The recaps stopped weeks ago, but this weekend, in less than 48 hours, the Television Without Pity forums will go dark. MJ’s Big Blog has its roots at TWoP. Many of her rules and posters originally started out on TWoP before migrating over here. TWoP built communities, fostered discussion based on topics rather than other posters and killed with their lovingly snarky recaps. I thought it might be nice to have one last round of remembrance before the site is gone forever.
TWoP forums and recaps for Idol were a blast. My favourite TWoP recapper for Idol will forever be the original, Shack. His glorious humour, disdain for the glory note and introduction of Tsathoggua (a demon who lived beneath the Seal waiting to devour the unfortunate bootee and threatening to be unleashed by every horribly off-key note) was a perfect fit for this cheeseball of a show.
My Favourite Idol thread was the Grassy Knoll. Filled with kooky theories and disdain for the producers, it was always good fun. The thread is over 10 years old and in it we discussed the “Vincident”, last minute producer mandated song switches, the reasons behind “The Huff” and who “The Chosen One” was (rarely our favourite even if he did get the pimp spot 37 times). Another hilarious thread was The Shortest Books Ever Written which was full of cleverness and creativity. Finally, who could forget the naming of the contestant threads?
My favourite recapper ever on the site was Miss Alli and her coverage of The Amazing Race. She was the Mark Twain of the site. Her razor sharp wit and social commentary were fantastic. And her “God is in the bathtub” quip has transcended the site and made many a person be a little more rational. Her deconstruction of Colin’s descent into insanity in Season 5 was epic (My Ox is Broken).
How about you? Which forums did you haunt? Which recapper did you read even though you didn’t watch the show? What thread always brightened your day? Feel free to post links so that we can check it out before it is gone forever.
