Television Without Pity

So, anyone who reads the Glee recaps/recaplets on TWOP knows that the recapper hates the show, hates the performers, and is generally kind of a douche. His latest has me really peeved:

Featuring "Marry The Night" and "Applause" by Little Steffi Germanotta, the former performed by Glamberace, and the latter performed by Artie, Lady Lips Von Bieberhausen, Dreamboat Blaine, Stupid Boring New Idiot Rachel, and The Only Finn Left Standing; and "Wide Awake" and "Roar" from Little Kathy Hudson, the former performed by New Puck, Single-T Tina, Urethra Franklin, and Pretty Kitty, and the latter performed by just about everybody in the cast.

ENOUGH. OF. THE. STUPID. NICKNAMES. ALREADY.

Plus, "The Only Finn Left Standing"? Tasteless much?

I feel like there's a fine line in TWOP recaps between where the nicknames are amusing and where the recap is completely unreadable, and that crosses waaaaaay over into the latter category. Also "Stupid Boring New Idiot Rachel" is a good example of the other fine line that TWOP has increasingly not been able to walk between amusing snark and tiresome vitriol.

I always really liked LTG's recaps for Glee, because while he poked fun at the ridiculous elements and pointed out things to be criticized, there was an underlying affection for the show. Those are the best recaps on TWOP in general, I find. Demian just hates the show, and it makes his recaps unpleasant and nasty. The recaps are supposed to be snarky, yes, that's what TWOP built its brand on, but they're also supposed to be funny and make you want to watch the show/read the recap.

And I was surprised by the "Only Finn Left Standing" thing -- even for Demian, that's tasteless. And when you get to a point where you are referring to ONE character by his actual name in a paragraph that name checks nearly every character on the show, you really need to take a step back from the nicknames.

Yeah, that takes "trying too hard" and laughs as if that's not enough.

I don't read TWoP anymore, but I always found it especially annoying when the recappers would keep up a nickname like "New Puck" for more than like three episodes. I get it when it's a new character, but after a couple times, it's just forced and not funny. The Last Finn Standing is...tasteless and horrible.

Side question: Does anyone know who Demian is? I like him, despite what I just wrote, and I would normally follow someone like him on Twitter or whatever but I have no idea who he is.

Twop staff directory indicates it's Jon Neville.

First off, the nicknames are terrible.  They're also bad for business, since if someone doesn't get all of the in-jokes, then they're going to be lost half a page into the recap.  Second, Demian has (with a few exceptions) consistently been of the school of recapping that says "If you show anything approaching appreciation for a show on anything like a regular basis, then you're not doing your job".  I'm no fan of Glee, but his blatant disdain for almost every single character, story arc, and line of dialogue is tiresome.

Also, his constant refrain of not caring about the relationship plots on the show has become utterly repetitive, and now seems to be nothing more than an excuse to not do as detailed a recapping job as possible.

Eris Rising wrote:Demian has (with a few exceptions) consistently been of the school of recapping that says "If you show anything approaching appreciation for a show on anything like a regular basis, then you're not doing your job".  I'm no fan of Glee, but his blatant disdain for almost every single character, story arc, and line of dialogue is tiresome.

And here I thought that proved you were cool and sophisticated!

Yeah, tiresome is an apt description.  That's just one reason I quit going there.

The excessive nickname thing is annoying and also weird since many of the threads and forums don't allow posters to use nicknames (for which I am extremely grateful).

Also, his constant refrain of not caring about the relationship plots on the show has become utterly repetitive, and now seems to be nothing more than an excuse to not do as detailed a recapping job as possible.

Yup. If I had a buck for every time he's written "Then a scene follows between New Puck and Boring New Idiot Rachel (or whomever), but I don't care. Next!", I'd be able to retire early.

Been around for about a year, never really had any problems, but I've been dinged THREE times in the past two weeks. Apparently I'm not allowed to ask how graphic a scene is in SoA, because it stops the flow of the thread. I'm not allowed to incorrectly type quote tags, cause it messes up with Readability (is that even a word) and I'm not allowed to defend myself from being called names in the YR thread because that is a lack of manners and respect. I gracefully bowed out this evening, googled TWoP sucks, and ended up here with you fine folks! Cheers!

Welcome aboard!

Yay, new person! Stay! We have cake and pie.*

*We don't really have cake and pie. But we are nice.

00redsvt wrote:googled TWoP sucks, and ended up here with you fine folks!

This cracks me up.

mrinsouciance wrote:

00redsvt wrote:googled TWoP sucks, and ended up here with you fine folks!

This cracks me up.

Yeah, now that the actual TWOP Sucks site has ended, looks like we're the best bet.

I have to say since it came up earlier in the thread that I'm really enjoying Previously.tv lately. They've found a nice balance of content. Show-o-matic and Watch/Skip are my favorite features, I think. And Jessica was on their podcast a couple of weeks ago!

Eris Rising wrote:

mrinsouciance wrote:

00redsvt wrote:googled TWoP sucks, and ended up here with you fine folks!

This cracks me up.

Yeah, now that the actual TWOP Sucks site has ended, looks like we're the best bet.

I never knew there was an actual TWoP sucks site, I was just looking for some entertaining reads while I was mad, lol. I figured I couldn't be the only person on the Internet who was irrationally angered by a website.

Shalamar wrote:Yay, new person!  Stay!  We have cake and pie.*

*We don't really have cake and pie.  But we are nice.

I will settle for good conversation. I'm pretty easy. In a "not that kind of easy" way.

00redsvt wrote:Been around for about a year, never really had any problems, but I've been dinged THREE times in the past two weeks. Apparently I'm not allowed to ask how graphic a scene is in SoA, because it stops the flow of the thread. I'm not allowed to incorrectly type quote tags, cause it messes up with Readability (is that even a word) and I'm not allowed to defend myself from being called names in the YR thread because that is a lack of manners and respect. I gracefully bowed out this evening, googled TWoP sucks, and ended up here with you fine folks! Cheers!

That's pretty much how I found Snarkfest too, though in my case it was after a friend had complained about her experiences. So, welcome! :)

And your "offenses" sound like things that happen in threads all the time. What's the issue?

Author By Night wrote:

00redsvt wrote:Been around for about a year, never really had any problems, but I've been dinged THREE times in the past two weeks. Apparently I'm not allowed to ask how graphic a scene is in SoA, because it stops the flow of the thread. I'm not allowed to incorrectly type quote tags, cause it messes up with Readability (is that even a word) and I'm not allowed to defend myself from being called names in the YR thread because that is a lack of manners and respect. I gracefully bowed out this evening, googled TWoP sucks, and ended up here with you fine folks! Cheers!

That's pretty much how I found Snarkfest too, though in my case it was after a friend had complained about her experiences. So, welcome! :)  

And your "offenses" sound like things that happen in threads all the time. What's the issue?

Well, I know TWoP Howard moderates the SoA board, so there you go.

I found the old Fametracker the same way. People were discussing Britney Spears a little too much in the Britney & Kevin: Chaotic thread (I know, I know), so the mod at the time told us to go to Fametracker (this was back when it had forums.) I did, and then I eventually latched onto Snarkfest. I think TWoP pushes people here.

Yes, it was TWoP Howard. He/She is not even very nice in how they issue their warnings. That's something that gets me. You're telling me that I need to work on my manners, yet you're being a jerk in the process! I've just stuck to reading over there and posting a little here and there in a few forums.

Something that makes me roll my eyes really hard is how everyone thinks they're either a comedian or a genius. Awhile back there was talk of people watching Teen Mom and feeling uneducated after. Then of course came the barrage of people letting everyone know what type of education they had. I swear, some of the crap was unbelievable. "Oh yeah, I've got a master in quantum physics and a minor in rocket science." Obviously I'm exaggerating, but you get the idea. And then there's the folks who make a little quip and someone is always like "Errr. Mah. Gawd. You owe me a new keyboard. Teeeheeeheee!" And I want to barf. Preferably on their face. Ugh.

I got my one and only warning from Twop Howard. It was the Parenthood thread. People were talking about how much better the show would be if Max died and all the ways the writers could kill him off. I said something snarky about how all shows need more dead kids. The warning said if I'm taking the show THAT seriously, maybe I should get outside more. NO ONE tells me to go outside.

Yeah, you definitely sound like the one with the problem - not the posters who were thinking of different ways to kill a child character.

Gotta love when they include a note with the warning that would get YOU a warning if you ever posted it on the boards. TWoP, practicing what they preach since...I'm too tired to pick a year here.

I've been watching The Shield on Netflix (never seen it before), and there was an episode in which Dutch did something bad to a cat. I decided to go onto the old thread on TWOP to see if there was any outrage. Oh boy, was there. It was hilarious. Someone basically said "This is disgusting! I called the AHA (not sure what that stands for, but I gather that it's for animal rights), and they said they'd gotten tons of feedback about that episode!" Someone else said "Uh, you know it's a TV show, right? They didn't actually hurt the cat." "But it LOOKED like they did! It could give someone ideas!"

Oh, and then the Outraged Person admitted that she hadn't actually seen the episode; she'd only heard about it from a friend. Cue other posters calling her an idiot (or words to that effect). She got huffy, and the mod finally stepped in and said "Cool it, people."

This was ten years ago, almost to the day. I'm pretty sure that these days the mod would've smacked down (and banned) the "You know it's a TV show, right?" person right from the get-go.

My brother lent me his copy of the season one DVDs of Weeds whcih we enjoyed so have started watching the rest. Last night we saw the season 2 episode where Andy takes the little nephew (Silas?) to a massage parlour because the kids at school were picking on him. I'm so, so curious how that went over on TWoP but the forums are blocked at work so I will have to wait. Might buy some popcorn on my way home in preparation!