In its Pop Vox blog, the article, titled “Porn Parody of TV Sitcoms Is Adult Entertainment's ‘New Gold Rush’” by Joshua Alston, dissects the genre’s recent explosion as Mullen explains what makes parodies successful in a sagging marketplace, the legal implications and the challenge of casting the right players.
While parodies have existed since the commercialization of porn, Mullen was the first to capitalize on this recent trend with his Britney Spears send-up, “Britney Rears.”
“We thought we had a huge hit with ‘Britney Rears’ and all of the sudden we get ‘The Bradys,’ and I was like holy fuck, this is what a hit is,” Mullen told Newsweek. “I couldn’t believe it. Pretty soon the industry started paying attention and we started branching out and doing other TV shows, and before you knew it people realized this was the new gold rush in porn. And some have tried it with some success and others have tried it with poor success. I don’t think people realized that this was more akin to making sitcoms as opposed to making porno.”
Acknowledging the dual purpose of making a parody that’s true to the source material while mixing in hot sex, Mullen says that “Not the Cosby Show” was his best movie overall and “Not Married With Children XXX,” which released Tuesday, was his funniest.
But how does Mullen not get sued over spoofs of popular TV shows? He says that it’s not entirely the 1st Amendment that protects him, but “there are tons of legal precedents for this type of speech. But really, the truth of the matter is, the mainstream companies are too damn smart to sue us. Because they know if they sue us, they are going to draw this huge mainstream spotlight on us, which I want. But they’re too damn smart to do it.”
However, Mullen said, he has heard from some of the TV stars and producers whose shows he’s pornified.
“[Christopher Knight, who played Peter Brady] thought it was a great idea; ‘Mrs. Brady’ thought it was a less-than-stellar idea; Shirley Jones loved [‘Not the Partridge’s XXX],” Mullen said. “She thought it was funny, from what I heard from a mutual friend. It’s not like we are on a first-name basis with these people. We have heard from some of the production companies that own all of them. They said, ‘You better watch yourself or you’re gonna get sued,’ but we haven’t yet.”
For the complete interview, click here.
