Supervenous Without Pity

I found Television Without Pity via some old site called Bored.com. I was 15 years old and just beginning to start my journey to Obsessive TV Watcher Land, so you can imagine my utter delight in finding people like me. TWoP taught me snark and told me it was okay to love something as "trivial" as TV.

(Now, of course, I'm confident enough to make the argument that TV is not trivial. While there's been a pretty steep decline in quality--or maybe just a steep increase in shitty shows--I maintain that TV is a pretty important part of our culture, and those that dismiss it need to understand that this is just the medium in which we get our epics these days. Well, when it's done right.)

During my years as a pretty frequent poster on the TWoP boards, I learned the ins and outs of the TV business. It's how I can now talk about the differences between Jeff Zucker and Les Moonves and not sound like a total rube.

The recaps themselves were fantastic. The writers and editors--Sars, Wing Chun, and Couch Baron especially--distilled my favorite shows into reasonably-sized summaries with just the right balance of detail and commentary. This commentary was pretty freakin' funny (see: Uncle Arvin's Office Of Over-the-Top Technical Treatises, etc.), and actually contributed somewhat to whatever "voice" I currently have, if I actually have one. I dunno. Anyway.

Understandably, the creators realized what an awesome thing they had, and when Bravo came along and offered to buy it, they accepted.

Thus began the not-really-all-that-slow and steady fall of an empire.

Previously, each show had its own little woodcut-like graphic related to the show's premise (but not actually a direct representation). Buffy's was a garlic bulb. You know, stuff like that. But then those went away and were replaced by actual pictures of the show. And then my favorite recappers started leaving after their shows ended...or even before that happened; they were replaced by people who (forgive me, current recappers) just aren't that funny or deft at the art of recapping. The creators left.

Then, the number of shows recapped exploded...because they started recapping sitcoms. The old TWoP didn't recap sitcoms because: a) They're already pretty short, and b) Why would you try to make jokes about something that's actually funny? Proving that theory correct, their comedy recaps are indeed irrelevant.

After that came Movies Without Pity, and video blogs, and news items and slideshows that have turned what was once a safe haven for intelligent people who just wanted some snarky recaps into a smorgasbord of crap that lacks the charm and wit of the original TWoP.

So thank you, Bravo, for killing one of my favorite things in the world. Well done.