As a faux tweet noted, the latest game show controversy isn't even about a real game show.
Saturday Night Live parodied
Win, Lose or Draw in a riff on the recent violence at the "Draw Muhammad" event. The skit first drew some praise for being edgy, which is the easiest thing in the world to be. Then
SNL got some pans for not daring to, well, actually draw Muhammad. But these political contretemps were only the beginning.
Critics noted eerie similarities between the
SNL skit and an earlier sketch on Canada's
This Hour Has 22 Minutes. The comments quickly grew into
blunt accusations of plagiarism, complete with
huffing and puffing about intellectual property rights and other legal bombast. I'm not a plagiarism lawyer and I don't play one on a game show blog, but the sketches do seem more than a bit alike.
Did
SNL writers consciously rip off the Canadian show, or was it all just accidental resemblance? Darned if I know. I didn't write the sketch. Right now SNL isn't saying anything, in an apparent hope that the tempest will expire in the teacup. Which it probably will.
