ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, November 10, 1996 TAG: 9611110051
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-7 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: NEW YORK
SOURCE: DAVID BAUDER ASSOCIATED PRESS
``ESCAPE FROM A WONDERFUL LIFE'' is being produced by Comedy Central.
George Bailey disclosing he's gay? Mr. Gower dealing in cocaine? What's going on in Bedford Falls?
Comedy Central plans a holiday spoof of the movie classic ``It's a Wonderful Life'' with farcical, dubbed-in dialogue, and the idea is creating a headache for Viacom Inc. - the conglomerate with controlling interests in both Comedy Central and the film company that controls the movie.
The hour-long Comedy Central creation, ``Escape From a Wonderful Life,'' is scheduled for Dec. 18, three days before NBC plans to show the beloved, 1946 Frank Capra movie in which Bailey is brought back from the brink of suicide.
The network is taking clips from the movie to tell a new, slightly warped story: Bailey is jealous of Arnold Schwarzenegger and wants to make an action movie instead telling the same old holiday tale. But the people of Bedford Falls object, knowing their economy depends on the yearly production.
Bailey is also dead set against getting married, so James Stewart's character tells his would-be wife that he's gay.
``We have a great respect and admiration for the original film,'' said Comedy Central spokesman Tony Fox. ``We're making a completely different one.''
Comedy Central also saw a chance to tweak Republic Pictures, which owns the rights to ``It's a Wonderful Life'' and has clamped down recently on its use.
Once a mainstay of holiday television coverage on several stations, Republic has restricted the movie to one showing a year on NBC.
Comedy Central believes that while Republic has copyrighted several elements of the movie, such as the storyline and music, it has not copyrighted the actual filmed images.
Republic Pictures thinks otherwise.
The network ``does not have legal permission to air the parody,'' Republic Pictures said in a statement. ``The studio will fight Comedy Central's public domain claim, disputing the network's right to showcase any portion of the film.''
Republic is worried that letting Comedy Central go forward could set a precedent that would let other films be used in different ways.
In this world of corporate behemoths, this is no simple feud.
Viacom and Time Warner are 50-50 owners of Comedy Central. Republic Pictures is owned by Spelling Entertainment, which was controlled by Blockbuster, which was acquired by - guess who? - Viacom in 1994.
Apparently, no one at Comedy Central knew that the two entities were corporate stepsisters until a trade publication started inquiring about the ``Wonderful Life'' spoof.
``Obviously, they didn't realize it was in the family,'' Viacom spokesman Carl Forta said. ``There will be no lawsuit. We will reach an amicable settlement.''
LENGTH: Medium: 59 linesby CNB