There are certain aspects of Big Brother that I like better than other reality shows, like Survivor. For one thing, it stays true to its social experiment theme. There’s no attempt to obfuscate things with pirate ships or desert islands. It really is all about how well you can get along with and manipulate others while positioning yourself for every advantage. I like the fact that the rules can and do change frequently. Season 1 is practically a completely different show from Season 8. I like the twists, some of which really do have an enormous effect — like the season of the twins. And I like the turns, how the house dynamic can suddenly change on a dime and yesterday’s cool breeze is today’s stinky fart. The houseguests aren’t tortured or made to survive (even the slop is nutritious, unlike Survivor’s plain rice), they’re just isolated so that they have to deal with one another. It’s so openly constructed that a wide variety of strategies can succeed. I advise hanging in there for the season. You’ll see a lot in retrospect that you don’t see right now.
Jen is just getting stranger and stranger. I watched some of Big Brother After Dark when I was home on my lunch break and read some of the transcripts this morning and …
Apparently Jen told Joe that Nick tried to kiss her the first day they were there and she wouldn’t let him. Joe told Nick, who denied it, and the two of them confronted Jen about it. She denied that she’d said it. (Kind of stupid when there are cameras all around, Jen.) Dick also reported to Nick that Jen was going around telling everyone that the only reason Nick is with Daniele (it appears there might be a budding showmance there) is because she (Jen) turned him down.
Strange.
Didn’t viewers vote houseguests out in season 1?
Yes. And it was the most boring goddam thing ever on television because they voted out all the characters first.
Wow, “America’s Player” is a joke. We don’t get to choose what he does at all. The producers decided he should make up some sob story, and all we get to choose is who he tells it to. That’s dumb. How about let us pick between some bizarre stories and let HIM decide who to tell it to. Or a choice between telling a sob story and two other actions.
He’s also obnoxious, and completely uninteresting.
And what’s with that eyebrow thing? He looks surprised, frightened, incredulous and stupid all at once. I hope he gets ejected soon.
Forgot to comment on this yesterday. This is absolutely true if you’re just watching on Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday. Not only is it hard to see their personalities early on, you have to deal with how the producers package it for us. I definitely wouldn’t have made my list of who I like/don’t like if that’s all I had to go by. But if you’re keeping up with the live feeds/Big Brother After Dark, it’s a whole different story. That’s where the good stuff is, IMO.
Also (and this isn’t directed toward you at all, jayjay), I don’t think I (or any of the other fans here) should have to justify my viewing choices or explain the draw to those who come in here to proclaim “this show sucks.” I like the show, isn’t that enough?
There aren’t enough me-toos. What’s more, he made it plain, as they were lounging in the hot tub, that he lied to the producers. They were looking for someone to represent all that’s best about America, and so he presented himself to them as the All-American boy. It was later that they learned he had pierced nipples, cussed like a sailor, and was a brainless passive-aggressive chatter-box without a redeemable bone in his whole body.
Do many of you watch the live feeds? I can’t bring myself to subscribe. I did one year and it seemed like every time I turned them on, I got a screencap of the front of the house.
I don’t watch the live feeds, but when the season gets underway, I usually read the live feed recaps on Survivor Sucks. They’re people who do nothing all day long but transcribe the best parts of the live feeds. God bless 'em.
I’m another one who doesn’t subscribe to the live feeds but reads the live feed recaps. Fans of Reality TV is where I read them. There are any number of sites with kind-hearted folks who do recaps for us non-subscribers. I have been watching Big Brother After Dark from Showtime and I love it. Check it out if you get Showtime, 8675309.
I don’t get Showtime and I missed tonight’s episode! I took the kids to see Ratatouille.
Here is what happened on last night’s show (at least the really important or interesting stuff):
Danielle won the veto and decided not to use it. Jen lied in front of three or four people and said that Nick tried to kiss her the first day in the house but she denied him. He then heard about it from Joe and called her out in front of everyone. She later apologized to him in private for lying and basically said she was jealous because he was spending so much time with Danielle. Oh, and Eric completed his first America challenge by telling a made-up traumatic story to Kail. I’m not sure I agree with his choice of story unless there is some truth mixed in there because he talked about “a girl he dated for two years” and that’s just the type of lie to bite you in the ass when you make an off-handed comment like “I didn’t date much in high school” or “I didn’t have a serious relationship until I was 21” or something like that.
A little rambling, but it gets the job done.
Wow, they show interviews with Jessica way too much. I hate how her whole body moves when she talks. I still don’t understand why she hates Carol so much. Carol definitely seems like the better person in whatever feud they had.
They need to change the veto idea somehow. Nobody ever uses it to save someone else anymore, so it’s lost all its drama unless one of the nominees wins it. I was looking forward to a back door eviction of Jen.
It bothered me how Amber kept looking for help from God. Regardless of my feelings on religion, it seems like a pretty shallow request, and it gave me the impression that she never takes any responsibility for her own life. It won’t matter if she wins the money or not, she can still be a good parent.
Amber really bugged me too. She’s officially on my “can’t stand” list right up there with Jen. Is she really stupid enough to think that God wants her to win Big Brother 8? People like that really annoy me. I told my husband I was going to start praying for Amber to get voted out so she can go home to her daughter.
I think the producers are editing Eric to make us like him. The story bit with Kail was great on last night’s show, but from what I had read on the live feed recaps, it wasn’t nearly so entertaining when it really happened. Basically Kail got bored about halfway through and spaced out while Eric rambled on and on (as he tends to do). Most people who are watching the live feeds don’t like Eric at all and I definitely think he’s got the benefit of being edited well because they want us to like “America’s Player.”
Well, it’s not working on me. I disliked the guy from the first comments he made, and nothing he has said or done since then has affected the way he comes across: a creep.
Ok, I watched again. I might even get in the habit.
The Joe guy (I think, the non-enemy of the gay couple), he is such a jerk. I don’t understand why the rest of the house is not desperate to get rid of him. It was fun that he ran to tell Nick about Jen, but c’mon guys. You know that he who brings to you, also takes to others. It won’t be long until he starts serially biting other people. Get rid of that before it bites you.
Yeah, if Joe keeps it up he won’t last long. Other than Jen he probably annoys the other houseguests the most. On the other hand, sometimes players like that get kept around just for the fact that, in the end, if it’s the jury’s choice between you and him, you might have a better chance of winning. You don’t take well-liked people with you to the final two, because you will lose.
I’m moderately pleased that my responses to the polls at Big Brother 8 Wiki Polls were within the mainstream of the way others seem to see this season and past seasons. I was way off the mark in only a few.
At the risk of jumping the gun before enough has been revealed about this season’s players, I have bunched the players into these groups:
-
Dump ASAP
Jen
Joe
Jessica
Eric -
Keep as long as possible
Nick
Jameka
Kail -
Don’t much care
the rest of them
I hope “America’s Player” gets the boot really soon, just to show the producers how stupid the idea is. Besides, if there needs to be an “America’s Player” then it ought to be up to America who that player is. Eric would be near the bottom of the stack in my choices. It’s almost like picking OJ Simpson as America’s favorite Heisman winner.