I’ve said before that Big Brother is my trashy romance novel of a reality show (on my TV bookshelf beside the high-tone novel that is TAR and the adventure novel that is Survivor), and this year they’re determined to make that as literal as possible. I’m frankly not sure how I feel about this premise yet…for some reason I’m envisioning a season that plays out like a Grand Guignol Tennessee Williams play…
1st order of business: God, get rid of that whiny cougar! Geezus, lady…you don’t have to literally date the man! Play as a platonic team and get as far as you can. Don’t flame out before the first competition because, face it, there are cameras everywhere…even if you did find your perfect bunkmate you would be so inhibited by the nationwide livefeed audience that you wouldn’t be able to do anything anyway.
2nd order of business: I may be biased a bit, but I really think Neil and Joshua are just the cutest couple ever…
3rd order of business: I’m uncomfortable with, not so much putting two exes (at least one of whom is still a major Bitter Betty about it and one of whom is a borderline stalker/she’ll-be-mine-forever-kidnapper), but in pairing them up. You don’t actually think they came out as a perfect match in eHarmony or whatever, do you? A little CONVENIENT, don’t you think?
4th order of business: Separating the dating couple like that makes me really uncomfortable and reminds me (which isn’t supposed to happen) that I’m watching these shows to enjoy a certain amount of schadenfreude…but with real people’s pain and discomfort. That’s a little too sharp of a reminder for me to really sit down and enjoy this season completely.
4th and a 1/2 order of business: OMG, why does Ryan have to be STRAIGHT!!! He’s the hottest thing in that house, in my eyes… sigh
There are 16 contestants this year. All of them are ostensibly single (there is a secret dating couple, though, and a couple who recently broke up due to him cheating). Through some mysterious eHarmony-type computerized personality test hoodoo, they’ve paired all 16 up into 8 couples. The secret dating couple is separated by this and each is with a different partner in the house. The broken-up cheating couple ended up together (again, how conveeeeeenient…). There is a gay male couple as well.
The couples will compete as a team, win head of household as a team, get nominated and evicted as a team, and sleep as a team in the same bed (or sleeping bag). I have no idea if this is supposed to last all season or what, but if it does, it’s going to be a short season.
I was all set to cheer on the older gal from West Tennessee, but what an ungraceful and unpleasant person she turned out to be! How could she carry on like that right in front of Adam – much less in front of the viewing public! I also felt sorry for him. How awful to be humiliated in that way.
I liked the celebrity stalker. (Gee, I never thought I would write a sentence like that.) Also, Ryan is cool. The bicycle rider with the mohawk is at least memorable.
I agree, but damn, she’s older than anyone else in the house by 16 years. Act like it and be the bigger person. At least pretend like he isn’t the most repulsive person to ever walk the planet.
Agree with everyone about Old Bitch. Behaving like a brat doesn’t really work unless you really are evil. That’s why it worked for Dick, and won’t for her.
Heh…yeah. I said to supervenusfreak after that whole meet-your-housemates sequence that I really hoped the producers had a lot of saltpetre stockpiled. Matt is a major horndog, and cute enough (to someone who isn’t turned off by the sleaze) to cut a swath through that house.
Darn it, I totally forgot that this started last night. Oh, well, I wasn’t home and couldn’t have recorded this, American Idol, and the Biggest Loser all at the same time anyway. Is it going to be a Tuesday, Thursday, Sunday schedule again? And does anybody know if Big Brother After Dark will be returning to Showtime?
Heh… OK, I watched the first episode. I feel the same way about this horrible show as you do… I just quit apologizing for it and enjoy it as the trash that it is.
Sheesh… Ma does indeed sound like they’re actually supposed to be dating or something. Cripes… just team up with the dork and try to win.
And of course I enjoy the evil that is putting the couple in there with different partners, and the exes teamed up together. Of course every twist in this show seems to blow up in their faces and never really works out. I figure by this weekend everyone will know about the exes and the dating couple.
One question though… I’m a little confused… this week’s heads of household get to unilaterally evict a couple? Did I catch that right? Is that a one time thing or are they going to continue doing that?
It’s going to be weird seeing them romp around the backyard in jackets instead of half-naked though. I also hope they get rained on during some of the challenges
Tuesday, Wednesday, Sunday. Live Eviction starts next week and will be on Wednesdays. And yes, BBAD will be on Showtime.
Well, well, well…an all-ShowmanceTM season. Interesting twist, though I have to wonder if somewhere down the line, the couples will be given the opportunity to switch off or even separate and begin playing as individuals. Julie-bot said they will be playing as couples and be evicted as couples, but I don’t recall her mentioning anything about winning as couples.
Seeing as they will be evicted two at a time, this will probably be a short season–possibly even shorter now that the writer’s strike is over. We shall see.
My favorite couples at the outset are Neil/Joshua and Bike Boy/Chelsia. (Sorry, it takes me about a week to get all the names straight) I did like the construction worker and his partner not going for the pillow…but then they dropped out of the HOH competition after Jen and Parker promised them they’d be safe. Yeah, great idea…no one has ever lied about that before! :dubious:
But I think they’ll kick out Adam and Ma. Parker said he’d like to evict Ryan…should be interesting to see how Jen will talk him out of that without giving away her secret. I agree that Jen and Ryan will be outed quickly; I think it’ll be Ryan who slips up.
Most annoying so far: Amanda, Bikini Coffee Girl, Ma, and Construction Boy. OK, dude, we get it–now put it back in your toolbelt and concentrate on the game!
(They really do eff up a search.)