History Recap / CreepshowS2E2PublicTelevisionOfTheDead

* KickTheSonOfABitch: Being the horrific person that she is, Bookberry gets put through the wringer and back again when Evil is unleashed. She is killed, turned into a Deadite, riddled with antique coins, has her head chopped off on live TV, and the public doesn't even miss her, believing that the whole thing was a publicity stunt.

It’s another day of business as usual at the studios of the WQPS public television network of Pittsburgh. Mrs. Bookberry (Coley Campany), kindhearted hostess of the popular children’s literacy program ''Mrs. Bookberry’s Magical Library'', and her puppet Henrietta the Bear, have just finished a day’s taping. The second the cameras are switched off, Bookberry promptly shows her actual vile, arrogant, and racist off-air personality. She demands that the station's director of network programming, Claudia Aberlan (Marissa Hampton), give her the more favorable timeslot she's been wanting, lest she blab to the higher-ups that Claudia isn’t the right choice for the job. With her hands tied, Claudia is forced to cancel ''The Love of Painting'' to free up the slot Bookberry wants. Reacting to the bad news, director George (Todd Allen Durkin) reminds Claudia that while artist and host Norm Roberts (Mark Ashworth) is a caring and kindly person, his show is all he has in life. It's also all he has to suppress the trauma of the unspeakable things he had to do to survive on the frontlines of Vietnam.

Back on Norm’s stage, Norm records the final episode of his show as Claudia watches. Suddenly, the possessed Ted bursts onto the set and attacks George. Norm stabs Ted in the head with a paintbrush, punches him in the face, and uses paint thinner and a lighter to set his face on fire. Norm and Claudia rescue George before making a beeline for the Magical Library, as it is the quickest way out of the studio, neglecting to witnesss Ted resurrect as they leave. In her dressing room, Bookberry drinks heavily before she hears her father's voice coming from Henrietta, the puppet having been possessed by Evil, who proceeds to lambast and rebuke her. The burned and possessed Ted then enters the room and gruesomely kills Bookberry, transforming her into a Deadite as well. Norm, Claudia, and George discover several dead crewmembers on the set of ''The Appraiser’s Road Trip''. Making his way to the control room, George discovers what happened when he plays back the footage of Goodman reading from the Necronomicon. Norm and Claudia reason they can reverse the curse if they got their hands on the book. Goodman, also a Deadite, reveals he has the Necronomicon. Before Goodman can kill Norm and Claudia, George subdues him by blaring audio feedback over the studio speakers. While this does manage to slow Goodman down, he unfortunately manages to escape, taking the Necronomicon with him. In the control room, the Chicago affiliate suddenly begins promoting a special live episode of ''Mrs. Bookberry’s Magical Library'', where the possessed Bookberry begins reading from the Necronomicon as Ted and Tapert film her.

Norm, Claudia, and George enter the studio, utilizing weapons from the set of ''The Appraiser’s Road Trip'' to subdue the Deadite trio. Claudia uses a broadsword to decapitate Bookberry, but Henrietta, also possessed, continues reading the Necronomicon aloud. Norm rips the book’s key from Goodman’s head, kicks Henrietta off the set, and manages to relock the book, stopping Evil and killing the Deadites. Weeks later, ''The Love of Painting'' has gone back on the air. Claudia tells George that she just got off the phone with Chicago, who want Norm's show to go national and had viewed Bookberry’s decapitation as a publicity stunt. Meanwhile, a pair of children who have been watching the station at home are shown to have white Deadite eyes, revealing that the Deadites' plan partially succeeded.

* TheSeventies: Going by the dress and hairstyles (especially Claudia's afro and bellbottoms), and since Norm is said to be a Vietnam veteran, the story is most likely set in the early to mid 70s.

* {{Blackmail}}: Bookberry threatens to report Claudia to the higher-ups and get her fired if she doesn't give her Norm's timeslot.

** Brenner's cane from [[Recap/CreepshowS1E7TheCompanion The Companion]] is among the antiques Norm rifles through on the wrecked set of ''The Appraiser's Road Trip''.

* FeedbackRule: George manages to blare audio feedback from some speakers to incapacitate Deadite!Goodman. It doesn't work for long, unfortunately, but Norm still congratuates him for his quick thinking.
* {{Foreshadowing}}: The eyes Bookberry gets when she's possessed are the same as the infected people from [[Recap/CreepshowS3E8MeterReader Meter Reader]].

* FreudianExcuse: While Mrs. Bookberry is a racist, arrogant, and heartless prima-donna when the cameras aren't rolling, she does have a reason for it. Her parents, particularly her father, would verbally thrash her if she didn't do her best as a kid. A conversation with her father through the posessed Henrietta causes her to cower and promise "Daddy" that she'll make him proud.

* GlassesPull: George does a weary one when Claudia announces that ''Love of Painting'' is being cancelled.

** For trying to get the kind-hearted Norm's show cancelled and threatening to get Claudia fired, the bigoted Mrs. Bookberry is killed, demonically possessed, riddled with old coins, decapitated, and her televised death was dismissed by everyone as a publicity stunt.

* MadeOfIron: The Deadites are just as reslient here as they are in their original franchise. Ted alone is stabbed in the head, has his face burned off, and gets riddled with antique coins.

* NoSympathy: Bookberry doesn't give a damn about the fact that Norm's show, the only thing he has to work through his trauma from 'Nam, has held the timeslot she wants for 10 years, and that the show won't survive on any other station.

* PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: Bookberry is unashamedly racist against Claudia, the African-American director of network programming, hurling slurs and insults at her and blackmailing her into cancelling Norm's show by threatening to go to the higher-ups and deem her as the "wrong choice" for the job.

* RealMenLoveJesus: Norm is a gentle and soft-spoken man (although he served in Vietnam) who calmly trusts that God will care for him when his show's canceled. However, when the Deadites attack, we quickly learn he was ''very'' well trained overseas, taking the possessed bastards down either with his bare hands or with improvised weapons. He ends the episode, like he does on his own show, by telling the audience "Happy Painting and God Bless", seamlessly going back to his painting after the threat passes.

** On the set of ''The Appraiser's Road Trip'', [[Film/{{Halloween|1978}} Michael Myers' mask]], [[Film/{{Clash of the Titans|1981}} Bubo the Owl]], the idol and the headpiece of the Staff of Ra from ''Film/RaidersOfTheLostArk'', a severed monkey head from ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheTempleOfDoom'', Hannibal Lecter's mask from ''Film/SilenceOfTheLambs'', the "The World is Yours" statue from ''Film/{{Scarface}}'', and the Zuni doll from ''Film/TrilogyOfTerror'' can all be seen on the shelves surrounding Ted and Tapert.

** Ted himself, right before Tapert reads the Necronomicon, hears about the potential hundreds of thousands of dollars the book is worth and claims today to be the best day of his life. Minutes later, he's turned into a Deadite.

* TooDumbToLive: Goodman Tapert discovers that the ancient book he's holding is the Necronomicon. Despite knowing full well that the wretched book holds the powers of the dead and all manner of ancient evils, and despite Ted repeatedly telling him not to, he decides to '''''read the damn thing aloud on live TV'''''. This results in Evil being unleashed once again to wreak havoc, with Ted and Tapert turning into Deadites for their trouble.

** Ted himself, right before Tapert reads the Necronomicon where, hears about the potential hundreds of thousands of dollars the book is worth, claiming today to be the best day of his life. Minutes later, he's turned into a Deadite.

* InexplicableLanguageFluency: Goodman reveals to Ted, out of nowhere, that he can read Sumerian, allowing him to translate the Necronomicons incantations and let Evil roam free once again.

!!Public Television of the Dead

** Brenner's cane from [[Recap/CreepshowS1E4TheCompanion The Companion]] is among the antiques Norm rifles through on the wrecked set of ''The Appraiser's Road Trip''.

* VillainWithGoodPublicity: Mr.s Bookberry is known to children across the country as a sweet and caring woman who says reading is fun and beneficial. Off-camera, she's a loathsome prima-donna who regularly hurls bigoted insults at her superior and blackmails anyone who doesn't meet her demands with being fired.