Saw my new favorite billboard on Harry Hines, driving back at 1 a.m. last night: a big photo of Ricki Lake, with the caption, “So Real. So Ricki. So UPN.”

I mean, we’re all for reality, no? And I can even see how Ricki Lake might have a substantial fan base out there that would make “So Ricki” seem like a compliment, not an insult. But “So UPN”? Since when is that anything other than the lowest dig conceivable? How did “So UPN” become the Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval in somebody’s mind?

Comments

28 September | 13:52 | Jerry

I guess it would only work if you're a big Star Trek fan. :-) "Oh, man ... it's so UPN!"

28 September | 14:00 | josh

or perhaps wwf smackdown? and i guess they've got buffy now, which is probably worth something.

but seriously, "so upn" sounds like small-town slang for uncool.

28 September | 14:07 | Leia

Would "You are soooo CBS" be an insult meaning you are so old?

28 September | 14:48 | josh

or maybe it means you just really, really love raymond.

02 October | 18:32 | Charles

ha! I wondered the same exact thing and I am stealing that.

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Joshua Benton

Joshua Benton is the director of the Nieman Digital Journalism Project at Harvard University, among other things. Before that, he was a staff writer and columnist for The Dallas Morning News. (More.)

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