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TV tonight: 'Big Brother' returns, 'American Gothic'

Big Brother
CBS, 8 ET/PT

Big Brother
CBS, 8 ET/PT

It’s back, the show responsible for so much that so many of us hate about the current TV landscape. You can start with the influx of manufactured-reality shows that focus on people pretending to live “real” lives for the camera and move on to the practice of picking up franchise shows from overseas (Big Brother began in Holland) and lazily and often inadequately adapting them to American tastes. Admittedly it worked for Big Brother, though not without some tweaking along the way, enough so that it’s back for another three-night-a-week run.

American Gothic
CBS, 10 ET/PT

For those who remember American Gothic, CBS’s 1995 series from Shaun Cassidy and Sam Raimi that starred Gary Cole, Sarah Paulson, Lucas Black, Paige Turco and Nick Searcy — that American Gothic is not this American Gothic. This one follows a Boston family that discovers an infamous serial killer lives among them. Though no doubt not among all of them, or at least not for long.

Any Given Wednesday With Bill Simmons
HBO, 10 ET/PT

Former ESPN writer Bill Simmons, whose Grantland offered an original (and now, often badly copied) mix of sports and pop culture, moves to HBO. If he can bring the same skill to his TV coverage of sports and entertainment that he brought to Grantland, he’ll be a very welcome addition indeed.

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