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2|Cover story Mimicry not always flattery CBS and ABC face off over new reality series By Dee Wright TV Media N premise is developed, other net- works tend to take the idea, tweak it a little bit, and launch it on a different station. Such was the case of "Pawn etworks usually wel- come a little bit of friendly competition. Once a new series Stars" vs."Hardcore Pawn," "Wife Swap"vs."Trading Spous- es,"and "Hoarders"vs."Hoard- ing: Buried Alive.""American Idol"on Fox was followed by NBC's "The Voice,"and Fox's "Hell's Kitchen" led to "Top Chef" on Bravo.Even "The View"and "The Talk"are often lumped to- gether, though they have different discussions and guests. "Big Brother"starts Season 14 on Thursday,July 12,on CBS.There are several reality shows that put strangers in a new environment and make them compete against each other for a variety of prizes. But every once in a while, someone gets their toes stepped on, and the lawyers are called in. CBS launched "Big Brother" in TV Media Weekly|July 7 - 13, 2012 CHANNEL GUIDE Comcast `uWTTV CW Indianapolis " WRTV ABC Indianapolis $ WISH CBS Indianapolis h WTHR NBC Indianapolis r WLFI CBS Lafayette y WFYI PBS Indianapolis d WPTA ABC Ft. Wayne g WNDY MNT Indianapolis WHMB IND Indianapolis WIPB PBS Muncie R WFFT FOX Ft. Wayne G WXIN FOX Indianapolis Arts and Entertainment American Movie Classics Animal Planet [A&E] [AMC] [AP] [BET] [CMT] [CNBC] [CNN] [COM] [DISN] [E!] [ENC] [ESPN] [FAM] [FOXN] [FSN] [FX] [HALL] [HBO] [HIST] [HN] [LIFE] [MAX] [NICK] [OXY] [QVC] Black Entertainment TV [BIGTEN] Big Ten Network [BRAVO] Bravo County Music Television Consumer News & Bus. Ch. Cable News Network Comedy Central [CSPAN] CSPAN [DISC] Discovery Channel Disney Channel Entertainment TV Encore Entertainment Sports Net. [ESPN2] Entertainment Sports Net. 2 Family Channel Fox News Channel Fox Sports FX Hallmark Home Box Office History Channel CNN Headline News Lifetime Cinemax [MTV] Music Television Nickelodeon Oxygen 2000,putting a group of strangers into a house that is fully equipped with video and sound equipment, recording their every move and conversation.Between Head of Household competitions (which are usually based on phys- ical endurance) and in-house al- liances, the houseguests are grad- ually evicted one by one, until only one is left standing. House- guests compete for $500,000. Back in June,ABC premiered a series called "The Glass House."It features 14 people who've never met as they live in a house made entirely out of glass,with cameras and microphones capturing everything.The fate of the con- testants is entirely in the hands of the viewers,who control every elimination and detail by voting online.The winner will take home $250,000. If you think those two ideas are quite similar, you're not the only one.In May, CBS sent a letter to Rachel Reilly won "Big Brother" last season ABC president Anne Sweeney in- forming her that if ABC goes ahead with airing "The Glass House,"CBS would take legal ac- tion.And since the ABC series pre- miered on June 18,there will like- ly be more legal recourse. According to the documenta- tion filed by the eye network on May 10,provided by "The Holly- wood Reporter,"CBS is con- cerned with more than just a simi- lar game. "'The Glass House' remarkably employs at least 19 former pro- ducers and staff from CBS's hit re- ality television series 'Big Brother,' is a carbon copy of 'Big Brother' and an obvious attempt by the defendants to capitalize on its unique success,"states the com- plaint."CBS seeks to stop the de- fendant's blatant theft of its copy- rightable expression, trade se- crets, and other confidential and proprietary information." Now, the idea that "Big Brother is watching"was hardly CBS's idea in the first place.The concept was first discussed in George Or- well's novel "Nineteen Eighty- Four."Orwell presented the idea when describing that everyone is constantly being monitored by the government.The novel was released in 1949,and it took 50 years for someone to use it as in- spiration for a TV show. In 1999,Veronica network in the Netherlands took the idea of constantly being watched and spun it into a successful series. Since then,the show has erupted to more than 40 different coun- tries, each with a bit of a different spin on the original concept. These extensions usually still have "Big Brother"— in English or an- other language — in the title. Network drama aside,Season 14 of "Big Brother" promises to be another ratings hit.Past sea- sons have boasted many twists that played on the houseguests' vulnerabilities.In Season 5,two contestants discovered they were actually brother and sister; Sea- son 4 reunited ex-lovers;Season 11 separated the players into groups — the Haves and the Have Nots.While the Haves en- joyed full meals and comfortable beds,the Have Nots had to eat unappealing combinations — like eels and eggplants — and sleep on cots or lawn chairs with the lights always on. Season 11 intro- duced Pandora's Box,in which the Head of Household is tempted with a reward in exchange for some form of punishment. An early promo for the new season promises more house- guests than ever before,which means that there'd have to be at [SHOW] [SPIKE] [STARZ] [SYFY] [TBN] [TMC] [TNT] [TOON] [TRUTV] [USA] [VH1] 4 6 7 12 8 20 10 21 11 9 39 43 30 32 67 55 58 36 34 50 14 28 38 49 70 26 27 44 52 53 54 65 700 40 35 29 730 31 37 61 Quality, Value, Convenience 18 Showtime Spike Starz Science Fiction [TBS] WTBS Atlanta [TLC] The Learning Channel The Movie Channel 750 57 650 56 Trinity Broadcasting Network 13 41 47 Turner Network Television Cartoon Network TruTV [TWC] Weather Channel USA Network Video Hits One [WGN] WGN Chicago Local Programming 785 42 45 66 25 24 33 22 3 least 17 people in the house.The commercial also alludes to multi- ple big twists,which could be re- vealed before the door to the house is even unlocked. 11 24 18 14 33 27 21 9 5 24 15 37 30 35 36 9 2 7 14 34 37 24 33 9 19 17 35 26 36 22 20 29 9 10 26 29 Walton Cable- Vision 4 6 8 13 22 2 Indiana 4 6 8 Sammo ns of 13 22 20 21 7 12 10 18 3 40 41 Tipton Cable TV 4 6 8 13 2 12 3 5 10 11 35 26 Oak Hill Cable 4 6 8 13 2 32 10 40 21 12 28 15 Swayzee AT&T U-Verse 4 6 8 13 2 22 10 55 53 12 41 30 44 34 3 32 20 35 23 28 25 33 26 38 17 27 31 36 21 39 27 16 28 22 18 30 25 23 24 3 22 38 18 47 14 28 34 21 20 3 26 33 16 39 30 19 7 16 31 24 18 29 34 14 32 15 30 29 17 31 20 42 18 32 7 33 5 16 14 27 2 7 42 19 46 5 39 16 50 14 27 48 17 29 15 35 23 31 40 9 35 4 6 8 13 20 10 40 11 166 795 252 155 650 181 525 216 202 140 230 120 302 134 619 606 178 210 734 128 176 270 203 360 502 314 368 9 145 151 560 112 250 108 325 225 124 518 180 99 One consistent aspect of every season has been host Julie Chen. Chen greets the players before competitions and evictions,as well as interviewing the house- guests after they are evicted one by one.Chen has been brand-loy- al to CBS,having worked on the eye network for most of her ca- reer. She's even married to CBS president Leslie Moonves.Chen is also one of the visionaries and hosts of "The Talk,"the daytime motherhood-themed talk show that took the place of "As the World Turns." Last season's winner was 27- year-old Rachel Reilly,a model and waitress from Las Vegas.She first appeared in Season 12,when she met and fell in love with fel- low houseguest Brandon Villegas. Rachel and Brandon,now en- gaged,returned for Season 13 along with several other previous guests,and Rachel came out the winner.

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