Spike TV (1 Viewer)

[Bill Williams]

Good one, Jay!

 

[Rob Gardiner]

I wonder if there would be such venomous hatred in this thread if the filmmaker in question was someone less controversial.

If "The Scorsese Network" planned to air Striparella cartoons featuring Pam Anderson, and Martin Scorsese complained, I doubt folks would be calling him a butthead, etc.

My take on this: When I first heard about "Spike TV", I was absolutely MORTIFIED that my favorite TV show, Star Trek, would be associated with this lowbrow softcore porn nonsense. If I were a celebrity, I can't imagine how I would feel if my NAME (or even a nickname) were associated with it.

I don't blame Spike Lee at all.

 

[Joel Mack]

If it were "The Scorcese Network", it WOULD be a different thing entirely.

"Spike" isn't even the man's real name.

 

[Dan Rudolph]

If there were a Martin network airing Stripperella, etc and Martin Scorcese sued, I would call him a nut. He's pretty much the only person to get famous on the name Scorcese, so he would have a legit claim if they name it that.

 

[TonyD]

My take on this: When I first heard about "Spike TV", I was absolutely MORTIFIED that my favorite TV show, Star Trek, would be associated with this lowbrow softcore porn nonsense. If I were a celebrity, I can't imagine how I would feel if my NAME (or even a nickname) were associated with it.

isnt that channel called SPICE tv?

 

[Rob Gardiner]

Here are some links that may interest those of you who believe the suit has no merit:

TNN Pres Admits 'Spike TV' Name Inspired by Filmmaker Spike Lee, Among Others

The most devastating fact in Lee's favor is this: Hecht apparently admitted in interviews that Spike Lee was one of his major inspirations for his choosing the name "Spike TV." According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, Hecht's role models were "Spike the macho vamp[ire] in Buffy the Vampire Slayer; [and] directors Spike Lee and Spike Jonze."

...

I believe that this admission makes Lee's case, which otherwise might seem to verge on megalomania, much more sympathetic. It shows that it is not just Lee himself who believes that "Spike TV" connotes "Spike Lee"; the President of Spike TV himself seems to think so, too.

 

[TonyD]

"We were looking for a name that would reflect the attitude we wanted - smart, sexy, active, irreverent, slightly aggressive and unapologetically male,"

sounds like a compliment to me.

 

[Paul McElligott]

I believe that this admission makes Lee's case

Since Hecht also listed a half-dozen other obvious inspirations, I think it helps torpedo Lee's bogus case.

 

[Will_B]

I wonder if there would be such venomous hatred in this thread if the filmmaker in question was someone less controversial.

He's controversial? I don't think so! He's only as controversial as the next "indie" filmmaker who isn't really indie. Is Kevin Smith controversial? Hardly. Maybe what's his name, the fat guy with the Bowling for Columbine movie is a little political, but even he is not controversial.

Woody Allen is controversial. That filmmaker who slept with the consenting young woman and then fled to europe is controversial.

This silly lawsuit is the most controversy Spike Lee has seen. And yes, I'm aware he made that Malcolm X movie, which was less controversial than Natural Born Killers or other films.

 

[Rob Gardiner]

Will,

I don't think it's a secret that Spike Lee is not among the most respected celebrities. Take a look at the comments in this thread. Spike Lee is called a "dick", an "annoying douche" and an "asshat" (whatever that is), interspersed with comments about how irrelevant and unpopular he and his film are.

I suspect many posters here are bashing the filmmaker rather than the lawsuit.

Paul,

The fact remains, TNN named their network after a celebrity without his permission. Had Mr. Hecht kept his big mouth shut, they could have claimed innocence. But his comments pretty much prove that they intend the audience to make the association between Spike TV and filmmaker Spike Lee, among other associations.

 

[Chris Lockwood]

> But his comments pretty much prove that they intend the audience to make the association between Spike TV and filmmaker Spike Lee

I don't think most people know who Lee is, & I've yet to hear a good reason why someone would intentionally name a TV channel after him, unless it was devoted to showing his movies or the like.


> Take a look at the comments in this thread. Spike Lee is called a "dick", an "annoying douche" and an "asshat" (whatever that is), interspersed with comments about how irrelevant and unpopular he and his film are.... I suspect many posters here are bashing the filmmaker rather than the lawsuit.

Well, the suit didn't file itself, did it? I don't remember people calling him things like that before this suit... in fact, nobody was talking about him then. Hmmm...

Like Craig Kilborn said, it's not like they tried to name the channel Hasn'tMadeAGoodFilmSinceDoTheRightThing TV.

 

[Rob Gardiner]

Chris,

I don't think it matters whether they had a "good reason" to name their network after him. The fact that they did so is enough. The company's president admitted so in print back in April.

I wish Michael Reuben or another informed soul would chime in on the relevance of this new (to this thread) development.


As far as hostility towards Spike Lee on this board: The last time the subject came up, he was called "overpretentious" and an "egomaniac" for using the tagline "A Spike Lee Joint" on his films. :rolleyes

 

[Robert Crawford]

That's a matter of opinion and if you're into good filmmaking then you should checkout "25th Hour".



Crawdaddy

 

[Dan Rudolph]

To say the name was inspired by him, among others is not the same as sayign they named the network after him. And even if they did, he still wouldn't necessarily win unless he could demonstrate that they deliberately tried to tie the station to him with their programming or marketing.

 

[derek]

Given the stupidity of it all I'm thinking its all an elaborate setup by TNN and Spike Lee to get the floundering network some publicity... *LOL*

 

[Rob Gardiner]

OK everybody!

When I brought up the comment by Mr. Hecht about being partially "inspired" by Spike Lee, I did not mean to present irrefutable proof that TNN will lose the case. However, Mr. Hecht's comment DOES show that there is a legitimate basis for the lawsuit. I was simply trying to rebut the overwhelming avalanche of comments along the lines of, "there is absolutely NO case" or "the judge must be an idiot".

A couple pages back, Michael Reuben said that we don't know all the facts and I thought this was the perfect example of a fact that should be, but hadn't been, considered.

But since everybody has already decided that Mr. Lee is in the wrong, don't let something as trivial as facts to the contrary change your mind.

 

[Hunter P]

If Spike wins this then this will open the flood gates for all famous people to have a monopoly on their name (stage name or not). They will be able to restrict the use of all names that are not trademarked or copyrighted simply because someone is on record as saying they were an influence for using that name. There are a ton of names that were inspired by other names.

Marilyn Manson, Duran Duran, Veruca Salt, et al. would not be allowed to keep their names if the "owners" of the name objected.

 

[Malcolm R]

I'm still not clear why this is supposedly proof of anything. He was simply listed as part of a laundry list of "spike" people/characters/actions. That does not mean that he, out of that entire list, is somehow deserving of more consideration.

Spike is a generic word with many uses. "Shelton" needs to channel his energies elsewhere.

 

[Chris Lockwood]

I think from now on, I'll just refer to Mr. Lee as Shelton Lee, since that's his real name. I don't think it's fair to the family of Spike Jones that Mr Lee stole that name for himself.

 

[Rob Gardiner]

Sometimes I think people read just the first post and last post in a thread before responding.

On page 2, Michael Reuben, so far the only actual lawyer to post in this thread, pointed out that the name in question NEED NOT BE UNIQUE for the claim to be valid. You may have a brother, a sister, and a dog named Spike but that is not relevant to the suit. The legal expert at FindLaw I quoted above believes Mr. Hecht's comment is evidence in favor of Mr. Lee's case. Apparently two judges believe the case has merit. Does anyone with any credentials wish to refute this? Even if you don't have credentials, I'm sure everyone on this thread would like to hear your opinions but only if you take into account the discussion that has come before.

I don't see the point of popping in on page four of a discussion and pointing out "oh but there was a Spike Jones an a dog named Spike..." when this issue has already been addressed.