The jizz bizz loves to take whacks at pop culture--mainstream movies, tv shows, and any other kind of shit worthy of a pop shot is fair game as far as we're concerned. And I'm as a guilty of it as the next pornographer. My ode to wiseguy flicks, "The Sopornos," was a chart-topper. So it seems the porn viewing public likes these XXX rip-offs as well.

But sometimes it can be risky. I remember when Al Borda put out a show called, "Whoreos." His boxcover looked like a cookie box, and he even put a logo on it that closely resembled the trademarked logo of a major food corporation.

Unfortunately for Al, the major food corporation wasn't amused. They unleashed a legal attack on him that he didn't recover from for a long time.

Sin City once came out with a series of comps called "Biography." Each volume was a collection of scenes of the specific pornstar whom the "Biography" was supposedly biographing. Sin City's box for the comp took some artistic liberties with the A&E network's artwork and again, the lawyers descended. In the end, Sin City put the kabosh on the "Biography" series.

Of course, it doesn't always go the way it went for Al and Sin City. When I made "The Sopornos," there was some real concern at VCA that HBO would not be amused. This concern extended to a certain pay-per-view company that passed on the show out of fear of the potential legal consequences. In the end, John Chamblis and TEN had the balls to air it and HBO did nothing. In fact, the executive producer of the hit show I was ripping off, "The Sopranos," actually purchased 30 copies of the "The Sopornos" to give out as gifts to cast and crew of "The Sopranos."

And now we have this upstart porn company, Python Pictures, doing a parody--at least the boxcover is a parody--of on one of the most popular magazines on the newstands, "Maxim." And you have to admit they really nailed the artwork on this one.

Pornstar Cindy Crawford on the cover evokes Christina A. more than a little bit.

Only time will tell if the Maxim people are amused or not. Either way, my guess is big sales for this new series. If the Maxim people come down on them, the publicity and notoriety will do nothing but spur sales on. If not, the look-alike parody should grow serious legs on it's own.

Is it balls, brilliance, or stupidity when porn companies make parodies of mainstream? I guess it depends on how it ends up.



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