The Soup

Infobox Television
show_name = The Soup


caption = The current 'set' of "The Soup" with Joel McHale".
rating = TV-14
format = Comedy
runtime = 22 Minutes
creator = Jay James
starring = Joel McHale
country = USA
network = E!
first_aired = July 1, 2004
last_aired = Present
preceded_by = "Talk Soup"
num_seasons = 5
num_episodes = 193cite web | url = http://www.tv.com/the-soup/show/28386/summary.html?tag=tabs;summary | title = The Soup | accessdate = 2008-03-24]
website = http://www.eonline.com/on/shows/thesoup/index.jsp
imdb_id = 0421460
tv_com_id = 28386
|

"The Soup" is an E! Entertainment Television weekly series. It is a revamped version of "Talk Soup" that focuses on recaps of various pop culture and television show moments of the week. The show is hosted by Joel McHale, who provides sarcastic and biting commentary on the various clips.

History

"The Soup" started in July 2004 as the "What The...? Awards," but the name was changed to maintain name recognition with "Talk Soup".cite news | url = http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/entertainment/2002011472_joelmchale22.html | title = From Mercer Island, jumping into "The Soup" | publisher = "The Seattle Times" | first = Nicole | last = Brodeur | date = 2004-08-23 | accessdate = 2008-03-24]

Format

The show features the host, Joel McHale, on a greenscreened set with a screen to his right. The show is broken up into various segments that focus on themes such as reality television shows or shows on E!. McHale introduces each clip, which is then played. He then comments on the clip before moving onto the next one. There is a live audience on the show, comprised of a small group of E! employees, their family and friends, along with the typical production personnel. The audience is largely involved in the show, laughing and cheering along with the clips.

Although the show is scripted, a large portion of the show is ad-libbed.cite news | url = http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20184375,00.html | title = The Q&A: "Soup" Guy Joel McHale Answers Your Questions | first = Mandi | last = Bierly | publisher = "Entertainment Weekly" | date = 2008-03-14 | accessdate = 2008-03-24]

On April 22 of 2008, a blog was started for The Soup on E!'s website. [cite web | url = http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6553907.html | title = E! Unveils Revamped Web Site | first = Larry | last = Barrett | date = 2008-04-22 | accessdate = 2008-04-26]

Regular characters

"The Soup" has its own cast of recurring characters. They include Mankini (a man wearing a bikini), a dancing maxipad, two nerds who dress as "Star Wars" characters, and more recently, the spaghetti eating cat from The Morning Show with Mike and Juliet. Tom McNamara, "The Soup"'s stage manager and former stage manager on "Talk Soup", and Kelly Andrews, the show's announcer, have also made appearances on the show. Executive producer Edward Boyd's chihuahua Lou is used regularly in segment openings and elsewhere in the show. He also appears with Joel at the show's intro, which shows them watching a different TV show each week.

Regular features

The show has a great number of segments that focus on various genres of television shows.

Chat Stew

"Chat Stew" features clips from various talk shows. It is introduced with a CGI crock pot filled with talk show logos and host heads, while Andrews purrs, "So meaty!" Clips are often shown from "Today", "Dr. Phil", "Oprah", "The View", "Fox and Friends", and "The Tyra Banks Show".

Chicks, Man

This segment focuses on female celebrity news, such as Britney Spears and Lindsay Lohan. The segment's logo is a photo of baby chicks accompanied by a deep male voiceover saying "Chicks, Man!" The introduction to this segment has featured people such as Ryan Seacrest, Richard Branson, Constantine Maroulis, MTV's "A Shot at Love with Tila Tequila" and "That's Amoré" star Domenico Nesci, as well as American Idol winner David Cook. Joel often leads up to this segment by saying "Let's talk about chicks, man."

Reality Show Clip Time!

The show features this segment after the first commercial break. It is often announced by McHale either yelling or whispering "It's Reality Show Clip time!" while the audience cheers, but he often will make incoherent or jibberish noises to announce the segment. He's also been known to unexpectedly whisper the segment title. During this segment, clips from various reality shows are played. Clips are usually shown from such programs as "American Idol" and "Dancing With The Stars".

Let's Take Some E!

"Let's Take Some E!" features clips from E! shows. During this segment, McHale shows clips from whatever shows are currently airing new episodes; "Keeping Up with the Kardashians", and "The Girls Next Door" are often shown. Recurring jokes include making fun of Kendra Wilkinson on "The Girls Next Door", and McHale almost always introducing Kim Kardashian as being "famous for having a big ass and a sex tape," while he introduces her sisters as "dead behind the eyes." The intro to this segment is a close-up of a woman's lips closing over and swallowing the E! logo as club music plays in the background, and is a tongue-in-cheek reference to taking the party drug ecstacy, commonly known as "E". It is now sometimes cut to show just the flashing disco ball with the club music still in the background. Often, the camera will zoom in and out or side-to-side to the beat of the music, making McHale appear to bounce around the set.

Clip of the Week

"The Clip of the Week" is one which "The Soup" staff considers to be the best clip shown on TV over the past week. Prior to a commercial break, this upcoming segment is often called the "The Kick-Ass Clip of the Week." The newest intro features Lou pushing a lawn mower over Joel's legs, severing them and leaving Joel screaming in pain while holding a bloodied fake leg. A shed door with "Clip of the Week" written in blood closes over the scene.

Other segments

* "Tales from Home Shopping" features clips from QVC or HSN.
* "What The Kids Are Watching" showcases unusual and weird clips from children's shows and commercials aimed at children.
* "What the Old Folks Are Watching" does the same for content geared toward older people.
* Also a new segment "Miley Cyrus News", features a picture of Cyrus and a female voice exclaiming "IT'S MILEY!"

Special guests have been known to appear on the show, often in parody of themselves. Tila Tequila, Wolf from "American Gladiators", Bret Michaels from "Rock of Love", Tanisha from "The Bad Girls Club" and recently, Corey Feldman from "The Lost Boys" have been on the show and reprised jokes made about them. Keith Olbermann, host of MSNBC's self titled "Countdown" program and Simon Pegg and Jessica Hynes from "Spaced" made an appearance poking fun at the outcome of the MTV reality series "", and Olbermann and McHale made a comedy feud about putting each other's footage on the other's shows.

Recurring jokes

The show has a number of recurring jokes and segments. One of the most frequent jokes is Joel McHale making fun of Ryan Seacrest. He usually comments on Seacrest's height, clothing, busy work schedule, income, or demeanor. Joel has also spoofed other actors, most notably CSI: Miami leading man David Caruso, who plays Lieutenant Horatio Caine. He usually makes fun of the character's tendency to always put on his sunglasses and say corny one-liners at the start of every episode (Followed by the first 2-3 seconds of the opening sequence). Joel also will sometimes spoof a person after a clip. Joel also jokes about how self-centered Tyra Banks is on her talk show, The Tyra Banks Show. More jokes are Joel making fun of Spencer Pratt's creepy "flesh colored" beard and Larry King's age and how he is still alive (King is 74). Also, McHale often comically berates or abuses "interns" for the show, usually ending with a poorly timed audio clip of a gun firing after McHale forces the intern out of view. Recently, the spaghetti cat from The Morning Show with Mike and Juliet has been used a number of times, usually rolling in, looking at Joel, and then rolling out.

Clips

A number of clips have been repeatedly shown on "The Soup". One clip features Oprah Winfrey saying "My va-jay-jay is painin'!" while hanging from a harness at the Miraval resort. [cite news | url = http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/28/fashion/28vajayjay.html | title = What Did You Call It? | publisher = "The New York Times" | first = Stephanie | last = Rosenbloom | date = 2007-10-28 | accessdate = 2008-03-24] Another clip involves Whitney Houston yelling "Kiss My Ass!" at her husband. McHale has mentioned that this clip is one of his favorites. Still another clip that is often shown is of "The Today Show"'s news correspondent Ann Curry starting her report by saying, "Good morning, good morning everybody, in the news this morning, good morning." Joel often shows a clip of Kendra Wilkinson from "Girls Next Door" laughing. When someone mentions marriage on the show, they will often show a clip of Elizabeth Taylor screaming "Marriage?! Noooooo!" Shorter clips are sometimes used as interjections. Clips of Sanjaya Malakar and Danny Noriega have been used as part of McHale's reactions to clips. Recent favorites include Gary Busey exclaiming "I'm going to pull your endocrine system out of your body", and "Big Brother" contestants Jase Wirey and Michelle Costa "talking" to one another using animal and computer sounds, respectively.

Edited clips

"The Soup" will often make blatant and obvious edits to clips of shows, often killing off characters (as in their versions of "" and "The Hills") or splicing McHale and other characters into the shows. McHale will often punctuate the clip by saying "We doctored that."

Original content

Original skits are integrated into the show as responses or jokes to clips. Fake movie trailers and advertisements are created as spoofs to segments or clips. Among the movies spoofed are "Spider-Man 3" (in reference to McHale's appearance in "Spider-Man 2"), Made of Honor, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire,and Mamma Mia.

The Soup Presents

In addition to regular episodes, special episodes of The Soup have been shown under the header "The Soup Presents". Episodes of this nature have been produced on topics such as models and modeling shows, fights on television, and talk shows. During the holiday seasons, two-part episodes showcasing the best clips of the year are aired (Clipdowns).

Reception

"The Soup" started off as a relatively quiet show, but has become one of the most popular shows on E!. It is the third highest rated show on the network.cite news | url = http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/29/arts/television/29rhod.html | title = His Pointed Looks Speak Louder Than Punch Lines | publisher = "The New York Times" | first = Joe | last = Rhodes | date = 2006-10-29 | accessdate = 2008-03-24]

Spin-offs

On August 16, 2008, E!'s sister network Style premiered "The Dish", a spin-off show in the same vein as "The Soup" which focuses more on celebrity, magazine, and fashion industry trends, along with style and fashion-related reality programs in more detail, including "Project Runway" and various shows on the shopping channels, HGTV and DIY Network. "The Dish" shares the same crew and studio as "The Soup", but is hosted instead by Danielle Fishel of "Boy Meets World" fame, and premieres Saturday nights at 10pm ET.

On September 15, 2008, E! parent Comcast Entertainment Group announced another spin-off, this time sports-related, of the series, which will use "The Soup" crew and air on the group's sports network, Versus, to be called "Sports Soup" and hosted by "Clean House" co-host Matt Iseman [http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117992162.html?categoryid=14&cs=1&nid=2565] . "Sports Soup" will air bi-weekly at 10pm ET on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and debut on October 14.

Celebrity Soup

"Celebrity Soup" is the British version of the American show hosted by comedian Iain Lee. Unlike "The Soup", "Celebrity Soup" airs 19 episodes in a season, instead of year-round like in the United States. It does have some of the same features as the original (i.e. "Chat Stew"), but also has its own running gags and features. The series has a similar set, with a window overlooking London's Big Ben instead of Hollywood, as in the U.S. original.

References

External links

* [http://www.eonline.com/on/shows/thesoup/ "The Soup" from E! Online]
* [http://www.eonline.com/uberblog/the_soup/index.html "The Soup"'s Official Blog]
* [http://www.myspace.com/watchthesoup "The Soup"'s Myspace]
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* [http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=WatchTheSoup The Soup's Official YouTube Account]
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