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A few weeks ago I wrote about how the internet has made it possible for a person to watch more television than ever before without spending a dime; through shows made available online by the major networks. This week, I’ll enlighten you to something that is available on the internet (through iTunes), that you watch, but ultimately helps you watch less television. It sounds paradoxical, except for the part where it’s really not so much and so maybe I guess I’ll downgrade it to a mild catch-22.
This magical new thing in television is called The Soup. It’s the next generation of show in the lineage of E!’s Talk Soup. Talk Soup was a show that boiled down the funny moments of talk shows, made them into nice little out of context clips, and then made fun of them.The Soup isn’t much different except for a shift in focus. The net the show covers has been expanded to include reality television, celebrity gossip, Spanish telenovelas, and even shop-from-home network segments.
This blend of elements doesn’t exactly sound like the most tasty or even tasteful brand of television viewing. Honestly, not even I’m interested in any of the elements I listed above on their own, but everyone knows that certain elements of bad things can run off the edge of the scale and loop back around to the other side. We’ve all watched hours upon hours of blaxploitation movies for the unintended comedic value. It’s unavoidable.
This is where The Soup shines, and how it ultimately allows you to watch less television. The soup distills the funniest unintended moments from each of those areas into a nice decoupage of Dr. Phil telling someone, “that is one skanky-lookin’ coke whore,” Tyra Banks yelling that it’s a “Panty Party” on the set of her show in order to help women with their self esteem, and self-centered narcissists explaining point-blank to the camera that they’re just misunderstood on their reality show. All of this is served up to you with funny puns and occasionally obvious, but unavoidable, jokes from the show’s very handsome host, Joel McHale.
I think the most refreshing aspect of The Soup, for me, is the perspective the show brings. There’s a lot of crazy television on the air. Not all of it has to be taken, or even deserves to be taken, seriously. If there’s a show that is showcasing something completely ridiculous, in a completely serious way, they will be nailed by The Soup. The show doesn’t care about politics, ratings, or the feelings of the people who make fools of themselves in the public space. If Pat O’Brien is going to play tennis with Anna Nicole Smith in the Bahamas while wearing a full suit and jacket, then there’s going to be someone to answer to come Friday at 10PM.
The future is here. You don’t have to watch hours upon hours of bad television to find the unintentionally funny moments. The Soup does it for you in a nice 22 minute package every week. I didn’t even know I needed a service like that until it was available!
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