Ok.. I’ve become a British Television snob. I can’t stand laugh tracks, and if it’s not either absurd, or intriguing, I don’t want it. I’d rather read a book.

Yes, I know, this is abnormal. I’ve never watched a single episode of “Survivor”, and I never plan to. My only “reality TV” addiction is COPS – and hey, that’s just good television. Drunk rednecks with no shirts being arrested. God bless Nielsen ratings.

COPS is probably one of the longest running shows that isn’t a Soap Opera(, which doesn’t really count, anyhow.) It was initially broadcast in 1988. It’s almost 20 years old. That’s a heck of a long time for a TV series (Simpsons, which started in 1989 is the only one that I can think of that comes close.)

Anyhow, I was recently introduced to Love Soup entirely by accident. I was watching the BBC World News, and left the TV on.

I’ve missed most of this six episode series, here, in episode 4, We find that Alice, played by Tasmin Greig (Black Books), is getting older, and trying to find her place in life. Pretty standard drama, right?

Well, an ex-bf’s parents drop by. She finds that he died of an incurable nervous disease which took hold shortly after they broke up. In his will, asked [his folks] to bring her the tapes he secretly made while they were having sex.

While there, they tell her she has the only tapes, but they’ve used the internet to convert them into MPEGs, and everyone in the family has a full set of DVDs.

All of this while sitting around a coffee table. The absurdity of this is just brilliant – even if it makes the rest of the show incredibly mundane by comparison.