Big Brother: Everything You Need To Know June 18, 2007
Big Brother is a reality show in which a number of strangers (often called hamsters by the fans) live in an isolated house and compete to win a cash prize. The American version of Big Brother has aired on CBS every summer since 2000. The series is taken from Endemol's popular Big Brother format, and is produced by Endemol USA. The show is executively-produced by Alison Grodner & Rich Meehan. Arnold Shapiro (who formerly produced Rescue 911) stepped down as executive producer following All-Stars and now serves as executive consultant.
Since its second season, the American Big Brother continues to use different rules from other countries' versions of the show. In the U.S. version, viewers do not vote for eviction; all voting is done by houseguests. There have been seven complete seasons of the U.S. version of the show; all have been broadcast on CBS. Another difference, at least between the U.S. and U.K. versions, is that there has not been a season of celebrity contestants.
For all seasons, the eviction-night is hosted by Julie Chen, wife of CBS President Les Moonves and co-host of the network's The Early Show. In the first season (2000), Chen was widely ridiculed in the media for her wooden delivery, stilted interaction with the studio audience, weak interviews with evictees on the live programs, and her overuse of the phrase "But first..." This led fans to affectionately dub her "the Chenbot", a moniker which Chen is aware of and readily accepts. The continuity announcer for the first five seasons was Phil Proctor. He played an active role in the first season introducing every scene, but with the major changes to the program after the initial series, he was relegated to the opening and closing of each episode. For season six, Proctor was replaced by Clayton Halsey. This decision was made so late that Proctor had already toured the new set.
The weekly live show was substantially changed after the first season. Originally, the live show featured a studio audience along with guest commentators Dr. Drew Pinsky, best known for Loveline on MTV, and (sponsor) America Online "Internet Advisor" Regina Lewis. Julie Chen now presents the live eviction show from an empty studio overlooking the entrance to the house.
The first season of Big Brother had such a completely different format it cannot be considered the same show as the seasons that would follow it. In the first season, similar to the international formats of the show, the format was more of a social experiment meant for viewers at home to observe. The contestants had little power over each other since the home audience decided their fate, so it was up to them to create drama on their own. Ironically, the two most controversial contestants on the season, Will and Jordan, were the first two to be eliminated. This meant that the remaining players, for the most part, got along with each other, leaving little conflict to be witnessed by viewers.
Producers did their best to spice up the show with gimmicks such as a huge domino set for the players to fiddle with as well as adding barnyard animals to the house's backyard. These tactics seem downright mundane compared to the overly dramatic antics that would befall later seasons (including, but not limited to, a contestant nearly slicing the throat of another contestant) and did little to improve the show's ratings. Initially hyped as the perfect companion series to the surging Survivor, which had premiered just a few weeks before, viewers soon tired of the boring antics of the show. However ratings perked up enough by the finale, especially among younger viewers, that the show was renewed the following summer. Beginning with Big Brother 2, CBS completely replaced the creative team behind the show and turned it into the Survivor-esque game that is played today.
DVD Realeases
A 9-disc DVD set from the third season of the show, in its entirety as well as edits, have been released on Region 1 DVD. A supplementary included is the house guests' original casting tapes. These casting tapes are taken from preliminary interviews rather than the tapes that the house guests sent in.
A 2-disc Highlights set from the fourth season has also been released.
On the third season discs, the episodes were taken from tapes aired on CBS, and not from unedited versions, meaning that curse words spoken on the show, and nudity seen, was still beeped and blurred out, respectively. With the release of the fourth season highlights, it was announced that the clips would show unaired footage, ostensibly racier than what CBS would allow to air.
It doesn't appear that any other seasons of the show will be released on DVD. It has been reported that Jase from season 5 appeared on "House Calls" and said that CBS doesn't want to release the sets because there are too many episodes in each season.
The Live Feeds
Big Brother fans say the "live feeds" are required viewing to enjoy the show. The live feeds are available on your computer 24 hours and day, seven days a week during the Big Brother season and typically for two weeks after the season ends at which time highlights and episodes are re-broadcast.
There are four camera views and full audio. You can watch one camera at a time or any combination up to four at once.
The feeds are not free. The cost is $14.95 a month and can be cancelled at any time. There is no required length of time that a purchaser must agree to. There is a 14 day free trail available.
The feeds are packaged with a number of free incentives. These include free music and game downloads, a free Real Player, Online Radio, and high quality video. Access is also given to the Big Brother message boards and blogs as well as live Big Brother chat.
You can signup for a free trial of the live feeds here.
House Calls: The Big Brother Talk Show
House Calls: The Big Brother Talk Show is a live Internet talk show hosted by Gretchen Massey and Big Brother 3 contestant Marcellas Reynolds. Talks of creating of a Big Brother talk show were in negotiations since at least Big Brother 2, due to the success of Big Brother's Little Brother in the United Kingdom. The program focuses on events in the Big Brother house as well as taking phone calls from viewers. The show started in 2004 during Big Brother 5, and became quite popular. House Calls was renewed for a second season to correspond with Big Brother 6. The show returned again in 2006 during Big Brother 7: All-Stars, but without Reynolds as co-host, who was participating as a contestant in the Big Brother house. The program regularly features specials guests, such as Joe Adalian, the TV editor of Daily Variety. Contestants on Big Brother are bound by contract to appear on the webcast the Friday after their live eviction. The show airs Monday through Friday at 10 a.m. PT and 1 p.m. ET. All episodes of House Calls will be available at the CBS website. For season seven, because of Reynolds' absence, a guest host appears for a week.
The popularity of House Calls has spawned other internet talk shows, including Survivor Live for Survivor, Finish Line for The Amazing Race, Talk Model for America's Next Top Model, and various Aftershows on MTV Overdrive for MTV programming.
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