The Soup

"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.

In my opinion, this is a good sketch talk show. I enjoy seeing Joel McHale as the host. There are many reasons why I said that. One of the most hilarious things about this show is when Joel McHale pokes fun at or makes fun of other celebrities. If you ask me, Lou the Chihuahua is funny, too. Everything about this show makes me smile and laugh when I watch it. I especially enjoy watching it with friends and family. Before I wrap this up, I must say that I hope that this show will be on E! for many more years to come. Now, in conclusion, I highly recommend this show to all you die-hard sketch talk show fans. You will really enjoy it.

I do remember "Talk Soup" and the other incarnations of this show -- and many hosts have gone on to become household names. "Talk Soup", began lampooning they myriad of talk shows that were filling the airwaves, then just evolved into "The Soup". This incarnation, "The Soup" is lampooning talk shows and more on television and makes no doubt that this host will also go on to become a national name too.

What a good advancement of the series. Joe has come to make this program his own and it's silly, tragic and fun all at the same time. You chuckle, you laugh, you wonder - what the heck is on TV and in many cases you're so interested you find yourself wondering - what is the channel of the clip he's currently lampooning? The addition of the 'live' skits to enhance or further explain the show clips are funny. At one point in the series I started to wonder: What if Joe got the part from Ryan Seacrest on "American Idol" - boy would THAT show be even more entertaining! He's that engaging.

The clips chosen form all the television fare are just to "die" for. And that's the highlight of the show: how much TV has to offer - no matter where it comes from..and WHY?!?!??! Definitely a great show for lampooning our favorite past time of watching TV and what is on when we may be looking at something else more worthwhile.