but will they share a bed?
OK, so FOX has decided to go with a new show called "Trading Spouses" in which two families....well, do i really need to spell it out for you? this is an apparent attempt to beat ABC's "Wife Swap" - yet another pilfering of a British show - to the air (t.s.o.a. is disappointed that this is a reality show and not a made-for-TV-movie about Fritz Peterson and Mike Kekich). ordinarily, this wouldn't merit any further discussion, but in this case there's a twist: the whole concept of the show, including the name, is stolen from Chappelle's Show on Comedy Central. though i can't find any mention of the show on FOX's website yet, there have been a few ads that have aired and the rip-off appears to reach even into the fact that one of the families is white while the other is black, and that the white mother appears mildly consternated by the hip-hop she encounters in her new surroundings. if there's a kid named T-Mart, then we'll know that not one ounce of actual effort was put into this.
is there no recourse for Dave Chappelle in this situation? even though his show is a parody, doesn't it still have intellectual property rights? unless he stole the idea from the British show, which is possible, he should be suing the pants off of Rupert Murdoch & co. looks like we've got some questions for the next time we see balgavy.com's resident legal eagle and copyright law specialist Anne.
other chill inducing TV news: Alf to host talk show. *correction* this actually aired on July 7th, with an encore presentation on the 10th. no word yet on whether this was simply a one-off thing, or whether the folks over at TVLand are actively sabotaging their own network.
*UPDATE* (7/16) - i managed to ask Anne about this last night at O'Connors and she was extremely patient and helpful trying to color in all of the gray areas of the law in cases like this. i did my best to follow what she was saying and at one point thought i had come up with a similar scenario involving "Weird" Al Yankovic, but it didn't quite work. regardless, i still believe Mr. Chapelle would have a case even if the most concrete answer Anne could give me was "maybe".
Comments
i gave up on tv land during the first five minutes of the last episode of 'friends.' the fine folks at tvland claimed they'd be airing an hour or ninety minutes or whatever it was of staff members watching the friends finale. that was the most boring shit i've ever seen on television. and it had so much potential. i've never claimed to be a professional TV watcher, but after watching that maddeningly slow hour of four or five people eating popcorn and not talking during the show i'm ready to rent myself out. it was preposterously annoying. and it didn't have to be! talk. make fun of the show. say something instead of "hey, we're watching 'friends.'" argh. tvland. it's as much of a tv wasteland as america claims tv is.
Posted by: marc | July 13, 2004 06:05 PM
I'm boycotting TV Land until they come to their senses and start rerunning "WKRP in Cincinnati" again.
Alf trivia: Josh Buxbaum, the kid who played next-door neighbor Jake Ochmonek, lived down the hall from me during my freshman year at GW. I believe he was in Phil's fraternity.
Posted by: Matt | July 13, 2004 08:26 PM
You can't copyright a title. BUT, if it's using the same title and CONCEPT, that's definitely an infringement. We should alert Dave and maybe we can be his legal team that brings down Fox. But then, there's be no "OC" and "Method & Red." I haven't seen hardly any of Dave C. as my Comedy Central has been broken for 18 months.
Posted by: Claire | July 14, 2004 12:04 AM
ps- Dave probably didn't get a trademark on that skit, like I'm sure he has for his show. BUt I wonder if Fox will or has trademarked the name now and will give him a hard time? Just like Fox...
Posted by: Claire | July 14, 2004 12:08 AM
I actually watched a couple minutes of that Alf "talk show"...& to borrow the words of the great fuzzy one: "It was AWFUL." B-list guests and poorly produced props. Then again, I watched a rerun of the show after the talk show, and again, it was AWFUL - and I used to love that show - So maybe I'm just being too critical.
Posted by: Michelle | July 14, 2004 10:20 AM
I've heard of trimming the hedges, but you done scorched the earth!
Posted by: jake | July 14, 2004 10:34 AM
I was Josh Buxbaum's TA senior year. He HATED talking about Alf. People used to try to slip it into class discussion just to piss him off. Most of the time it was irrelevant, but we were TV production majors, so the professor usually let it roll.
Posted by: Cara | July 16, 2004 10:58 AM