Back in May 2008, during the build up to my “ALife4Sale” auction I did a blog article about an event organised in New York Grand Central Station by a group called Improv Everywhere. The event was called “The Big Freeze”, and you can see what was involved in the video below:
I read more about this event on the Improv Everywhere website, and was interested to discover that the event had been used as inspiration for an occurrence in the TV series Law and Order: SVU.
You can read more about that particular episode, which starred Robin Williams as a special guest here: Law and Order: SVU: Series 9, Episode 17: “Authority”. The episode aired on 29th April 2008.
The people at Improv Everywhere had no idea that there event was being used in this way, but were flattered, and posted a link to a video clip from the episode.
That video used to be available here, but at the moment the clip shows as “temporarily not available”. Maybe Law and Order: SVU have issues with their “original” material being shown without proper license!!
Anyway, I was contacted recently by Suzanne, who suggested that I should watch a recent episode of CSI: New York, and last night, having a bit of spare time on my hands, I followed her advice. Very interesting.
This is my original “ALife4Sale” video, which was posted on 14th March 2008:
The episode of CSI: New York: Season 5 Episode 5: “The Cost of Living”, which was aired on 29 October 2008, can currently be watched in full online here. The episode synopsis reads as follows:
While investigating the death of a young archaeologist who may have unearthed the answer to one of New York City’s oldest murder mysteries, the CSIs discover anything can be purchased on the Internet, even someone else’s life.
Here is a small clip from the episode (at the top of the post). I wonder how long it will be until this clip, featuring the script writer’s “original” idea, is “no longer available” on YouTube because of copyright issues!!
Well, they do say: “Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.” I’m pretty flattered!
Footnote: Less than three weeks after I discovered the original Big Freeze video on YouTube, I had the opportunity to take part in a Big Freeze in Perth on a very rainy Saturday. More about that here. Also, on my recent visit to New York, I made a point of going to take a look at Grand Central Station too, in part because of my interest in the Big Freeze. More here.