Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes…

My challenge to CBS…doubt they take me up on it.

Tomorrow (the 20th of June), the cast will be revealed for the 15th season of Big Brother, beginning a week from tonight.  Maybe it’s just me, but the earlier the normal start for the season is creating a lot of palace intrigue, a buzz, if you will.

Two changes in game play have already been revealed.  This year, instead of two players being nominated for eviction, we’re going to see three nominees each week. That’s a twist that’s been floated around among fans for several years, ever since Gerry Lancaster floated the idea one day during season three.

The second change strikes me as even more confusing.  Each week, fans will vote for a “Most Valuable Player” who will have special powers yet to be announced, with the vote commencing when the cast is revealed tomorrow.

So you the fans are allowed to vote for the MVP (and I assume future MVP’s), but the producers aren’t revealing what exactly the MVP’s powers are.  This sounds a lot like last season when the fans were “asked” (I put that in quotes because in the history of the show, the voting on a specific question has never been independently audited, like you would see during the American Idol finale, for example) about coaches re-entering the game.  I thought the question was misleading, because it wasn’t revealed how the poll would be applied into the live show.

Like all of you, I’m eager to see how the promised changes factor into the season.  On Sunday, I’ll give my prediction as to three houseguests to watch in the new season.

Meanwhile, Over In The UK…

UK Housemate Sallie Axl can barely contain herself.

While we wait for the US Big Brother to begin in less than two weeks, the UK version of Big Brother began late this week, and sparks have already flown between Sallie Axl and Gina Rio.  Late in the second day, Rio attacked Sallie briefly, leading to a formal warning from show producers, a step shy of a DQ.

I can’t help notice that the producers across the pond have probably watched a few of our seasons. Their new season subtitled “Secrets and Lies” has generously borrowed from our version of the show, not that I mind watching a UK spin of something the US has already done.

For instance, in the cast they have a set of twins, which was done in season five in the US with the not-so wonderful twins of Adria and Natalie.  The boy twins Jack and Joe (one is gay, the other is straight) play as a single entry.  A mother and daughter duo in the house, however, play as separate entities.

In the first eviction round, one of the housemates entitled a “Head Housemate” is the only person to nominate three people for eviction.  Boy, does that sound familiar.  He is also a “people’s puppet” which is a play of what Annie Whittington’s role was on Big Brother 12 here state side.

There are differences, however.  In BB UK, the public votes out the housemates, not those inside the house.  Their show never got “Survivorized” as the US version did. Housemates getting DQ’ed is a very rare event, with housemates quitting more likely to take place due to burnout or injury. Replacements usually go into the house if that occurs.

With the diversity of the cast and the many twists BB UK uses in their nominating procedures, it’s hard to predict who’ll win a given season, much more so than the US version.  If I had to guess at this point, I’d keep my eye on the Jack/Joe tandem.

The Great Gambit

Hard to believe three Sundays from now I’ll be talking to you about the first few days of Big Brother the 15th, but yet here we are.  Bless those of you who have already bought the subscription to watch the season.  As for me, I like to know WHAT I am buying before I buy, like what the casting twist is this year.  I follow the old adage of never buying a pig in a poke.

The rumors of what and who the casting twists are fill the Internet like mold on a carpet. Until we know, we do not know.  What we do know, however, is the season is likely to be the longest in US history, surpassing the first season under the International format (houseguests choosing two people for eviction, audience decides who goes) that went 88 days.  CBS is promoting a “100 day summer” with very credible sources saying the show will last 13 weeks at least.

I am not convinced a longer show will make for a better show.  The reason I always thought the seasons were lasting generally less than 80 days was mental fatigue both of the audience and the houseguests kicks in at around 60 days.  BB2′s Nicole and BB3′s Marcellas having the most notable breakdowns in judgment for all the world to see. (Dingo over at Hamster Watch reminds me that Jennifer “Nakomis” Dedmon had a legendary breakdown before she left the house after 75 days in BB5.  Good catch.)  Also, when the show hits September and football season rolls around, the audience that watches these shows usually goes with it.

But without so many of the reality shows the started in the 2000′s on a downturn (Survivor, for example) and the Big Brother franchise threatened by an imitator last season over on ABC, it would only make sense that CBS would make some moves to shake things up. Then again, how many times over recent years has Grodner/CBS/et al promised big changes, but the changes turned out to be merely temporary and cosmetic?

More next Sunday.  Finally, a programming reminder of sorts: I will be doing commentaries this year on Sundays only, unless events warrant.  Until then, drive and live life safely.

Switching Channels

It was announced over the past week that TV Guide Network (now owned by CBS itself) has acquired the rights to air the late night program Big Brother After Dark, freeing Showtime’s menagerie of networks to go back to airing late night soft-core porn, I suppose.

At first, I thought the move was tremendous for CBS, despite the show being reduced from three hours a night to two.  While TVGN doesn’t air on my basic cable outlet here in Pinellas County, that can’t be said for most cable systems across the country. It seemed to many Big Brother fans in the Twitterverse as a move backwards, however.  They pointed out that TVGN’s content does not air in high definition as the bullet point to show that this was a regressive move, not a progressive one.

Now that it’s been revealed that CBS has bought TVGN, I would simply say not so fast. There’s more of this story that remains to be played out, including how the season will be shown online, as CBS.com takes over from Real Networks providing their video content. Stay tuned.

Hayden The Survivor

So not only did Survivor finally get a Big Brother houseguest to play as a castaway, they also got a Big Brother winner in Hayden Moss.

I really didn’t pay attention to Big Brother for a stretch.  Got disinterested in the latter half of BB9, the “fiasco” of a winter/spring version of the show that took place in early 2008.  Got started on BB10, but about two thirds of the way through I got bored with it.  Seasons 11, 12, and 13 were a blur to me, so I really didn’t pay attention to Hayden’s win in 2010.

Wouldn’t be shocked if he wins Survivor as well, as he seems to have the physical tools to compete in the setting Survivor requires.  Building alliances and having a bit of luck will also be needed, two things he certainly excelled at in that “house” in California the summer he won.

Not to mention that Survivor will probably have lots of Big Brother viewers who don’t normally watch tuning in, which I guess is the whole point, right?

The Hook Brings You Back

ABOVE: “Hook” by Blues Traveler, a song from the 1990s, but a perfect way to describe the BB Canada finale of 2013.

I’m still trying to wrap my mind around the “bizarro vote” that took place Thursday night.  And I keep coming back to two phrases that keep popping into my head.

The first phrase is one word: intent.  The second phrase: correctable error.

When hostess Arisa Cox revealed Topaz Brady’s vote, even she was a bit shocked. And did you notice Dan Gheesling, the BB10 winner and BB14 runner-up, attempting to talk to Topaz while she was melting down?

But I still have the same problem with the voting snafu as I did Thursday night.  The first line of defense Arisa threw out was that they couldn’t have everyone re-vote again.  My first instinct would be to ask: why not?  For the entire season, the Slice Network of Canada insisted that the live shows were just that.  The problem is they were taped a few hours in advance each and every time.  So there was enough time to correct the error and edit out the blunder.  The producers chose not to take that route, so I will leave it to you the readers to ask yourselves why.

It was also clear who Brady wanted to vote for.  If it wasn’t clear as she placed her vote, how could it not be clear when she bum rushed the host of the show?  But again, the erroneous vote was allowed to stand.

Should Topaz paid more attention to the instructions?  Absolutely she should have.

But seeing all the twists BB Canada tried in season one, and how I mentioned earlier that it reeked of desperation, perhaps the producers went to desperate attempts once more.  By letting the vote stand as was, and creating a controversy that perhaps shouldn’t have been there to begin with, a second season in 2014 seems much more likely than it was beforehand. The hook that will bring everyone back, if you will.

As you were, people.  I’ll be back in June when BB15 draws closer.

Who’s Cleaning Up This Mess?

Topaz Brady realizes she made an error in her final vote. She intended to vote for Gary, but accidentally voted for Jillian, who won the finale 4-3. May 2, 2013.

The Big Brother Canada finale just ended.  Had it been a normal finale, I wouldn’t be doing this blog entry at nearly midnight on Thursday night.

But something rather bizarre happened at the BB Canada finale.  A fitting way to end a bizarre season.

While host Arisa Cox was tallying the votes to determine whether or not Gary Levy or Jillian MacLaughlin was going to walk away as the inaugural Big Brother Canada victor, Emerald “Topaz” Brady objected to her vote being cast for Jillian.  She walked over to where Arisa was standing to say that her intent was to vote for Gary, not Jillian.  Cox reiterated that the jurors were told clearly that they picked who you wanted to win the season, but Brady remained adamant that she had made a mistake.

After the show came back from a hastily called (if not an emergency) commercial break, they showed a replay of Topaz inserting Jillian’s card to be revealed by Arisa near the end of the show.  As the vote went, Jillian won the $100,000 and some assorted prizes by a 4-3 count.  That one erroneous vote by Topaz was just enough to give MacLaughlin the win, and cost Gary Levy a chance at victory.

I am not a lawyer.  I only play one when I blog.  It is easy to say Brady messed up, because quite obviously she did.  But if it is true she intended to vote for Gary to win and made a mistake, that’s a serious problem for the integrity of the show and the season.  Topaz’s screw-up was one error, but the producers magnified the error by simply not allowing it’s correction.  Especially on a so-called live show that was taped!

Now I know a reality show can’t realistically mimic a legal system, especially not one of a different country than the show was produced in.  But in the United States, there have been many famous legal trials in my lifetime.  When a verdict is read, the lawyers ask the jurors: is this your verdict?  Did we get how you want to vote correct?  For the verdict to be official, all the jurors must answer “yes” to that question.

Simply put…and I will use the more polite six-letter word here…the producers fouled up.  End of story.  They could have made things right.  They didn’t.  Those final moments of BB Canada wound up being the microcosm of their whole season.

More on Sunday…