When I learned today that Television Without Pity will be shutting down April 4 I felt a big “Dude that sucks” level of let down.
The more I thought about it, the worse I felt.
This is not to say that TWoP disappearing affects me personally – as it does those who worked for the site and those who freelanced for it (who were left out of the article announcing the shutdown)(which… UGH).
And to say this only impacts “three employees” is bullshit. #freelancingisajob http://t.co/5rHda1PX0d
— Pamela Ribon (@pamelaribon) March 27, 2014
It's been almost 3 years since something I worked on went out of business, and that's the usual interval. It was a good run, @TVWithoutPity.
— sara (@sarrible) March 27, 2014
When Harold Ramis died, I cried. Actual tears. I can use the word “literally” here. I'm not so full of my own bombast that I think I am or ever was or will be as funny as Ramis, but he is the foundation upon which everything I think is hilarious was built. His work and all the built-in in-jokes were the basis for my sense of humor, and most things that make me laugh or smile while feeling warm inside probably trace back to him, his writing, or one of his movies.
The same is true of Television Without Pity. I'm not trying to sound like a version of hipster one-upmanship when I say I remember it as Dawson's Wrap. I didn't even like Dawson's Creek but I read each multipage recap faithfully every week from the back corner cubicle where I worked as an intern for a software company. Because that shit was funny and I didn't know you could assemble words like that and make someone's stomach hurt so bad after laughing so hard. Smart people were talking intelligently and hilariously about popular culture, television and characters. That rocked my world.
I can't know if Smart Bitches could have been created without that influence. But I don't think it would. We love romance novels and mock the shit out of a lot of them because we adore them.
I remember standing next to Sarah MacLean when she met Julie Garwood at RT last year. MacLean said to her, through tears, “You…you…I…you're why I write. Your books are why I write.” I know she's not alone in feeling that way about an author. I think Loretta Chase probably arrives at conferences with hidden packages of tissues because at least 5 people might cry when they meet her (like me, except I also made the most asthmatic-sounding gasping noise ever heard aloud).
It's a powerful thing to recognize and meet those who influence you. It's also powerful to realize that like everything else, they won't be around forever.
TWoP is my go-to example of how snark can be done with love
— Liz Burns (@LizB) March 27, 2014
There is no doubt that the example of TWOP is a huge part of why I write, why I insist that romance novels are worth our time, our attention, and our snark.
Really good snark builds from affection. You have to know a thing intimately in order to deliver the snarkbomb. And to know a thing intimately, you have to, either currently or at one time, care deeply about it. It's difficult to deliver incisive yet affectionate criticism about something you don't give a shit about.
Among the tweets from people talking about TWOP, many are current journalists and writers and fans who met people in the twop forums, met in real life and are still friends to this day. I wonder how many friendships trace back to the site.
I remember Tara Ariano's site Hissyfit, which I believe predates TWoP. I went to a Hissyfit breakfast meet up in NYC years and years ago. Ariano, her husband David Cole, and Sarah Bunting were going to be there, and y'all, I have never been so frightened of a room full of strangers with menus in my life. That was the first time I'd met in person the people I spoke to and admired online. It was exhilarating terror.
Now I do it several times year, easily, and I am guessing so do many others. Hell, RT is like a giant internet meet up, and you can tell by the number of people who recognize each other based on screen names and Twitter handles.
An incredible number of excellent sites and writers trace back to TWOP:
Just so you know: Without TWoP, there is no me at NPR and no PCHH, since Stephen never writes to me in December 2004 about The Apprentice.
— Linda Holmes (@nprmonkeysee) March 27, 2014
@nprmonkeysee Also no GFY, because Heather I never would have even met. – J
— Go Fug Yourself (@fuggirls) March 27, 2014
Holy shit, TWoP goes dark April 4. It's not an exaggeration that writing for that site literally changed the entire course of my life. – J
— Go Fug Yourself (@fuggirls) March 27, 2014
I actually feel kind of sick that the TWoP archives are going to be shuttered too. So much writing, just…disappeared? – J
— Go Fug Yourself (@fuggirls) March 27, 2014
Also, the great writing at TWoP by @nprmonkeysee and so many others is part of what inspired me to get (back) into blogging. Lord.
— Alan Sepinwall (@sepinwall) March 27, 2014
Some of the best parts of my life are because of Tara, Dave & Sarah and the creation of TWoP. Friends, loved ones and a career. Bye, Tubey.
— Pamela Ribon (@pamelaribon) March 27, 2014
@SmartBitches if there's such a thing as an Internet institution, TWoP is it. I doubt places like @BuzzFeed would exist without it
— Maya S (@ppyajunebug) March 27, 2014
The things we love and laugh about draw us together online in a way that is magical and so valuable. TWoP/MBTV/DW was the first example of that for me: I'm not alone in loving this? There are MORE OF US OUT THERE? Best feeling ever.
Hey, NBC? Please, for the love of fishcakes, please archive the recaps somewhere, donate them to a library, something. Don't let that archive disappear into fragments of old screencaps. It's too important to too many people's backstory.
The shuttering of TWOP and the TWOP archives is such a loss to pop culture. Spare some server space for the snark, NBCUniversal.
— Dorothy Snarker (@dorothysnarker) March 27, 2014
This is not to say that all things TWoP were perfect, or that nothing changes. Writers changed, moderators changed, the site was bought by Bravo – all of these things plus, you know, time, created an evolution of the community and the site.
But now that it's demise is imminent, I have that sadness that comes from the recognition that I didn't really appreciate until this moment the influence they had on me, my life, and my snort laughter.
Their motto alone shows their influence: Spare the snark, spoil the networks.
Spare the snark, spoil the fashion industry: Go Fug Yourself.
Spare the snark, spoil the library collection: AwfulLibraryBooks.net
Spare the snark, spoil the publishing industry: the short lived and now defunct Life in Publishing Tumblr, shuttered when an author threatened to have the writer fired, and all the other Life-in-publishing inspired Tumblrs.
Spare the snark, spoil the romance novels: there are too many of us to link here.
And…
Spare the snark, spoil the networks: Previously.tv, where the original founders of TWoP write on about television.
There are so many of us now who could trace our paths backwards to an intersection or parallel journey with TWoP. It'd be like the mother of all flowcharts to trace all of us backwards.
I remember a short-lived television show I loved called The American Embassy, which was about a young woman who worked at the American Embassy in London. I think three or four total episodes aired. But at the end of one, the main character talked about the phrase, The King is Dead, Long Live the King, the traditional proclamation of the ascension of a new monarch after the death of the old. When one monarch dies, the monarchy continues.
The snark is dead. Long live the snark.
All of it, in every iteration. Snark on.
