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over 'Survivor' ripoff
ABC: 'Celebrity' is original enough. CBS: Get real.
By Jeff Bercovici
Anytime you hear network executives getting worked up about originality, you can be sure that there's a lawsuit involved.
This courtroom dispute of the moment is between CBS, home of "Survivor," and ABC, which plans to air a new series called "I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here!" beginning Feb. 19.
CBS says "I'm a Celebrity" is a shameless ripoff of "Survivor," which kick-started the reality TV craze when it aired to huge ratings in the summer of 2000. It wants the court to issue an injunction against the series to keep it from airing.
ABC argues that its show is an original, as these things go, and that blocking it from airing will handicap the already-battered network in the ratings race.
Manhattan Federal Court Judge Loretta Preska heard testimony from both sides this week and is expected to rule in the case on Monday.
CBS lawyer Leslie Gordon Fagen called attention to a number of similarities between the two programs. Both involve stranding a group of contestants in a remote, inhospitable location, depriving them of amenities including food, and challenging them to complete strenuous, sometimes disgusting, tasks. Both also feature elimination votes, with "Survivor" contestants voting each other off while the audience chooses on "I'm a Celebrity."
Jim Allen, the British creator of "I'm a Celebrity," says he had come up with the concept at least two years before "Survivor" first aired. A British version of the show was a major hit.
"It was our idea, our show and our success," Allen said.
ABC lawyer Thomas Smart, meanwhile, argued that both shows are merely takes on a generic theme.
"The history of television is derived from generic concepts,'' he said. "It is in the execution, which is the expression, that the protection arises. We have not infringed their expression.''
For its part, CBS produced Charlie Parsons, who owns the rights to "Survivor.'' The producers of "I'm a Celebrity," said Parsons, appeared to have "taken tracing paper to 'Survivor' and copied it in order to make the same program but with slight variations in the hopes that they would kind of get away with it.''
Besides cutting into the ratings of "Survivor," "I'm a Celebrity" would also make it difficult for CBS to find an audience for an all-celebrity version of "Survivor," which has long been on the drawing board, said network president Leslie Moonves.
This is not the first time networks have fought over the originality of dueling reality shows. CBS and Fox settled a similar suit over "Boot Camp" in September 2001. Last year, ABC sued Fox over similarities between ABC's "The Chair" and Fox's "The Chamber." That dispute ended quietly, as both shows were short-lived ratings failures.
January 8, 2003© 2003 Media Life
-Jeff Bercovici is a staff writer for Media Life
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