Vanity

I'm surprised that I'm only finding out about this now. The producer of such shows as Big Bang Theory, Two and a Half Men, Dharma & Greg and Grace Under Fire puts what are called 'vanity cards' at the end of his shows (the first three shows mentioned), just before the credits. The writing is very small, appears for a second at most and under certain circumstances, is censored by the networks. The cards contain a message that reads like an editorial, essay, or observation on life. So, the only way you would normally be able to read these words is by recording the show and pausing at the right moment.

Luckily for us, Chuck makes his vanity cards available for casual reading (no censoring) on his web site. Here's a sample:

"We were recently slammed by something called the Parents Television Council. Rather than protest, I wrote a vanity card thanking them for the plug and sent them a box of fancy cupcakes. They promptly responded with a cute thank you letter suggesting that I might've poisoned the cupcakes. The letter went on to explain how they planned to employ one of their young interns as a food taster. If he did not die from eating one of my cupcakes, the rest of the PTC staff would happily dig in. If he did die, they would happily hire an attorney, sue me and become wealthy. Cute, right? But then I got to thinking, this is an organization that exists solely to protect the youth of America from entertainment they find objectionable. And yet their immediate response to a box of cupcakes - albeit in joke form - was to sacrifice a young member of their team. Say what you will about the comic content on Two and a Half Men, when suspicious food arrives at our offices we would never dream of asking a young intern to test it. We'd ask an old writer. And only because the body of an aging comedy writer is capable of ingesting poison and turning it into TV."