2:24 PM
Oh My God! Thank you soooooooo much for the info on Vegetable Soup. For years I thought I was crazy, no one I asked had ever heard of or seen the show.I am going straight from your page to EBAY and see if I can rustle up some memories! Thanx again!!!
Commented by Steven VanAernem on June 21, 2005 9:28 PM
Me, too. I've never been able to find another person who remebered watching Vegetable Soup in school- I remember loving that show as a 1st grader. I am orginally from Silver Springs so I guess I must of been there and not in Dallas (where i moved as a child) when I used to watch that in school. None of my dallas collegues remember it. I feel validated. Alas.
Thanks :)
Commented by Patrinia on August 6, 2005 7:03 PM
i must get those shows on dvd or vhs for real but where can i find them to buy????? please help me find those RARE GEMS!!!
Commented by ayatollah , hip hop producer on October 6, 2005 11:27 AM
My brother and I used to watch Vegetable Soup all the time. I was only able to get all of the episodes of OuterScope I on VHS off of ebay. I am going to keep trying to get complete episodes
Commented by Joanne H on October 12, 2005 7:41 PM
WOW! vegetable soup! that was one of my favorite cartoons, for real!!!! i need those and will pay top dollar for them!!!
Commented by ayatollah , hip hop producer on April 29, 2006 8:22 PM
if anyone has copies of that cartoon called VEGETABLE SOUP please contact me at ayatollahbeats@hotmail.com or at myspace.com/tollahmusic thank you much and god bless
Commented by ayatollah , hip hop producer on July 10, 2006 9:21 PM