I am a self-proclaimed movie buff, so I'm trying to give African-American director Spike Lee the benefit of the doubt. I am trying to imagine a good reason for his lawsuit, the most frivolous of the year (as the critics would say). But I keep missing a good reason as to why Lee has decided to attack the Viacom company, which owns Spike TV, formerly known as the Nashville Network (TNN).
TNN has been changing its image gradually over the past few years. The studio's head, Albie Hecht, decided to change the name of the network to Spike TV for no real reason, along with some new programming, such as three animated series. One features Pamela Anderson as Stripperella, a crime-fighting stripper. (No one said these shows would be good.)
Lee, the famed film director, found this unacceptable. On June 3, he filed a lawsuit in the New York City courts, saying he was "extremely upset" about the change of the network, believing that people will associate him with the network. He said, "I don't want to be associated with any Stripperella crap." That's the only point he and I agree on.
On June 12, a New York judge ruled that enough evidence was in order for a trial in this case. Lee's lead counsel will be (wait for it... wait for it...) Johnnie Cochran! Ah, that's a good sign!
Basically, Lee thinks some doofus out there in La-La Land (and I don't mean Los Angeles) will watch Spike TV and think the network is about Spike Lee. As CBS talk show host Craig Kilborn said, "I don't get it - it's not like it's being called Hasn't Made A Good Movie Since Do The Right Thing TV." Kilborn, while slightly off, has a point. Lee has made some other good movies.
Has Lee forgotten that he is not the only recipient of the first name Spike? Go to your local Blockbuster video store, and you can rent the films Adaptation and Being John Malkovich, directed by Spike Jonze. Go to your movie theater this week and you can see Rugrats Go Wild; One of the film's characters, voiced by Bruce Willis, is named Spike. If your local newspaper still runs old "Peanuts" reruns (mine does), you might read a comic strip about Snoopy and his brother, Spike.
If that doesn't convince you, how about this? Lee's real name is Shelton Lee. Shelton! Does that mean that writer-director Ron Shelton is next on Lee's enemies list, after all the people and pets named after Spike?
Seriously, this is the silliest case I've ever heard about in a long while. Lee must have hit his head and decided to sue someone in the aftermath of the pain. Why would anyone associate a famed African-American film director with a network with programming like wrestling, "Star Trek" and "CSI"?
The weirdest thing is that Lee has, in his lawsuit, the sworn affidavits of actor Edward Norton, former U.S. Senator Bill Bradley, and minister Calvin Butts. Each of them says that they associated Lee with Spike TV. Does that mean that Lee mentioned the network to each, who thought it had to do with him? Perhaps these people actually felt that both the network and the man were the same. Or maybe these dolts don't watch TV.
Will I be watching the new Spike TV, or whatever it will be called, once the new programming comes on? I might watch the animated program called "Gary the Rat," about a lawyer turned life-size rat featuring Kelsey Grammer, but nothing else. Will I have any respect for Lee? No. My respect walked out the door when it heard about this idiotic lawsuit.
Josh Spiegel is an entertainment reporter for the Web Devil. Reach him at joshua.spiegel@asu.edu.
