The Soup
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| The Soup | |
|---|---|
 The current 'set' of The Soup with Joel McHale. |
|
| Format | Comedy |
| Created by | Jay James |
| Starring | Joel McHale |
| Country of origin |  United States |
| No. of seasons | 5[1] |
| No. of episodes | 193[1] |
| Production | |
| Running time | 22 Minutes |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | E! |
| Original run | July 1, 2004 – Present |
| Chronology | |
| Preceded by | Talk Soup |
| External links | |
| Official website | |
| IMDb profile | |
| TV.com summary | |
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.
Contents |
[edit] History
The Soup started in July 2004 as the "What The...? Awards," but the name was changed to maintain name recognition with Talk Soup.[2]
[edit] 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.[3]
On April 22, a blog was started for The Soup on E!'s website.[4]
[edit] Regular characters
The Soup has its own cast of recurring characters. They include Mankini (a man wearing a bikini), a dancing maxipad, and two nerds who dress as Star Wars characters. Tom McNamara, Talk Soup's former stage manager, 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.
[edit] Regular features
The show has a great number of segments that focus on various genres of television shows.
[edit] 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 Dr. Phil, Oprah, The View, Fox and Friends, and The Tyra Banks Show.
[edit] 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.
[edit] Reality Show Clip Time!
The show features this segment after the first commercial break. It is often announced by McHale yelling "It's Reality Show Clip time!" or, as of recently, yelling nonsensical gibberish, and the audience cheers. 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.
[edit] 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's now sometimes cut to just show the flashing disco ball with the club music still in the background.
[edit] 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. The newest intro features Joel and Lou in a "Mission Impossible"-type scenario, at the end of which a video tape is placed in a player.
[edit] 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; "What Your Boyfriend is Looking At", males.
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 and Tanisha from The Bad Girls Club have been on the show and reprised jokes made about them.
[edit] 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, or demeanor. Joel has also spoofed other actors, most notably CSI: Miami leading man David Caruso, who plays Detective 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. Reality stars, such as Vinci from Viva Hollywood, Domenico Nesci (That's Amoré!), Lauren Conrad, Lauren Bosworth, Heidi Montag, Spencer Pratt Justin "Bobby" Brescia and Audrina Patridge from The Hills. Joel also jokes about how bad Tyra Banks is on her talk show, The Tyra Banks Show.
[edit] 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.[5] Another clip involves Whitney Houston yelling "Kiss My Ass!" at her husband. McHale has mentioned that this clip is one of his favorites.[3] 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." 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.
[edit] Edited clips
The Soup will often make blatant and obvious edits to clips of shows, often killing off characters (as in their versions of Laguna Beach and The Hills) or splicing McHale and other characters into the shows.
[edit] 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.
[edit] 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).
[edit] 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.[6]
[edit] 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.
[edit] References
- ^ a b The Soup. Retrieved on 2008-03-24.
- ^ Brodeur, Nicole. "From Mercer Island, jumping into The Soup", The Seattle Times, 2004-08-23. Retrieved on 2008-03-24.
- ^ a b Bierly, Mandi. "The Q&A: Soup Guy Joel McHale Answers Your Questions", Entertainment Weekly, 2008-03-14. Retrieved on 2008-03-24.
- ^ Barrett, Larry (2008-04-22). E! Unveils Revamped Web Site. Retrieved on 2008-04-26.
- ^ Rosenbloom, Stephanie. "What Did You Call It?", The New York Times, 2007-10-28. Retrieved on 2008-03-24.
- ^ Rhodes, Joe. "His Pointed Looks Speak Louder Than Punch Lines", The New York Times, 2006-10-29. Retrieved on 2008-03-24.
[edit] External links
- The Soup from E! Online
- The Soup's Official Blog
- The Soup at the Internet Movie Database
- The Soup's Official YouTube Account
- The Soup at TV.com
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