“Game Changer” Season 8 launches with a jaw-dropping premiere. Let’s dive in. On May 18, the season began with “Don’t Wake Standards and Practices,” a “legally spicy” episode that parodied Disney, Star Wars, McDonald’s, Coca-Cola, Bluey, and more. How did Dropout’s team decide what was too far? Mashable asked “Game Changer” host and Dropout CEO Sam Reich about your burning questions from “Don’t Wake Standards and Practices.”
In the premiere, Reich joined Lou Wilson, Ally Beardsley, and Jeremy Culhane on a “Game Changer” set resembling the board game “Don’t Wake Daddy,” but with a standards and practices lawyer replacing Daddy. Reich said, “We’re all grown up, and we’re not afraid of Daddy anymore. We’re afraid of the legal consequences of our actions.” Players tried to push comedic boundaries without triggering legal alarms that would make Standards and Practices wake and penalize them. Legal experts Devin Stone, Alexis Noel, and Iya Baclagan judged dicy comments, awarding points or penalties based on the legal risk involved.
Reich explained, “Creating an episode where we’re asking players to be legally spicy presents a paradox. What if they say something too spicy to show? We kinda rolled the dice, with guidance from our lawyers.” He noted Fair Use allows copyrighted material use for criticism, reporting, education, or parody.
No material was cut from the premiere for legal reasons. Reich said, “Coming out of [making the episode], our lawyers reviewed it and allowed us to keep everything. Because in entertainment legality, context is everything.” Are the in-show lawyers Dropout’s actual legal team? No. Devin “Legal Eagle” Stone, a known YouTube personality and Dropout fan, participated, alongside lawyers found through casting.
How was Ally’s video on Disney and McDonald’s allowed? Beardsley’s pitch featured a pierced Mickey Mouse and McDonald’s Death Star, awakening Standards and Practices. Kostopoulos expected such visuals might need cuts but noted, “It helps our Mickey Mouse looks like nightmare fuel. And being ad-free lets us be R-rated, super helpful.”
Did Bluey’s creators approve her appearance? “No,” Reich admitted, joking they’d seek forgiveness rather than permission, confident creator Joe Brumm wouldn’t object given past professional ties.
On broadcast versus streaming standards, the episode’s legal panel referenced Broadcast Standards like the Safe Harbor rule, pertaining to what’s allowable after 10 p.m. But as a streamer, Dropout isn’t bound to those restrictions. Reich said, “We asked lawyers to think more about network broadcast standards versus streamers. The gap between these guided our entertainment possibilities.”
Reich humorously affirmed, “Legally, Jeremy has game,” while joking about Culhane’s lack of it. “Is it fun to say he doesn’t? Absolutely, especially now Jeremy is a rising ‘Saturday Night Live’ star. It feels like we’re now punching up.”
Watch “Game Changer” Season 8, episode 1, “Don’t Wake Standards and Practices,” now streaming on Dropout.