CBS filed a temporary restraining order 6/8 against ABC to try and prevent it from airing the new reality show “The Glass House,” which CBS believes is a rip-off of its long-running hit Big Brother.
The Glass House, which is set to premiere on Monday, 6/18, follows 14 contestants as they live together and compete for $250,000. Similar to Big Brother, contestants will go head-to-head in competitions and will be eliminated weekly. Unlike Big Brother, America will have the chance to vote, manipulating different outcomes within the house.
CBS is in the discovery phase of the lawsuit it filed last month in US District Court. The network is attempting to sue ABC and parent Disney for copyright infringement, trade secret misappropriation and breach of fiduciary, reported Entertainment Weekly.
According to a letter CBS lawyers sent to ABC last month, the new reality series is executive-produced by former Big Brother producer Kenny Rosen. At the time, Rosen was thought to be one of at least 15 other former Big Brother staff and crew working on Glass House.
EW also reported that Rosen “gained access to a BB bible, or manual, that he used to prepare for production of Glass House.”
In its filing, CBS demanded that “Glass House” return confidential, proprietary materials related to “Big Brother” and “ease further destroying” evidence in the case. Citing a lengthy deposition with “Glass House” executive producer Kenny Rosen — a former “Big Brother” producer — CBS claims that Rosen “admitted to destroying potentially relevant emails.”
Rosen also showed a “Big Brother” control room schedule to a producer, and said he consulted it “to figure out how many story positions I would need” for “Glass House,” CBS said. He also said he watched several episodes of “Big Brother” in March.
“When asked why he did so, he said it was to remind himself of how the ‘Big Brother’ story was told and sarcastically remarked that he wanted to ‘remind himself what a great’ producer he was,” CBS’ motion said.
Said ABC in a statement: “This is a naked attempt by CBS to stifle competition and creativity by claiming that reality techniques that have been developed over many years, on many shows by countless producers, are somehow exclusive to CBS.”
Meanwhile, production is still underway in preparation for the show’s premiere. In fact, starting 6/9, fans will be able to tour the house and begin voting on aspects of the competition at ABC.com.
See the Entertainment Weekly story here
