Apparently, yes. Over the past week Craig Ferguson, host of CBS' Late Late Show (and, in my opinion, the apparent heir, to the David Letterman throne) was complaining how a show he had been pushing, Ghost Chimp, M.D., had not been picked up by the network. As the week went on sources like Comicmix.com were reporting that Craig's facetious idea seemed exactly like one created by comic book writer and artist Kyle Baker.
It turns out that Kyle developed Ghost Chimp for CBS back in the early 90's and subsequently wrote an article on it for Vibe magazine. Rumblings began across the television and comic book industry of a legal showdown between Baker and CBS. Well, maybe not rumblings, but certainly shrugs and mumbles of 'who cares?' began to circulate. However, the crisis was averted on Thursday when the network credited Baker with the Ghost Chimp concept. Reference to Baker's creation can be found in the video after the jump.
For what it's worth, I think the network should have added Ghost Chimp to the lineup. They could have put it on Friday nights at nine, right after Ghost Whisperer. Then, during sweeps, Whisperer and Chimp could have had a crossover, which would have been a ratings smash and huge revenue grabber.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
5-26-2007 @ 7:02PM
BartmanDK said...
They way i see it its like"Oh i made it up" yeah but what did you do witht it? Oh oki NOTHING? Well then its someone elses turn!!
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5-26-2007 @ 10:01PM
mike m said...
I have to echo the 'who cares?' people.
Anyway, Richard, I'm glad you mentioned Craig Ferguson being air to Letterman...he is the best thing in Late Night right now in my opinion.
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5-26-2007 @ 10:05PM
mike m said...
I spelt heir the wrong way...what have I been smoking?
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5-26-2007 @ 10:05PM
MrC said...
I wonder if there was a conversation like "you'd never guess what we got pitched back in '93" and craig took the title ghost chimp MD and ran with it.
I can't see him blatantly ripping someone off, he's not carlos mencia after all.
I like that he tried to make his amends in a funny way that didn't make it seems like a groveling apologies.
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5-27-2007 @ 3:13AM
Jeff N. said...
Craig Ferguson is one funny guy.
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5-27-2007 @ 7:01AM
Bruce said...
Craig Ferguson is a funny guy *and* one class act.
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5-27-2007 @ 10:22AM
Walt said...
I don't know how Craig got the concept of GhostChimpMD, but you have to give him/writers props for the recovery.
Has Letterman talked about a replacement should the levy break?
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5-28-2007 @ 9:00PM
Tim said...
The only problem with Craig Ferguson's show is that I lose too much sleep staying up to watch his monologue! I don't know but I bet he's just the kind of cool guy who knew what Ghost Chimp was before he made the comment
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