With new series from Aaron Sorkin and Amy Sherman-Palladino in the mix, we’re swimming in a surfeit of funny summer hourlongs. Last week’s “Bunheads” featured an old man’s adorable dog and “Gilmore Girls” vet Gregg Henry (in an entrepreneurial role very different from Mitchum Huntzberger).

ABC Family says of tonight’s “Inherit The Wind”:

When Fanny's attorney gives her shocking news, she takes it hard and makes the situation more awkward for Michelle. Making matters worse, Michelle has a run-in with the law when she takes off in Hubbell's car to blow off steam, only to break down in the driveway of a handsome, local recluse. Meanwhile, the girls compete against other dance studios in an "ugliest feet" contest.

Last Monday I posited that the eviction-happy casts of 1993’s “The Real World: Los Angeles” and 1994’s “The Real World: San Francisco” were the true parents of “Big Brother,” and that the only real innovation of the Netherlands’ original 1999 edition of “Big Brother” was to engineer a mechanism whereby a contestant had to be evicted by his or her peers every week.

But a number of our readers have written in subsequently to point out that it was actually Sweden’s original 1997 season of “Expedition Robinson” that pioneered the eviction-a-week reality show. (“Expedition Robinson” was later licensed for American television by Mark Burnett, who changed its title to “Survivor.”)

Were I on some sort of jury, I’d think this tidbit would render CBS’ claim of copyright infringement against ABC’s “Glass House” weaker still (not that it was ever particularly sturdy).

David R. Ginsburg, executive director of the UCLA School of Entertainment, Media, and Intellectual Property Law, posted Sunday in The Huffington Post:

The simple problem faced by irked plaintiffs searching for a way to prohibit subsequent reality TV shows of similar content […] is that American copyright law was neither Constitutionally conceived nor legislatively drafted to prohibit that sort of "copying." Indeed, it was designed to permit it. The operative principle is that copyright law does not protect basic ideas -- that is, say, a show featuring a talent competition or the activities in a pawn shop -- but, rather, only the original and concrete expression of such ideas.

Ginsberg also points out that CBS lost a similar contest to ABC nine years ago when CBS claimed “I’m a Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here” infringed on “Survivor”:

The actual progression of incident, the concrete specifics of the "characters" (the hosts, announcers, contestants, coaches, and other participants), the words they uttered, and the expressive content, design, and detail of the setting, all taken together, were quite different where the law demands that they be quite -- or "substantially" -- similar, and even where they shared certain similar ideas. Were the governing copyright principles to be otherwise, then, for example, the first talk show featuring an announcer, a live band, a stand-up comedian host, a raised stage arranged with a guest couch and the host's desk, silly games played with audience participation, two celebrity guests, and a concluding musical act could purport to secure an exclusive copyright to the above as against subsequent talk shows with the listed similarities, an intuitively absurd result, and one contrary to sound policy.

In short, no artist can monopolize, in the words of Ninth Circuit federal appellate court’s 2003 decision in Satava v. Lowry, “what rightfully belongs to the public.”

Interestingly, ABC’s “The Glass House” resembles more closely the European “Big Brother” than its American counterpart on CBS, owing to the fact that the “Glass House” viewing audience votes contestants off the show rather than the contestants themselves.

The “audience evicts” format was utilized in 2000 for CBS’ first American season of “Big Brother” -- and it turned out to be a disaster. Viewers voted out its two most provocative players – Black Panther Will “Mega” Collins and Virginia strip-tease artist Jean Jordan – in the first few days. Collins called what remained of the season “Big Boring” and CBS evidently agreed, switching to a format more like the one used by the more popular “Survivor” – a format that puts the ultimate eviction power in the hands of the contestants.

On “Glass House” the most provocative player is easily a 25-year-old Dallas bail bondsman named Alex. His strategy is to behave obnoxiously toward his fellow houseguests in the hope that viewers will keep voting to keep him back into the house -- so he can continue to annoy the better-behaved housemates who inevitably nominated him for eviction.

I’ll be watching to see if reality audiences have evolved enough in the 12 years since CBS’ “Big Brother 2000” to keep Alex around.

Tonight’s premieres:

Breaking From Above (8:30pm TeenNick)

Hollywood Exes (9pm VH1)

Mobster Confessions (9pm Discovery)

Unsung (9pm TV One)

Diagnosis: Dead or Alive (10pm Health)

Tonight’s finales:

Extreme Couponing (10pm TLC)

Monster In-Laws (10pm A&E)

Mondays, April 9-June 18, 2012
(Adults 18-49; repeats in gray; older weeks in parentheses)
2.9 (---) (3.3) (2.8) (3.2) (3.7) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) America’s Got Talent
2.5 (2.8) (2.4) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) Hell’s Kitchen
2.3 (2.3) (2.2) (1.9) (2.4) (2.6) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) Bachelorette
2.3 (2.7) (2.3) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) MasterChef
2.0 (---) (2.2) (2.1) (2.4) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) Ninja Warrior
2.0 (1.7) (1.9) (---) (1.8) (---) (---) (---) (2.0) (1.8) (2.0) Pawn Stars
1.9 (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) Big Bang Theory
1.9 (1.9) (1.5) (1.5) (1.6) (1.7) (1.7) (1.8) (1.9) (1.8) (1.7) WWE Entertainment
1.5 (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) The Glass House
1.4 (1.4) (1.4) (---) (1.3) (---) (---) (---) (1.4) (1.3) (1.3) American Pickers
1.4 (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) 2½ Men (10:30pm)
1.3 (1.5) (1.5) (1.3) (2.0) (3.9) (3.8) (3.8) (2.0) (3.8) (3.6) 2½ Men (9pm)
1.3 (1.5) (1.3) (1.1) (1.6) (---) (3.3) (3.6) (1.7) (3.4) (3.5) 2 Broke Girls
--- (1.2) (1.2) (1.2) (---) (2.7) (2.3) (2.5) (1.6) (1.6) (2.6) Hawaii Five-0
1.2 (1.4) (1.3) (1.2) (1.6) (3.4) (3.1) (3.2) (1.7) (3.1) (3.2) Mike & Molly
1.1 (1.4) (1.3) (1.1) (1.3) (3.7) (---) (3.3) (1.7) (3.1) (3.5) How/Your Mother
1.1 (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) Love and Hip Hop
--- (1.0) (0.9) (0.8) (---) (---) (2.4) (2.3) (---) (2.1) (---) Castle
1.0 (1.1) (1.0) (1.0) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) Single Ladies
0.9 (1.2) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) Lizard Lick Towing
0.8 (0.7) (0.6) (---) (---) (0.7) (0.7) (0.8) (0.7) (0.8) (0.7) Secret Life
0.7 (0.7) (0.6) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) Teen Wolf
0.6 (0.6) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) Bunheads
0.6 (0.7) (0.6) (0.7) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) Cake Boss
0.6 (0.6) (0.6) (---) (---) (---) (0.8) (0.8) (0.7) (0.8) (0.6) The Daily Show
0.6 (0.6) (---) (---) (---) (---) (0.5) (---) (---) (---) (---) Diners, Drive-Ins
0.6 (0.6) (0.8) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) Real Housewives NYC
0.5 (0.5) (0.5) (---) (---) (---) (0.5) (0.6) (0.7) (0.6) (0.5) Colbert Report
0.5 (0.4) (0.6) (---) (0.4) (0.5) (0.6) (0.5) (0.6) (0.6) (---) Eureka
0.5 (0.6) (0.5) (0.5) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) Family Jewels
0.5 (0.4) (0.4) (0.5) (0.4) (0.3) (0.4) (0.3) (0.4) (0.5) (0.4) House Hunters
0.5 (---) (0.5) (---) (0.3) (0.5) (0.4) (0.4) (0.5) (0.4) (0.5) Lost Girl
0.5 (0.4) (0.5) (0.5) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) Monster In-Laws
0.4 (---) (0.4) (---) (---) (0.4) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) Chelsea Lately
0.4 (0.4) (0.4) (---) (0.3) (0.4) (0.4) (0.3) (0.4) (0.5) (0.4) House Hunters Intl
0.4 (0.3) (0.3) (---) (0.4) (0.4) (0.3) (---) (---) (---) (---) Love It Or List It
0.3 (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (0.3) (---) (0.3) Hannity
0.3 (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) Miss Advised
0.3 (---) (0.2) (---) (0.3) (0.2) (0.2) (0.3) (0.3) (0.3) (0.2) O’Reilly Factor
0.2 (0.3) (0.2) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) Breaking Pointe
0.1 (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) Hollywood Heights
0.1 (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) 90210

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