Well, it didn't take long after Michael Hirschorn left his position as Executive Vice President of Original Programming (whew!) at VH1 before the Viacom station decided to sack all the good ideas the exec had to make the station money. Starting with I Love the 80's and all of its eventual, sadder spin-offs, and culminating with Best Week Ever, Hirschorn pioneered the whole genre of ADD entertainment where talking heads commented on celebrity pop culture.

But now that Hirschorn is gone and the celeb train has moved on to schadenfreude (it's all cyclical you see, from Jerry Springer you get people snarkily commenting on Jerry Springer, and then you get Celebrity Rehab), VH1 is scrapping the original format of Best Week Ever for a revamp with a single-serve host, Paul F. Tompkins who will run a show that will "have a less mean-spirited take."

So…it's a completely different show?

CONTINUED »

E! has banked on The Soup in its various incarnations for 17 years now, which is highly disturbing when you think that Greg Kinnear was the first host, back when he was a fresh-faced blond kid and before the wrinkles and the bad Ghost Town career choices. Of course, the show really took off after the late 90s boom in reality television, when the rise in unscripted options allowed producers to pick clips of stupid human tricks with impunity.

In its current form, host Joel McDreamyHale delights audiences by giving a nightly recap of all today's worst blunders made on TV. Most of these shows don't need to be watched to understand how ridiculous they are: A 10-second play-by-play fro McHale is quite enough. And then, before the Ritalin has time to wear off it's on to the next clip.

But with the closure of a deal between Comcast and the E! sibling network Versus, a new Soup is on its way, and it tastes a little bit like jockstraps:

CONTINUED »

Over the weekend, Keith Olbermann did not name Brooke Hogan one of his worst persons in the world, but he did pop up on E!'s Talk Soup to guest host a segment and give host Joel McHale a breather. There, he did make fun of the physical appearance of the reality star, who is a 20 years old.

CONTINUED »

DISTRACTIONS Hot chicks and Talk Soup's Joel McHale partied in D.C. over the weekend. [TVN]

Granted, The Soup is hilarious and irreverent and really good. That said, does anyone else worry that tons of great comedic parts are slipping through Joel McHale’s fingers while he toils away on the same network that’s hired Dina Lohan to run her ridiculous mouth?

CONTINUED »

E!'s zany Saturday afternoon staple, The Soup, hosted by the funny 'cuz he's not Joel McHale, is taking this side dish to the next level.

For those of you who just feel like blogs require too much reading, this new "online channel" based on The Soup's popular Cybersmack segment, will now be offered online in all its quickie glory. Pairing with YouTube, the "goofy amateur videos satirizing pop culture" hit the Internet yesterday, through E!'s broadband video platform, The Vine @E! Online.

The best part? E! actually wants to give you money.

To promote Cybersmack, E! has partnered with the increasingly popular user-submitted video site YouTube.com to launch consumer sweepstakes inviting fans to submit potential clips for the channel, with the winner receiving $25,000. As part of the deal, YouTube will both feature Cybersmack clips on its home page as well as drive users to The Vine platform.

25,000 smackers? We bet Joel is entering his submission right now.

E!'s The Soup Extends to Web [Mike Shields, Mediaweek]