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CBS Issues Fake (and Totally Awesome) News Release
Did you hear the news that CBS sued ABC over their new show called The Glass House?
Apparently CBS thinks it’s a direct rip-off of Big Brother, the reality show that follows a group of strangers living together in a house where they’re recorded and filmed 24/7.
And, to be fair, The Glass House also follows a group of strangers living together in a completely wired and state-of-the-art house. The only difference? The audience gets to vote on who stays and who goes.
But CBS lost a battle last week when a judge denied the restraining order which would prevent ABC from airing the show.
The Fake News Release
But CBS wasn’t finished. They issued a news release announcing the development of a new show called Dancing on the Stars.
See for yourself:
Subsequent to recent developments in the creative and legal community, CBS Television today felt it was appropriate to reveal the upcoming launch of an exciting, ground-breaking and completely original new reality program for the CBS Television Network. Moderately famous and sort of well-known people you almost recognize competing for big prizes by dancing on the graves of some of Hollywood’s most iconic and well-beloved stars of stage and screen.
And in follow-up interviews, a CBS spokesperson added:
This very creative enterprise will bring a new sense of energy and fun that’s totally unlike anything anywhere else, honest. Given the current creative and legal environment in the reality programming business, we’re sure nobody will have any problem with Dancing on the Stars or our upcoming half-hour comedy for prime time, Postmodern Family. After all, people who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones.
I personally like the “honest” at the end of the first sentence. The sarcasm gives me great joy!
Too Far?
But did CBS take this too far?
I know there have been certain situations where I’ve wanted to do the same. Heck, we have a former client that we haven’t worked with for nearly two years that I still want to call out in writing…maybe even in my weekly Crain’s column.
But I don’t know if I’d have the cajones to do this (clearly I don’t in the case of the former client).
My take? Bravo, CBS! Bravo! After all, they’re right. Those who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones.
What do you think?
Update: I was playing with VoteIt and decided to add a poll here. Now you can have your say with multiple choice!
@ShellyKramer @ginidietrich It's childish. They lost the lawsuit. It's sour grapes and doesn't look good on them.
@burgessct @spinsucks Ha! I'd watch Postmodern family hehe. The show was interesting and pretty funny but I couldnt take that obnoxious guy
I think it is pretty funny for CBS to come out with a press release like that. It might have been a little wrong but it was very funny. I could see why they were upset about it; the show is very similar to Big Brother. Since I love Big Brother, a co-worker at Dish told me to check out this show. It was automatically recorded using PrimeTime Anytime on the Hopper, so I was able to watch it this morning while I was getting ready for work. I enabled the AutoHop feature and was able to skip right over the ads, which saved me 20 minutes this morning to do other things. The show was good, but I could wait for Big Brother to come back.
@rose.diaz23 I wonder if this whole ruckus caused other people to watch The Glass House too?
Oh, poo. See what happens when I come late? 215 already and that's not nap time.
That said...when you're CBS, you can get away with this. Long live the press release! The press release is not dead! Contrary to what @dannybrown might think or write about. And, as per the Project Eve member who said it's no longer called a press release, rather it's a "media" release? Really? Never heard of such a thing in all my decades of being a purist (no longer).
There, did I say something different than any of the other 150 jamokes? ('Cuz I know the other 65 are one liners from the banterrific Gin Blossom.)
@Soulati | B2B Social Media Marketing Even though I also don't believe in the news release, this is an example of one that worked really well. I think it's hilarious!
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I loved it. It appeals to my (acquired) British sense of irony, but it also makes an intelligent point. Score!
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Post modern Family. A bunch of gay designers arguing over the aesthetics of 1950's architecture. I love it more than I am letting on.
@ginidietrich Funny! Some PR manager they've got. (Perhaps ABC needs to setup a Newsle account to track their brand: http://t.co/oEV42fpu)
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I see both sides. I laughed when I read this, and yeah, it's a little childish, but come on. It's funny. If a big network can roll out something like this with sarcasm, that's just awesome. It's better than cut-and-dry, whiny legalese language explaining why it's not fair that they lost.
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@annedreshfield I don't mind the childish...I wonder what that says about me? :)
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Perfect diamond cut by the Tiffany Network...I can hear the glass shatter over at ABC. Perhaps ABC should reinstitute their old slogan 'Start Fresh' because CBS usurped their 'The Fun Starts Here'.
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@annelizhannan We're getting all sorts of great ideas for new shows in the comments here. The Tiffany Network. LOL!
@ginidietrich Yes, I think you have found the new creative team right here! Road trip to NYC?
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Gini -- I'm surprised at you...you really think this is "totally awesome?" How does issuing a fake news release, albeit one that is meant to be a joke, awesome? And to have it appear on their official news site? Is this an example of a strategic public relations move? Have some fun, sure, but don't disguise it as a news release -- buy an ad for this kind of thing.
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@AbbieF Well said, Abbie! I think my concern is the precedence it sets. I think it's funny and awesome to us because it's about two TV companies fighting over reality television. This is the CBS response when they think they are "right" and ABC is "wrong". It's about Big Brother, so we're all rolling our eyes anyway - what if the same thing happened in a different context? Would it still be funny? That's my biggest issue. This is a great debate you've created here @ginidietrich - see, like I said you're out of control!
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@Maranda @ginidietrich Right, if we replace ABC and CBS with two other nationally recognized brands, would we still say this is awesome and consider it funny?
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@AbbieF @Maranda @ginidietrich I don't think it's setting a precedent, not was it designed to. There have been (obviously ) fake releases for years. And there will be, perhaps, for years to come, particularly now that we all are publishers.. I don't think we're going to see this done by corporations regarding anything serious. If they do, they'll get called out on it. I think those of us who think it's awesome (not that I speak for all of us/them) think it's so because it worked for the specific situation, and the specific brands involved.
@AbbieF I rarely disagree with you, but in this case I must. Respectfully. Our industry has a history of (clearly) fake releases, and in my view, this was one of those. Why should CBS have to pay for an ad, when by distributing a (clearly) fake release which they believed would be shared over the Interwebz, they're having others do the work for them? They're tapping into others' sense of humor to thumb their nose at the competition, whom they believed stole their work. If it wasn't obviously tongue-in- cheek, it wouldn't have gotten any traction and we wouldn't be talking about it. Now let's get back to agreeing. (And I hope you picked up my musical comedy reference, which I stuck in here for your pleasure.)
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@AbbieF @KensViews I think I love it because we've all been there. And I love that they poke fun at the whole thing instead of whining that they lost. It's very Onion-esque, which I also love. If they had a habit of doing this, I would read it as sour grapes. But, in this one case, I think it's quite funny.
@NickGilham @AMBabka If only the writing on CBS shows was that good, or the concepts for the shows that creative.
@ginidietrich Disagree! I thought it was so immature and I couldn't believe someone actually approved it.
@mayashoucair Something I find really interesting...Canadians all think it was immature
@ginidietrich Re: CBS press release. Brilliantly creative! CBS made their point beautifully, w/o sounding like whiners. Love it! ;)
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Let me be clear - I think this is hilarious. I like funny things. I also think it's kind of childish. Ever try to tell a child to do something and they put their fingers in their ears and say "lalalalala" - that's what this reminds me of. I don't think I watch any CBS programming (not in their demo, I guess) and while they are right that "glass houses shouldn't throw stones", it doesn't paint the network in a positive light for me.
Besides - it's "reality" TV. Most of these shows are all hybrids of another. (Totally unscripted, of course) ABC and CBS should do celebrity boxing with their PR teams. Now that - I would tune in to watch.
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All rather good. Hopefully 'Dancing On The Stars' will be filmed in assorted celebrity graveyards, in a literal recreation of what caterwauling wannabes have been metaphorically doing to the work of original musicians for the past decade. I'm off to write a press release...
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