It’s the end of an era. Tomorrow Spike TV, which branded itself as the “first network for men,” will become the Paramount Network. Although parent company Viacom plans to keep some testosterone-heavy shows like Bellator MMA and Ink Masters, it’ll also be adding newer programs like American Woman, “a comedy starring Alicia Silverstone and Mena Suvari set amid the sexual revolution and rise of feminism of the 1970s.” See also Heathers, “a modern-day re-imagining of the ’80s classic.”
All of which seems to have led the person running Spike’s Twitter account to have a bit of a meltdown.
https://twitter.com/spike/status/936643850935984129
https://twitter.com/spike/status/953363166724935680
https://twitter.com/spike/status/953416781502152704
https://twitter.com/spike/status/953411361454792704
https://twitter.com/spike/status/953403859866546176
https://twitter.com/spike/status/953385932173922304
https://twitter.com/spike/status/953382376804986880
https://twitter.com/spike/status/953371899064590336
https://twitter.com/spike/status/953371278026485760
https://twitter.com/spike/status/953369136431644672
https://twitter.com/spike/status/953363495117996032
As you may have guessed from the light nature of the roasting, and the use of hashtags, it’s a pre-planned network-sanctioned meltdown, not a real-life “fuck you, fuck you, fuck you, you’re cool, and fuck you, I’m out!” moment.
That didn’t stop the tweets from racking up a ton of likes and retweets. People seem to be enjoying it regardless of what was going on behind the scenes.
— Tony Black (@ItsMeMrTB) January 17, 2018
Social media manager came in for the last day of work and ain’t have no chill
— Dugar, Michael-Shawn (@MikeDugar) January 17, 2018
Going out like a G! pic.twitter.com/jANLQjug0E
— DJ Peppp (@dj_peppp) January 17, 2018
Of course, a few people saw through the ruse. Especially after the new Paramount Network account (quite possibly run by the same person) decided to get in on the act.
https://twitter.com/paramountnet/status/953375251793985536
Which, if nothing else, led to DiGiorno’s Pizza getting in a pretty good burn.
This is the worst delivery we’ve ever seen.
— DiGiorno (@DiGiorno) January 17, 2018
So Spike is gone. Which, considering how men are faring in the media lately, is probably a good marketing move on Viacom’s part. For those of you currently in mourning, the first Lethal Weapon movie is still available on Netflix.
