ABC also accuses Fox of theft

LOS ANGELES — Another day, another network bashing Fox for stealing its shows. . . .

This time it was ABC. And, like NBC, which is unhappy because Fox ripped-off its reality/boxing show "The Contender" with "The Next Great Champ," this complaint has some legitimacy.

With considerable fanfare, ABC announced in May that it would add to its schedule "Wife Swap" — based on a British show it licensed — in which two women would trade families for two weeks and the results would be filmed for the reality series. It subsequently announced it is developing "Husband Swap" and "Family Swap" (with kids trading places).

But Fox essentially stole the idea — paying no one to license it — and will premiere "Trading Spouses" next week.

New ABC Entertainment president Steve McPherson — speaking to critics via satellite from Paris, where he's honeymooning — wasn't sure whether to call it "ripping-off or cloning," but he's sure unhappy about it. And he's clearly hoping it comes back to bite the folks at Fox.

"If I was a member of the creative community, it would be incredibly disconcerting to me that if you take a show — a pitch — to Fox, and they can't, don't, or decide not to buy it, they will steal it," McPherson said. "Plain and simple.

"I think it's really upsetting. I think it's bad for business. I think it's bad for the broadcast networks. And I don't think it's right."

To this point, Fox has not responded — no doubt formulating a response it will deliver to critics later this week.

Like NBC Universal president Jeff Zucker before him, McPherson said he fully recognizes that television is a business where imitation thrives.

"I think what happens — and it happened in comedy and drama as well — is that once there's a success, people try to rip them off," he said, pointing even to the ABC sitcom "According to Jim," which, like "Everybody Loves Raymond" before it, is a "family show with a strong male point of view at the center." But it's not a direct rip-off. And ABC didn't rush "Jim" on the air to try to steal "Raymond's" thunder.