Television Without Pity

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Television Without Pity (often abbreviated TWoP) is a website that provides detailed recaps of certain television dramas and reality TV shows, often by mocking them, as well as forums in which members can discuss myriad television related topics. The site began by recapping the television show Dawson's Creek and was originally called Dawson's Wrap; later it broadened its scope and changed names to Mighty Big TV before settling on the current moniker. The site is notable for popularizing usage of the word "snark" to describe its typical style of sarcastic review. Their official motto is "Spare the snark, spoil the networks," a takeoff on "spare the rod, spoil the child."

The forums are known for their strict moderation and rules. Some actors and producers have been known to visit the website. The West Wing creator Aaron Sorkin posted in the forums, and his experience is believed to have inspired the episode "The U.S. Poet Laureate". In this episode, a character posts on his fansite and is vehemently attacked by members of the forum for his beliefs and his violation of the forum rules [1].

For the past few years, posters at the site have organized "TARCon" in New York City which is a viewing party for the season finale of the Amazing Race. The party has been attended by many of the show's contestants from current and past seasons.

The site's mascot is Tubeelzebub (a portmanteau of tube and Beelzebub - "Tubey" for short), a demonic television set replete with horns and a pointed tail. Questions can be asked of Tubey and are sometimes answered in the Ask Tubey section of the site.

Recaps differ in styles: some of the recappers write shorter, more concise recaps while others write more comically, inserting references to their personal life, and adding nicknames for characters, for example. Naturally, each style attracts different readers, with some preferring to use the site as information for episodes that they have missed, and others preferring the more humorous ones, which can be equally (or more) enjoyable to those who also watched the episode.


Shows Currently Recapped by TWoP

The board's staff actively posts detailed tongue-in-cheek reviews of episodes for the following shows:

Shows cancelled by the network, or deemed to be unpopular with the readers of TWoP are considered to be in permanent hiatus. Readers are encouraged to chat in their forums about current and past shows. As of now, the 2005 remake of Night Stalker holds the record for the shortest run on TWoP having been PH'd after only one recap, although the 2005 series Sex, Love & Secrets was PH'd before even one recap, due to incredibly low viewer response in the forums.

Staff

  • Sars and Wing Chun are the founders of the site, and also serve with Glark as "Heads of Programming" at TWoP.
  • Glark was the first official member of the TWoP site and is mainly in charge of its organization and maintenance.

Current recappers

Another recapper, Joe R., who currently is not assigned to a show has guest recapped for both Sobell on Prison Break and Keckler on The Apprentice: Martha Stewart.

Former recappers

The following are recappers that have served in the past. However, several remain on as guest recappers:

  • Aaron
  • Ace
  • Alex Richmond
  • Cate
  • Chuck
  • Dan Kwa
  • Deborah
  • Djb
  • Gustave
  • Heathen
  • Jessica
  • Joanna
  • Key Grip
  • Lulu Bates
  • Manimal
  • Miss Parker
  • Pamie
  • Ragdoll
  • Sep
  • Shack
  • Strega
  • Wendola

Conventions

The board's community has come up with a wide-ranging jargon of its own. They even provide a lexicon in their FAQ to deal with their vast collection of acronyms.

Anvil and anvilicious are slang terms used by the recappers to indicate what they believe to be obvious or heavy-handed writing that has no regard for the viewer's intelligence and bludgeons the viewer over the head with parallels in the manner of Wile E. Coyote and his Acme Brand anvils.

Another convention often used by TWoP recappers is giving characters nicknames rather than using the actual character names in show summaries; for example:

  • For 24, the character of Kim Bauer (daughter of the main character played by Kiefer Sutherland) is referred to exclusively on the site as "Spawn of Kiefer" or simply "Spawn". Carlos Bernard's character Tony Almeida is still referred to as "Soul Patch" after the facial hair he sported in the first season (with 24 having aired four seasons). Penny Johnson Jerald's Sherry Palmer, due to her ambition and attitude was nicknamed "Lady MacPalmer" or simply "Lady Mac", as a reference to Lady Macbeth.
  • For Alias, Jennifer Garner's character Sydney was referred to early on as "Spy Barbie" because she seems to resemble the legendary doll, and dresses up in different costumes in every episode. A takeoff on this particular nickname happened when Sydney's half-sister was introduced. Thus, "Spy Skipper." Similarly, Victor Garber who plays Sydney's fictional emotionally distant but loyal father is referred to as "Spy Daddy" and Lena Olin is the elusive "Spy Mommy." Later, a character introduced in Season 5 played by Rachel Nichols is dubbed "Boobs McPhee," after frequent inclusion of her chest in camera shots.
  • In Angel recaps, Lorne, a demon who owns a karaoke bar, is called Cary, short for Cary Okie. The vampire Spike is "Spicule", a nickname arrived at by what the recappers admit was a bit of fanwankery.
  • On Charmed, the character of Leo Wyatt (played by Brian Krause) is referred to exclusively in the recaps as The Dolt, based on the character's general uselessness and seemingly lack of intelligence.
  • For Desperate Housewives, recappers started off calling John the Gardener "Miguel" in reference to Jesse Metcalfe's long-time role on NBC's soap opera Passions. In addition, Bree Van de Kamp was initially called "KimberBree," alluding to Marcia Cross' attention-grabbing role as Dr. Kimberly Shaw on Melrose Place. In the first several recaps, the character of Tom Scavo was referred to as "Gay Matt" another reference to Melrose Place where Doug Savant played an openly gay character. Tom's nickname would later be "Mr. Mom Tom" in the second season.
  • For House, the young diagnosticians who accompany the show's title character — Dr. Gregory House — are referred to as a group in various recaps as the "cottages".
  • For Lost, the character of Kate was initially referred to as "the acclaimed actress Kate Beckinsale" (or Fake Kate Beckinsale), because of Evangeline Lilly's notable resemblance to Beckinsale in the first episode.
  • For first-season recaps of The O.C., the ever-scheming Julie Cooper is called "Lady Heather." The name refers to the madam of a brothel on CSI, another character played by Melinda Clarke. This is considered particularly appropriate because Julie Cooper, in her 40s, has sex with a teenaged boy and later marries for money. In the series' third season, the character of Charlotte Morgan portrayed by Jeri Ryan was known as "7 'n 7". The nickname borrowed from two things: Ryan's former role as Seven of Nine in Star Trek:Voyager; and the combination of Seagram's Seven Crown whisky and 7 Up, as a nod to Charlotte's first meeting with Kirsten Cohen in an alcohol abuse rehabilitation program.
  • In Rome recaps, Atia of the Julii is often referred to as "Julii Cooper", a reference to her similarity to Julie Cooper of The O.C., in both appearance and behaviour.
  • For Smallville, Clark Kent is at times referred to as Cheekbones or sometimes simply 'Bones. Jonathan Kent, played by John Schneider, is constantly called Bo, because of Bo Duke, the character played by Schneider in The Dukes of Hazzard.
  • On Star Trek:Enterprise, Captain Jonathan Archer (performed by Scott Bakula) was known as "Captain Quantum", a reference to Quantum Leap which Bakula had also starred in. In the recaps for the Enterprise two-part episode, "In a Mirror Darkly", the Mirror version of Archer was known as "Evil Leaper".
  • For The West Wing, characters who seem to disappear from the show without explanation are said to have gone to "Mandyville", after Moira Kelly's character Mandy Hampton disappeared from the show after the first season without any explanation by the other characters.

Every month, in conjunction with clothing vendor Glarkware, Television Without Pity prints a set of limited edition t-shirts with an obscure reference to one of the shows covered by their reviewers. Past examples have carried the following text:

  • "Chung! Chung!", a reference to the sound made between scenes in the Law & Order franchise shows.
  • Oceanic Airlines, a reference to the fictional, clichéd, doomed air carrier of Lost and various movies.
  • The Rambaldis - U.S. Gov. Inter-Agency Baseball League, a jersey referencing the followers of the prophet Milo Rambaldi in Alias.
  • Perfectly Cromulent and I says to Mabel, I says, from The Simpsons.
  • Who's Your Spy Daddy?, a reference to Alias.
  • Sydney's Wig Outlet, a reference to the multiple disguises worn by Sydney Bristow on Alias.
  • Always Bring Backup, a reference to Veronica's dog on Veronica Mars.
  • Inappropriate!, a reference to a comedy bit from Late Night with Conan O'Brien, "the Clive Clemmons Inappropriate Response Channel".
  • Not a Robot, referring to Battlestar Galactica.
  • Go to Hell! Heaven Is Full of Camdens, referring to the Camden family on 7th Heaven, a show actively despised by most of the members of the former 7th Heaven forum.
  • The Fake News Is All I Need, a reference to The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.
  • I Make It Work, a reference to the encouragement of designers on Project Runway by mentor Tim Gunn.

Glarkware additionally produces some accessories relating to TWoP, including buttons and magnets (collectively referred to as thingees) as well as messenger bags. The TWoP-related thingees include Deluxe Tubey Thingees, depicting Tubey in references to a variety of shows; and certain Seemingly Random Thingees, relating to specific shows like Lost ("Dude!"), The Amazing Race ("My Ox Is Broken! And We Hate You!"), Buffy the Vampire Slayer ("Shut Up, Spike"), and Alias ("Friends of Flinkman").

References

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