The Soup

First there was Talk Soup , a show that focused on trashy, well some of them were trashy talk shows, and it always had a funny host who knew the right kind of jokes to say. And then it went off the air. And in 2004 it gets brought back, and it is retitled The Soup, with host Joel McHale commenting and coming up with very funny one liners. They must pick the right clips from those shows because Joel Mchale delivers those jokes funny and perfectly. Some of those shows are just screaming out to be poked fun, like The View, And American Idol. And Joel McHale proves to be a comic genius. The Soup is just a half hour of fun. Please keep it up JOEL.

"The Soup" provided a window into the trash-strewn world of television on a weekly basis, guilt-free. That's one of the (many) reasons I tuned in each week. Just the morbid fascination with the awfulness being peddled by major networks on a regular basis. The only way you can watch any reality TV is with someone viciously making fun of it, and Joel McHale was the perfect host. He had just the right balance of snark and likability to make the circus funny.

And I love the running gags; Mankini, Lou the Chihuahua, Whitney Houston's "KISSMYASS!", spaghetti cat, all of them. McHale's doesn't really need pity (he'll do fine), it's the writers and interns you have to feel bad for. They came up with some damn good material, week after week (all the while making their host look good). And you've gotta love a staff that so joyously lampoons their employers.

I give this show immense credit for completely differentiating itself from "Talk Soup" (apples and oranges, really), not to mention all of the knock-offs that came afterword (Web Junk, Web Soup, Tosh.0, yadda yadda yadda). It was something special, and it will indeed be missed.

10/10

The Soup has become one of those nifty little pleasures of cable TV for me recently. To say that it's a guilty pleasure might be a little hard to say, as it is basically just a summary of all of the weird, crazy, delirious, whatever-you-call-it, and plain bad and near offensive TV of the past week. So to say it's a guilty pleasure would mean that it's sort of wrong on a level to watch the show, hard to admit. But the whole program is like a full-on pop culture version with a little more goofiness of what the Daily Show does in its first eight or nine minutes of reviewing clips. It's satire, though of a fairly low denomination where very cheap graphics, sometimes lame jokes, and lots of tongue placed in as many firm cheeks as possible end up squeezing out jokes. It's hosted by Joel McHale in a very smarmy, sarcastic manner, but he makes it work for what it's worth, and one becomes sort of adjusted to what his shtick is after a while.

Ironically, McHale has his work cut out for him, because the clips are sometimes very funny on their own, without really a word or gesture or gag to add to it. Reality Show clip-time, Chat Stew ("so meaty"), What the Kids Are Watching, and Clip of the Week are among the regulars, and in this dire swamp of pop culture and other TV- sometimes stretching to international lengths with Spanish soap operas and inexplicable Japanese shows- is never-ending. If anything as time goes on, there's almost too much to choose from. There are new categories created each week by McHale and his writers, two of them being funny by themselves in just having no other choice but to make fun of where the Soup itself broadcasts from- the E network (Lets Take Some E! is one new segment, as well as a whole list of those un-Godly tabloid TV shows like E.T. and Access Hollywood). It's basically a fun way to spend half an hour on a Friday night or Saturday morning, and as someone who doesn't really watch much TV and tries, sometimes without success, to avoid bad TV even when it's ironically good or horrific celebrities and people on reality shows I shouldn't give a damn about, it's a great little treat.

This comment is just to say that this show is great social commentary, satire, and humor. Everything Joel McHale says is what deep down we all are thinking. For instance, an American Idol contestant with an Eastern European accent is sinking "I'm proud to be an American" very badly and Joel says "we should close the boarders." It may be sarcasm but it's true. However, he can be accused of cheating at humor by showing clips that would garner laughs even if he made no comments. The "Laguna Beach," David Hasselhoff, and Whitney Houston clips are meant for laughs by the performers.

Some segments begin with a montage of subject matter such as what children, old people, chat shows, E!, or a man watches. It adds to the hilarity and absurdity of the era we live in. I'd give it an 8 out of ten.

What a cult little phenomena, with one brilliant Joel McHale, it reviews all TV (mostly Us) in all its ridiculous, along its satirical take. Nevermind the tiny format, it's all fun with the great running gags, legendary catchphrases (think what ....., Etc), good plays with guests, unexpected segments and truly magical recurring characters (mank....., Etc).

The host plays a aimed-to-be sarcastic (, nihilist?) typical characters is very well handled by Mr McHale who turns out to offers something somewhat cult, iconic and hilarious.