There’s a lot of talk going on that Big Brother will be axed after its’ eleventh series next year. Is there any chance it could survive?
Regular readers may be surprised to learn that — despite my rants — I am very much a huge fan of Big Brother as a format. (I must be — who’d have the patience to work on a website like this if they hated it?)
When the producers get things right, it makes for great viewing. But sadly, in the most recent series, twist after twist has been repeated, and a number of pointless silly gimmicks have been used — and the show is worse because of it.
Examples include Big Brother 8’s all-female launch twist. I hope the person behind that idea was fired, because it was truly the worst and most pointless twist in Big Brother history.
BB8 also saw a new take on BB6’s prize fund twist and a piss-poor rehash of BB7’s brilliant House Next Door. Credit where credit is due though, I thought Fake Week was a brilliant idea, but maybe not so brilliantly executed. (Quick side note: Rebecca De Young, BB8’s executive producer, went on to produce CelebAir. Hopefully she’ll never have a job at BB again.)
BB9’s central twist was a house divide (as seen in BB3), with the addition of a Head of House. The Zero Tolerance theme, which resulted in rule-breakers being locked in a jail, was good idea on paper — but it was tiny and it didn’t have a toilet, meaning detainees were let out every so often for breaks, therefore ruining the concept.
CBB6 fell in to BB4/BB8 territory in terms of boredom. The only twist was over by Day 5, there was few good tasks, and, well, nothing else. But the biggest disappointment for me was the jail: they made it bigger and added a bench, a heater, and toilet access, only to use it once, and for a task rather than a punishment.
So, it’s fair to say that recent twists and ideas have been a mixed bag: some were good, some could have been executed better, and some were mediocre at best.
Having said all of that, I’m sure that if Big Brother bosses really put their mind to it and came up with new ideas for the show, it could last beyond BB11 — but they’d have to really work on revamping it. Viewers don’t want to see the same things happen over and over again.
The only problem is that Channel 4 and/or Endemol seemingly aren’t willing to give Big Brother a revamp at the moment, where as other shows’ producers are more open to making the changes they believe are necessary to freshen up their formats, even if they fail.
For instance, ITV’s Britain’s Got Talent, an already very popular show, was given a slight refresh in the form of the addition of Kelly Brook as a fourth judge earlier this year. The decision was later taken that it worked better with three judges and she was dropped — but nevertheless, it was proof that the BGT producers were willing to try new things.
The last overhaul Big Brother recieved was for BB5 (which is regarded by fans as one of the best series ever).
I’d love to see major changes put in place and new ideas used, but at the moment I’m not sure this year’s series will be any different to BB8 or 9.
I sincerely hope they prove me wrong, because, whilst I’m still a fan of the basic format and would love it to regain some popularity, it probably won’t if it continues as it is.
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