Big Brother
Jun. 11th, 2008 03:50 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
emmelinemayBig Brother is back, apparently. I didn't know until Monday, when we were looking for something on 4OD or the IPlayer to watch.
My love affair with BB was over during series 6, and this was cemented in the chaos that was the last 'celebrity' BB, where they featured one of my Least Favourite Persons Of All Time, and one of the people I blame for ruining Big Brother, Jade Goody. I'll explain that later.
So we began to watch the launch show, I guess for the same reason you slow down to look at the scene of an accident.
We saw 4 people go in. A couple - she with huge breasts, the sort of women who you just KNOW has a really irritating laugh without even needing to hear it - he looking like someone has bashed his face in with a frying pan. An odd politics student with impossibly large ears, a non drinking/smoking/drugging chap with a suit slightly too large for him, an unexpected accent and a disconcerting 'it's always the quiet ones' smile. And a teenage wannabe in the making, from her blonde extensions and pearly white smile down through a 'perfect' body to her killer heels via irritatingly high self-esteem.
So far, so interesting, to be honest. They almost had me.
And then, they bring the 4 into the diary room and tell them that the couple must pretend to not be a couple, that Frying-pan-face has to pretend that Barbie is his girlfriend, while Big-boobs and Big-ears are santa's helpers. If they succeed in making the rest of the housemates believe this, they won't be up for eviction. If they fail, they will.
And we turn off.
Because, you know, I really don't give a monkeys whether they're up for eviction or not. I met them 5 minutes ago. I don't know anything about them. I haven't met anyone else yet. I've made no allegiances, I've formed no dislikes, no loves, I've not had time to have an opinion about any of them yet.
This is where I think the format has gone wrong - they try SO HARD to make conflict before it even has a chance to develop naturally, failing to realise that most of the most interesting viewing coming from BB ever has been the conflict that naturally arises when you stick 10+ strangers in a small house and film them 24/7. That ought to be enough for anyone. 'The act of observation changes that which is observed' they say, and that is what made BB series 1-3 such compulsive viewing. We were given time to get to know them, and they each other, before they started pulling crazy business on them.
Then, along came Jade. Brash, stupid, rude, ignorant and a bully to boot. She was pretty much totally hated for the whole series, until the last week, when fearing a backlash, the media suddenly switched allegiances, and she came out of the whole thing the most successful contestant of all time, having been the most hated for a good 8 weeks. Seeing her success I guess is an indication that that's what the public want. Artificial conflict, stupid people. They bring her back for the 'Celebrity' BB, and are, apparently, surprised when she turns out to be brash, stupid, rude, ignorant and a bully - all the things that made her famous in the first place.
I miss the early days of Big Brother, when they stuck a bunch of different people in a house, filmed them, let them get to know each other, let them make friends, let us get to know them, then pitted them against each other with the nominations, whilst forcing them to work together for food and rewards. That's a killer concept - simple, brutal, effective.
So why, honestly, WHY do they put in these ridiculous artificial attempts to create conflict? Where there are people, there will be conflict. Where they are being filmed, it will be INTERESTING conflict, because they will behave in a different way than they would when no one is watching (however many times they will protest 'I forget the cameras are there').
The labelling of series 4, where they did just that, as 'boring', combined with the continued success of Jade and the all-time high viewing figures for the crazy arguments of series 5 sealed BB's fate. The public don't want natural conflict or people getting on. They want screeching harpies screaming at each other in artificially created conflict. They want brash loud fake bullies. They want backstabbing and stupid tricks.
I think if they really do want to fuck with them, they should at least give us time to get to know them first. Give them a week to settle in, give us a week to watch them. THEN fuck with them.
Not that I care, because I won't be watching.
No, really.
My love affair with BB was over during series 6, and this was cemented in the chaos that was the last 'celebrity' BB, where they featured one of my Least Favourite Persons Of All Time, and one of the people I blame for ruining Big Brother, Jade Goody. I'll explain that later.
So we began to watch the launch show, I guess for the same reason you slow down to look at the scene of an accident.
We saw 4 people go in. A couple - she with huge breasts, the sort of women who you just KNOW has a really irritating laugh without even needing to hear it - he looking like someone has bashed his face in with a frying pan. An odd politics student with impossibly large ears, a non drinking/smoking/drugging chap with a suit slightly too large for him, an unexpected accent and a disconcerting 'it's always the quiet ones' smile. And a teenage wannabe in the making, from her blonde extensions and pearly white smile down through a 'perfect' body to her killer heels via irritatingly high self-esteem.
So far, so interesting, to be honest. They almost had me.
And then, they bring the 4 into the diary room and tell them that the couple must pretend to not be a couple, that Frying-pan-face has to pretend that Barbie is his girlfriend, while Big-boobs and Big-ears are santa's helpers. If they succeed in making the rest of the housemates believe this, they won't be up for eviction. If they fail, they will.
And we turn off.
Because, you know, I really don't give a monkeys whether they're up for eviction or not. I met them 5 minutes ago. I don't know anything about them. I haven't met anyone else yet. I've made no allegiances, I've formed no dislikes, no loves, I've not had time to have an opinion about any of them yet.
This is where I think the format has gone wrong - they try SO HARD to make conflict before it even has a chance to develop naturally, failing to realise that most of the most interesting viewing coming from BB ever has been the conflict that naturally arises when you stick 10+ strangers in a small house and film them 24/7. That ought to be enough for anyone. 'The act of observation changes that which is observed' they say, and that is what made BB series 1-3 such compulsive viewing. We were given time to get to know them, and they each other, before they started pulling crazy business on them.
Then, along came Jade. Brash, stupid, rude, ignorant and a bully to boot. She was pretty much totally hated for the whole series, until the last week, when fearing a backlash, the media suddenly switched allegiances, and she came out of the whole thing the most successful contestant of all time, having been the most hated for a good 8 weeks. Seeing her success I guess is an indication that that's what the public want. Artificial conflict, stupid people. They bring her back for the 'Celebrity' BB, and are, apparently, surprised when she turns out to be brash, stupid, rude, ignorant and a bully - all the things that made her famous in the first place.
I miss the early days of Big Brother, when they stuck a bunch of different people in a house, filmed them, let them get to know each other, let them make friends, let us get to know them, then pitted them against each other with the nominations, whilst forcing them to work together for food and rewards. That's a killer concept - simple, brutal, effective.
So why, honestly, WHY do they put in these ridiculous artificial attempts to create conflict? Where there are people, there will be conflict. Where they are being filmed, it will be INTERESTING conflict, because they will behave in a different way than they would when no one is watching (however many times they will protest 'I forget the cameras are there').
The labelling of series 4, where they did just that, as 'boring', combined with the continued success of Jade and the all-time high viewing figures for the crazy arguments of series 5 sealed BB's fate. The public don't want natural conflict or people getting on. They want screeching harpies screaming at each other in artificially created conflict. They want brash loud fake bullies. They want backstabbing and stupid tricks.
I think if they really do want to fuck with them, they should at least give us time to get to know them first. Give them a week to settle in, give us a week to watch them. THEN fuck with them.
Not that I care, because I won't be watching.
No, really.
no subject
Date: 2008-07-18 02:32 pm (UTC)It's the sort of show that ate itself, isn't it? They have to keep changing the format to prevent the contestants being too knowing about the 'rules', and yet changing the format changes the show's nature.
Is BB9 even still going?
no subject
Date: 2008-07-20 10:17 pm (UTC)