Yesterday, I mentioned the fact that garbage disposal manufacturer Emerson was suing NBC over how its In-Sink-Erator product was portrayed in the pilot of Heroes. They weren't happy when Claire the cheerleader (Hayden Panettiere) sticks her hand in a disposal clearly marked with the ISE brand, and her hand emerges all cut up (never mind that it all quickly returns to normal due to her superpower of indestructability). They wanted all references to their product cut from all replays.Well, it looks like NBC decided to avoid all the hassle of a lawsuit by cutting the scene from all future broadcasts of the show, including reruns on NBC Universal cable networks. Don Kaplan of the New York Post reports that network officials said that, "While we do not believe there is any legal issue with the episode as originally broadcast, we nonetheless have decided to edit the episode for future uses." Like I said yesterday, it doesn't pay to piss off those small-appliance manufacturers; they seem like they have more lawyers than the tobacco companies.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
10-04-2006 @ 2:04PM
Fred said...
Well that's just lame.
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10-04-2006 @ 2:37PM
dvddesign said...
Flash news report!
Airplane manufacturer Boeing reports that they're going to be suing ABC over using aircraft in the TV show LOST.
"Airplanes don't just fall from the sky from giant magnets. We feel we weren't fairly represented, and we worry people are going to try to erect giant computer controlled electromagnets to try and bring our planes down. We're worried people will injure themselves with improperly constructed electromagnets."
ABC has yet to comment, but experts believe that the airplane will be excised from future airings.
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10-04-2006 @ 5:01PM
Jon said...
I thought the plane that crashed in Lost was a Lockheed L-1011? Given that Lockheed doesn't make or sell commercial airplanes anymore, I don't think they would care that much about the plane being depicted in Lost. (And I think the reason that Lost is using a L-1011 is because there were plenty of old, no longer flyable planes available that they could purchase cheaply to use as the debris on the beach in the first episode.)
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10-04-2006 @ 4:39PM
erroneous_nick said...
Couldn't the people at NBC just remove the identifying marks on the disposal and replace it with either no text or a fake name? I'm sure they have a computer or two lying around. This should satisfy the slimy lawyers and the people who make the garbage disposal brand I won't ever buy.
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10-04-2006 @ 3:51PM
elf said...
Couldn't they just use CGI to cover up the name brand on the disposal unit? Hell, if NBC can use CGI to create an entire hotel on the Las Vegas strip, they can change the name on a garbage disposal...
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10-04-2006 @ 4:18PM
Brian said...
I thought it was good product placement. I dunno if my off-brand garbage disposal can do that well...
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10-04-2006 @ 4:58PM
Sam said...
That was a brilliant little moment in the episode, and I think the episode will be weaker without it. On the otherhand, now nerdy fans will talk about whether you've seen the "lost in-sink-erator" scene.
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10-05-2006 @ 1:25AM
Keith said...
IS there another Garbage Disposal available? When I think disposals, I think In-Sink-Er-ator!!!!
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10-05-2006 @ 1:47AM
Kevbo said...
Now the irony... tons of people, including myself, were unaware that good old In-Sink-Erators were still available... until that episode of Heroes.
The next group of people that watch that episode will continue to live blissfully unaware that those disposal units still exist and thus will not seek them out when the need arises.
Nice one, Emerson. Fire your lawyers and your PR guys.
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10-05-2006 @ 2:28PM
Matt said...
Too bad. That was one of the only good scenes in either episodes of the show.
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10-06-2006 @ 12:35AM
Keith said...
Lame that NBC couldn't just CGI-out the stupid brand name. Also stupid of ISE not to take advantage of the free publicity.
But Joel: ISE is no "small-appliance manufacturer". Besides holding approximately 85% of the market for garbage disposals (many of which are resold by other resellers with their own brand names) and other appliances, they're actually a division of Emerson, which is a 34 billion dollar company. And, if you look a little more closely, you might recall that NBC is owned by GE -- Emerson's biggest competitor in the appliance space.
The things you learn when you're having your kitchen remodelled.
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10-06-2006 @ 12:56AM
Joel Keller said...
Keith, I wasn't referring to the size of the company, but the the size of the appliance. "Small-appliance company" means they make small appliances. "Small appliance company" (without the dash) means that they're a small company that makes appliances.
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10-20-2006 @ 11:59AM
scififan9009 said...
I had no exposure to the brand insinkerator before this. They sued over a product plug, stupid. Here's the video of it http://www.superhiro.org/infamous-heroes-claire-garbage-disposal-scene-vt70.html
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