TheSoup-related stories
Posted Jul 6th 2009 11:03AM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: Vs., Music and Variety, Episode Reviews, Reality-Free, Webisodes
I remember long ago in a cable land far away when a little show called
Talk Soup started. It was clever, riffing on talk show shenanigans. We've come a long way since then, with clip shows blanketing the network. And then there's the Internet. On paper the idea of a web video iteration of
The Soup, as it's now called, sounds solid enough, and G4 is a good place for it, but as Michael pointed out,
Web Soup just isn't working.
Even though G4 is the place for techie stuff and they handle web videos already,
Web Soup still manages to feel outdated and stodgy. And Chris Hardwick, while funny when he fills in on
Attack of the Show, is almost mind-numbingly
not funny hosting
Web Soup. But Chris Hardwick and the gang were not alone in exploring web videos on our TVs. Comedy Central threw comedian Daniel Tosh into the mix with the webbily titled
Tosh.0. But which one, if either, is better?
Continue reading Tosh.0 vs. Web Soup
Posted Jun 29th 2009 5:00PM by Michael Pascua
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, OpEd, Music and Variety, Web, Reality-Free
I was a fan of
The Soup back when it was called
Talk Soup and was hosted by Hal Sparks (I'm too young for the Greg Kinnear and John Henson eras). I've become a fan of Joel McHale and appreciate his writing staff and his comedic timing. Never in my wildest imagination did I ever think that
Talk Soup would ever become a franchise like
Law & Order,
CSI, or
NCIS.
Soon four versions of the soup showed up on E!'s sibling channels:
The Dish (on Style),
Sports Soup (on Versus),
Web Soup (on G4), and
Celebrity Soup (the British version), but none can compare to the original.
The Dish is funny for female oriented television as
Sports Soup is for watching the most awkward sports shows.
Web Soup feels like a hiccup in the thought process.
Continue reading Too much Soup
Posted Jun 27th 2009 3:03PM by Danny Gallagher
Filed under: OpEd, Web, Celebrities, Reality-Free
Actor, comedian and classically trained suit wearer Joel McHale has taken his talent for riffing to the next level.
The star of
The Soup and the upcoming NBC sitcom
Community has joined forces with Michael J. Nelson's
Rifftrax.com to provide a running comedy commentary for the perennial craptastic 80s classic
Red Dawn. Nelson announced the guest commentary on the Rifftrax site and
his Twitter blog earlier this week.
Rifftrax, for those who may not be familiar with the site and are therefore in no way cool, is the comedy website that provides downloadable MP3s of funny movie commentaries featuring the voices and talents of the minds behind
Mystery Science Theater 3000 including Nelson, Bill Corbett and Kevin Murphy. It is the only reason I still own all three
Matrix films, that and the fact that my desk is missing part of a leg.
Continue reading TV's Joel McHale riffing with Rifftrax on Red Dawn
Posted May 11th 2009 1:26PM by Mike Moody
Filed under: Programming, Celebrities, Pickups and Renewals, Casting, Reality-Free
The producers of E!'s
The Soup are
creating a new show called Web Soup that highlights memorable moments in online video. Comedian and writer Chris Hardwick will host
Web Soup, which debuts June 7 on G4.
I'm not a big fan of
The Soup. It's the kind of show I'll watch for a few minutes while flipping. But I'll give
Web Soup my full attention only because Chris Hardwick is hosting. The guy's hilarious. He's been making crap watchable since the 1990s when he used to host
Singled Out on MTV.
Continue reading Chris Hardwick to serve up Web Soup
Posted Sep 15th 2008 2:54PM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: Sports, Pickups and Renewals, Reality-Free
One of the long-time staples on cable has been
The Soup (formerly
Talk Soup) on E!. What started as a spoof of the various bizarre and goofy talk shows that permeated the airwaves throughout the '90s was reborn as a show that makes fun of all things television and pop culture now. Now the brand is seeking to expand to provide the same brand of satire and commentary to the sports world. Sister network
Versus will air Sports Soup twice a week beginning October 14th, 2008. Of course, as with Joel McHale on
The Soup the success of its new sister show will rest solely on the shoulders of its host, Matt Iseman.
In looking at
Iseman's Wiki entry, it looks like this show was originally branded
After Further Review. I guess they thought associating it with an already successful show with a similar format would improve its ratings. The network is still trying to establish itself as a viable sports brand in the ESPN world. Adding a show like this might be just the thing they need to drum up some buzz.
Continue reading The Soup spills on the sporting world
Posted Jul 31st 2008 1:02PM by Kona Gallagher
Filed under: Programming, Pickups and Renewals
No doubt envious of all the buzz
The Soup is getting, E!'s sister channel, Style Network, is planning their own version. Premiering August 16th,
The Dish will cover more topics than The Soup including TV, celebrities, fashion and beauty. Here's the kicker though:
The Dish is set to be hosted by Topanga herself,
Boy Meets World's
Danielle Fishel.
Style executive VP Salaam Coleman sums up
The Dish's appeal, saying, "What's great about
The Dish is that it takes a not-so-serious look at the often very serious world of fashion and finds the comedy in celebrity lifestyle." Well yes, that would be great--in theory.
The problem is, this is a type of show that is very difficult to do well. You need a strong group of writers and a charismatic host. While
The Soup may be the toast of the town now, it kind of sucked when it first aired. While two of
The Soup's executive producers are behind
The Dish, I'm not sure if Danielle is going to quite have the "pop" that this show is going to need.
Posted Sep 16th 2007 2:01PM by Richard Keller
Filed under: Video, Web, Adult Swim, Celebrities
By now, you've probably heard about Britney Spears superfan Chris Crocker and his tearful pleas to leave poor Britney alone after her not so auspicious return to MTV's Video Music Awards. You haven't seen it yet? Well, click right here to view the video before you continue. Done? Feel scared? Wondering if that's a boy or a girl (it's a boy)? Even more scared? Now you're ready to continue.
As we live in a world of instantaneous ridicule, plenty of videos have gone up on YouTube and other video sties mocking Crocker. One of these comes from Seth Green, he of Robot Chicken and Family Guy fame (oh, and that show that featured a girl vampire killer. Her name was Barbara, Belinda, Beefy . . . I can't remember).
Continue reading Seth Green wants you to leave Chris Crocker alone - VIDEO
Posted Sep 14th 2007 8:01PM by Brett Love
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, Industry, Programming
"Have you tried turning it off and on again?"
It would appear that the adaptation of UK sit-com
The IT Crowd might need more than Roy's famous reboot fix. According to
reports, NBC is set to pull the plug on the midseason comedy. If you haven't been playing along at home, the show is to be a joint production between Universal Media Studios and Freemantle Media. It's an ensemble comedy, set in an IT department, starring Joel McHale (
The Soup) and Rocky Carroll (
Invasion).
Continue reading NBC's version of The IT Crowd could be dead already
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