Television Without Pity

Television Without Pity (often abbreviated TWoP) is a website that provides detailed recaps of certain television dramas and reality TV shows, often by mocking them, as well as forums in which members can discuss myriad television related topics. The site began by recapping the television show Dawson's Creek and was originally called Dawson's Wrap; later it broadened its scope and changed names to Mighty Big TV before settling on the current moniker. The site is notable for popularizing usage of the word "snark" to describe its typical style of sarcastic review. Their official motto is "Spare the snark, spoil the networks," a takeoff on "spare the rod, spoil the child."

Conventions

The board's close-knit community has come up with a wide-ranging lingo of its own. They even provide a lexicon in their FAQ to deal with their vast collection of acronyms. Another convention often used by TWoP recappers is giving characters humorous or ironic nicknames rather than using the actual character names in show summaries; for example:

Related Topics:
Lexicon - Acronyms

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

• For 24, the character of Kim Bauer (daughter of the main character played by Kiefer Sutherland) is referred to exclusively on the site as "Spawn of Kiefer" or simply "Spawn". Carlos Bernard's character Tony Almeida is still referred to as "Soul Patch" after the facial hair he sported in the first season.
• For Lost, the character of Kate is frequently referred to as "the acclaimed actress Kate Beckinsale" (or Fake Kate Beckinsale), because of Evangeline Lilly's notable resemblance to Beckinsale in the first episode.
• For Alias, Jennifer Garner is almost exclusively referred to as "Spy Barbie" because she seems to resemble the legendary doll, and dresses up in different costumes in every episode.
• For The West Wing, characters who seem to disappear from the show without explanation are said to have gone to "Mandyville", after Moira Kelly's character Mandy Hampton disappeared from the show after the first season without any explanation by the other characters.
• For Smallville, Clark Kent is often refered to as Cheekbones or sometimes simply 'Bones.
• For Desperate Housewives, recappers started off calling John the Gardener "Miguel" in reference to Jesse Metcalfe's long-time role on NBC's soap opera Passions