TV Tonight: 'Glass House,' 'Nights of Cabiria'

By Robert Bianco, USA TODAY

Posted June 17, 2012

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ABC's reality competition show 'The Glass House' premieres tonight, though CBS is asking a federal judge to block the series because the network claims it copies the show 'Big Brother.' (Credit: By Nicole Wilder, ABC, via AP)

•It looks as if ABC is going ahead with The Glass House (10 p.m. ET/PT), having so far defeated CBS' courtroom efforts to have the show banned as a blatant copy of Big Brother.

Really, if the networks are going to battle, must it be over whose trash smells fresher?

•Then there's the fuss over HGTV's addictively entertaining House Hunters (10 ET/PT), which has been accused of twisting reality to such a degree, some of the houses shown being hunted aren't even really for sale.

No one watching the show could ever mistake it for the real world (what buyer looks at only three houses?), and few would mind the show altering reality to fit time and story demands.

But we should expect that the houses we're seeing are actually ones the buyers considered.

That seems to be the least HGTV should be willing to promise.

Which makes you wonder why it hasn't.

•If reality has turned you off TV shows for the night, try a classic movie. TCM has Nights of Cabiria (10 ET/7 PT), the Federico Fellini film that's the basis for Sweet Charity.