ABC Family says of tonight’s second episode of “Bunheads,” titled “For Fanny”:
Michelle's rocky start with her new mother-in-law finally seems to smooth out, until an unexpected occurrence turns everything on end. Michelle quickly finds herself back at odds with Fanny, but at the same time wanting to empathize with her. Inspired by Fanny's students, Michelle has an idea to help Fanny face the reality of the situation.
“Bunheads” airs Mondays at 9 p.m.
I suspect many, many “Big Brother” fans will tune in to ABC's “The Glass House” tonight thanks to CBS’ legal efforts.
CBS is sore and suing because it thinks “Glass House” is too similar to CBS’ summer megahit “Big Brother,” which is almost always the #1 broadcast show on any of the three weekly nights it airs.
I’m certain CBS’ lawyers are piling up plenty of billable hours, but CBS itself, which unsuccessfully sought an injunction to prevent ABC from airing tonight’s premiere, seems to be gaining very little traction in this dispute.
CBS is, however, hugely successful in giving “Glass House” loads of free publicity as it trumpets the similarities to “Brother.”
ABC’s lawyers don’t seem particularly threatened by CBS’ lawyers. I suspect ABC’s lawyers are somewhat emboldened by the fact that ABC has already successfully aired two seasons of something called “Bachelor Pad,” which was itself similar to “Big Brother.”
Does CBS claim to own the idea of training cameras on people inside a house? If seems like plenty of people with Super 8 cameras were doing that decades before “Big Brother” hit the Netherlands on Sept. 16, 1999. There was also, of course, Craig Gilbert’s acclaimed 1973 PBS series “An American Family.”
One reason CBS decided to go after “Glass House” but not “Bachelor Pad” appears to be ABC’s hiring of “Big Brother” producers, who CBS alleges were privy to “trade secrets” while working on “Brother.”
But how secret can these “secrets” be if they’ve been utilized on a broadcast show for more than a decade? Is one of the “secrets” to shoot during the summer and cast men and women who look great in swimwear? Is another “secret” to constantly readjust camera lenses so the subjects being recorded remain in focus?
I’ve always suspected the true, uncredited creators of “Big Brother” to be the casts of 1993’s “The Real World: Los Angeles” and 1994’s “The Real World: San Francisco.” In both seasons, cast members living in a shared house managed to engineer the eviction of one of their own. “Big Brother’s” chief innovation, perhaps, was to create a situation that forced those evictions to occur weekly.
ABC’s “Glass House” airs Mondays at 10 p.m. starting tonight. I pray it’s more compelling than “Bachelor Pad.”
CBS’ “Big Brother 14” launches Thursday, July 12, and airs Sundays, Wednesdays and Thursdays for the balance of the summer.
Tonight’s other premieres:
Dance Academy (8pm TeenNick)
Danger BY Design (9pm Science)
Family Time (8pm Bounce)
Love & Hip-Hop Atlanta (8pm VH1)
Miss Advised (10pm Bravo)
Pair of Kings (8:30pm DXD)
RuPaul’s Drag U (9pm Logo)
Uptown Comic (8:30pm Bounce)
Tonight’s finale:
Outlaw Empires (10pm Discovery)
With Howard Stern’s “America’s Got Talent” pre-empted by hockey on NBC, Fox’s Gordon Ramsay shows dominated last Monday.
Mondays, April 9-June 11, 2012
(Adults 18-49; repeats in gray; older weeks in parentheses)
2.8 (2.4) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) Hell’s Kitchen
2.7 (2.3) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) MasterChef
2.3 (2.2) (1.9) (2.4) (2.6) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) Bachelorette
2.0 (0.6) (---) (0.5) (0.5) (0.7) (---) (---) (---) (---) NHL Hockey
1.9 (1.5) (1.5) (1.6) (1.7) (1.7) (1.8) (1.9) (1.8) (1.7) WWE Entertainment
1.7 (1.9) (---) (1.8) (---) (---) (---) (2.0) (1.8) (2.0) Pawn Stars
1.5 (1.5) (1.3) (2.0) (3.9) (3.8) (3.8) (2.0) (3.8) (3.6) 2½ Men
1.5 (1.3) (1.1) (1.6) (---) (3.3) (3.6) (1.7) (3.4) (3.5) 2 Broke Girls
1.4 (1.4) (---) (1.3) (---) (---) (---) (1.4) (1.3) (1.3) American Pickers
1.4 (1.3) (1.1) (1.3) (3.7) (---) (3.3) (1.7) (3.1) (3.5) How/Your Mother
1.4 (1.3) (1.2) (1.6) (3.4) (3.1) (3.2) (1.7) (3.1) (3.2) Mike & Molly
1.2 (1.2) (1.0) (1.1) (1.2) (1.0) (1.0) (1.1) (1.1) (1.0) Basketball Wives
1.2 (1.2) (1.2) (---) (2.7) (2.3) (2.5) (1.6) (1.6) (2.6) Hawaii Five-0
1.2 (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) Lizard Lick Towing
1.1 (1.0) (1.0) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) Single Ladies
1.0 (0.9) (0.8) (---) (---) (2.4) (2.3) (---) (2.1) (---) Castle
0.7 (0.6) (0.7) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) Cake Boss
0.7 (0.6) (---) (---) (0.7) (0.7) (0.8) (0.7) (0.8) (0.7) Secret Life
0.7 (0.6) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) Teen Wolf
0.6 (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) Bunheads
0.6 (0.6) (---) (---) (---) (0.8) (0.8) (0.7) (0.8) (0.6) The Daily Show
0.6 (---) (---) (---) (---) (0.5) (---) (---) (---) (---) Diners, Drive-Ins
0.6 (0.4) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) Extreme Couponing
0.6 (0.5) (0.5) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) Family Jewels
0.6 (0.8) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) Real Housewives NYC
0.5 (0.5) (---) (---) (---) (0.5) (0.6) (0.7) (0.6) (0.5) Colbert Report
0.4 (0.6) (---) (0.4) (0.5) (0.6) (0.5) (0.6) (0.6) (---) Eureka
0.4 (0.4) (0.5) (0.4) (0.3) (0.4) (0.3) (0.4) (0.5) (0.4) House Hunters
0.4 (0.4) (---) (0.3) (0.4) (0.4) (0.3) (0.4) (0.5) (0.4) House Hunters Intl
0.4 (0.5) (0.5) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) Monster In-Laws
0.3 (0.2) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) Breaking Pointe
0.3 (0.3) (---) (0.4) (0.4) (0.3) (---) (---) (---) (---) Love It Or List It
0.2 (0.1) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) The Catalina
