'Big Brother' Watching People Living in Glass Houses

Fred Allen

CBS is engaged in saber-rattling with rival network, ABC, threatening litigation over a reality show debuting next month that the folks at Black Rock claim apes one of their popular programs.

CBS, which airs Big Brother, has its Eye, so to speak, on Glass House, which is set to debut next month on ABC. The New York Times reports that CBS sent ABC a lawyer letter complaining that Glass House is "substantially and strikingly" similar to Big Brother. Glass House involves 14 people vying for a cash prize by being the last person standing after spending the summer sharing a home together under the scrutiny of television cameras. Meanwhile, Big Brother, which is set to air its 14th season this summer, involves people living together for three months in a privacy-free zone, cut off from the outside world, but under constant television camera surveillance.  That's entertainment.

In its letter to ABC that hints at litigation, CBS notes that Glass House allegedly employs 18 former Big Brother staffers, according to the Times article.  CBS previously unsuccessfully sued ABC after the latter premiered a reality show entitled I'm a Celebrity--Get Me Out of Here, that CBS alleged infringed on the granddaddy of reality television shows, Survivor.

Radio comic Fred Allen's words: "Imitation is the sincerest form of television," never seemed truer.

Facebook Borrows a Button from Twitter

Image via CrunchBaseRadio comic Fred Allen once mused that "imitation is the sincerest form of television." Apparently, that applies to virtual world too.

Facebook, the social networking platform behemoth, has added a Subscribe button for its users to play with, in a nod to microblogger Twitter. Joining the Poke and Message buttons on Facebook's Profiles page, the Subscribe button, when clicked, affords access to the inner-most thoughts of participants, including celebrities and pols, irrespective of whether they are among the users' "friends," according to a release by Facebook reported in the San Jose Mercury News, the GMANewsTV.com Website and elsewhere. Additionally, the Subscribe feature enables users to control what content of their friends' profiles they wish to see, for example, granting access to photos but curtailing the endless, dreaded life event updates.

The latest Facebook addition follows its recent expansion of Friends Lists, including Smart Lists, which allows for more efficient grouping of Facebook pals. "TUOL" wonders if a little birdie told Facebook about Google +, the social networking service rolled out this past summer with its Circles, Hangouts, Sparks, Huddles and other cutesie annoyances. Before long, the Facebook site will have more buttons than an Edwardian-style suit jacket.