Big Brother 2008

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[leechbabe]

I was a big fan of BB for the first few years but lost interest after about 2004.

Here's hoping for good things in 2008, although with Vile and Jackie-Ho hosting I'm not all that hopeful.

Edited to add some linky's

http://www.behindbigbrother.com/

http://www.bigbrother.com.au/

[Snoskred]

I might have to set up the set top box for this.. the other half won't like it much tho!   

[Mistress B]

Here's hoping for good things in 2008, although with Vile and Jackie-Ho hosting I'm not all that hopeful.

hehehehe

[Anonymum]

I love BB ordinarily, but can't stomach either of the new hosts, so it's gonna be painful this year!
That and the moron party boy being an intruder will make it such "fun"
 

[Gemisht]

I. Can't. Stand. Either. Of. Them.

They are co-hosts for breakfast radio in Sydney on 2DayFM and I can't listen to it lest my breakfast re-visits me 

[Mistress B]

I must be getting old or something cos I just can't for the life of me figure out how the w*ckfit party boy visiting is a plus for the show

Usually I'm looking forward to BB, this year it's just sad. 

[Gemisht]

Maybe it just speaks volumes about the age bracket of those that they are trying to attract as their audience.

And the rest of us can just go and get lost. Or watch something far better, won't be hard to find something I'm sure.

[Kin]

I usually watch the last bit of the eviction show each week (waiting for the next show to start - I remember one finale went 1 hour and a half past its scheduled finish time, what a joke!) so I know who's in and out. In the past it has helped me when I've had to converse with the general public, but hopefully this year I can wean myself off Rove and not have to sit throug the evictions. I should be watching Brothers and Sisters anyway.

[Anonymum]

The tosser will appeal to the teeny boppers because they see him as some type of freaking hero! It's a sad reflection on our society when someone like that can get more publicity than murders and rapes don't you think?
It's all about the ratings, nothing else. And Australia is the only one where you have to pay to vote too.
 

[Kin]

Oh don't get me started on rapes. I've been having little rants lately, the latest one over a suspended sentence to a convicted rapist, while a P-plater gets a minimum of 3 months jail for speeding (granted he was doing 255km/hr but still).

[Mr V]

All discussion on this topic is completely banned from the classroom. Any kid who tries to start any sort of discussion with me on this gets publicly laughed at and ridiculed and told 'I thought you were more intelligent than that' or words to that effect.

I'm... somewhat against the whole disgrace of a program, if it's not too clear.

[Anonymum]

Mr V, can I ask why? All the hype and BS aside, surely the basic experiment makes for an interesting discussion on the dynamics of a situation such as this?

[goatlady]

I'm with Mr V. The reality of reality tv is that the only people who want to be on it are exhibitionists. And paying attention to exhibitionists only makes them more annoying

The only reality tv I can tolerate is stuff where real skill is involved... like The Apprentice was mildly interesting although Trump is annoying, and I do have a soft spot for Gordon Ramsey lately, which is why we've been getting into Kitchen Nightmares.

[therinofandor]

surely the basic experiment makes for an interesting discussion on the dynamics of a situation such as this?

I'm with you. I'm a teacher-librarian. I certainly don't discuss BB with the kids, but I do watch it myself. It would be quite valid to discuss the show with high school kids, though. The year with the twin Logans was fascinating! Cruel, but fascinating.

I also get a regular laugh out of Mike Goldman's "BB Up Late" nightly show - he's a funny guy, esp. when the housemates are all in bed much earlier than expected and he has to 'fill"!

I'll miss Gretel. She was usually very good at thinking on her feet.

[John Lampard]

Any kid who tries to start any sort of discussion with me on this gets publicly laughed at and ridiculed and told 'I thought you were more intelligent than that' or words to that effect.

Pleased to hear it. What's the line from the old Talking Heads song... "as we get older we stop making sense". Kids are smarter than we give them credit for

[Trekalong]

I will enjoy BigBrother AGAIN this year (much to the shegrain of my family).  Initially I just watched the daily shows, then became a little more adventurous with the Uplate shows and found Mike generally entertaining, though I didn't like all the interruptions with the phone-in competitions.  So all that is behind us and we are in for some HouseMates sitting on the couch and having some friendly chats ....   I DON'T THINK SO.

It was interesting how existing users couldn't sign up to to pay for the $33 VIP Streaming pass due to a bug in their profile (me too).  You needed to go to the Ten website as that had the required profile updates (birthdate) needed to log in.  But they didn't tell anyone, till a guy (Bellvue) and I explained the problem in the Forums and finally a thread was placed in the Forum, but 5 days after the BigBrother website was up and running.  THe Forum still has some bad bugs like not allowing text colour changes.

And I do think it was time for Gretel to move onto her other projects (so the official word says) and Kyle and Jacky-O should make a good host.  But I have n't heard their radioshow, so I havn't experienced how silly or one-tracked they might be.

[Mistress B]

I don't think it's so much that they are silly............. more that they are overbearingly obnoxious!

Where's that you-tube clip of Megs where Vile made Jackie throw up? That pretty much explains it lol

[Mr V]

I just feel it's inappropriate, voyeuristic television that aims for the lowest common denominator and generally hand picks their 'random group of Australians' too selectively to get the most obnoxious group of people they can find who they KNOW will rub each other the wrong way. I don't think kids should be coming back the next morning talking about the stuff they see on that program. It's unnecessary, and social experiment or not, I believe we deserve better television than Channel 10 regularly puts out.

Maybe I should also point out that it's always the eight and nine year old girls who seem to want to talk about it all the bloody time. The boys have never seemed to have taken an interest in it, but the stories I've heard the girls come back talking about after watching an episode the night before (not the up late one) shouldn't be coming from the mouth of a nine year old. If they came home from school telling stories like that from what they'd heard in the grade then those same parents would be knocking down my door demanding an explanation. But they'll see it that night after their canned microwave spaghetti and toast.

Enough for me. Give me something better.

Unfortunately... I don't seem to be in their preferred demographic.

[Anonymum]

Mr V
I agree they select obnoxious people, but then that's part of the game isn't it? They WANT people to be talking about it, they WANT people to discuss and debate it. It's makes the very same people ring and vote which all generates money.
I'll admit to agreeing that 8 and 9 year old girls shouldn't be watching it, and also admit to forgetting what age group you were referring to at the time  asked the question, so I do see your reasoning on that.
It's the manipulation of the public overall that fascinates me. It amuses me no end because people are voting based on all of the 30 mins in a 24 hour period on the daily show that they allow you to see {assuming you don't have live streaming to refer to} and the eviction show is basically a rehash of what's happened during the week, that you've already seen.
They edit WHAT you see to boot. They take one little sound clip and turn it into something bigger than Ben Hur and it gets taken out of context, BECAUSE they've edited it.
I enjoy the basic experiment, as I said. I don't watch religously every night, but I do watch nominations and evictions, and the odd Friday night Live, the latter more to see what lengths these people are prepared to go to, in order to aquire some small pleasures for themself.
Many say there is no way relationships can be built in seemingly short periods of time. I disagree. These people are locked together with no outside contact, at all, nowhere to hide from each other and no distractions. All they can do is talk and get to know one another.
We watch very little free to air TV because we have Austar, however it's not only Channel 10 is it? All channels have total crap on most of the time and if you're lucky you get to see maybe 40-45 minutes of it in an hour if you take the ads out. How generous.
The demographic these people are targetng, could in fact be our future leaders! That thought alone scares the bejesus out of me because it makes me wonder about what type of society my grandchildren will be living in. But that's another thread all of it's own.
Goatlady
Absolutely they're exhibitionists! As are every single actor, singer and entertainer on the planet. That the latter call it a career doesn't make many of them any less obnoxious than those on the show under discussion. Particularly the likes of Ozzy Osborne, and those who allow cameras to follow them around 24/7 in other so called reality shows. I'll admit to be a huge Gordon Ramsey fan. I love Hell's Kitchen and the F Word. The guy is great and I love his take no prisoner attitude. I'm not too much into reality TV overall, but there are some that grab and for much the same reason they grab you. There is some skill involved and it can make for great viewing.

[Lightening]

We had NEVER watched it until last year when my son's year 4/5 class hosted assembly based on Big Brother.  I was appalled because all I knew of Big Brother was the stuff that hit the media.     I didn't think the school should be endorsing or encouraging it like that.  Anyway, I talked to some of the other parents and found out they quite enjoyed watching the Friday night games.  After that we allowed our kids to watch those.  Not sure what we're going to do this year.

[Ian]

We joked about BB at work that if you were in the house, it would be funny to go nude and swear constantly.  That way you'd appear on TV as a beeping pixelated blur. 

Other suggested tactics included frequently bagging out BB, Channel 10 and the sponsors - so you'd go "under the radar" by never being shown on TV - and that if you wanted to have sex, don't try to be subtle about it ... none of that sneaky under the blankets activity when you think its safe and everyone else is asleep - if you don't want it to make it on the TV, just do it openly ...fully naked, publicly and loudly.

[Mr V]

I should probably also make clear any conflicts of interest I have in this thread too.

I admit I was sucked in by the Biggest Loser this year (but that's my 'reality' show - I lost interest quickly after Survivor 2 and when the Amazing Race was moved to 10:30 or so - that one was interesting for different reasons though). It's not a reality show though because it's blatantly obvious the whole deal has been engineered to tell a cohesive story, and I have no doubt the editting crew have cut it all together to cast some contestants in a certain light.

If they could just cut out AJ and her endless ramblings of nothing and those long drawn out pauses she puts in for dramatic effect but just give the impression the network is either filling time or the cue cards have been lost all the better.

[FormerAdmin]

I am a simple soul... I could never see the issue with the rude bits show - call me old fashioned, but I never found images of what went on in the sauna as disturbing as the latest casualty statistics from Iraq on the news. Certainly, the "turkey slapping" incident was wrong, but it was never shown on the rude bits show that was banned as a result of that incident (or was that the year before? I forget). The patent moue of disgust on the faces of the likes of John Howard (remember him?) seemed a little hypocritical.

What did disturb me, far more than boobs and willies in the shower, was the nasty turn that Big Brother took in actively mentally torturing the contestants - I think it was quite rightly referred to as "Guantanamo on the Gold Coast" last year for the White Room experiment.

Probably the one thing that will stop me from watching this year, when all is said and done, is that bloody fool Kyle. I can't watch him for more than about 30 seconds without wishing him harm - not good for either of us, really.

Best regards, Andrew

[therinofandor]

We joked about BB at work that if you were in the house, it would be funny to go nude and swear constantly.  That way you'd appear on TV as a beeping pixelated blur.

Nah, you'd just spend your entire three months in the punishment room.    The contestants get fined for overt swearing, mentioning of brand names, discussing outside contacts by name, and discussing previous series of BB.

[Riayn]

The idea of Big Brother sounds really interesting, but the execution of it is just appalling.  I hate the type of people that have in the Big Brother house and this year's lot are look set to be the worst.  Personally, I find nothing interesting about watching a bunch of people locked in a house getting drunk.  I spent my university years doing that and I have no desire to revisit those years.

Why yes, I am an old fart, why do you ask?