Soup2Nuts (sometimes referred to as Soup2Nuts Studios, and formerly part of Tom Snyder Productions) was an American animation studio founded by Tom Snyder.[citation needed] 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.[citation needed] In the Tom Snyder Productions logo, it was depicted as a pirate ship in space. In the Soup2Nuts logo, it was depicted as a rattling soup can with the company name.

Tom Snyder Productions
FormerlyComputer Learning Connection (1980-1983)
Company typeSubsidiary
IndustryVideo games
Animation
FoundedMay 12, 1980; 44 years ago (1980-05-12)[1]
FounderTom Snyder
DefunctDecember 31, 2015; 8 years ago (2015-12-31)
FateClosed
Headquarters,
ParentTorstar Corporation (1996-2001)
Scholastic Corporation (2001-2015)
Soup2Nuts Inc.
Soup2Nuts
Company typeAnimation studio
IndustryTelevision
FoundedFebruary 2001; 23 years ago (2001-02)
FounderTom Snyder
DefunctAugust 7, 2015; 9 years ago (2015-08-07)
FateFolded into Scholastic
Headquarters,
ParentTorstar Corporation (2001)
Scholastic Corporation (2001-2015)

History

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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.[citation needed] 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. [2] Later, the company created and produced Home Movies which aired originally on UPN, but after cancellation, continued on Adult Swim.[citation needed] 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.[citation needed] 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.[citation needed]

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.[3]

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

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Video games

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Animation

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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 Small
Loren 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

BET

Fridays (Show & Tell segments) Various 2004 Cartoon Network
O'Grady Tom Snyder
Carl W. Adams
Holly 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 Gordon
Stuart Hill
2005 Cartoon Network
Assy McGee Matt Harrigan
Carl 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-TV
Sirius 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 Cooney
Lloyd Morrisett
Sesame Workshop 2012, 2014 PBS Kids
Astroblast! Bob Kolar
Deborah Forte
Scholastic Media 2014–2015 Sprout
NBC

References

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  1. ^ "Tom Snyder Productions Goes Scriptless". Archived from the original on 2021-06-14. Retrieved 2021-06-14.
  2. ^ "A is for acquisition". The Boston Globe. February 27, 1996.
  3. ^ 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.
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