Earl gets selected to give his opinions on a few television pilots, none of which he gets. The only one he shows any kind of positive reaction for is the test patterns. The executives believe that Earl's not the right dinosaur to give his opinion and that the shows will be hits, but then the test patterns end up being the highest-rated program. Earl is put in charge of programming the network, initially greenlighting several test pattern shows before growing tired of them. Earl makes the network a hit, but the shows end up making viewers dumber. Fran convinces Earl to put on some intelligent programming, which succeeds in making viewers smarter. Earl wins an award for it, but questions whether he can live with the fact that he had to program shows that he doesn't understand. Soon, the shows make viewers so intelligent that they no longer feel a need to watch television, angering Earl's bosses. When they discuss what to do to regain their viewers, Earl decides that they are evil, as they don't care what they program as long as they get good ratings. Earl quits his job, and finally feels like he deserves the award he got. Earl's former bosses decide that since everyone is now reading, they'll lure viewers back with a special book, with information and games about TV, as well as providing a schedule so dinosaurs will know what's on when. The first TV Guide Book is delivered to the Sinclairs, and as they read, they once again get sucked into watching TV, forgetting that they had just blasted Baby into space.
Includes examples of
- Ascended Extra: In-Universe, it is unclear what Baby Cuddlebunny's intended role on "Dr. Kirk Marcus, MD" was (a supporting character? a one-time guest appearance?), but it definitely wasn't the star. Earl liked him so much that Baby Cuddlebunny became the show's star instead.
- Biting-the-Hand Humor: Before Earl sees the clips of different shows, he sees an ABC bumper narrated by someone begging viewers to please watch.
- Breakout Character: In-Universe, Baby Cuddlebunny, spoofing the popularity of Baby Sinclair.
- Catchphrase: Baby Cuddlebunny's catch phrase is "Not the pajamas!", a parody of Baby Sinclair's own "Not the Mama!" Baby even quotes the line.
- The End of the World as We Know It: Fran notes how the shows Earl's been putting on the air and the effects they're causing is the end of civilization as they know it.
- F--: Played with as a humorous example of how Earl's programming is affecting everyone's intelligence. Robbie's report card is mostly F's with the last grade being an M. Robbie clarifies that the M grade is not because he was somehow stupid enough to do that poorly, but because the teacher who graded him forgot the alphabet.
- Karma Houdini: The network executives, who succeed in getting viewers back with no regard to their intelligence.
- Kill the Poor: One show has rich dinosaurs debating over whether or not they should eat the poor dinosaurs. Neither side appears to bring up the fact that now's the perfect time to do so, because the poor dinosaurs have all been severely dumbed down by poor-quality entertainment on television.
- Phlebotinum-Induced Stupidity: Earl turns the household television into this weapon that dumbs down society by forcing the networks to simplify and degrade the quality of their programming to nothing more than glamorizations of colors floating on the screen to a box of puppies.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: After Earl introduces new, smarter shows to "educate and elevate the dinosaur spirit," the two TV executives, distraught at Earl for causing a drop in TV viewership, try to come up with solutions for making them dumb again. Earl, who had won an award for the smarter shows in his capacity as head programming executive at the Antediluvian Broadcasting Company, is rightly horrified:Earl: You guys are evil! I put on the dumb shows because I liked them, and then I put on the smart shows to save the world! You have a chance to reach out to millions and millions of dinosaurs, but you don't care what you put on the air! All you care about...is ratings.
- Shout-Out: Many shows (or at least their titles) get parodied, with such shows as House Full of Dads and My Mother the Lamp.
- One show Earl tests out is Dr. Kirk Marcus, MD, a parody of Marcus Welby, M.D.. When Earl thinks the show should instead star Baby Cuddlebunny, retitling it Baby Cuddlebunny, MD, the format is basically a parody of Doogie Houser, MD, while the character itself is a parody of Dinosaur's own Baby Sinclair.
- When Earl watches one of the educational shows starting a professor, he remarks that the show would be better if they were stuck on an island with a millionaire and a movie star.
- Teen Pregnancy: One scene shows a parody of Beverly Hills, 90210 called Pangaea Hills: Dino210 that features a teenage dinosaur telling her friend that she is "in trouble". When her friend asks her to prove it, she does so by showing to him that she has laid an egg.
- Too Dumb to Live: Taken quite literally at one point when Robbie forgets how to breathe.
- Took a Level in Dumbass: The entire dinosaur race, thanks to all the stupid shows greenlit by Earl, including "Box full of Puppies" and "Baby Cuddlebunny, M.D." It eventually gets to the point where schools and businesses have to shut down because many dinosaurs now find it difficult to perform even the simplest of tasks. Earl only agrees to start greenlighting smarter shows after the news reveals that it's getting harder to maintain electrical power throughout Pangaea. Subverted after Earl's smarter shows hit the airwaves, to the dismay of the TV executives, who are seeing their ratings dropping fast with the dinosaurs finding more worthwhile things to do, like doing homework and, in Baby's case, creating an experimental rocket.
- Viewers Are Morons: To be more accurate, the shows Earl programs makes viewers INTO morons. But it wasn't really that hard, the viewers only wanted programs that are simple and dull enough for their weak minds to understand.
- We Are Experiencing Technical Difficulties: When Earl creates programming that makes most of Pangaea's population stupid, the cameraman in the newsroom fails to focus on Howard Handupme's anchoring, bringing up a "PLEEZE STAND BIE" card.
