LawSuit-related stories
Posted Oct 24th 2009 10:02AM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: OpEd, Celebrities, Reality-Free, Star Trek: Original Series
You have to admire the tenacity of writer
Harlan Ellison. He filed a
lawsuit against CBS Paramount accusing the company of not paying him for all the ancillary income the company earned from the episode of
Star Trek he wrote in 1967, "City on the Edge of Forever." Yesterday,
Ellison announced on his web site that he had settled with CBS Paramount and he was very, very pleased. He didn't reveal how much money he made, but he probably did quite well.
After all, CBS Paramount has done very, very well with that original
Star Trek episode. It's regarded as -- and is -- the all-time best show in the entire original
ST canon. Ironically, Ellison never liked what Roddenberry and company had done with his script.
Continue reading Harlan Ellison bests CBS Paramount over 42 year-old Star Trek episode
Posted Oct 16th 2009 9:37PM by Danny Gallagher
Filed under: Other Reality Shows
Who says that justice is a forgotten concept that only exists as a hope and no longer as an important facet of a fully functional society?
Jon Gosselin is about to have his day in court. Take that, evil!
TLC is suing for the former star of
Jon & Kate Plus 8 for breach of contract, accusing accused him of violating an exclusivity and moral clause in his contract. I was shocked. Reality shows have morals? Of course it makes sense that the only morals involved in reality shows would have to be enforced by a contract.
Posted Sep 1st 2009 3:00PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Celebrities, Reality-Free
Carrie Prejean, aka Miss California USA (yes, apparently there is a difference between Miss California and Miss California USA, which is more information I ever thought I'd know about these pageants) has
filed a lawsuit against two pageant officials.
You may remember that
Prejean caused an uproar back in April when moron Perez Hilton asked her a question about gay marriage at the MIss USA Pageant. Prejean was fired a couple of months later for violating her contract and not appearing at several pageant events. Prejean says that pageant officials Keith Lewis and Shanna Moakler really got rid of her because of what she said during the show and because she talked a lot about God.
Donald Trump hasn't made a statement about this yet, but I'm sure he will.
Posted Aug 29th 2009 12:29PM by Brad Trechak
Filed under: Industry, OpEd, Celebrities, Reality-Free
I'm not sure who will rejoice at this news more: Yankees or Mets fans. Long-time Yankees owner George Steinbrenner has been
sued by a former colleague for breach of agreement regarding the YES Network. This is another in a long line of broken and burned bodies left in Steinbrenner's wake.
Accusing Steinbrenner of lying is a bit like accusing the the Pope of being Catholic. Just ask Billy Martin, Dave Winfield, Reggie Jackson, etc., etc., etc. I'd be more surprised if he told the truth. Simply on the basis of who George Steinbrenner is and how he behaves, I'm pretty sure that Robert Gutkowski is justified in his claim.
Mind you, Steinbrenner is pushing 80. He's not quite the powerhouse he used to be. If you want to sue him, now's the time (as opposed to even 10 years ago). Perhaps they should get Larry David (who did the Steinbrenner impression back on
Seinfeld) to fill in for him at the trial.
Posted Aug 26th 2009 8:02PM by Brad Trechak
Filed under: Industry, Reality-Free
They say you can choose your friends, but not your mother-in-law. Sunda Croonquist is being sued by her mother-in-law for defaming her character in nightclubs and on channels like Comedy Central. Another ironic aspect to the story is that her husband's firm (he's an attorney) is defending her in the case. No comment is available from the husband/son.
Croonquist grew up in Paterson, NJ in a strict Roman Catholic upbringing with an interesting half-black, half-Swedish background. Naturally, with such a varied ancestry, she'd marry into a Jewish family.
I'm reminded of a Woody Allen comedy routine in which he goes into business with his family and ends up sending his grandmother to jail for fraud. He'd probably get a kick out of this situation. The lesson is: mothers-in-law hear everything and remember even more.
Here's what I don't understand: why didn't her mother-in-law simply yield the greatest weapon any Jewish mother has in her arsenal and guilt-trip the crap out of Ms. Croonquist? That usually works on me.
Posted Aug 18th 2009 8:30PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Other Reality Shows, Celebrities, Celebreality
Tonight is the series premiere of ABC's new celebrity reality competition
whatever show,
Shaq Vs. But if one guy gets his way, you won't see it.
Author
Todd Gallagher says the idea for the show was stolen from his book
Andy Roddick Beat Me With A Frying Pan. That's not an accusation of assault against the tennis star, the book was about Gallagher challenging people to sporting competitions if they gave him an advantage in some way. Roddick used a frying pan. I haven't read the book but I would love to see him play golf against Tiger Woods, with Woods having to use a giant ladle.
He says that William Morris Endeavor wanted to turn his book into a TV series last year but then went ahead and did it anyway, changing the name to
Shaq Vs. Since the show airs in 30 minutes, I'd say he won't be able to stop it, at least this week.
Posted Aug 8th 2009 11:02AM by Brad Trechak
Filed under: OpEd, Celebrities, Reality-Free
A poet named Damon Lloyd Goffe is suing Oprah for
one trillion dollars. Yes, with a "t". Reportedly, Oprah plagiarized some of his poetry in her Internet-published work "Pieces of my Soul." I have to hand it to this guy's ingenuity. If any celebrity out there has a trillion dollars on hand, it's Oprah.
I'm going on a limb and guessing this guy isn't going to win. It would likely cost her a lot less to buy off the jury, judge, bailiffs and the rest of the city of Chicago.
On the very unlikely chance he does win, he'll get less than the asking price. Doing so would require Oprah to admit fault and I'm not sure she's capable of that.
It seems more like a big publicity stunt like the people that sue Dan Brown, J.K. Rowling or Stephanie Meyer. One thing is for certain. Whether he succeeds or fails, he will not be featured on Oprah's Book Club.
Posted Jul 14th 2009 12:26PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Industry, Lost, Reality-Free
I think most hit TV shows are sued at one point or another by someone who claims to have actually created the show. Usually it's someone unknown, but once in a while you get a real producer or writer with several credits who claims to have created the show. This is one of those cases.
Anthony Spinner, who among other credits produced and/or wrote for
The Man From U.N.C.L.E.,
Cannon,
Search,
The FBI,
Return of the Saint, and
Baretta, is
suing both ABC and Touchstone Television, saying that he created (and was paid $30,000 for) a show that is very similar to
Lost way back in 1977. He actually sued back in 2005 but the case was dismissed for procedural reasons.
Continue reading Veteran producer suing ABC, saying he created Lost over 30 years ago
Posted Jun 23rd 2009 3:37PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Daytime, Celebrities, Talk Show, Reality-Free
First Jerry Seinfeld's wife, now a
View host.
Elizabeth Hasselbeck has been sued by another author who accuses her of stealing ideas for her book
The G Free Diet: A Gluten-Free Survival Guide. The plaintiff, Susan Hassett, says she sent a copy of her own book
Living with Celiac Disease to Hasselbeck last year. And now this year Hasselbeck comes out with her own book (written with Peter Green) on the topic, and there seems to be a lot of similarities, including chapter titles and certain phrasing of words.
Gawker has some of the similarities and
TMZ has the court documents.
Posted Apr 27th 2009 7:02PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Celebrities, Reality-Free
It seems that Oprah Winfrey is involved in everything these days, doesn't it? Books, dieting, world hunger, education, last year's election, makeovers, Twitter, Facebook, you name it. Now she's involved in a legal fight with an insurance company.
Mutual of Omaha, which TV fans might remember from their sponsorship of
Wild Kingdom oh so many years ago, is
suing the talk show giant because she is using the "A-ha moment" phase. Or maybe it's just "Aha." Anyway, the company says that it has been using the "Aha Moment" phrase since February and they want Oprah to stop using it too. To be honest, I wasn't aware that Mutual of Omaha was using it at all, and I only have a vague recollection that Oprah Winfrey was using it. Hasn't she been using it for a lot longer than the past couple of months?
The band A-ha could not be reached for comment.
Posted Apr 3rd 2009 3:00PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Other Reality Shows
When I heard about
Bravo's new reality program, The Fashion Show, a few phrases came to mind: "Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery" was one. "Don't get mad, get even" was another. Then there was "Anything you can do, I can do better."
Yes, it seems that
The Fashion Show is a show that was conceived as a replacement for
Project Runway, the Bravo hit series that has run off to Lifetime.
Continue reading Bravo launches The Fashion Show... which is kinda, sorta like Project Runway
Posted Mar 20th 2009 10:07AM by Brad Trechak
Filed under: Industry, OpEd, American Idol
It should come as no surprise that behind-the-scenes folks on television (and sometimes even in-front-of-the-scenes folks) are routinely taken advantage of in the entertainment industry (if it can happen at Walmart, it can happen anywhere). However, it seems that some of these employees are fighting back,
specifically against FremantleMedia, the producers of American Idol. Fremantle is being accused of not paying overtime, falsifying time cards, and not giving employees the meals and breaks they're supposed to get.
Most of the people that I know who work in the entertainment business (usually at the low end) testify that it sucks. Low wages. Crappy hours. Demeaning work. Why do they do it? The same reason people work at any of the arts for a beggars' wage: either for the sake of the art or to eventually become famous (or both). They start at the bottom and work their way up unless they're lucky enough to be a celebrity offspring.
This sort of attitude leads to people taking advantage and hence this lawsuit. Whatever will Simon Cowell think of this?
Posted Jan 22nd 2009 6:02PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Other Reality Shows, Industry
Question: What do the following TV shows have in common?
Joe Millionaire,
The Bachelor,
Are You Hot?,
Trading Spouses,
The Will, and
My Big Fat Obnoxious Fiance.
If you answered "they all destroy the human soul a little bit when you watch them," you're absolutely correct. But that's not what this post is about.
Actually, they're all shows whose workers filed a class-action suit in California three years ago.
A settlement has been reached and the workers will be sharing a $4 million settlement. The suit accused the shows of violating state wage and work rules. Workers on those shows worked 80 hours a week and were denied lunches and breaks. They were also asked to fake their time cards. Worst of all, the workers were asked to actually watch the shows they were working on, which violating human rights laws in the United States.
Of course, I kid. It violated human rights laws around the world.
Posted Oct 1st 2008 12:01PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: TV Royalty, Celebrities, Reality-Free
Ed McMahon is having the Worst. Year. Ever. Now people are reaching out from beyond the grave to sue him.
The ex-
Tonight Show announcer and
Star Search host, who is being sued by many people and also almost lost his home a month or so ago, is now being
sued by Merv Griffin's company for $100,000. McMahon was having money problems back in 2005 and borrowed the money from Merv. The loan was supposed to be paid back starting last month but McMahon didn't make his first payment, so The Griffin Group, Inc. has filed suit against him. Griffin died last year.
Continue reading Ed McMahon sued (yes, again)
Posted Jun 5th 2008 3:23PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Food/Home/DIY, Celebrities, Reality-Free
Book? What book? That would seem to be the bone of contention, if you will.
Ben Karlin, former headwriter for The Daily Show, has filed a lawsuit against TV chef Mario Batali and actress Gwyneth Paltrow claiming they did not pay him for work he did for a book on which they were collaborating. Karlin, who shared authorship of
America (The Book) with Jon Stewart, says he was assigned to "conceptualize and oversee" a book to compliment a PBS series starring Mario and Gwyneth in which the stars take a cultural and gastronomic tour of Spain. The series, which may be called
Spain...on the Road Again, will premiere this fall.
Continue reading Gwyneth and Mario sued over food/travel book
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