http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24343903/
Saw this article on msnbc.com this morning. It think this guy hits it
on the head
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6 critical changes needed to revive 'Big Brother'
Despite all the drama and bad behavior, show has become unremarkable
COMMENTARY
By Andy Dehnart
MSNBC contributor
updated 11:57 p.m. ET, Sun., April. 27, 2008
"Big Brother 9" concluded Sunday night, and Adam walked away with the
$500,000 prize. Runner-up Ryan received the $50,000. The most
remarkable part about that conclusion was that it's pretty
unremarkable.
Both have said terrible things in the house: Adam generated the most
media attention this season by using a derogatory term for autistic
children, and later used a disparaging term for gay people, while
Ryan's girlfriend accused him of being a racist.
But while all of that is indefensible, it wasn't a non-stop onslaught
of bad behavior, which we've seen nearly every other season. Somehow,
the show has desensitized its viewers to terrible behavior by giving
such extreme examples that the occasionally awful behavior witnessed
this season seemed flat by comparison.
Around 6.5 million people watched the show's first non-summer edition,
far fewer than watched last summer. But it was still a surprising
number considering how boring "Big Brother 9" has been.
Exactly five months passed between the end of the eighth season and
the start of the ninth, a much shorter period of time than the just
under 10 months the show usually has to reset and prepare. Perhaps
that affected the series, which normally is lightweight, forgettable
summer trash TV, but this winter and spring became tiresome and
monotonous.
Now, the show's producers have just two months to prepare for the new
season, and that doesn't bode well at all considering what viewers
just went through.
But these two months offer the perfect opportunity to make some
critical changes to a show that's getting old and has some significant
problems.
Stop casting people who know each other
For the past six seasons =97 every season starting with the fourth =97
there have been cast members in the house who know each other, from
romantic partners to enemies.
The reason for this is obvious: It's an easy twist and guarantees
immediate drama when everyone else finds out about the pre-existing
relationship, or when someone finds out that a person they loathe is
also there.
But it's also grown old and seems lazy now. More significant, when
only a few people in the house know each other, as happened this
season, that gives them both an unfair advantage and a severe
handicap.
This season, the producers not only put pre-existing couples into the
house, but they also forced everyone else to pair up with their
alleged "soul mates." That twist was so lame and misguided that it was
dropped after week three. (The show even changed its name from "Big
Brother: 'Til Death Do You Part" to "Big Brother 9.")
It's time to finally start a season at that point, with everyone on an
even playing field.
Start being fair
Similarly, the show needs to refocus and become a competition rather
than a game of chance.
Some of the show's quizzes have unfair answers, like the final Head of
Household competition that asks the players to answer questions to
which they cannot have the answer, while the challenges often just go
to the luckiest person. The competitions, while frequently elaborate
in terms of construction, sometimes don't seem to have been tested, as
they either don't work well or are just lame.
Sometimes, the unlucky =97 like Jameka, who was disqualified from a
competition last season due to something entirely out of her control =97
suffer due to poor challenge design, and that's unacceptable.
In addition, the producers have been accused of trying to manipulate
the show's outcome not just through editing, but through private
conversations with the houseguests in the Diary Room, where they're
interviewed. Also last summer, the houseguests even discussed those
attempts to sway them before the live feeds were cut.
Some fairness is in order.
Let the live feeds be uncensored
Host Julie Chen constantly pitches the "live, 24/7 Internet feeds,"
which may be live but certainly aren't 24/7. The producers cut the
feeds frequently, whether that's during a competition or when the
houseguests talk about something deemed inappropriate. Protecting the
outcome of challenges may seem like a reasonable goal, but it's pretty
nonsensical considering that the outcome of competitions is almost
always obvious from conversations the houseguests have after the feeds
return.
Give people what they pay for and be as transparent as possible. Show
the competitions, the Diary Room conversations and even the shower
stalls. Whoever produces the live feeds screws up often enough that
audio and/or video is often accidentally broadcast, so why bother
trying to censor it?
The TV show, by its nature, has to be edited and condensed, and the
presence of the live feeds will always make the producers'
storytelling (and manipulation) obvious to those who follow the show.
End the slop-food punishment
Forcing some houseguests to consume "slop" food is a stupid,
unnecessary punishment that does nothing for the show except kill time
while cast members who lost the food competition offer identical
complaints about it every week. Drop it.
Fire the casting directors
CBS has three marquee reality shows: "The Amazing Race," "Survivor"
and "Big Brother." It's no surprise that the two Emmy-nominated shows
are cast by the same person, while someone else casts "Big Brother."
Robyn Kass and her colleagues have cast every season of "Big Brother"
since its second season, and have proven to be talented at gathering
psychopathic extroverts with superiority complexes and not a lot of
intelligence. The exceptions to this rule =97 perennial fan favorites
Kaysar and Janelle from season six =97 prove that better cast members
equal better television.
Perhaps it's possible that the people Kass casts are perfectly
agreeable until they get locked up in the soundstage that serves as
"Big Brother=92s" house. Or maybe she's just directed to get crazy
people. Either way, after nine seasons, it's time to try something
new.
Be creative
For all of its alleged changes and twists, the show remains
frustratingly similar. Unlike "Survivor" =97 a show that really doesn't
deserve being compared to its sibling =97 "Big Brother" doesn't
innovate. The same challenges are recycled, the music never changes,
the open credits are the same and Chen's hosting is beyond robotic in
its repetition.
Some consistency works well and actually improves the show, as
"Survivor's" structure and host Jeff Probst's repetition of certain
phrases prove. But on "Big Brother," it just comes off as cheap and
lazy, and adds to those things that make the show increasingly
unwatchable.
Andy Dehnart is a writer who publishes reality blurred, a daily digest
of reality TV news and analysis.
=A9 2008 MSNBC Interactive
URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24343903/
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