My favourite news story of the day comes out of Los Angeles. The Red Hot Chili Peppers have sued Showtime Networks over the name of the television series "Californication," which is also the name of the band's 1999 album and a single on it.
I've written quite a bit about this David Duchovny show we get on TMN. It's a love/hate thing in that I love to hate it. I caught every episode and tore it to shreds with running commentary that my wife will confirm was funnier than the show.
When I first learnt they were calling the show "Californication", I thought it was an homage to the Red Hot Chili Peppers and I didn't think it infringed on copyright. I also noted a character was named Dani California, so they didn't try very hard to hide the name's inspiration. I hit Wikipedia to find out if RHCP invented this term, and there I learnt "Californication is a portmanteau of California and fornication, written about in Time on August 21, 1972 and seen on bumper stickers in the U.S. states of Colorado, Oregon and Idaho."
I can see why RHCP are pissed. If a show is going to bum your name, you want it to be a great deal better than this one.
