Since it debuted back in 2003, Spike TV has been a blight on the television landscape. The channel shamelessly targeted the young male demographic with a steady stream of aggressively bro-ey TV shows. And even though the network did sometimes offer more varied programming, it was never quite able to shed its fratboy image. That’s what happens when you unleash Manswers on the world.
For that reason, Spike has long been the go-to example for everything that’s wrong with the world. And today, now that Spike TV has officially died and been rebranded as Paramount Network, one Spike employee is admitting he feels the same away about the network we all do, with a Tweet storm taking potshots at the channel.
Maybe is a real collection of a disgruntled Spike employee’s years of pent-up frustration. Or maybe it’s just a viral stunt to gin up interest in the rebrand. But even if it is fictional, these complaints and revelations can’t be too far from the truth.
1. How the sausage gets made.
I was baked when I pitched 1000 Ways to Die. Those episodes are mostly based on my nightmares.
— SPIKE (@spike) January 17, 2018
2. Finally, some honesty.
We had a show called The Joe Schmo Show. Apparently every decent show name was taken.
— SPIKE (@spike) January 16, 2018
3. Accurate
There’s a reason all our early shows were CSI, UFC, TNA, MXC, UTI. No one around here knew how to read.
— SPIKE (@spike) January 16, 2018
4. Is that the writers’ room for Blue Mountain State?
I clogged up the 4th stall in the 7th floor men’s room over 30 times last year.
— SPIKE (@spike) January 16, 2018
5. The money maker.
My favorite number is 329 because it’s the number of times COPS is on every night.
— SPIKE (@spike) January 16, 2018
6. Hooray
The “get more action” tagline was actually my personal mantra. I was in a 3 month dry spell.
— SPIKE (@spike) January 16, 2018
7. What’s worse than trash? Disappointing trash.
I was extremely disappointed when Stripperella had no nudity. I aired that show solely based off the name and the potential for frontal. #GoodbyeSpike #SpikeUnfiltered
— SPIKE (@spike) January 16, 2018
8. I’m surprised this wasn’t a Spike show.
I honestly thought catch a contractor was a show about STDs.
— SPIKE (@spike) January 16, 2018
9. This one, too.
When we greenlit TNA we thought we were buying something entirely different… but wrestling turned out to be ok.
— SPIKE (@spike) January 16, 2018
10. It all comes full circle.
I never thought rebranding would be one of the 1000 ways to die. I’m out. PEACE!
— SPIKE (@spike) January 17, 2018
h/t: The Chive