Television Without Pity (often abbreviated TWoP) was a website that provided detailed recaps of select television dramas,

situation comedies A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use new ...

and reality TV shows along with discussion forums. These recaps were written with sarcastic criticism and opinion alongside a retelling of an episode's events, which the site referred to as "snark". Their official motto is "Spare the snark, spoil the networks," a takeoff on "spare the rod, spoil the child" and its mascot is Tubeelzebub (a

portmanteau A portmanteau word, or portmanteau (, ) is a blend of wordstube and

Beelzebub Beelzebub ( ; he, ''Baʿal-zəḇūḇ'') or Beelzebul is a name derived from a Philistine god, formerly worshipped in Ekron, and later adopted by some Abrahamic religions as a major demon. The name ''Beelzebub'' is associated with the Ca ...

– "Tubey" for short), a devilish television set with horns and a pointed tail. Initially established in 1998 to recap the show ''

Dawson's Creek ''Dawson's Creek'' is an American teen drama television series about the lives of a close-knit group of friends in the fictional town of Capeside, Massachusetts, beginning in high school and continuing into college that ran from 1998 to 2003. ...

'', the site changed its name to ''Mighty Big TV'' when it expanded to other shows. It adopted the ''Television Without Pity'' name by 2002. The site was bought by the Bravo network within

NBCUniversal NBCUniversal Media, LLC is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate corporation owned by Comcast and headquartered at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, United States. NBCUniversal is primaril ...

in 2007, which continued to operate it until it was shuttered in April 2014. Sometime after this point, the site and branding was acquired by

Tribune Media Tribune Media Company, also known as Tribune Company, was an American multimedia conglomerate headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. Through Tribune Broadcasting, Tribune Media was one of the largest television broadcasting companies, owning 39 t ...

, who had announced plans in 2016 for a relaunch, but this was scrapped among other cost-cutting measures at Tribune in April 2017. The site's recap and forum archives remained available at the BrilliantButCancelled website until the archives went down in late 2021. ''Television Without Pity'' is credited with popularizing the format of television episode recaps intermixed with running commentary. The site was also known to be used by television show producers, directors, and writers to gain more immediate feedback for their works and take in the constructive criticism for their future works.

History

The site began in late 1998 by Sarah Bunting and Tara Ariano, with technical support from David Cole, as an online forum driven by discussion of the show ''

'', then named ''DawsonsWrap''. Their commentary specifically focused on the show's central character Dawson Leery, and Bunting said that this had caught their attention because "insidious, sexist, lazy writing had us apoplectic, not least because we're supposed to identify with a character who, on his best day, is an obnoxious, self-absorbed twit." Their activities included writing recaps of each episode intermixed with their criticism, establishing the use of sarcastic criticism or "snark" within these recaps. Though they did not believe they had a direct impact on ''Dawson's Creek'' itself, they felt that by the end of the show's run, they had a seen a change in the show's writing that seemed to take the show's critics to heart. The ''DawsonsWrap'' format was popular, and by 1999, they expanded to include other shows with a similar approach, rebranding the site as ''Mighty Big TV''. Around 2002, the site continued to expand and rebranded itself as ''Television Without Pity'', providing the slogan "Spare the Snark, Spoil the Networks" In 2006, Ariano and Bunting published a Television Without Pity spinoff book, called ''Television Without Pity: 752 Things We Love To Hate (and Hate To Love) About TV''. In March 2007 the site was purchased by the Bravo unit of

for an undisclosed sum. ''Television Without Pity'' was expected to run independently under this acquisition, with Bunting and Ariano remaining in full editorial control of the site. Bravo had anticipated using the site's two million unique visitors at the time to enhance revenues from online advertising, recognizing that most visitors to ''Television Without Pity'' were devotees of one or more specific shows. A year after Bravo's acquisition, founders Bunting, Ariano, and Cole all announced they were departing ''Television Without Pity''. Around the same time, the site was redesigned and expanded to include features such as a wiki, videos, and a subsection "Movies without Pity". NBCUniversal announced on March 27, 2014 that it would close down ''Television Without Pity'' on April 4, with the forums remaining open until May 31; this closure was announced alongside that of '' DailyCandy'', and a few months after closure of '' iVillage'', both websites acquired through NBCUniversal and its subsidiaries. NBCUniversal had tried to shop the site around, and find ways to monetize its content better, but could not find a way to make the site viable in that then-current environment. Initially, the site's archives were to have been stored electronically and not available to the public, but by demand, NBCUniversal affirmed it would make the recaps and archives of the forums available after the site's closure. The archives were eventually hosted under the '' Brilliant But Cancelled'' website, which operated without issues until June 2021, when the archives vanished entirely from the Internet and have not (as of October 2022) returned. At some point following the site's closure, the ''Television Without Pity'' branding and website were acquired by

. In a statement to '' The A.V. Club'' in April 2016, Tribune Media said they were in plans to relaunch the brand and were "working with some of the industry's favorite talent, influencers and strategic partners on a relaunch". The ''Television Without Pity'' site was updated with a teaser image with Tubeelzebub and the text "Something wicked this way comes... returning in 2017". However, the relaunch plans were scrapped by Tribune Media April 2017, alongside other cost-cutting measures, including layoffs and shuttering of new editorial content at '' Screener''.

Show recaps and forums

Recaps differ in styles: some of the recappers write shorter, more concise recaps while others write more comically, inserting references to their personal life. 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. Beginning in 2007, TWoP introduced "weecaps" – initially presented as single-page television series reviews written in real time. The abbreviated recap style – first used for coverage of ''The Real World/Road Rules Challenge'' and ''Dancing with the Stars'' during the spring – was later employed for a larger slate of summer replacement series, with eventual reconfiguring into multi-page entries. Shows with weecaps also gain dedicated forums with topic areas as with regularly recapped shows. The American version of ''

Survivor Survivor(s) may refer to: Actual survivors * *Last survivors of historical events Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional entities * Survivors, characters in the 1997 ''KKnD'' video-game series * ''The Survivors'', or the ''New Survivors Found ...

'' used weecap coverage for the start of its China season but full recaps returned with that edition's 7th episode and have remained in place since then. Shows canceled by the network (or deemed to be unpopular with the readers of TWoP) are considered to be in ''permanent hiatus'', a status which is rarely reversed except for reality shows: the U.S. version of ''

Big Brother Big Brother may refer to: * Big Brother (''Nineteen Eighty-Four''), a character from George Orwell's novel ''Nineteen Eighty-Four'' ** Authoritarian personality, any omnipresent figure representing oppressive control ** Big Brother Awards, a sat ...

'' returned to coverage in June 2006 when its All-Stars season began for the first time since its third season; ''

Real World/Road Rules Challenge ''The Challenge'' (originally known as ''Road Rules: All Stars'', followed by ''Real World/Road Rules Challenge'') is a reality competition show on MTV that is spun off from two of the network's reality shows, ''The Real World'' and '' Road Ru ...

'' also returned to the active list in April 2007, with its recapping format switched to a shorter, real-time commentary; and while the site decided after the sixth edition of '' The Apprentice'' to stop recaps, the '' Celebrity Apprentice'' edition was brought back for coverage. Shows placed into permanent hiatus will generally have their forum threads readable but locked, and given a single dedicated thread in the appropriate miscellaneous forum categories; the recaps remain available on the site, though in the "Permanent hiatus" section. There are some exceptions; ''Doctor Who'' coverage was put into permanent hiatus after the 2nd season; Glark commented on the action of moving the show to permanent hiatus that "If you want to know what Bit Torrent is, ask a Doctor Who fan". The full ''Doctor Who'' threaded forum was retained though moved into the Sci-Fi show category, and remains fully active with moderation. The 2005 remake of '' Night Stalker'' holds the record for the shortest run on TWoP, having been put on Permanent Hiatus after only one recap, although the 2005 series ''

Sex, Love & Secrets ''Sex, Love & Secrets'' is an American soap opera, created by Michael Gans and Richard Register, which originally aired on United Paramount Network (UPN) from September 27, 2005, to October 18, 2005. With an ensemble cast led by Denise Richa ...

'' was expunged before even one recap, due to incredibly low viewer response in the forums. The shows covered are almost exclusively American, with the exceptions of the new series of '' Doctor Who'', which is a British import to US television, and the original UK version of ''

Queer as Folk ''Queer as Folk'' may refer to: * ''Queer as Folk'' (British TV series), 1999–2000 * ''Queer as Folk'' (American TV series), a 2000–2005 American and Canadian version of the UK series ** ''Queer as Folk'' soundtracks, soundtrack albums from ...

'', which was a British import to Canadian television. Both shows are

Russell T Davies Stephen Russell Davies (born 27 April 1963), better known as Russell T Davies, is a Welsh screenwriter and television producer whose works include ''Queer as Folk'', ''The Second Coming'', '' Casanova'', the 2005 revival of the BBC One scien ...

productions. At times, the site may offer a charity auction for "Tubey's Kids", whereby the person with the largest donation can request a recap of a specific episode or show (no longer than one hour) by any specific recapper. The results of these recaps are posted as "Mondo Extras" on the site. The forum for each active show includes threads for each episode of a show, a speculation thread, spoiler information, media references to the show, character/contestant-specific threads, and a general "meet market" for forum users. The forums are heavily moderated by staff to avoid significant off-topic discussion, unprotected spoiler information, and flame wars.

Impact

''Television Without Pity'' was known to have established the use of recapping with commentary as a viable genre of criticism alongside a social space as to talk about shows. ''Television Without Pity'' predated the growth of

social media Social media are interactive media technologies that facilitate the creation and sharing of information, ideas, interests, and other forms of expression through virtual communities and networks. While challenges to the definition of ''social me ...

, but through its forums established the social nature of watching television shows together. Sites like '' The A.V. Club'' grew from this type of approach, and social media is used heavily by television networks and fans alike to discuss shows as they occur in real time. Some television actors, directors, writers, and producers have been known to visit the website. The site's founders refer to a point in 2000 when ''

The West Wing ''The West Wing'' is an American serial (radio and television), serial political drama television series created by Aaron Sorkin that was originally broadcast on NBC from September 22, 1999, to May 14, 2006. The series is set primarily in the ...

'' creator Aaron Sorkin posted in the forums, at one point upset over the snark in one of the show's recaps. His experience is believed to have inspired the episode " The U.S. Poet Laureate", in which a character posts on White House Deputy Chief of Staff Joshua Lyman's fansite and is vehemently attacked by members of the forum for his beliefs and his violation of the forum rules. However, most others saw ''Television Without Pity''s recaps and forums to be useful feedback. John Wells and J. J. Abrams have spoken to the value of ''Television Without Pity'' in developing their shows. Both CBS and The WB Network executives have used ''Television Without Pity'' to judge how to approach and market shows. For the past several years, posters at the site have organized "TARCon" in New York City which is a viewing party for the

season finale A season finale (British English: last in the series; Australian English: season final) is the final episode of a season of a television program. This is often the final episode to be produced for a few months or longer, and, as such, will try ...

of ''

The Amazing Race ''The Amazing Race'' is an adventure reality game show franchise in which teams of two people race around the world in competition with other teams. The ''Race'' is split into legs, with teams tasked to deduce clues, navigate themselves in forei ...

''. The party has been attended by many of the show's contestants from current and past seasons.

Notable alumni

During its height and after its closure, TWoP was a jumping-off point for writers about television and popular culture. The sites' founders started a new website, Previously.tv, that provided a similar style of recapping and forums, as well as writing for various media outlets. Jessica Morgan and Heather Cocks, co-founders of Go Fug Yourself, met while recapping for TWoP. Linda Holmes, host of the NPR podcast ''Pop Culture Happy Hour'' and editor of NPR's pop culture and entertainment blog (formerly known as Monkey See), got her writing start with recaps of ''

''.

Stephen Falk Stephen Falk (born April 25, 1972) is an American screenwriter and producer best known as the creator, executive producer, and showrunner of the FXX series ''You're the Worst''. Falk served as co-executive producer of Netflix’s '' Orange Is ...

recapped several reality TV shows at TWoP as he was transitioning from movie screenwriting to television, and since has become a producer for several television shows, including ''

Orange is the New Black ''Orange Is the New Black'' (sometimes abbreviated to ''OITNB'') is an American comedy-drama streaming television series created by Jenji Kohan for Netflix. The series is based on Piper Kerman's memoir '' Orange Is the New Black: My Year in ...

'' and '' Weeds'', along with being the creator, writer and

showrunner A showrunner (or colloquially a helmer) is the top-level executive producer of a television series production who has creative and management authority through combining the responsibilities of employer and, in comedy or dramas, typically also the ...

of '' You're the Worst''.

References

{{Reflist Internet properties established in 1998 Internet properties disestablished in 2017 1998 establishments in the United States 2017 disestablishments in the United States 2007 mergers and acquisitions 2016 mergers and acquisitions American entertainment websites Television websites Defunct websites Nexstar Media Group

History

Show recaps and forums

Impact

Notable alumni

See also

References