I watched for the first time last night "The Cleveland Show", an African-American spin-off from "The Family Guy". I found it to be hilarious.

It also helped demonstrate the current popular perception of the Wikipedia compendium of knowledge as being on the decline. In the January 10 episode, Cleveland Brown, Jr. begins to fall in love with his sister (disguised, unbeknown to little Cleveland, in a fat suit as "Tyra Obama"). Since this is his first real interaction with a girl, he asks her if it's true "you guys can clap your breasts together like a seal", and when she says "No", he deadpans to the camera, very disappointed, "Thanks a lot, Wikipedia."



Perhaps that line was inspired by the recent fundraising banner that said "Thanks, Wikipedia".

Actually, she is lying.

Comedy shows have always (for whatever meaning of 'always' makes this statement true) mocked wikipedia:



And of course Stephen Colbert's frequent mentions of the topic.

Funny how there are so few comedy routines involving the Encyclopædia Britannica …

And you can look it up in your Funk & Wagnalls …

Jon

She's actually his step-sister, with no genetic relation (like Marcia and Greg Brady)... so is it still incest?

That's what's wrong with Wikipedia, pure cruft these articles.

And what, exactly, is wrong with "cruft"? I, personally, find the pop culture articles very useful; like Greg, I happened to watch that episode as the first episode of the show I'd ever seen, and didn't know who all the characters were or their relation to one another until I looked it up on Wikipedia.

Nothing wrong with cruft, nothing wrong with cruftogenesis, nothing wrong with chatting about cruft til yer cruft in the face.

The Question Is —

I haven't bothered to check, but I'm guessing that the Fox Broadcasting Company is probably not a 501[c](3) tax-advantaged educational charity.

So why is Wikipedia?

What did you think of the episode, Dan?

The penultimate scene was so funny, I had to back up on my Comcast DVR about 4 times, just to hear it again and again.

Cleveland Jr.: "I'm gonna go upstairs and try to start puberty!"

Rallo: "Uh, oh! I better go hide my Niagara Falls 'pocket pusois'!"

Cleveland Brown: "Rallo, that's just a coin purse."

Rallo (voice fading as he runs up staircase): "To-ma-to... To-mah-to..."


That is pure genius comedy.

It was clever... and made fun of a lot of things, so Wikipedia wasn't really singled out; Facebook and Twitter and the Internet in general got a few jabs too.