 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (November 2022) |
 Television Without Pity's logo, including its mascot "Tubeelzebub" | |
Type of site | Online collection of television series recaps and related discussion forums |
|---|---|
| Dissolved | April 2017 |
| Owner | Nexstar Media Group |
| Created by | David T. Cole, Tara Ariano, Sarah D. Bunting, various contributors |
| Commercial | Yes |
| Launched | 1998 |
| Current status | Defunct |
Television Without Pity (often abbreviated TWoP) was a website that provided detailed recaps of select television dramas, situation comedies and reality TV shows along with discussion forums. These recaps were written with sarcastic criticism and opinion alongside a retelling of an episode's events, which the site referred to as "snark". Their official motto is "Spare the snark, spoil the networks", a takeoff on "spare the rod, spoil the child", and its mascot is Tubeelzebub (a portmanteau of tube and Beelzebub, "Tubey" for short), a devilish television set with horns and a pointed tail.
Initially established in 1998 to recap the show Dawson's Creek, the site changed its name to Mighty Big TV when it expanded to other shows. It adopted the Television Without Pity name by 2002. The site was bought by the Bravo network within NBCUniversal in 2007, which continued to operate it until it was shuttered in April 2014. Sometime after this point, the site and branding was acquired by Tribune Media, who had announced plans in 2016 for a relaunch, but this was scrapped among other cost-cutting measures at Tribune in April 2017. The site's recap and forum archives remained available at the BrilliantButCancelled website until the archives went down in late 2021.
Television Without Pity is credited with popularizing the format of television episode recaps intermixed with running commentary. The site was also known to be used by television show producers, directors, and writers to gain more immediate feedback for their works and take in the constructive criticism for their future works.