''For-Profit Online University'' is a

television special A television special (often TV special, or rarely television spectacular) is a standalone television show which may also temporarily interrupt episodic programming normally scheduled for a given time slot. Some specials provide a full range of ent ...

written and directed by Sam West for

Adult Swim Adult Swim (AS; stylized as

dult swim Dult is a village in Batala in Gurdaspur district of Punjab State, India. It is located from sub district headquarter, from district headquarter and from Sri Hargobindpur. The village is administrated by Sarpanch an elected representati ...

and often abbreviated as s is an American adult-oriented night-time cable television Television channel, channel that shares channel space with the basic cable network Cartoon Network and is programme ...

. The special is presented as an

infomercial An infomercial is a form of television commercial that resembles regular TV programming yet is intended to promote or sell a product, service or idea. It generally includes a toll-free telephone number or website. Most often used as a form of dire ...

parodying

for-profit universities Proprietary colleges are for-profit colleges and universities. They are operated by their owners or investors, rather than a not-for-profit institution, religious organization, or government. Because they are not funded by tax money, their long ...

. The special is created by Wild, Aggressive Dog, a conglomerate of former ''

Onion An onion (''Allium cepa'' L., from Latin ''cepa'' meaning "onion"), also known as the bulb onion or common onion, is a vegetable that is the most widely cultivated species of the genus ''Allium''. The shallot is a botanical variety of the onion ...

'' writers, consisting of Geoff Haggerty, Dan E. Klein, Matthew Klinman, Michael Pielocik, Chris Sartinsky and Sam West. The special aired on December 17, 2013 at 4 a.m. on Cartoon Network's late-night programming block, Adult Swim. The special was viewed by 871,000 viewers and received a 0.6 rating in the 18–49 demographic Nielsen household rating.

Synopsis

The infomercial consists of various students giving testimonies of their success, owing it to the school, literally named For-Profit Online University. Students pay for knowledge instead of attending traditional classes, and are offered jobs as 'Digital Gardeners,' solving CAPTCHA for digital currency. The later half of the special introduces the threat of an evil rogue

spambot A spambot is a computer program designed to assist in the sending of spam. Spambots usually create accounts and send spam messages with them. Web hosts and website operators have responded by banning spammers, leading to an ongoing struggle betwe ...

named Howard, who was bribed with a large sum of ThoughtCoins, a

digital currency Digital currency (digital money, electronic money or electronic currency) is any currency, money, or money-like asset that is primarily managed, stored or exchanged on digital computer systems, especially over the internet. Types of digital cu ...

used through the school, in an attempt to placate him.

Cast

* Nicole Byer as "22MuchBIZ" * Nelson Cheng as "LetsFunHans" * Nick Corirossi as "FPOU_DEAN" * Geoff Haggerty as "USAdude1981" * Brian Huskey as "FPOU_PROF_300954" * Ingrid Tejada as "sALTedAngel69" * HOWARD as "HOWARD"

Production

The special presents itself as a spoof of

infomercials, a source of frequent criticism and congressional investigation in the United States. The special is written and directed by Sam West, and is co-written by the creative writing team Wild Aggressive Dog, a conglomerate of former ''

'' writers, consisting of Geoff Haggerty, Dan Klein, Matthew Klinman, Michael Pielocik, Chris Sartinsky and Sam West.

Reception

''For-Profit Online University'' aired on December 17, 2013, at 4 a.m. on Cartoon Network's late-night programming block, Adult Swim. The special was published onto Adult Swim's

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

channel the same day. Initially made private on their channel, the special became popular online after being spotted by comedy blogs. The special was viewed by 871,000 viewers and received a 0.6 rating in the 18–49 demographic Nielsen household rating. Dan Simmons of the ''

Wisconsin State Journal The ''Wisconsin State Journal'' is a daily newspaper published in Madison, Wisconsin by Lee Enterprises. The newspaper, the second largest in Wisconsin, is primarily distributed in a 19 county region in south-central Wisconsin. As of September ...

'' praised the special as "hilariously" parodying "what some in academia fear is a growing movement toward commodifying college." Andy Thomason of ''

The Chronicle of Higher Education ''The Chronicle of Higher Education'' is a newspaper and website that presents news, information, and jobs for college and university faculty and student affairs professionals (staff members and administrators). A subscription is required to rea ...

'' called the presentation of the special "brutal" in its criticism of both for-profit and traditional universities.

Gabe Dunn Gabe Dunn (born June 1, 1988) is an American writer, actor, pop journalist, comedian, LGBTQ activist, and podcaster. They were a writer and director for BuzzFeed Video, before leaving to focus on their YouTube comedy show and podcast ''Just Betwe ...

of ''

The Daily Dot ''The Daily Dot'' is a digital media company covering the culture of the Internet and the World Wide Web. Founded by Nicholas White in 2011, ''The Daily Dot'' is headquartered in Austin, Texas. The site, conceived as the Internet's "hometown ...

'' compared the fictional college to the

University of Phoenix University of Phoenix (UoPX) is a private for-profit university headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona. Founded in 1976, the university confers certificates and degrees at the certificate, associate, bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degree lev ...

in their review of the special.

Laughing Squid Laughing Squid is a blog featuring items of art, culture, and technology, as well as a web hosting company based out of New York City, New York. History Laughing Squid was founded on November 16, 1995 in San Francisco, California as a film an ...

's EDW Lynch called the infomercial "hilarious", while Splitsider stated of all of Adult Swim's faux-infomercials, the special was "the best one yet".

References

External links