Talk Soup

Talk Soup was a television talk show that was so bad that it became somewhat iconic of bad talk shows everywhere.

Talk Soup was produced for the cable network E! (Entertainment Television), a station devoted to Hollywood gossip. The show debuted on January 7, 1991, filling the much-needed niche of providing replays of clips from recent talk shows. If something particularly vapid had happened on The Tonight Show, or better yet, The Jerry Springer Show, Talk Soup would let you know about it the next day. It would also let you know about upcoming attractions on these same shows. It glorified the insipidness of modern television, treating daytime- and late night television as if it were newsworthy.

Talk Soup aired until August 2002. scuttlebutt has it that it was canceled because the shows it was summarizing decided that they no longer wished to provide Talk Soup with clips. Whether or not this was the case, Talk Soup returned in 2004 under the name The What The? Awards, later changed to The Soup. While these shows have introduced many segments, including "Oprah's Vajayjay" and "Gay Shows", to add value to the show, it is still essentially Talk Soup, updated for the sophisticated modern palate.

Perhaps the best thing to come out of Talk Soup wasn't E!'s doing at all, but a song parody by "Weird Al" Yankovic. Entitled, you guessed it, Talk Soup, it mocks Sally Jesse, Donahue, and all the fun and interesting people who join them on TV. I highly recommend the song for anyone who prefers to mock the odd and the offbeat at one remove.

I have no genitalia
I sold my kids for cheese
I love my blow up doll, so
Bring out those cameras, please
'Cause I gotta tell the world about it
Right Now

Talk Soup... Talk Soup
Listen to me.

You can find the current incarnation of Talk Soup, The Soup on-line here.