The VeggieTales Show

The VeggieTales Show is a revival series of the original VeggieTales, produced by Universal and TBN (through their animation division Trilogy Animation Group). The series most notably brought back many original crew members including Phil Vischer and Mike Nawrocki, along with bringing back the original designs of the characters after they were redesigned for VeggieTales in the House and VeggieTales in the City. The series debuted on iTunes on October 15th, 2019, and on DVD on October 22nd, 2019 with the Christmas special, The Best Christmas Gift. It later premiered on TBN on December 25, 2019. Yippee TV became the exclusive streaming service of the series two months later, premiering episodes monthly starting in February 2020.

The show focuses on Bob, Larry, and their friends leaving the kitchen countertop and producing shows in Mr. Nezzer's live theater for an actual audience.

History

Production

When working on the two Netflix series, VeggieTales in the House and its sequel VeggieTales in the City, DreamWorks shut down Big Idea's headquarters in Nashville, Tennessee after the two series were done being made. As of 2021, Big Idea currently exists as an IP holder for both social media and all future projects.

Around late 2018, TBN requested to Universal that they license a brand new revival of the VeggieTales series, to which they accepted. Both companies then called Phil Vischer, asking him to do voices on the new show. Phil was a bit skeptical about this, and he stated that he would accept the offer if they were capturing the classic VeggieTales feel. TBN and Universal explained that that's what they were going for, and that they had a pilot already written. When they sent him the pilot script, Phil said that he liked it, but requested that he re-write the pilot entirely. The companies ended up liking Phil's script better, and Phil further requested that they have Mike Nawrocki and Kurt Heinecke involved.

Marketing

In 2018, there was some speculation about a possible VeggieTales revival coming soon. This was mainly because of the social media accounts re-branding and going back to using the original designs instead of the Netflix ones, and e-mails from the VeggieTales customer support stating that the staff was in a conversation about a "possible new release".

The series was officially announced on March 28th, 2019 at the National Religious Broadcast Convention, where Phil Vischer and Mike Nawrocki announced their return as writers and voice actors. Details about the series itself were revealed around the same time, including the announcements of a holiday special, a nine-part series on the Fruits of the Spirit and the return of the League of Incredible Vegetables.

The first trailer for the series was released on April 24th, 2019, where more details about the production and the show, in general, were announced. The trailer also showed off a small piece of test animation and storyboards of the first episode.

In May 2019, during the K-LOVE Fan Awards, another shorter version of the trailer premiered with some rough, mostly unfinished animation of the series.

On August 2, 2019, VeggieTales announced on their social media accounts that the show would premiere on October 22nd of the same year.

On August 16, 2019, the first official trailer for the first episode (which is also the previously announced Christmas special) was released with finished animated footage, with pre-orders of the DVD release on various online shopping sites becoming available around the same time.

After the first episode came out on digital platforms and DVD, Yippee TV extended the first season from 18 episodes to 26 episodes (thus adding eight more episodes to the season).

On January 27th, 2022, 11 episodes came to MinnoKids streaming. This listing ran from God Wants Us to Make Peace (titled episode one) to The Wonderfulness of Wisdom (titled episode 11).

Firing of Phil, Mike, Lisa and Kurt

In 2021, Phil made a tweet stating that he, as well as Mike Nawrocki, Lisa Vischer, and Kurt Heinecke, had been let go from Universal/Big Idea. The four of them still did work for The VeggieTales Show up until The Grumble Cure, marking their last time to work on The VeggieTales Show and with Big Idea. Starting with Very Veggie Silly Stories, their characters were recasted with different voice actors with some voice actors reprising their roles from The VeggieTales Show. It is unclear if The VeggieTales Show will get a second season or not, but it most likely won't happen.

Characters

Main

Recurring

Minor

The Scallions
Qwerty
Lil' Pea
Awful Alvin
Lampy
Miss Minchin
Krazy Kenny
Scallini
Adele Pepper
Mother Nezzer
Guy Broccoli
The Milk Money Bandit
The Emperor of Envy
Frank and Jesse
Buttons Crimini
Oscar (non-speaking role)
Bruce Onion (non-speaking role)
Grandma Gourd (picture cameo)
Vanna Banana (picture cameo)
Chog Norrius (picture cameo)
Emma Grape (picture cameo)

Episodes

Cast

Phil Vischer as Bob the Tomato/Thingamabob, Archibald Asparagus/Alfred, Pa Grape, Jimmy Gourd, Mr. Lunt/S-Cape, Mr. Nezzer (understudy), Phillipe Pea, Goliath, Scallion #1, Krazy Kenny (2021), Guy Broccoli, and Radio Announcer
Mike Nawrocki as Larry the Cucumber/LarryBoy, Jerry Gourd, Jean-Claude Pea, Lil' Pea, Qwerty, Mother Nezzer, Scallion #2, Scallion #3, the Milk Money Bandit, Frank, Krazy Kenny/Houston (2022), and Delivery Veggie
Lisa Vischer as Junior Asparagus/Ricochet
Kira Buckland as Petunia Rhubarb/Vogue and Laura Carrot
Stephanie Southerland as Madame Blueberry/Mayor Blueberry, Callie Flower, and Miss Minchin
David Mann as Mr. Nezzer
Elise Napier as Miss Achmetha
Todd Waterman as Khalil
Joe Zieja as Dr. Flurry, the Emperor of Envy, Jesse, and Buttons Crimini
Sean Chiplock as Scooter Carrot, Awful Alvin, and Scallini
Melissa Mabie as Adele Pepper

Fun Facts

The original VeggieTales designs and models have been revived for this series, with a couple of visual differences:
- Mouth animations are now built into character models, can open wider, and are also able to close completely.
- Some characters, including Larry, have different textures.
- Mr. Lunt no longer has his golden tooth from the original series. Instead, he's got a full set of normal teeth like he did in VeggieTales in the House and City.
- Most of the time, the characters' lower eyelids are a bit higher up than usual.
This is the final series that Phil Vischer, Mike Nawrocki, Lisa Vischer, and Kurt Heinecke will have any involvement in, as Phil confirmed that all four of them were laid off after requesting more involvement, and the former three's characters will be recast.
Because of the e-mails by the VeggieTales customer support, the series might have been originally planned to be released sometime earlier than 2019.
The show was originally being animated by Prana Studios, who also worked on Planes: Fire & Rescue and multiple other projects, before moving to 88 Pictures when Prana went out of business.
Some episodes will take place outside of the theater, according to Phil Vischer, including Larry-Boy episodes.
The series will go more in-depth with the Gospel and the New Testament, with more obscure Bible stories.
Some episodes will have Silly Songs, but due to the 23-minute running time of the episodes, others will not and will have different shorter segments instead.
Oscar and Bruce Onion are the only characters in the show to appear without speaking roles.