Big Brother vs. The Glass House: How Similar Are They Really?

Despite the legal battle brought on by CBS (read more about that here), ABC's Big Brother-style reality competition show The Glass House made its debut Monday night.
If you've been following the courtroom drama, or if you're a Big Brother loyalist (like myself), you were probably pretty curious to see just how similar the two shows are to one another.

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Below, we've analyzed five aspects of the series — the cast, the house, the competitions, the host and audience participation — and compared the new (Glass House) to the original (Big Brother).1. The Cast: As far as contestants go, the two shows are pretty similar. On Big Brother, it's generally custom for the house to be stocked with plenty of cleavage, a token douchebag, a mother hen and a brainiac. The same goes for The Glass House. Like Big Brother, the cast also represents an even mix of individuals that hail from the South, Midwest, East Coast and West Coast (though one of them didn't know that Oregon is on the West Coast). Currently, 14 contestants inhabit The Glass House. On Big Brother, the number usually ranges between 12 and 16.

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2. The House: On The Glass House, contestants actually live in a glass house. Surprise, surprise! Their accommodations seem to be a bit more plush than they have historically been on Big Brother — and distinctly less cheesy. The rooms don't have themes, like the "sunset room" and "palm tree room" we were appalled by on Big Brother Season 10. Based on what we've seen so far, The Glass House doesn't appear to have a master suite like the one Big Brother's Head of Household earns (but it's early, so who knows). Also, we haven't yet seen a solitary-confinement-style barrack area that is referred to as the "have-not room" on Big Brother. Camera angles (including the creepy behind-the-mirror bathroom shots) are pretty consistent in both houses.3. The Competitions: While we've only seen one competition on The Glass House, it seems to align with the Big Brother standard: It looks like it was assembled on a low budget in the backyard. It should be noted, however, that the uniforms the contestants received on The Glass House were way cuter than anything we've ever seen on Big Brother. The zip-ups even had everyone's last names emblazoned on them! Time to step up your uniform game, BB!

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4. The Host: Here's the big difference between the two shows. While Julie Chen has served as Big Brother host since its inception, The Glass House is run by an unappealing, robotic voice. Part of Big Brother's charm is seeing how the cooped-up houseguests interact/flirt with The Chenbot, who's a fun addition to the cast of characters on a show that definitely has its dull moments. I'm not feeling the robo-host situation. It's impersonal, and quite frankly... it's creepy.5. The Audience Participation: On The Glass House, viewer votes determine which contestants get sent home each week, and which player/players will get the chance to return to the house after being sent to limbo. The same rules apply on Big Brother. On both shows, the audience gets to vote on irrelevant things, like, will they have a pajama-themed party or a pool-themed party? So far, the only notable difference is that on The Glass House, contestants are allowed to ask the audience one question each week that may or may not help them get ahead in the game. Gene asked the audience to vote on whether it would be more beneficial for him to align with the women or the men in the house. Alex asked if he should be the most epic reality TV villain ever (which in his mind means bashing all the women in the house). Meanwhile, Erica wanted an answer to more pressing matter: Is Arie still on The Bachelorette?Did you watch the premiere of The Glass House? Did you think it was similar to Big Brother?