For-Profit Online University
A faux-infomercial parodying for-profit universities and their practices.
For-Profit Online University is a television special written and directed by Sam West for Adult Swim, presented as an infomercial parodying for-profit universities. It was created by Wild, Aggressive Dog, a conglomerate of former Onion writers. The special aired on December 17, 2013 at 4 a.m. on Cartoon Network's late-night programming block, Adult Swim.
Quick Facts
- Genre
- Satire; Alternative comedy
- Creator
- Wild, Aggressive Dog
- Teleplay
- Sam West
- Story
- Geoff Haggerty
- Dan E. Klein
- Matthew Klinman
- Michael Pielocik
- Chris Sartinsky
- Sam West
- Starring
- Nicole Byer
- Nelson Cheng
- Nick Corirossi
- Geoff Haggerty
- Brian Huskey
- Ingrid Tejada
- Country
- United States
- Language
- English
- Channel
- Adult Swim
Facts from the source article.
Did You Know?
- The special presents itself as a spoof of for-profit universities infomercials, a source of frequent criticism and congressional investigation in the United States.
- The special was viewed by 871,000 viewers and received a 0.6 rating in the 18–49 demographic Nielsen household rating.
Synopsis
The infomercial features student testimonials attributing their success to For-Profit Online University, where students pay for knowledge from a cloud service and work as 'Digital Gardeners' solving CAPTCHA for digital currency. The first half foreshadows a rogue spambot named Howard, bribed with ThoughtCoins, who later hijacks the filming and exposes the university as a scam.
Reception
The special was published on Adult Swim's YouTube channel the same day it aired, initially made private before gaining popularity after comedy blogs spotted it. Dan Simmons of the Wisconsin State Journal praised it as hilariously parodying the commodification of college. Andy Thomason of The Chronicle of Higher Education called its criticism of for-profit and traditional universities 'brutal'. Gabe Dunn of The Daily Dot compared the fictional college to the University of Phoenix. Laughing Squid's EDW Lynch called it 'hilarious', and Splitsider deemed it 'the best one yet' among Adult Swim's faux-infomercials.
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