Big Brother – Regular Guy

Big Disappointment

brian — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 19:06:16 +0000

For the past few years now, I have paid faithful attention to CBS’ show Big Brother. I don’t get the live feeds, but I follow blogs and Twitter feeds of people who do so I can see what the network shows don’t show us.

As the summer approached, I got excited for a new season. You always find twists and turns in the personalities of the people in the house and how the react to things as the summer wears on.

Then creator Alison Grodner had to ruin everything. Well, for me. The rest of the country apparently loves this season’s format which mixed old houseguests – brought in as pairs – with a new group.

The ratings have gone through the roof, cementing Big Brother as a reality show stalwart. I guess a lot of people enjoy seeing the faces of Jeff, Jordan, Rachel, Brendon and Danielle because they know who they are. That’s probably true, but that’s not what Big Brother is about.

The returning players (along with Danielle’s father Evel Dick who thankfully had to leave the show early due to a personal issue) have so many advantages over the new players. They have the experience of going through the house, which is huge because certain things are constant from season to season. They have a partner (except for Danielle, which may explain some of her rash moves) to lean on in hard times. They also can, thanks to the ratings, enjoy “twists” which were clearly employed to benefit them instead of just messing with the continuity of the game.

Lastly, they had a chance to play with a bunch of really awful housemates (pictured above). They aren’t bad people. They were just so in awe of the returning houseguests that it rendered them completely useless in the game for the most part. This is what has pretty much ended my interest in this current season.

Sure, I’ll check in from time to time and will watch some of the episodes, but I just don’t care that much. I said form the beginning that if Grodner wanted to take advantage of the show’s past popularity, she should have done a complete All Stars season to see how past houseguests – who now seem to be quite a fraternity since they need to bank somewhat on the whole “reality show star” trend in the real world – formed new cliques.

Instead, she half-assed it, and the television viewing public has rewarded her with great ratings. Which means we’ll see more ways to get past houseguests on TV and fewer chances to discover new personalities who may go down in Big Brother history. Well done, Allison.

Defending Big Brother 12

brian — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 14:22:00 +0000

This summer treat from CBS is truly one of my guilty pleasures. I have not been a die-hard from the beginning, but have been a big fan for the past four seasons. I don’t obsess over the live feeds, but I do check web sites which give updates that the people who only watch TV miss out on.

Recently, I have seen some criticism of this current season, mainly from a self-developed reality TV “expert.” A tour of the house for some journalists in the midst of this season has evoked some of the backlash, apparently. I guess it’s easy to equate the houseguests lack of chess playing with stupidity. I’m kind of stunned that no one complained that the players weren’t wearing ascots and monocles as well.

As players stood facing eviction on Thursday, they did nothing but profess their kinship with the people who would decide their fate. The speeches talked about friendship and family. Somehow, that seems to bother some of the critics.

I agree that we don’t want racists and homophobes spreading their thoughts through the Big Brother house, but what’s so wrong with this version of the social experiment showing that people can actually find some common ground and get along? Why does respect – feigned or not – make the show such a target for some critics?

The bottom line is that the cast might not have the kind of people who spin their summer on television into the glamorous job of reality TV personality, which really leads nowhere except public appearances and maybe a return engagement on their show or some other reality franchise.

So Lane, Hayden and Enzo might not welcome guests to a Vegas nightclub or Peoria bar. The fact that they have moved through the game by developing strong relationships and staying out of the way of those who can’t control their ego should count for something. It’s not all about starting arguments and holding grudges.

While those who immerse themselves in reality TV may see this season as an utter dud, the television audience wholeheartedly disagrees. The Thursday double eviction show drew the series’ largest audience in more than two years with more than eight million viewers.

So the reality critics may find this season doesn’t meet their standards, but they really should provide the entire picture and acknowledge that the audience might actually find a kinder, gentler cast on Big Brother more appealing.

Big Brother Rewind

brian — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 17:55:47 +0000

I managed to go the entire season of “Big Brother” this past summer without writing about the show. Part of it is possibly because I, like many other fans, feel a little embarrassed about enjoying the show as much as I do. It really is addictive in that kind of way that makes you hate yourself. Kind of like being a fan of the Washington Redskins or Boston Red Sox.

The other reason I really didn’t feel compelled to write about this 1tth season was because I couldn’t believe how uncompelling the action was for much of the season. Sure, you had Chima’s eviction and lots of fights, but the really interesting stuff ended there. I could not fathom how strong players continually over-played their hands during the season. That left three relative floaters standing in the end – Natalie, Kevin and eventual winner Jordan.

As far as Natalie goes, ugh. If your whole game is built on a lie from the beginning, don’t tell anyone. Because they might sell your ass out like Jessie did. I kind of wish Kevin would win because he kind of embraced his role as a floater and did what he could to make it a strength. He came up just short, which was a shame because he seemed like a good guy.

I didn’t mind Jordan winning. She came up big when it counted and handled her role well enough to stay out of the crossfire even though she was on the block a few times. Some people whined that Jeff gave her the only HoH she won before the final three, but she put herself in position to do that by out-lasting the rest of the group.

My only problem – and it is a petty one – is how a girl who talked so much about how her family needed the money could pay for new boobs before she came in the Big Brother house. But she’s such a sweetie, I’ll overlook that.

I only wonder what could have happened if Ronnie, Jeff or Russell hadn’t just taken their power for granted a little too much. They really could have won enough competitions to keep themselves safe and have a chance at winning. Jeff came the closest, but couldn’t pull off the veto when he needed it the most.

That’s the thing about Big Brother that some people seem to miss. You can have “alliances” as much as you want, but you need timely wins to get yourself to the top. That’s why I think Jordan deserved it most out of all of them – she stepped it up when necessary

Dominating Dan

brian — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 18:29:53 +0000

I felt like a total and utter geek last night. Moreso than usual.

The closer it got to the revelation of who won Big Brother 10, the more nervous I got. I have no idea why. I don’t know any of these people. I had no financial stake in the game. I just really wanted Dan to win, which he did in the first-ever unanimous vote in U.S. Big Brother history.

Part of me thinks I got worked up because, if I ever played the game, I would want things to work out like the did for Dan. I would want to scheme and have fun at the same time. I would want people to still like me even though I kept winning competitions. I would want all the trash talkto roll off my back as everyone else showed they couldn’t control their emotions.

A friend of mine said it earlier this week – Dan may have cemented himself as the best Big Brother contestant ever. The fact that April even voted for him kind of opens up that discussion if you are into overanalyzing reality shows.

I only do this for Big Brother. Something about the sheer regularity of the setting makes it interesting to me. I don’t care abot people stuck in a remote area or traveling across the world, but I can’t get enough of the way sitting around doing bothing can mess with your head.

Except for Dan. hemade sure to use that boredom and tedium to his advantage somehow. He definitely showed people a new way to win the game. How can you not love his post-win interview with Entertainment Weekly also?

I don’t envy the cast of BB11 having to top this season.

Baller Comes Up Big

brian — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 14:33:51 +0000

Don’t you just love the Baller?

If you don’t watch Big Brother, you have no clue what that means. But those of us who waste inordinate amounts of time following the “houseguests” on the CBS reality show hve come to know Adam “Baller” Jasinski over the past 80-some days.

Adam won $500K last night in the Season 9 finale. Who won didn’t matter that much because Adam and Ryan, the other member of the final 2, had talked openly about sharing the cash regardless of who won even though it’s against the rule.

The 6-1 vote for Adam surprised me a little bit, but nothing those jury members do should surprise me. To watch some of those whiners continue to puff themselves cracks me up. Especially Chelsia.

She gets an attitude when she did absolute dick in the game. She calls them cocky, but she’s cocky with no reason to be that way. James carried her, and she was gone pretty much the first time she had to compete on her own.

And Joshua gets pissed at Adam for arguing his position with passion, but of course Baller is getting pissed when they grill him because he won more competitions than any of them except maybe James. Josh also did close to nothing except pick on the women.

Lastly, poor, poor Sheila can’t see that the guys only kept her along for the ride as they got rid of bigger threats. They dismantled the James-Chelsia-Josh alliance, then picked off the people who could have beaten them in the final two. You weren’t final three because you deserved it Sheila. You were there cause they needed to guarantee themselves some cash money.

But that’s Big Brother for you. I did feel good about James winning the viewer vote for favorite jury member. James was kind of like Dick Donato for me – I didn’t completely like everything about him, but he’s a standup guy who didn’t get involved in petty BS. He just picked people who couldn’t win competitions to be his allies.

The Genesis of an Obsession

brian — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 11:10:34 +0000

Big Brother started last night on CBS. I could pretty much stop right there because that can tell the whole story.

I don’t want to have a fascination with this show. I didn’t until last summer. That’s when my friends turned me into a maniac.

I can’t just watch the show three times a week and expect to feel satisfied, bu I’m too cheap to pay for the live feeds. Plus, that would make me feel like a total loser. So I split the difference and visit websites that have updates from people who do watch the live feeds.

Sure, I know a lot of what happens before the show hits the air. Oh, I guess this is where I am supposed to say that that link might have spoilers – who am I kidding, it will have spoilers – but I can’t stand people who get their panties in a wad if they find out what happens on a show or a game because they decided not to watch live so I didn’t really warn anyone.

Even though I know a lot of what happens by the time I get exposed to Julie Chen’s insipid commentary, I also know a lot that never makes it to the show. That makes me feel like I have a better Big Brother experience. Of course, all that is moot right now because I can’t remember these people’s damn names so the text updates keep me flipping back to the CBS page so I can see who is who.

But I will be up to speed in no time. That makes me a total and utter loser, but I’m OK with that.

Future Big Brother Champion

brian — Sun, 12 Aug 2007 22:36:29 +0000

My friends have me so mad at them.

A few weeks ago, the two of them started talking more and more about the TV show, “Big Brother.”

I couldn’t stand it because I knew they might suck me into watching it. I resisted as hard as I could, but then I found myself home alone one night and I landed on CBS as I flipped channels.

I was hooked.

This isn’t the first time I have found myself slightly obsessed with this particular reality show. I remember plopping down on the couch for the first-ever episode in 2000. I had a lot more time on my hands then because Bridget was still a month away from arriving.

I normally don’t get interested in reality shows. The only ones I have ever really watched regularly are ones like “Joe Schmo” and “My Big Fat Obnoxious Fiance” where the joke is on the contestants. I enjoy schadenfreude that way.

Big Brother had a different appeal though. The whole point is to make friendships – I refuse to use the word alliance – and manipulate people’s perceptions so you can avoid the weekly “evictions” and ultimately have the people kicked out think you are worthy of the grand prize.

I like the show because I know I could do it. I pretty much lived that way my entire life. I was born to win “Big Brother.”

People in the house say mean things to each other and make fun of others’ shortcomings to try and gain an upper hand. I had four older brothers. You think I could really be bothered by something a waitress from Topeka would say about me?

Houseguests have to take part in physical and mental challenges in order to win special privileges in the house. I may not be the strongest guy or the smartest guy, but I had to sit at the dinner table with seven siblings. I’m used to finding cunning ways to get what I want.

The ultimate winner has to have that kind of savvy and still have people like them. I still manage to have a good relationship with everyone in my family despite getting the abuse the youngest in a big family gets. I think I can handle a dozen strangers.

My training for the show didn’t end when I left for college; I lived in a fraternity house for three years. That was a piece of cake compared to living at home.

So what if I had 40-some guys under the same roof to try and keep on my side. They didn’t have the dirt on me like my family did.

My college experience helped prepare me for living with pretty much any personal habit. After all, a guy named “Stinky” lived in the house. I can handle anything.

So maybe I’ll try out for the show one of these years and show off my skills. I just hope my friends aren’t also picked to play. They obviously know my weaknesses.