[Mark]

What do you make of this

Click here

From what I gather they do not like BB. Im not sure if you get that impression but this says it all!!!

Big Brother is a deeply depressing phenomenon.

What are your views???

Mark:santa::xmas::noel::xmas2::frosty::snowman:

I think this is ridiculous - it is a shame how people can take Big Brother too seriously. It is a fun, unique television programme and people just need to stop living in a time warp and wake up to the new Millennium!

[Feefs]

I read this the old fashioned way in the paper. My parents get The Scotsman. I thought I was going to have to type it up, so I'm glad someone had the sense to check the website.

It is typical "Scotsman" superiority to popular culture, but I think it's more a criticism of the rubbish shows that get developed on the back of the success of BB. I've never seen Temptation Island, but I'm enough of a TV snob to know I'll hate it. I think what a lot of journalists and tv producers forget it that you don't just need innovative tv ideas, but if you are going to feature 'real people', then people have to want to watch them. Even though I loved BB I know I don't want to waste my time watching a bunch of people stupid enough to apply for Temptation Island.

Journalists seem to forget that even BB viewers are capable of discrimination.

[Mark]

<< gulp >>

Umm I liked the US version of temptation island, but the UK version was utter rubbish.

When I first started watching the US version I didn't really agree with the rules. A TV show to try and break couples apart. As I continued to watch it, I realised that the company weren't trying to break them up - they were testing their relationship.

This is completly the opposite on the UK version - It seemed to me like the company were doing their very best to break the couples up.

I am still unsure of my views on this article.

Mark :rudolph:

[peachy]

The article is pretentious and elitist in the extreme and contains some sweeping statements which I'd like to challenge. The writer states that BB is cheap at only 60k -120k per hour and compares this to drama at 500k BUT BB was broadcast 16 hours per day for 9 weeks, most drama series are only 6-8 one hour episodes, it is therefore ridiculous to compare the two. The argument about BB eventually 'being on every channel' is equally ridiculous. These sort of arguments come up every time something innovative comes along. No one was ever going to read again once TV was invented. No one was ever going to go to live theatre or the cinema, neither of these things have actually occurred. TV didn't take over everything and neither will BB move onto every channel of TV. To end the article by saying 'there is no escape' from BB is also just plain stupid, if you don't like it TURN OFF for God's sake. No one is making you watch. Leave it to us who love the show, that's what a free society means.
That's it rant over. I almost wonder if Elizabeth wrote it herself using a pseudonym, it was certainly up to her standards, and was pretentious and arrogant enough to have been written by her.

Its true what you say peachy; if you dont want to watch it, turn it off. Not everyone has to like it; they can choose to ignore it!

PS: I also liked the US version of Temptation Island; I thought it was really good for entertainment, but I could never have got hooked on it like I did with BB, I actually watched it to take my mind off missing BB so much!! It was on a friday when the eviction should have been on!!!

[Feefs]

Oops - I hope I haven't done an impression of an elitist snob by saying I didn't want to watch Temptation Island. I watch so much trash it would be a definite pot and kettle scenario. The description just didn't sound very good, and I've had loads on my plate and so I made a decision not to watch it. I didn't watch this series of Shipwrecked either. I'd become quite bored by the end of the first series and hardly bothered with the second one.

My point was really that just because you watch one reality tv show, doesn't mean that forms the basis of your viewing habits. I don't watch programs because of the genre, I watch them because I think they are good.

The snobby journalists might think they are cleverer than us, but if they were that bright they wouldn't treat all reality tv shows and their viewers as one homogenous blob of couch potato who don't understand choice. I mean I own books! Sometimes I read them. A few of them are not based on a tv show!

:bouncing::bouncing:

[LEE]

My point was really that just because you watch one reality tv show, doesn't mean that forms the basis of your viewing habits. I don't watch programs because of the genre, I watch them because I think they are good.

I totally agree with you Feefs. My interest, call it obsession if you like, is purely with BB2, none of the other reality shows ever really appealed – and I have tried to watch them.

‘Survivor’ bored me. I watched the first episode and decided to persevere and watch the second, as it would probably get better – I’d turned off before it even got half way through. I did watch part of some of the later episodes as well, but always got bored and started channel flicking – something which would just not have occurred to me to do while watching BB2. I found I never warmed to any of the characters and nothing about the show made me want to watch it.

I had a very similar experience with ‘Shipwrecked’. I had read on several boards that it was really good and quite a few people said that it was well worth watching. I just couldn’t get into it at all. I watched a bit of several episodes and always ended up switching over.

I think that one of the differences with BB2 was the amount of coverage. On both ‘Survivor’ and ‘Shipwrecked’ we only saw the edited shows. We only got to see the bits the producers wanted us to, and consequently were never going to get to really know the characters. I never really watched BB1 either, at the time it didn’t appeal. I did watch a little of some of the earlier shows but there was nothing there to hook me, nothing that made me want to go back to more. I have watched a lot of it now (thanks for the tapes Mark), but it was only my interest in BB2 that made me want to go back and watch it. I am enjoying it, but I’m nowhere near addicted in the way I became very quickly with BB2.

I think the main difference, for me, was the constant ‘live’ coverage of BB2 on E4, and the web. It put it into a completely different category, you didn’t just watch it – you lived it! I also found the people more interesting, I think the Channel 4 producers somehow managed to find a unique mix of people who gelled together so well, yet still had enough differences to make it interesting and addictive viewing. Even though the Helen and Paul romance is definitely one of the main highlights for me, and I think was one of the most important and interesting developments in the show, I was addicted well before it began to flourish. However, I do think that it was H&P that kept my interest going after the show finished, following the story, needing to know what happened next.

I have watched some of Temptation Island, but – sorry Mark – thought it was complete and utter sensationalist drivel. I never watched a full episode, just the odd 10 minutes or so when nothing better was on, but I thought it was awful. I only saw the American one though, so can’t comment on the British counterpart.

To sum up, it’s definitely wrong to lump all reality TV show’s together in the same pot. It’s equally wrong to presume all reality TV fans are mindless and incapable of appreciating the ‘better things in life’ – whatever they may be.

I’m a BB fan, and I also watch a lot of, what many would describe as, ‘rubbish’ on TV. But I also watch, and enjoy, many documentaries, news programs, ‘serious’ drama, comedy etc,etc,etc….. I read a phenomenal amount of books, I go to opera, theatre, concerts – both pop and classical. I have a diverse range of interests – just like most of the rest of the population.

Don't pidgeon-hole me just because I'm a BB fan, and don't go 'Oh my God, Television will never be the same again, it's ruined forever', just because some reality TV shows are popular.

Sorry – end of rant. I feel better now.

Thats very well said Lesley!