(ed. note- "As part of the arrangement with the people behind Sports Soup, I agreed to review the first eight episodes of Matt Iseman's new show in return for the chance to participate in the interview that took place last Friday, video of which should be surfacing soon on the interwebs...")
Soupedia...
Episode 1 Originally aired 10/14/08...
...Of course you had to know that the NHL game between Pittsburgh and Philadelphia on Versus would go into overtime while Matt Iseman and all his family and friends were gathered in front of various tv’s around the country to watch the debut of Sports Soup. As the Penguins and Flyers skated to a 2-2 tie with regulation play ending at six minutes after Sports Soup's scheduled ten o'clock start time, a serious delay was a certainty...Penguins' winger Pascal Dupuis ended the suspense early however, with a laser slap shot over Flyers' goalie Antero Niittymaki’s glove hand and into the far side top shelf..."Where Grandma hides the cookies!" The Penguins win and Sports Soup is on...
He just called T.O. "Erkel"...Terrell Owens is now the most likely choice to come after Matt Iseman, and it’s only two minutes into Sports Soup’s premiere...The Al Davis clips were ripe for the picking and the Gossip Girl angle Iseman and his writers used actually made the real clips look worse than they had originally, which would have seemed impossible. FOX football announcer James Brown’s vocal crutch has been brutally exposed by Sports Soup, "Thank you so very much." Gratuitous shots at the Mets are always appreciated...
"'That was not fair game,' My Cynical Brother Who Never Watches TV says of the Def Leppard bad luck joke Mr. Iseman just told..., but upon review of the video below it was determined that it was warranted after the lead singer put the Stanley Cup down upside down in Detroit."
...(ed. note - "After Def Leppard mistreated the Cup like that? Is anything off limits?")
(ed. note - "No one should ever ask a Texas Tech football coach for dating advice ever again. Seriously...Thanks for the Public Service, Mr. Iseman.")
"It’s like a sports Attack of the Show, with no Olivia Munn, but the writing’s better than I thought it would be. - My Cynical Brother Who Never Watches TV on Sports Soup.)
Quote of the show..."The horn in my rear end, that definitely hurt." - Bull rider whose name I missed gets tossed and gored in the uh...uh?...Back THERE!!
...Calling out bad newspaper headlines is always welcome, if a bit Leno-ish...But why even bother picking on the St. Louis Blues, it hurts JD's feelings...Rafael Furcal would take his mother out at second if he had to...Matt Iseman's intentionally bad spanish accent at the end of the show needed work....(or maybe excising)...No more Seabiscuit, please?...What? It can’t all be positive...End Show One...
Episode 2: Originally Aired 10/16/08...
An Observation...
Watching a talk show about car racing grind to a speechless halt is the opposite end of boring from actually watching cars racing...A quick tangent on a funny awkward-pause-filled show hits though for our Sports Soup friends...and it ends with an awkward Jessica Simpson interview giggle which isn’t a bad way to complete the first segment of Sports Soup’s second episode...
...Iseman then goes to the footage of NJ Nets’ forward Devon Harris getting schooled by British street ball legend Stuart Tanner...
(ed. note - "Not since the Nets' Chris Morris wouldn't stop chucking threes back when I was young, have I been so embarrassed to be a Nets' fan...Jason Kidd would not have gotten nutmegged...represent NJ, Harris...Ugh!...Bring back Derrick Coleman!!")
The Deer Who Walked Up to the Sleeping Hunter makes a second-straight appearance!! (ed. note - "Though I didn't mention the first.")..Up next on Sports Soup, it's Danny and the Dingo, traveling snowboarders who span the globe spitting alcohol in bar patrons' faces, and who actually seem surprised that some people don’t enjoy it...Let's review... 1) Spitting on people, 2) Filming it, 3) Recording commentary on the video of you spitting liquor in peoples’ faces...and not once thinking anything is wrong with it...Ohhh! Those kids.
A Final Word from My Cynical Brother Who Never Watches TV on Versus' Sports Soup:
"After spending the night watching a former ESPN announcer counting down the night’s news, I think I’ve spotted the influences for Sports Soup, outside of the obvious (Talk Soup)...It's part Keith Olbermann's Countdown and part Attack of The Show, especially AOTS' Around the Net segment...and I’ve now officially seen someone get the snot knocked out of them, thanks!...
Now Burt Reynolds is recounting a story about watching an FSU football game... Good night...
(ed. note - "I'll review Episodes 3 and 4 next Friday, please check back later today, for a new investigation which asks, "Is Ryan Zimmerman All That You Thought He Would Be?")