Overview

• Fogel first tested the format in 1998 with a Marilyn Manson versus Charles Manson short for Cartoon Sushi by commandeering an MTV Animation conference room.
• A three-week sprint to produce a Super Bowl halftime special featuring the Spice Girls versus Hanson led MTV to launch a weekly Celebrity Deathmatch series from 1998 to 2002.
• After a brief two-season MTV2 revival in 2006–07, the claymation show has remained off the air for 18 years despite failed reboot efforts in 2015 and 2018.
• He believes that today’s real-time social media reactions would heighten audience engagement and inject new energy into the stop-motion satire.
• Fogel points to potential matchups like Elon Musk versus Mark Zuckerberg and MrBeast versus Logan Paul to illustrate the concept’s enduring appeal.