Kazanne
12-11-2011, 06:02 PM
Big Brother 2011
When Brian Dowling shut the doors of the Ultimate Big Brother house in 2010, we thought we were waving goodbye to the most famous (and no doubt smelliest) house in Britain for good.
Yet just over a year later, the very same Dowling has beckoned us back through the BB doors.
The show has moved of course (not geographically, but down the schedules from Channel 4 to Channel 5), but has that old BB magic been successfully reignited?
It certainly kicked off in fine fashion.
More than five million viewers tuned in for the launch of Celebrity Big Brother on 18 August, landing Channel 5 the kind of ratings it has seldom ever seen.
The antics of Paddy Doherty, Kerry Katona, Darryn Lyons and the rest held up pretty well too, with nearly three million tuning in for the episodes.
'Normal' Big Brother takes over
However, the big test was always going to be what happened after the celebs departed and the normal housemates moved in for their 13-week occupancy. And this is where the row that never went away was truly magnified; it concerned the absence of the live feed.
"the row that never went away was truly magnified"
This, Big Brother fanatics continue to argue, is what makes Big Brother, Big Brother; giving the watching audience the opportunity to drop in on the housemates any time of the day or night.
I doubt Channel 5 and Endemol were prepared for the strength of feeling around this issue.
So no live feed, but the non-celeb version started with Pamela Anderson waiting behind those doors, meaning we were able to focus on her experiences in the house while we got to know the new inhabitants' and work out who we liked.
Big Brother stands or falls on its casting, and this latest bunch made for a pretty good selection. The fact that they were all of a similar age was disappointing, however the number of truly compelling BB housemates over the age of 40 can be counted on the fingers of one hand.
Yes, we had our usual suspects - Mark was the wacky one, Heaven was the spiritual one and Anton the uselessly villainous one.
But in the best spirit of Big Brother, some of those housemates were able to transcend their rather obvious casting. Harry, who was clearly put in to be the "posh one", became a fully rounded housemate, far outlasting the usual shelf life of a Big Brother hooray Henry.
Runner-up Jay, who seemed to have been picked for his obvious similarities to the male cast of MTV's Geordie Shore, turned out to be quite a sensitive soul (although his propensity to prodigiously pass gas shows that he's not all hearts and flowers).
Big Brother's class of 2011
"The tasks have been pretty fun too"
The tasks have been pretty fun too, with my own favourite taking place just before Halloween when housemates were challenged to resist being scared by BB.
However, not all of the assignments have panned out as planned. The decision to shift Jay and Anton into their own separate little house and have them watch the other housemates was an obvious attempt to provoke confrontation and drama.
This kind of sneaky move was a catalyst for all manner of furore back in Big Brother 5 when housemates Michelle and Emma kicked off what became known in BB legend as "Fight Night".
However the class of 2011 were - by and large - too savvy to have their strings pulled quite so obviously.
In addition, the big twist in which housemates were challenged to unevenly split half of the prize money was completely robbed of all tension. Aaron suggested that, regardless of what BB said, they divvy up the cash equally as soon as they got out of the house.
Still, you can't win them all, and the history of Big Brother is littered with housemates doing entirely the opposite of what was expected of them.
Big Brother's future
So on screen at least, it's been a promising first year on Channel 5. But is it proving to be a decent investment, given the millions that have been spent on it?
"it's been a promising first year on Channel 5"
On the face of it, perhaps not. With this series averaging around 1.4 million viewers, it certainly hasn't broken any records. Channel 5 probably expected something a little more impressive.
What's more, with Celebrity Big Brother due to start in January 2012, there is a danger of overkill. It's more imperative than ever to get the casting for that show right for the sake of the ratings.
Big Brother occupies a massive amount of airtime; we're talking around seven or eight hours week-in, week-out since the middle of August.
As the show captures the kind of ratings a mere handful of Channel 5's shows can attract, the advertising revenue will reflect that. But is it enough, considering the outlay to acquire the series in the first place? The ratings don't suggest a huge engagement with general viewers (as opposed to Big Brother fanatics) and that needs to change.
Take a look at the press coverage over the last couple of months. Time was when every tabloid proudly branded itself "your Big Brother paper", but only the publications of Channel 5 owner Richard Desmond regularly covered Big Brother.
Vote now!
An error occurred while trying to display the data. Please try again later.
Was Big Brother 2011 on Channel 5 worth watching?Thanks for being one of the first people to vote. Results will be available soon. Check for results
Yes - it was a great series
59 % Yes - it was a great series
890 votesNo - it was a disappointment
41 % No - it was a disappointment
613 votesSkip to resultsBack to votingTotal Responses: 1,503
Not scientifically valid. Results are updated every minute.
And of those, the Daily Star - which had been splashing it almost-daily on their front page - stopped a couple of weeks ago.
Last night's final managed an overnight average of over 2 million viewers; Channel 5 will be pleased. But this has by no means been the most high profile year for BB. However, if it can just stick to what it does best, maybe it can capture an audience large enough to justify its continuation.
For me, it's been an entertaining, albeit low key, return but perhaps that's the perfect way to do a comeback.
When Brian Dowling shut the doors of the Ultimate Big Brother house in 2010, we thought we were waving goodbye to the most famous (and no doubt smelliest) house in Britain for good.
Yet just over a year later, the very same Dowling has beckoned us back through the BB doors.
The show has moved of course (not geographically, but down the schedules from Channel 4 to Channel 5), but has that old BB magic been successfully reignited?
It certainly kicked off in fine fashion.
More than five million viewers tuned in for the launch of Celebrity Big Brother on 18 August, landing Channel 5 the kind of ratings it has seldom ever seen.
The antics of Paddy Doherty, Kerry Katona, Darryn Lyons and the rest held up pretty well too, with nearly three million tuning in for the episodes.
'Normal' Big Brother takes over
However, the big test was always going to be what happened after the celebs departed and the normal housemates moved in for their 13-week occupancy. And this is where the row that never went away was truly magnified; it concerned the absence of the live feed.
"the row that never went away was truly magnified"
This, Big Brother fanatics continue to argue, is what makes Big Brother, Big Brother; giving the watching audience the opportunity to drop in on the housemates any time of the day or night.
I doubt Channel 5 and Endemol were prepared for the strength of feeling around this issue.
So no live feed, but the non-celeb version started with Pamela Anderson waiting behind those doors, meaning we were able to focus on her experiences in the house while we got to know the new inhabitants' and work out who we liked.
Big Brother stands or falls on its casting, and this latest bunch made for a pretty good selection. The fact that they were all of a similar age was disappointing, however the number of truly compelling BB housemates over the age of 40 can be counted on the fingers of one hand.
Yes, we had our usual suspects - Mark was the wacky one, Heaven was the spiritual one and Anton the uselessly villainous one.
But in the best spirit of Big Brother, some of those housemates were able to transcend their rather obvious casting. Harry, who was clearly put in to be the "posh one", became a fully rounded housemate, far outlasting the usual shelf life of a Big Brother hooray Henry.
Runner-up Jay, who seemed to have been picked for his obvious similarities to the male cast of MTV's Geordie Shore, turned out to be quite a sensitive soul (although his propensity to prodigiously pass gas shows that he's not all hearts and flowers).
Big Brother's class of 2011
"The tasks have been pretty fun too"
The tasks have been pretty fun too, with my own favourite taking place just before Halloween when housemates were challenged to resist being scared by BB.
However, not all of the assignments have panned out as planned. The decision to shift Jay and Anton into their own separate little house and have them watch the other housemates was an obvious attempt to provoke confrontation and drama.
This kind of sneaky move was a catalyst for all manner of furore back in Big Brother 5 when housemates Michelle and Emma kicked off what became known in BB legend as "Fight Night".
However the class of 2011 were - by and large - too savvy to have their strings pulled quite so obviously.
In addition, the big twist in which housemates were challenged to unevenly split half of the prize money was completely robbed of all tension. Aaron suggested that, regardless of what BB said, they divvy up the cash equally as soon as they got out of the house.
Still, you can't win them all, and the history of Big Brother is littered with housemates doing entirely the opposite of what was expected of them.
Big Brother's future
So on screen at least, it's been a promising first year on Channel 5. But is it proving to be a decent investment, given the millions that have been spent on it?
"it's been a promising first year on Channel 5"
On the face of it, perhaps not. With this series averaging around 1.4 million viewers, it certainly hasn't broken any records. Channel 5 probably expected something a little more impressive.
What's more, with Celebrity Big Brother due to start in January 2012, there is a danger of overkill. It's more imperative than ever to get the casting for that show right for the sake of the ratings.
Big Brother occupies a massive amount of airtime; we're talking around seven or eight hours week-in, week-out since the middle of August.
As the show captures the kind of ratings a mere handful of Channel 5's shows can attract, the advertising revenue will reflect that. But is it enough, considering the outlay to acquire the series in the first place? The ratings don't suggest a huge engagement with general viewers (as opposed to Big Brother fanatics) and that needs to change.
Take a look at the press coverage over the last couple of months. Time was when every tabloid proudly branded itself "your Big Brother paper", but only the publications of Channel 5 owner Richard Desmond regularly covered Big Brother.
Vote now!
An error occurred while trying to display the data. Please try again later.
Was Big Brother 2011 on Channel 5 worth watching?Thanks for being one of the first people to vote. Results will be available soon. Check for results
Yes - it was a great series
59 % Yes - it was a great series
890 votesNo - it was a disappointment
41 % No - it was a disappointment
613 votesSkip to resultsBack to votingTotal Responses: 1,503
Not scientifically valid. Results are updated every minute.
And of those, the Daily Star - which had been splashing it almost-daily on their front page - stopped a couple of weeks ago.
Last night's final managed an overnight average of over 2 million viewers; Channel 5 will be pleased. But this has by no means been the most high profile year for BB. However, if it can just stick to what it does best, maybe it can capture an audience large enough to justify its continuation.
For me, it's been an entertaining, albeit low key, return but perhaps that's the perfect way to do a comeback.