"No, I don't think shows should do more meta jokes that cater to the online bloggers..."

January 21, 2007 4:15 AM

The whojackie memorial charity drive. My Name Is Earl* and Television Without Pity bring the meta. *Video available in US only. Sorry.
posted by goo (24 comments total)

Just a warning, one of these links includes the sentence: "A post from Crabman follows shortly after." This is what you're getting into if you step through this particular looking glass.
posted by stupidsexyFlanders at 4:44 AM on January 21, 2007

I... well, all right. At least something good has come out of this terrible show, I guess?
posted by jimmy at 5:57 AM on January 21, 2007

I was laughing at the meta joke the other night, but I didn't even catch the "television without pity dot com" line the first time around. To hear they also setup the joke and finished it on the TWoP forums is awesome.
posted by mathowie at 6:37 AM on January 21, 2007

My roommates have gotten me into this show, and I have to say that I'm happy they did. I thought it was just a silly throwaway joke, but I'm quite happy to see the work that went into this one. Bravo.
posted by piratebowling at 7:28 AM on January 21, 2007

wait, so nobody really died?
posted by gubo at 8:11 AM on January 21, 2007

My name is Earl is a good, show, but it is much worse than 30 Rock. Man, is 30 Rock a surprisingly good show or what?
posted by I Foody at 8:41 AM on January 21, 2007

Nice. Took me going over the links twice to get what was going on, though! the chronology post was a little confusing...

gubo, wikipedia has a clearer summary:

In "Kept a Guy Locked in a Truck" the character of "Josh" posts online at TelevisionWithoutPity.com under the name "whojackie." Visiting the site's forum dedicated to this show, "Josh's" post was actually put there, word-for-word, by "whojackie" the day before this episode originally aired. "Whojackie" had been posting for over a year, including, two months prior to the airing of this episode (and thus, around the time of the taping of this episode) questioning the safety of a Murphy Bed, which eventually killed the character. The day after the episode aired, "whojackie" posted on TelevisionWithoutPity.com again, as the character of "Joy" informed the online commuinity that "Josh" had died (which was what "Joy" did in the episode.)

Why did you think it's terrible, jimmy?
posted by pleeker at 9:17 AM on January 21, 2007

Wow.
posted by donovan at 9:23 AM on January 21, 2007

Thanks pleeker - I tried to find the clip on youtube but the only post I could find was private, hence the sucky link to NBC.

I screamed when I saw it on the show - TWOPpers see shoutouts where they most definitely are not, and to see one so overt was hilarious, and I knew they'd be creaming their pants. My next thought was that it was an ad - product placement! - which is still meta enough in itself.

To see the planning that went into it though! And the emails from Joy are written perfectly in character. Well played, MNiE producers.
posted by goo at 10:28 AM on January 21, 2007

I heartily endorse this product and/or candidate.
posted by blue_beetle at 11:10 AM on January 21, 2007

i love this show. maybe jimmy hates it 'cuz he didn't grow up in a white trash family like i did. or may he did, and that's why he hates it. joy and crabman are the best couple on tv.
posted by lapolla at 11:34 AM on January 21, 2007

I caught the reference while watching the show but figured it was just a simple shout out. This turned out to be much deeper and way cooler than I guessed. Anyway, for those looking for an alternate link for the video, here you go.
posted by pwb503 at 12:22 PM on January 21, 2007

Man, that is awesome. I am so glad someone got me into this show, it is consistently one of the funniest, saddest, controversial and at the same time conventional sit coms ever.
posted by Slarty Bartfast at 12:47 PM on January 21, 2007

I didn't see the joke in My Name Is Earl link (which is a segment about getting trapped). Is there another link I can hit to find the right video?
posted by jmhodges at 12:50 PM on January 21, 2007

Man, is 30 Rock a surprisingly good show or what?
I knew I'd find Baldwin funny, but Tracy Morgan was a total surprise. That show is absolutely hilarious.
posted by jrossi4r at 1:25 PM on January 21, 2007

NBC Thursdays give me a funny boner.
posted by Mick at 1:29 PM on January 21, 2007

jmhodges: Go here and jump to the 16:30 mark to get the setup of the joke and watch at least until the 17:45 mark for the whole joke.
posted by pwb503 at 3:08 PM on January 21, 2007

My Name is Earl is an absolutely fantastic show, and the past few episodes where they've done unusual things have been downright hilarious. The "Cops" episode in particular was a riot.
posted by nightchrome at 4:24 PM on January 21, 2007

This is certainly a more flattering shout out than when Sorkin wrote some nasty things about a TWoP analgoue in a West Wing episode.

Details.
posted by sparkletone at 4:39 PM on January 21, 2007

"analgoue"

... Analogue.

I'm leaving it as an excerise to the reader to figure out what an "analgoue" is.
posted by sparkletone at 4:46 PM on January 21, 2007

And one of the best things about the Earl, Office, Scrubs and 30 Rock block on Thursday nights here in the US? Two hours of excellent comedy and not a single dang insipid laugh track. The "recorded before a live studio audience composed mostly of drooly dunderheads" crap is blessedly missing too.

Ok, that's two things.

Television is watchable again!
posted by dakotadusk at 6:06 PM on January 21, 2007

> ...and not a single dang insipid laugh track.

Amen.
posted by hjo3 at 5:42 AM on January 22, 2007

i love this show. maybe jimmy hates it 'cuz he didn't grow up in a white trash family like i did. or may he did, and that's why he hates it. joy and crabman are the best couple on tv.

what a weird assumption. I'm not sure about just how trashy I am, but I'm fairly certain that I don't have any white in me. And if I do, you wouldn't know it by looking at me.

I hate the show because it's an incredibly lazy depiction of stupid, awful people. I don't gain any joy in laughing at these simple caricatures, and the show just looks all the weaker when compared to the brilliant characterization featured in The Office every week.
posted by jimmy at 8:49 AM on January 22, 2007

I hate the show because it's an incredibly lazy depiction of stupid, awful people.

I used to think the same thing until I actually watched a few episodes of the show. It turns out that the characters are far from simple caricatures--the show in fact plays with those stereotypes and both revels in and rejects them week after week. Characters constantly reveal new sides of their personality and it never feels forced or cloying.

I can understand dismissing the show if you judge it on the same terms as The Office (which I also love) because the situations in The Office are ones that everyone can relate to while Earl are a little more out there. But both shows are excellent in switching between broad swinging-for-the-fences gags and subtle blink-and-you-miss-them jokes and having both work.

Plainly put, to dismiss the writing on Earl as "lazy" is ridiculous.
posted by turaho at 9:58 AM on January 22, 2007