The legal wrangling over CBS' "Big Brother" and ABC's "The Glass House" is far from over, said Nina Tassler, the Eye network's entertainment president. 

 

Bing: More on CBS' lawsuit against ABC  | CBS' 'Big Brother'  | ABC's 'The Glass House'

 

"It's still ongoing so I really can't discuss it right now," Tassler told reporters Sunday at a Television Critics Association press panel. "But the message that needs to be communicated is that we're incredibly protective of our brands and the creative infrastructure of the shows themselves."

 

Plus: Olympic TV efforts | 2012 Emmy nominees

 

Oddly enough, ABC's entertainment president Paul Lee seems to be unaware that the fight is raging on. On Friday, he told reporters it was over.

 

"It was totally worth it," Lee said when asked whether or not he regretted his decision to make "The Glass House. "And that lawsuit is over."

 

Perhaps Lee should talk to his legal department.

 

Plus: Summer TV guide | The 2011-2012 TV season in review

 

In case you haven't been paying attention, CBS filed a lawsuit against ABC accusing the rival network of ripping off its long running hit "Big Brother." "The Glass House" employs 19 former "Big Brother" producers and staff.

 

Despite the lawsuit and a subsequent restraining order to stop "The Glass House" from airing, the show debuted to a disappointing 4.2 million viewers. Conversely, "Big Brother" also suffered from lower ratings this season with an average 6 million viewers, down nearly a million viewers from last year.

 

"Big Brother" airs Sundays and Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET/PT and Thursdays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on CBS. "The Glass House" airs Mondays at 10 p.m. ET/PT on ABC.

 

The words "positive" and "reality TV" don't normally go hand in hand. But for twin acting duo Tia Mowry Hardrict and Tamera Mowry-Housley, the stars of the Style Network's "Tia & Tamera," creating a series where hair isn't pulled and faces aren't slapped is a point of pride.

 

Bing: More on 'Tia & Tamera' | Tia Mowry Hardrict | Tamera Mowry-Housley

 

MSN TV caught up with the 34-year-old sisters, best known for their 1990s sitcom "Sister, Sister," when they plugged their second-season show at a Television Critics Association's press panel Wednesday in Beverly Hills.

 

"Tia & Tamera" airs Monday nights and is the top-rated reality show on the Style Network with 1.3 million viewers.  

 

Plus: The fate of your favorite shows | 2012 Primetime Emmy nominees

 

MSN TV: Can you talk about the lack of catfights on "Tia & Tamera" and why that has been so important to you both?

 

Tia Mowry Hardrict: It's funny that you say that because we see a lot of that on our Twitter page. A lot of fans were just saying, "Oh, my gosh, you guys are such a breath of fresh air" and they're very grateful that there is a show out there like that that's positive. And we do see ourselves as positive role models. 

 

Tamara Mowry-Housley: Your kids can watch our show. And we're just so grateful to the Style Network for allowing us to be who we are. We didn't have to change ourselves to fit into what everyone else is doing. And my grandmother always said dare to be different. And Tia and I have been different and positive all our lives.  And we also want to thank our producer Jason (Carbone) for allowing us to be ourselves as well.

 

Is one of the reasons you two don't get into fisticuffs your mom?

 

Tia: A lot of people don't know that our mother was a drill sergeant. We may be grown and women now, but we are still her children.

 

It seems like you two don't get to see each other as much because of jobs and other obligations. Is that hard? Can you talk about that?

 

Tamera: Well, I always like to say happiness is a choice. You can't really be in control of, you know, your circumstances or your situations. But the fact is, is we are grown women now. And we have our own lives. We have husbands. She has a child and I have a baby on the way. So I think, like Tim Gunn says, we make it work. I think we are very blessed to be able to have well, for me, I have two homes. I live in Napa. I mean, hello. And I live in Los Angeles, where I can do what I love to do, and that's continue to act. Act individually and act with my twin sister. But we like a little space every now and then.

 

Tia: And to be the realist here, I definitely have to say that, because we have families -- I have a child and she's about to have a child --  it does make it difficult at times to spend a lot of time together. But like we said my sister and I love each other. We never go to bed angry. We always like to talk things out. So we definitely make it work. I mean, that's just a part of who we are and a part of our DNA. I mean we've been in the womb together.

 

Are there any disadvantages to having a twin in the same business in Hollywood?

 

Tamera: Because we're twins, we look alike and we talk alike, people automatically assume that we are the same person and that we're on the same path, we're on the same journey and they tend to compare. So say Tia has a job for a couple of years and I don't, people are always looking at me, going, "Oh, my God. What are you doing? Are you OK?" Or one's prettier than the other. I get "Tia's prettier."

 

Tia: Or one's fatter than the other. I get "Tamera's prettier." I take it as a compliment. I'm like, "Oh, I look like you."

 

Tamera: We look alike but people are going to naturally compare. We've just learned throughout the years just to accept that. 

 

Do you think you all will do a third season of "Tia & Tamera"?

 

Tamera: Of course. I can be very private, which is kind of ironic because I'm doing a reality show. But I thank God for my sister because she really just paved the way for me and said, "You know, it's going to be OK. If you just allow yourself to be yourself, you're going to be relatable." And I think that's what makes this show so great. Tia and I try really hard to keep the real in reality because that's the only way it's going to be successful.

 

Tia: It was hard for me. I wanted to do a reality show, but it's difficult because all our lives you can be judged by a particular character that you play. And I'm like, "Well, I didn’t write it." No, just kidding. But when you're on a reality show, they're judging who you are as a person. And that can hurt a little bit. But at the end of the day, I love who I am. It definitely has made us stronger.

 

"Tia & Tamera" airs Mondays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on the Style Network.

 

Whomever Justin Bieber spoke to at NBC or "America's Got Talent," millions of prepubescent girls would now like to pull his or her hair while yelling bad names.

Bieber instructed his 25 million Twitter followers to keep their eyes peeled to "America's Got Talent" Wednesday night for a sneak preview of his latest video, "As Long As You Love Me." However, it did not air. This prompted Bieber to tweet: "very frustrated. where was it? no joking here."

 

Bing: More about 'America's Got Talent'

 

Now, scores of Beliebers are taking to the same social network to threaten NBC with boycotts and worse. (BiebsCyrusLand, for instance, tweeted: "NBC and Americas Got Talent.  You both have pissed Justin and 25 million #pissedbeliebers. Say hello to world war ||| in 3, 2 ....")

 

Plus: The fate of your favorite shows | 2012 Primetime Emmy nominees

 

Bieber first tweeted about the video's inclusion in the show on Tuesday evening: "so I'm thinking about giving a minute of #AsLongAsYouLoveMeVid​eo to @nbcagt for their show tomorrow? Thoughts?" Minutes later, he followed up: "yep…It is CONFIRMED!"  (In fact, "AGT" even retweeted one of Bieber's tweets about it. )

So far, there's been no official response from "AGT" or NBC. But, until this blows over, their executives are wise to avoid stepping foot in any malls.

"America's Got Talent" airs Tuedsays at 8 p.m. and Wednesdays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on NBC.

 

Brad Paisley could join Mariah Carey as a replacement judge on "American Idol." According to Deadline, FOX is "seriously considering" the country star.

 

Bing: More about 'American Idol'

 

Country representation would make sense for the FOX reality competition, as Deadline points out, since the show's most successful victor (Carrie Underwood) comes from the genre -- as does last year's winner (Scotty McCreery) and runner-up (Lauren Alaina). In addition, NBC's "The Voice" has worked well with mentoring by country singer Blake Shelton.

Paisley, in particular, would make sense since he has performed on "Idol," topped the charts with an Underwood duet ("Remind Me") and toured with McCreery.

 

Plus: The fate of your favorite shows | 2012 Primetime Emmy nominees

 

Two vacancies were created this month after Jennifer Lopez and Steven Tyler announced they both had real music careers they would rather return to. Earlier this week, the show announced that one vacancy would be filled by Mariah Carey.

According to Deadline, Randy Jackson is expected to return as a judge.

Season 12 of "American Idol" premieres in early 2013 on FOX.

 

To kick off its "X Factor" panel, FOX showed a trailer teasing the second season, which features a very candid and confident Britney Spears flat out telling one contestant he lacked talent.

 

Bing: More on 'The X Factor' | Britney Spears

 

But reporters at the Television Critics Associations' press tour, who were expecting the same no-nonsense version of Spears in the Q&A portion that followed Monday in Beverly Hills, were sorely disappointed.

 

Spears, 30, is one of two new judges to join the reality competition. She plugged the show via a live feed from Miami with the help of head judge and creator Simon Cowell, fellow newcomer Demi Lovato, record exec/judge L.A. Reid and executive producer Andrew Llinares.

 

Critics wasted no time peppering Spears with questions about everything from why she joined the show to her musical tastes and were in turn greeted with some rather, um, spacey responses.

 

Asked why she wanted to be a judge, Spears said "I've seen the show a couple of times, and I was such a fan."

 

OK, you can give her a pass on that one. Maybe it only takes two viewings of "The X Factor" to become a fan. Her answer on what she knows now about reality competitions that she didn't before, was less decisive.

 

"Well, I just feel like being with Simon and L.A. and Demi, just the package that we are together and the team that we are together, it makes it so much fun to do the show," Spears said. "It's inspiring to be around people like that, and it's made it a lot of fun for me."

 

Realizing his newest judge hadn't quite answered the question, Cowell quickly interjected "Britney's quite mean, which you'll discover," which then set off a brief debate between Cowell and Lovato about Spears' meanness. For the record, Lovato thinks Spears is tough, sweet and honest, not mean.

 

Plus: The fate of your favorite shows | 2012 Primetime Emmy nominees

 

Another reporter asked Spears what she thought of the claim that the judges benefit from reality competitions more than contestants. The question sparked this labored exchange:

 

Spears: Huh?

Reid: He's asking do you think it's more about us or the singers?

Spears: I think it's about the talent definitely.

Cowell: A little bit of us as well?

Spears: A little bit of us.

 

Yikes. Notice how Reid and Cowell had to help her out? Yeah. Unfortunately, during the panel there was a lot of that too.

 

And finally, on her taste in music, Spears said, "Well, I'm actually a huge fan of hip hop. I like hip-hop music. I love rap. I don't know the definition, like the proper way to rap. I don't rap. But, you know, I appreciate it, and I like it. I like cabaret music as well. I love live music. I love bands."

 

The best part about this answer is Spears seemed completely unaware of the irony that she, an artist known more for lip-synching than singing, would say she loves live music.

 

But that's Brit. She quixotic and fascinating but never predictable. Word on the street is she can even be mean.

 

Season 2 of "The X Factor" premieres Wednesday, Sept. 12, at 8 p.m. ET/PT on FOX.  

 

An Internet firestorm is raging over which F-word got bleeped in Sunday's episode of Lifetime's "Life's a Tripp."

 

Bing: More about 'Life's a Tripp'

 

"Go away, you (bleep)!" is what Tripp Palin, 3, yelled at his aunt, Willow, with the bleep intruding after the "f" consonant .

The Huffington Post, Salon and Gawker all claim it was the F-word known as a homophobic slur. ("Hmm, I wonder where Tripp learned to use 'f****t' as an insult," Gawker wrote.)

 

Also: 2011-2012 TV season in review | Shows that went too soon | Also: Summer TV report card

 

In response, Bristol Palin has taken to her blog to claim that the F-word in question was merely the standard one that basic cable subscribers aren't supposed to hear and three-year-olds aren't supposed to use.

"As I've said before, I sometimes struggle to raise Tripp," Sarah Palin's eldest daughter wrote on Monday. "However, he does NOT use slurs."

Interestingly enough, Willow apologized for using the slur F-word on Facebook two years ago, in response to a former classmate who bashed "Sarah Palin's Alaska."

Either way, Bristol was correct when she stated, on "Life's a Tripp," that she's "doing a terrible job disciplining Tripp."

"Life's a Tripp" airs Tuesdays at 11 p.m. ET/PT on Lifetime. 

By Diane Vadino

Special to MSN TV

 

Remember that time Emily came on "After the Final Rose" and looked like she might break into angry, hot tears any minute? That was then. Now, Emily looks happy as can be -- especially when discussing her new fiancé, Jef Holm. The Southern belle and the SLC hipster made it work, demolishing the race car driver in the process. Who would have thought?

 

Bing: More about Emily Maynard | 'The Bachelorette'

 

After a quick debriefing from Chris Harrison, first-runner-up Arie is brought on stage for a confrontation (or, as it's also known, closure) with Emily, who repeats much of what she said in Curacao: It was nothing he did or didn't do. "I learned I need to be more direct, especially with things that might hurt people's feelings," she says. Having seen the footage of her pre-breakup powwow with Chris, Arie says he wishes she had just told him what she'd told Chris -- because what she provided him wasn't anything like closure.

 

Also: Why 'The Bachelorette' was so great this season

 

Unfortunately, the post-show search for closure (or "a new beginning," Arie says, menacingly) took Arie all the way to Charlotte, where he planned to stalk (or, you know, meet up with) Emily -- and presumably woo her back. When he got there, though, he was too respectful of Jef and Ricki (or, perhaps, mortified) to go through with his planned meet-up. Instead, he channeled his inner seventh grader and left his journal on her doorstep. (Really.) "I just wanted her to know what I was feeling," he says. Chris asks Arie if he thought that her reading the journal made have changed things: "Of course," he says. Chris promised us "shocking secrets" at the top of the show, but never did I imagine they'd involve Arie regressing to the emotional life of a 13-year-old. And oh, about that journal? Emily brought it. And she never read it, also out of respect for Jef. "It wouldn't have helped anything," Emily says to Arie. This is actually, in its own way, worse than watching Emily break up with him -- her total, unemotional shutdown of his journal-centric Hail Mary is utterly cringe-y. Emily passes Arie back the journal. "I'm so glad he [wrote] it," she says, looking for a silver lining. Chris asks Arie if he's disappointed that Emily never bothered to read it -- he is, he says, but he reveals that Jef, of all people, was the one to convince him to drop the Emily issue, by convincing Arie that the three of them were happy together. Three's family, four's a crowd, Arie. It's a weird, heartbroken segment. Emily says that if Jef hadn't been on the show, "It would have been Arie and me up here [as a couple]." You know, just in case his heart hadn't already been smashed into 1000 pieces. 

Photos: 'Bachelorette' stars: Where are they now? | This season's contestants

Luckily for all of us, Jef is up next, and he's beaming like a massive ball of energy. Why? He and Emily are happily engaged. We re-watch the footage of the proposal, which is probably a lot more interesting for the two of them than it is for us, since we just saw it 45 minutes ago. Chris asks Jef what's so great about Emily. "Are we live? How much time do we have?" Jef says. He then reels off a list of adjectives in which "funny" and "kind" place more highly than "gorgeous."

 

More interesting are their plans for the future: First, Emily will be traveling to Africa with Jef and his company, People Water -- the Tom's shoes of "sustainable water." (More details are presumably available on the firm's website -- which is, at this moment, down, probably from all the knock-on post-finale traffic.) Then, instead of starting somewhere fresh right away, Jef will, in fact, be moving to Charlotte -- so that Ricky's life is interrupted as little as possible. (Separate apartments, Jef points out.) And after that? A wedding, of course. They don't want to say the date: "Everyone holds you to it," Emily says. (A couple minutes later, she croaks out, "a spring wedding.") They do know where though: "Charleston," they say, in unison. That is, unless they get married in Africa. It won't be their first trip, though, and before we say goodbye to the new couple, Chris shows up a picture of the three of them at what looks like a dude ranch, three blondes in a photo dressed for a day outside involving frogs and catching fish. Who says dreams don't come true?

 

 

By Diane Vadino

Special to MSN TV

 

Welcome to the "most anticipated television event of the summer [that isn't the Olympics or about a half-dozen other shows that may or may not include tomorrow's premiere of "Bachelor Pad 2"]!" Chris Harrison introduces us to tonight's emphatically live broadcast of "one of the most surprising and emotional finales ever" -- with "shocking secrets to reveal." Only time will tell if any of that is true. So, here we go. We're still in Curacao (apparently all the money on the finale's travel budget went to Emily's dresses -- isn't it a "Bachelorette" law that we have to end in the South Pacific?), and Emily says she still doesn't know whose inevitable proposal she'll be contemplating later tonight. "I thought coming into today I would know who my guy was -- and I don't," she says. She's looking for more, she says, than "a beautiful, perfect proposal -- and I had that [with Brad], and that's not how it turned out at all." 

 

Bing: More about Emily Maynard | 'The Bachelorette'

 

First up on this night, we have Jef, who arrives to meet Emily's family (mom Suzy, dad David, brother Ernie, and sister-in-law-to-be Bethanny) wearing the Gap staff uniform of 1997 (white pocket T-shirt and jeans) and bearing flowers for Suzy and Bethanny. ("Those aren't for me," Emily says. "There'll be lots of them for you -- don't worry," Jef says.) Suzy lists two of the qualities Emily likes in her male companion as "has a sense of humor, waits on her hand and foot," which isn't an entirely nice thing to say, if you think about it. Jef, meanwhile, is giving the family the super-hard sell: "There's not a single ounce of me that would leave her, ever," he says. He is not so much dripping with sincerity as spraying it like fire hoses from every one of his pores. This is just as well for Emily's gun-shy family: "My first reaction is always going to be defensive -- after what happened with Brad and Emily, I saw her heart broken in a way that most people can't understand," says Ernie, who seems like a cross between a mortgage consultant and a drill sergeant. Presumably after admiring the way Suzy's forehead absolutely refuses to move, Jef lays out his case to David, and asks for his permission to marry his daughter: "Well, Jef, if you sincerely mean that [you're seeking my permission], then you certainly have my approval," says David. "Just looking at the smile she's got, it's obvious that she cares for you." 

 

Also: Why 'The Bachelorette' was so great this season

 

Emily's family is so wholly pro-Jef that they're ready to pack it in and go to the beach: "I'm not sure why we're even going through the actions of meeting another guy today," Suzy says. Even so, it's surprisingly awkward when Arie shows up and begins to babble about fishing: "I heard when it's overcast, [fish] like to bite. I don't know a lot about fishing," he says. For such a seemingly affable guy, Arie has a tough time bringing any of the Maynards around: "You seem very practiced and smooth," Ernie says, which is not entirely a compliment. It's not much better with Emily's dad, who literally snorts a tiny bit after fielding the same may-I-marry-your-dau​ghter question. "You seem like a very nice fellow," David says, mildly. 

 

Photos: 'Bachelorette' stars: Where are they now? | This season's contestants

 

Despite all that, Emily's family isn't letting her off the hook. "The best scenario is my parents saying, 'This is your guy,'" she says. Unfortunately, "it's hard for me to say one or the other," Suzy says. Emily thinks they're holding back: "How much of this is you guys not wanting to say in case I pick the other one?" They swear up and down that that's not the problem. Emily's maintaining that she's in love with two people, but her dad's not buying it: "I don't believe you can love two people: You're in love with one or the other now," he says. "Now I'm even more confused," she says. "The fact that I still don't know makes me wonder if any guy here is for me. I'm not sure if I'm 100 percent ready to get engaged at the end of all of this." 

 

This, it turns out, is the grand sum of the misdirection in this episode. Emily and Jef meet up for what looks like their most realistic date of the season, which is two people sitting and talking, somewhat defensively, about the future of their relationship. "What are you stressed out about?" Jef asks her. Soon, though, Jef flips it around. What's sort of interesting is the way he made this whole process about ensuring that Emily was right for him as much as he was right for Emily, which Ryan kept saying was his whole mission but failed to express it in a way that wasn't thoroughly annoying. Jef's still hoping to meet little Ricki, and he asks her what she would think if she were considering moving forward with a guy before meeting the most important person in his life. You can pretty much see the penny drop for her. "I would think it was weird," she says, making up her mind. "I think we have such a short time left we should just do it today." On the way to the pool where Ricki's splashing around, Emily warns that a thumb's down from Ricki could spell the end of things for Jef. But of course, it all goes swimmingly, from the moment he offers to high-five her open palm: "I heard you always have to have your goggles on. Safety first," he says. It's pretty adorable. "I just want to hold [Emily's] hand 'til I'm 110," Jef says. 

 

Would Arie have had a chance if his big date had come first? If he had met Emily's family before Jef? All we know is that the morning after the game-changing date with Jef, Emily's made up her mind: "I woke up and I really had a sense of peace about what I needed to do," she says. "What she needs to do" is Emily-code for kicking off Arie. Emily lays out everything for Chris Harrison: She was in love with Arie, but sometime between then and now, her feelings for Jef caught up to them -- and surpassed them. "I was so scared I'd get to the final day [and not know who my preference is]," she says. "I know that Jef is everything I've been looking for." Who knew the skinny hipster from Utah would be the last guy standing? Chris Harrison sums it up: "You are done. My advice to you today is to be as honest with him as you're being with me." 

 

The next 10 minutes play out like a reality-TV example of dramatic irony -- the one that's defined as "irony that occurs when the meaning of the situation is understood by the audience but not by the characters in the play." We are the audience. Arie (and herbalist Dina) are the characters. They have decided, on this day of pending heartbreak, to create a love potion from the herbs in Dina's garden. It's all tremendously cringe-y, like an outtake from "The Office." "We're here in Curacao, completely in love with each other," Arie says obliviously. "Tomorrow I am getting engaged." Well, so he thinks. Then Emily shows up, and she's distracted and jumpy and says "Thank you" and "You did a great job" (with the love potions) a dozen times. If this were last season, we'd already be halfway through "This Year's Love." "Do you want to sit down and talk a second?" she says. Then she starts crying, and Arie slowly comes around to the realization that his plans for the following day may need a revision. "I don't know what to do; I don't know what to say," Emily manages. "You know how I felt about you, from our very first dates and even beyond: It was going to be me and you, and I don't know anymore." The problem, of course, is that she does know. "I never thought I was going to have to make a choice between you and anybody," she continues. "I always thought it was going to be me and you." Then she more or less skips over the part about falling in love with Jef. "I want you to know I'm sorry. I don't want you to think it's anything you did or didn't do you really are like everything." Arie is clearly shocked. It's a blindside straight out of "Survivor." "I'm shocked that I completely thought we had something," he says. There are (man) tears. "I have more confidence with Jef," Emily responds. Arie tries to walk out, and she asks him to wait for her. "There's nothing to say," he says. "Good luck. I don't know what you want me to say. Thank you for sparing me the embarrassment tomorrow. I appreciate that." Somewhere, Ben is stomping his foot vigorously. Elsewhere, it's over for Arie. "I feel stupid, I feel naive that I had that dream for us. I feel like I'm a loving person and I deserve that back. I feel like I give way more than I get back." Chris Harrison momentarily brings us back to a stone-faced audience, which has the collective resigned, pained expression of having just watched film of a dead dog being kicked. 

 

It's done: Perpetual front-runner Arie's gone, and we have Emily in front of some buildings in Curacao. (Really: Was there seriously no money left for an ocean-view perch?) Instead of spectacular scenery, we get quite a cute proposal. "You really are everything that I've looked for so long. You are the perfect person for me," Emily tells Jef, who is wearing a dapper blue suit. "You get me better than anyone else has. I love you so, so much. I knew you were the one for me. You were the only one that got to meet Ricki. Arie's not even here. It's just me and you." "That's the best thing I've ever heard," Jef says. It really is quite adorable. His proposal goes on for forever, but the key line is: "I promise if you let me into your and Ricki's life, you'll never feel lonely ever again." What girl's not going to say yes to that? Jef takes a knee, says the words (you can hear the live audience swoon), and Emily, after a 10-second delay, puts her face in her hands … and says yes.