How Producers Get Action on Big Brother

The secret is out, but anyone who knows anything about alcohol or nicotine addiction will have spotted it, the way to get action on Big Brother is to interfere with the supply of the contestants drugs. The best method is to withdraw tobacco. Anyone who saw Shabby’s breakdown (supposedly about her Granddad’s hat) will have been watching a nicotine withdrawal live on TV.

Tobacco Industry Involvement

We have nothing concrete on how involved in the Big Brother banning (we mean withdrawal) from future TV shows the tobacco industry was but it does stand to reason that there was some. The realisation of what was going on to make entertainment for the public was involuntary cold turkey would be too much for tobacco company PR companies to cope with. 

This is What Tobacco Does to You

Tobacco is a pernicious addiction. It does virtually nothing for its taker apart from give them smelly breath, make their environment dirty and lead to slow killing illnesses – factors not understood by children. Tobacco’s greatest effects can only be seen when an addict experiences withdrawal. Children can see the harm that tobacco does when they witness outbursts of anger and depression most recently illustrated by the Shabby “hat incident”. They can see that Shabby can only be reasonable when she has her drug but without it she becomes someone who need to go to anger management classes. If children were to understand this then many less would not become addicted to tobacco in the future – that is why Big Brother has been withdrawn. That is also why the next version of Big Brother will contain no tobacco addicted contestants.

Image via Wikipedia Will Big Brother continue in countries outside the UK? We’ll have to wait and see…

When Big Brother 1 first started, the idea of the eye logo was a bit unclear. TV stings promoting it and other adverts popularised it with the eye. The second eye was later revealed to be that of housemate Melanie Hill but the logo above is used popularly too. Even though this idea was a bit unclear, Big Brother had only just started out and the producers were apprehensive as to how the audience would receive it.

Big Brother 2 – 2001

Come series 2, both Big Brother and the eye were a lot more established and recognised and this time, a hypnotic striped eye shone in the spotlight. It was series 2 that set the eye it’s iconic role in the grand scheme of things. This was also the first time, Big Brother adopted a graphic logo instead of a housemate’s eye.

Big Brother 3 – 2002

Big Brother 3 set out another miasmic logo with contrasting primary colours. Graphic designer Daniel Eatock enhanced the eye from the last series. This almost ‘bullseye’ dart board contrast effect became a running theme with a ‘rich and poor’ divide taking over series 3. And guess who shot to fame with this series? Jade Goody!

Big Brother 4 – 2003

Eatock returned again to create another shocking contrast of black and rainbow stripes. Despite this uber-colourful image that Big Brother 4 promoted through its logo, series 4 wasn’t the most popular of all series as it was deemed ‘boring’ and the housemates were ‘boring’. There’s no pleasing some people!

Big Brother 5 -2004

After a slightly non-colourful previous series, Big Brother 5 now adopted a new persona – ‘Big Brother turns evil’. And it did! After the poor reception of the previous series this simpler black and white spikey design saw Big Brother put a varied group of housemates in with the tasks making living conditions brutal for the housemates. This simpler design sparked a more evil Big Brother into the public eye.

Big Brother 6 – 2005

Big Brother didn’t pause its evil image just there. With the arrival of the sixth series, the 2 eyes in 1 logo started off more rumours about 2 houses, although, this was never adopted by Big Brother. This series was slightly more tantalising than the previous one with Big Brother fuelling it’s evil stance with a Secret Garden where 3 new housemates had to live Adam and Eve style. Uh, oh!

Big Brother 7 – 2006

Big Brother 7 was one of the most popular series and probably the most interesting. With the idea of another house taken and modified, a new ‘House Next Door’ came into existence. The swirly black and yellow (almost warning signs-esque) creation most definitely warned the public of an evil Big Brother and this series was popular for the argument packed, twisted and controversial image the audience experience. Big Brother even added more slightly sinister and ominous signs like ‘You are being observed’ in the title sequence, evoking a very George Orwell 1984 feel.

Big Brother 8 – 2007

Probably the most colourful eye of all series, it was the least popular of all series with the lowest viewing figures. However, it catapulted some people to TV fame like the twins Samanda and Brian Belo, the winner. The inspiration for this rainbow design was meant to be a RGB rainbow test card. Stripes and circles, this logo had it all.

Big Brother 9 – 2008

This time, the logo of Big Brother 9 took a radical turn from the nicey nice colours from the previous series. A shattered glass effect and one single red shard in the eye was simply ominous of what this series had in store. And true to the word, the theme of ‘zero tolerance’ was activated with Big Brother asking two of the housemates to leave for inappropriate behaviour. Warnings were issued out to two more housemates for bullying behaviour – a slightly more dark side to this series. No dearth of controversy here then.

Big Brother 10 – 2009

Reflective of thumb prints, this series of Big Brother was one of the most culturally diverse series. The idea of the thumb print really played into this after a brave decision by Big Brother to get as many different people from different walks of life as possible. However, after promising a lot of twists and an exciting series marking Big Brother’s 10th year, a possible announcement that Big Brother might end was speculated and after a while, it was announced that 2010 would be the last series on Channel 4.

Celebrity Big Brother 1 – 2001

Back when Big Brother was still a baby, the idea of a celebrity version sprung into interest. Surprisingly, this new logo featured the red nose from Comic Relief and therefore, BBC worked in collaboration with Channel 4 to put celebrities into the Big Brother house for Comic Relief. Vanessa Feltz was probably the most recognised celeb to come out of the house, after displaying madness inside.

Celebrity Big Brother 2 – 2002

The second installment of the celebrity version again ran on the idea of celebrities doing it for charity (part of the money from the phone votes was donated to various charities) but the special feature of this logo was incorporating the logo from the non-celebrity version and adding a star in the middle. This star then featured over the next few series of the celebrity versions making Big Brother more established.

Celebrity Big Brother 3 – 2005

After deserting the screens for 3 years, Big Brother returned back with its celebrity version, this time with proceeds going to the earthquake and the tsunami of 2004. Again, with a star, this logo was the same as the non-celebrity series, showing that both versions were as evil as each other and that there would be no special treatment for the prissy celebs.

Celebrity Big Brother 4 – 2006

Same works again for the celebrity Big Brother logo for 2006, but this was one of the more interesting celebrity versions with controversy starting from everywhere. The biggest highlight of this series was the addition of a non celebrity, Chantelle to a celebrity house with her task to convince the celebs that she was a member of a girl band. And the celebs actually believed it!

Celebrity Big Brother 5 -2007

This series was the most watched celebrity version and the most controversial. A similar pattern for the logo as the previous series, this series saw the return of Jade Goody to the screen and what really added the spice to this series was Shilpa Shetty facing racist remarks by the trio of Jade, Jo O’Meara and Danielle Lloyd. With a record number of complaints made to Ofcom, the girls have buried the hatchet but this was by far the most shocking series in the celebrity version.

Celebrity Big Brother 6 – 2009

Same image again for this logo but this series returned after a year’s break from the previous controversial series. This series however, wasn’t as popular as the previous one despite the tears and tantrums in the house by the housemates, particularly between Michelle Heaton and Coolio. This celebrity house saw many diverse characters including, the lovable Verne.

Celebrity Big Brother 7 – 2010

Fire all around as for the first time since it’s launch, Big Brother introduced the celebrity version with a very realistic fire filled eye with the theme – ‘Hell lies in others’. This was the first time the eye wasn’t based on the non-celebrity logo and also a non graphic eye being used in combination with graphics. The house saw celebrities work on hellish themes throughout with a very religious Stephen Baldwin added to the mix. The final celebrity piece of Big Brother ended this year.

So that was Big Brother through the years and this summer we shall bid good-bye to it with the final series this summer in 2010. Hopefully another channel will take this undeniably iconic show up.

Well……. we get at least another week of seeing Russells feet!  I don’t know about you but I have never seen so much of one persons feet than I have of Russells.  I am not even interested in feet but he is always barefoot!  I am glad however, that Jeff used his Wizard powers to save him, but more importantly put Jesse up against Natalie!  OMG it was great!  Russell is playing the whole house and I am not a big Russell fan, but Jeff, Jordan and hopefully Michelle (if she is on their side) need him.  The girls (Chima, Lydia and Natalie) don’t want him that’s for sure.  Hopefully he is finished keeping his word to other people, so he can be completely loyal to the J’s (Jeff & Jordan).  I can’t believe he voted for Jesse last night. 

Chima

Did you hear Jeff say, well I kept my word?  Chima about hit the ceiling, saying “oh yeah? he must have known you had the power, I guess me and the producers are going to have to have a little chat!!”?  Chima does believe that her opinion is gold.  She predicted Jeff would save Russell and she said she would show Jeff aside of her that no one has seen yet if he did!  Well, we are waiting Chima, lets see what you got! If Russell is smart he will back off of everyone and let the girls be pissed at Jeff for a change.  Even though I love Jeff and want him to stay and WIN !!!  Just like Jesse said it was the smartest move he could have made, but was Jesse even thinking about Chima’s rath?  I am not sure…. I wonder if she will make a loud explosion over it or if she will sneak up quietly behind Jeff and screw him over?  Who knows.  Either way I am sure Chima will not be NICE about it.

Jeff

This guy is not only a cutie pie but he has guts.  I hope he really does have Michelle on his side because if not and the veto competition doesn’t go in his favor he could be in real trouble.  He may be booted or he may see his sweety hit the road.  All week I could see Jeff contemplate his decision.  He would just sit there staring into space.  No wonder everyone knew that it was him with the Mystery Power.  Decisions, Decisions, Decisions.

Jordan

Her mouth really did almost hit the floor when Jeff stood up to use his Power!  I think she thought Jesse had it.  I think she was really scared.  But even through her drooping mouth I could see her smile .  She was really really happy.

Natalie

Along with Jesse, Natalie did not seem very surprised.  In their hearts they knew it was coming, and Natalie, just like me knew that Chima did enough campaigning this week for a girl to win that Jesse didn’t have a chance. 

I really hope that Chima goes home next week that would be ideal for the J.J’s.  They won’t have a chance of getting Lydia on their side with Chima in the house.  So…. Chima against Natalie would make me happy.  What do you think?  Who should be nominated and who should go home?

Jeff and Jordon Fan

This year I believe that I am a Jeff and Jordon fan.  However, I just watched all of the “you ask they tell” videos on the CBS website and it seems that either Jeff, Jordon or both of them may be faking their showmance.  This saddens me deeply.  During there interviews both said they would fake a showmance to further them in the game.  Jeff actually said he was hoping for a showmance.  Jordon said no booger (sex) on TV.  I hope that they stay a couple even after the show. They are both so cute and so sweet.  Is Jordon faking dumb?  I don’t think Jordon is dumb fake for real.  I just think she is innocent and really says what she thinks maybe before she thinks what others will think of her.3

Jeff’s Coup de’eTat

Jeff has the Coup de’ eTat.  I believe he is going to rock the house on Thursday by putting up Jesse and Natalie.  I think the house will vote out Jesse.  I think this because Chima has the girls convienced that a girl should win it, and I am pretty sure no one will get a chance to talk before the vote.  OMG I cannot wait to see the look on Jesse’s face.  He already knows its coming (or he thinks he does) but it will still be super sweet to see his face when the reality of it hits.

Is Russell a Terrorist?

Chima calls Russell a terrorist.  Well, I do believe that Russell terrorizes the people in the house when he is pissed, but to call him a terrorist?  America is not down with terrorists because they terrorize (kill) innocent people!  We all know that the people in the big brother house with Russell are not innocent people and Russell is not Killing them anyway.  Russell has a couple of sisters and if he is anything like my brother he terrorizes them for fun and now it is built into his personality.  I am not sure exactly how I feel about Russell just yet but I do not think that Chima should be calling him a terrorist.

I would like to write a little about my feelings on the big brother week every week.  Please leave your comments and I will respond.  Watch for next weeks ariticle where I answer your questions and tell you more about my thoughts.

Does anyone know how I can rent/buy Big Brother seasons that have already aired?

Image via Wikipedia

Last Friday Hira was evicted, when all housemates were put up for eviction. It seemed She was hated by the public when she first entered the house as her being married to her cousin caused a vast amount of contreversy. I personally was not offended by her decision to marry her cousin but generally the UK are against incest disputer her culture and background. But mainly I think she didn’t bring anything to the house and didn’t have a strong character.

She seemed a very happy and hyper person although I think that is just a result of her personality. Both Freddie and Marcus said this was down to a game plan. I think most housemates have a game plan as at the end of the day they are competing for £100,000 and becoming likable to the public in hope of becoming a loved celeb. Hira expressed little personailty and hardly expressed opinion and never said anything that could result in dislike from her other housemates so in that sense I think she was slightly fake.

The voting system to save the housemate instead evicting them I think for another reason for Hira’s eviction. Te most hated character, I believe is Lisa but her supporters would tried hard hard to save her but nobody was that bothered about Hira if it was voting to evict I think Lisa would be out.

Hira wasn’t much of a loss to house or the entertainment of the show but I believe the next eviction will have a bigger impact. But only time will tell.

Reasons To Watch:

More Deception Than a Shakespearean Comedy

A few years ago, my sister mentioned that she started watching Big Brother 6 and I made fun of her for it. Admittedly now, I secretly started watching it to see what she meant and then became hooked. What could be more fun than watching other people be lied to and backstabbed? (It’s free therapy when similar things are happening to you.) Now it’s fun to follow who will be the next to break a promise based on emotional game play. So far this season we know that Dan and Keesha are very adamant about keeping their word. This should get more complicated later in the game if Keesha’s still around since she has promised both Renny and Libra immunity from casting her vote against them. How will this work if they’re the final three; Keesha will have to break her word. I’m not sure if anyone has broken their word to anyone else or not, but Jerry told Dan that Memphis was a womanizer and Dan must have told because Memphis then confronted him. (Of course something could have been missed that was edited out; I don’t watch the 24 hour feed.) So I’m thinking that while Dan keeps his word, players may not want to trust him with their opinions.

Showmances

So any of you out there who are hooked know what I’m talking about when I wonder about this upcoming season. Will there be any real showmances? Ollie and April are supposedly a couple according to “Coach” Dan’s “Living on the Edge” Head of Household competition motivational speech. If Ollie and April are really a couple, where’s the showmance? I see April with Libra and others more than with Ollie. There’s almost more action with Michelle and Jessie whose alliance (and thus budding romance) isn’t going to be around much longer unless power plays change the current house dynamics. In just a few short weeks Jessie seems to me to be falling more for Michelle though he claims he doesn’t want a showmance.

Twists Like America’s Player

Last season’s “Eric” as America’s Player did a phenomenal job of being smooth and not raising suspicion while pulling off outlandish plays. Did America vote for Dan just to watch his overly obvious approach give him away? He seems to be the only one not in one of the big alliances, so America’s intent may have been to get someone to stir trouble and thus change the face of the game for the big alliance (Ollie, April, Libra, Keesha with Renny and Jerry going along voting lines last week). Will Dan learn to become smoother as the tasks get more difficult or will his role as America’s Player lead to his early exit? I can’t see Dan getting away with hugging anyone for 10 seconds without arousing even more suspicion.

What other twists and turns will occur this season? Will twins switch in and out again like a few years back? (Remember, April is a twin.) Will “Evil Dick” or “Janelle” be back to grace their old hangout? We’ve already seen aliens, but that didn’t phase them much. And what fun is it for things to come up missing when there’s no “Natalie” to overanalyze the significance of it all.

Julie Chen

Not only is it fun to watch the players interact with each other, but Julie Chen also grills them in the nicest way. She’s always smiling and kind as she stirs the pot to get every viewpoint on any controversy.

Unpredictable Twists in Power Dynamics

One surprise for this week was that 54 year old Renny was able to last so long during the Living on the Edge Head of Household competition. With Renny, Jerry and Dan under the radar right now and Keesha teetering in her loyalty, will the April-Libra-Ollie alliance be fighting to stay in the house next week? Only time will tell.

Watching the gameshow reminds me of how temporary and unreal power is. Those who have it tend to be targets because of it. It’s too early to tell whether the schemers or the sheep will come out on top this year.

I’m not watching it anymore. I haven’t seen it since series three when I became disillusioned with the whole sorry spectacle. I’m not alone in this it seems, the viewing figures for the first night this year were the lowest they’ve ever been. That’s also taking into account the new +1 digital channel that lets you watch programmes you might have missed. It appears that even drunk people stumbling back from the pub at closing time can’t be bothered to watch it – and they’ll watch practically anything. Even “Hollyoaks In The City” apparently.

How different it is when compared to the first series in 2000. Everybody was utterly devoted to it, you watched it and felt like you were present at something important, a happening, a cultural event. When Nasty Nick was finally exposed for the pantomime villain that he was, it made the national news at lunchtime. In offices all over the country, people were logging on to try and see events as they happened. It sucked everyone in, took us all by surprise.

For the original housemates too I’d imagine. When they went in they had absolutely no way of knowing if the show would be a success or not. There were only a few hundred applicants back then and the ones who were chosen seemed like real people; people we could identify with; people like us. The show had the feel of a social experiment. The housemates were in a strange, unnatural environment trying to make the best of things in their own way and we cared about them.

The problem is, the people who apply nowadays all know how popular the show is/was. Therefore you get a bunch of fame hungry attention junkies who all have a whole-hearted belief that they’ve got innate “star quality”. It’s as clichéd and obvious as a Hollywood action movie. I’ve not seen who’s in it this year but I’m guessing that there’ll be a “wacky” one; a moody one; at least one with a tragic history who’s got something to prove; someone with a disability and several beautiful people of different sexualities that the producers hope will have sex because it’s good for the ratings. I suspect they’ll also be a gimmick of some kind. I saw Australia’s version a few years ago and they put an identical twin into the house. Halfway through, they swapped him with his brother just to see if anyone would notice. It’s becoming a little desperate.

Each series has to be more shocking than the previous year. Consequently, the characters in the house are increasingly extreme and unrealistic. They’re no longer people that you can identify with, they’re more like exhibits at a Victorian freakshow. Next year, I fully expect them to put in a bearded lady and a man with three arses.

The social experimentation element that the series used to cling to in order to justify torturing the inmates has completely evaporated. It doesn’t teach us anything about human nature and it certainly doesn’t mirror society in a concentrated and strictly controlled environment. At least, I hope not.

Last year’s winner famously didn’t know who Shakespeare was. I found this deeply disturbing – mainly because of how this fact was trumpeted and laughed about. It was held up as an example of his quirky, funny personality rather than a sad, shameful reflection on his upbringing. When did ignorance become something funny? When did lack of intelligence become something to be celebrated? Is this a person who people should aspire to now – it seems so, he was given a huge cheque and a disproportionate amount of column inches in the tabloids. If a man can go through the education system and reach the age of twenty without knowing who Shakespeare was and be rewarded for it, then there’s little hope for the future.

Now, Big Brother is merely entertainment – a squalid, voyeuristic kind of entertainment that leaves you with an unpleasant aftertaste and vague feelings of melancholy.

As the programme hits rock bottom and begins digging, the most logical gimmick for the producers to try next would be to execute whoever gets voted out. It needn’t be barbaric or uncivilised, you wouldn’t have to publicly hang them or anything – although that would probably be quite a crowd pleaser judging by the haze of bloodlust in the eyes of the hoards that gather on eviction night. Instead, it could be tastefully done. In the diary room, for example. A curtain could be slowly drawn across the camera lens and then there’d just be the sound of a single gunshot. Afterwards, they might even play some Coldplay over a slow motion montage showing the departed housemate’s best clips. It could be quite poignant.

Or, to make the programme even more dramatic, they could to strip it down to it’s most basic elements. No plush furniture, no bathroom, no beds, no food or alcohol, just a cold, damp basement. Ten people in one room with nothing in it apart from a table in the centre of the floor. On the table, a rifle. Then, as each housemate enters, they’re given one bullet to do with as they choose. At least that would be truer to the Orwellian theme of the title.

I’m joking of course. This is back to being just simple entertainment again, it wouldn’t benefit society in any way.

I have an alternative idea.

Over-population is a major problem. The growing number of people is stretching the earth’s resources to the limit. Food, fuel, space and money are becoming scarcer and something needs to be done if we want to maintain our current standard of living. The solution they came up with in China was to limit the number of children each family are allowed to produce. However, this seems a little random. The potential for another Einstein or Newton coming along – someone who could make the world a better place – is greatly reduced. We could just as easily end up with a reduced population of vacant, monosyllabic hoodies and they seem to be in plentiful supply wherever you go. The gene pool is getting clogged with mulch and it needs a filtering mechanism.

Therefore, surely the obvious solution would be to sterilise everyone who applies to appear on Big Brother. It wouldn’t have to be particularly sinister or underhand, it’s a painless procedure, they could just make it an extra condition on the application form. Anyone stupid enough to sacrifice something as important as their ability to reproduce for a desperate grab at fifteen minutes of fame, isn’t the kind of person we’re looking for to further mankind’s progress. Their family tree should be nipped in the bud before it has a chance to block the sunlight from reaching the flowers.

Everyone would benefit. There’d still be plenty of contestants and they’d still get their fame, the show itself would get a big publicity boost, and the rest of us would get a slightly brighter, more hopeful future. We could all sleep a little more soundly knowing that our gift to future generations is a world with a few less idiots in it.

Hopefully, It might also go some way to alleviate the shame that I think we all feel at being part of a society that is capable of making a star out of Jade Goody.