TVSquad

I caught Sports Soup once. I liked it as I don't get to watch that many sports in a week and there is a lot of good material there to work with on a weekly basis that wouldn't ever be touched on The Soup.

I saw a little of the Web Soup this weekend as they were airing it in place of the soup. I quickly found watching grainy videos with bad sound on my cool HDTV very annoying. Also in the past if there was a really great web video during the week, it's been on The Soup.

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I knew this post was inevitable. I knew that someone was going to complain about the saturation of "soup" type shows. Here is my take on the issue: I like the soup type shows because they make me laugh and show online/TV show clips that I otherwise wouldn't see. It's a half-hour of mindless comedy constructed by underpaid (I'm assuming), cynical, and witty writers and clip researchers that have much more free time than I do. My only gripe with Hardwick is that he seems uncomfortable with the hosting aspect. Didn't he used to host 'Singled out' with Jenny and Carmen? I really don't have a strong rebuttal other than I like that style of humor and it's a short time requirement.

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I watched a web soup just yesterday, and it wasn't the one that aired in the "the soup" time slot either. The one that aired in that slot wasn't that great, but the other one that I caught, was hysterical.

I didn't mind so much the grainy appearance, it's about the same experience as watching the videos on my widescreen laptop from Youtube on full screen mode.

The only problem I have is I don't get G4, so I can't watch it every week.

Still, I hope they stop it there, as it is getting to a saturation point. I still haven't seen either the Dish or Sports Soup, and I don't really have a desire to watch those ones.

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Have you been watching Tosh.0? The host isn't that great (sorry, man), but I think the content is awesome. I'm especially fond of the Web Redemption bit, where they have viral video "stars" known for their epic failure try to redeem themselves. Miss South Carolina, Afro Ninja, etc.

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Tosh.0 is pretty good, I DVR it every week. The web redemption, video slowdown, and the # of jokes in 20 seconds bits set it apart. I think the writing is on par with the soup. Web Soup came on in the soup's place last week. It sucked. Sports soup is funny, but the 'dish' one reminds me of E! News...not good.

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Agreed. Only Thr Soup itself has any merit. Web one is horrid.
Babe one nah. Sports, why?
Do like CSI:Miami tho. No interest in Vegas or NYC.
Noticing how some drama series are doing partial localtion changes like NCIS going LA LA Land for a couple. Even Big Bang took the guys out of town a bit. Guess all that's a staple tho. Like King of Queens went to Atlantic City.
Soaps used to do that a lot until costs ended it.
Internet must really be drawing off eyes. Can't wait for the
Madoff Soup movie.

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The problem with Chris Hardwick is his Adam's Apple. The thing dances around like dribbling basketball. I can't watch Web Soup for more that a minute without being hypnotized by it.

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I don't ever forget that five long years ago, that The Soup started out as an awkward half-hour of TV hosted by Joel called the "What the...Awards". In those five-six shows the format was constrained by two things; having to give out actual award trophies to television moments and work comedy and writing around the premise, and trying to avoid being compared to "Best Week Ever". E! knew it was a disaster. Everybody knew it was a disaster. They could've cancelled it and released Joel from his contract.

Thankfully they came up with a Plan B format very quickly, which was "The Soup" we know and love today, and though it took a long time, the show found it's stride and within a couple of years, it was VH1 that was struggling and ended up reformatting BWE until it just felt like a pale copy of the show that used to pale copy itself.

I'm going to give "Web Soup" a fair chance. I know Chris Hardwick from his AOTS work and I know it took me a few weeks to adjust to Danielle on "The Dish" and Matt on "Sports Soup". It's just about tweaking the format until you find that perfect rhythm and remove the annoying parts and seeing what other web shows like "Tosh 2.0" and "DJ and the Fro" (which are both incredibly unwatchable) are doing wrong and just not doing that. It's part of the process with every one of these shows.

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"I guess imitation is the best form of flattery". Are you kidding? Chris Hardwick was doing stand-up long before Joel McHale. You would have found that out with a quick Google search. There are comics out there that deserve to be labeled copycats, but Hardwick isn't one of them.

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I'm actually enjoying Web Soup. I don't do sports or fashion, so that's the only one I watch aside from the original Soup. Although Danielle Fishel is a pretty good host, based on the clips I've seen.

It's Tosh.0 that makes my skin crawl - I barely got through one episode and decided never again.

DJ and The Fro isn't too bad, but more for the wraparound stories than the clips - they definitely need to improve or drop that part of the show.

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Chris Hardwick is funny. Web Soup is awkward and forced. I am not a fan. :(

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Hal Sparks just sucked. He killed the old Talk Soup for me. He just isn't funny. He is also kind of a jerk. If I see him on a talk show, I reach for my remote.

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I've watched The Soup since it was Talk Soup with Greg Kinnear and it's certainly had its ups and downs through the years (Aisha Tyler). I still remember Senor Sock. Each time I thought I wouldn't enjoy a new host, but Henson & McHale proved me wrong; Sparks & Tyler not so much. The second episode of Web Soup was funnier than the first and I thought Hardwick seemed to be getting into a groove, so maybe it's just a matter of time. In any event, I probably won't go looking to watch any of the franchises but will catch them if nothing else is on or maybe by accident (like when my Dish guide said I had dvr'd The Soup, but it was Web Soup...twice on "E" not G4).

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I really like the soup style cop cats of the orginal talk soup, the emmy award winning writer /director Stan Evans, was ofted copied but that's the highst form of flattery. He is also a very talented movie script writer and should earn $$Billions from his copy cats. Please give him the credit he so deserves when you emulate his writing style, recycle his original material. Its only fair and honest. Thank you copy cats!!!!

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Talk soup was and is a great program, the TS favorite Soupy Stan , was invited by Gov. Schwarzenegger to Austria, to be a Gossip show about Europe and its cultural diversity. So Soupy Stan has to learn french, italien, as he was invited By Pope Benedict to visit the Vatican and write a new screenplay. He will be the director of the new Movie. Alos the pope has nominated him "Saint Stan" the patron saint of Holy-wood=Hollywood. There was a translation problem, as in Italien Hollywood, doesn't mean Sin-City, but Holy City. So the Pope wants to compete with the movie industry. Stan Evans was so chosen, and we all hope he will accept the Vatican assingment, and the writer-director job for 1Billion$$$$$$$$$$$$$$. The Pope has permitted Stan Evans to chose his own team to work with, so there will be no oceurring ego problems,or other demands that collide and can inhibit Stan's creative capabilities to produce the movie and shows. Thank you. Do not call us.

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