Can Big Brother develop away from the infantile?

[starry]

From the shower scenes with music last year, to someone shaving their pubes now....can this show go the other direction to something which isn't infantile? Can they get HMs with some intelligence and appeal to an audience which isn't immature? That would mean more substantial challenges which would require intelligence and people who are strong enough to compete against each other (fewer group tasks and less stupid tasks). Have challenges with real consequences, have a narrator who is actually willing to take the thing more seriously rather than just narrate it like it is a tabloid joke. Most people don't want to watch boring stupid people, but most in the house are like that nowadays. I really think this is the core of the problem with the move to CH5, the core of the problem with their whole approach to the show. The potential for this direction with the show had been there for years but there was some hope always that it wouldn't go fully like this. I thought the last two years on CH4 showed a potential move in another direction.

[Kieran]

Look at the age range and IQ of HMs. Endemol are deliberately going for this demographic and shame on Katie Smith last year for saying that over 30s were welcome. As to the thick element, they are more biddable and less likely to question the spooge that they are put through. C5 may well be doing it on purpose, only a year left of the contract, death by a 1000 cuts?

[daniel-lewis-1985]

Do you not trim your pubes?

Do you have a massive bush? YUCK!

[starry]

Not in public for the cameras, and I can't really say I find it worthwhile TV viewing either.

And yeh I've probably squeezed spots before as well, but I'm not really interested in watching it on TV. Do you find that interesting, funny or just boring? I'm just bored by it along with the terrible music they put in this show to try and spice up these things.

I haven't seen Shipwrecked but from what I read it's just a shallow version of Survivor, maybe Big Brother in this country has gone the same way. Surely HMs who more people could relate to would make for a more powerful show and create more powerful dramas.

[jyunga]

If they are doing it in the house... why not show it? You're supposed to be learning about the people to judge who you want to win. Kinda shows the type of people they are when you get to see them doing that stuff.

[psychtracker]

I agree, although i don't know that C4 was any less "infantile". I think it's a problem with the BB/Endemol brand. After the initial success, and the BB phenomenon, Worldwide, they haven't budged much on how they run the show, and the type of people "they think" will entertain the public, and the type of tasks they have them perform etc. I just think they've been way too conservative, and lacked much forward thinking, hence...the show is now in the duldrums. Coz, it's basically the "same old, same old", and people want to watch new things, not just re-hashing what's gone on for the last 10 years.

[starry]

If they are doing it in the house... why not show it? You're supposed to be learning about the people to judge who you want to win. Kinda shows the type of people they are when you get to see them doing that stuff.

I don't think it does that much though. Would they actually do this on the outside? I think it is more something just for the cameras, and tells you more about what Endemol/CH5 want.

[starry]

I agree, although i don't know that C4 was any less "infantile". I think it's a problem with the BB/Endemol brand. After the initial success, and the BB phenomenon, Worldwide, they haven't budged much on how they run the show, and the type of people "they think" will entertain the public, and the type of tasks they have them perform etc. I just think they've been way too conservative, and lacked much forward thinking, hence...the show is now in the duldrums. Coz, it's basically the "same old, same old", and people want to watch new things, not just re-hashing what's gone on for the last 10 years.

Yet the irony is CH5 are saying they are freshening up the show. I think they are as fearful of change as some of the audience seem to be. Some different things were tried in the past, Celebrity Hijack, BB11 had some educated people. I think the attitude with Marcus now signals the direction they wanted to go in and it definitely wasn't anything new just something even more towards the youth market. But that is a very limited audience.

[jyunga]

Why would you pop zits on someone for the cameras? Would that be more telling that they forget about the cameras? If you like to shave your crotch or ass (lol Jay) you'd like just do it as it was part of your routine outside the house and forget about the cameras. Just like Victoria flashed the cameras in the bathroom and was shocked it happened and was caught.

[starry]

I think they are more aware of the cameras than you think. And - hypothetically - even if it is just them doing what they would normally do it still isn't very much revealing about them as people. The only reason it seems to be shown is because some people think it is funny and entertaining, but is it really that to most people?

[crocs]

I wish it would. In paper the people have interesting back-stories but that's all there is. Otherwise they are too similar. And I really don't want to see people shaving or being vulgar. That is not the interesting thing about getting people together. I was looking forward to people having fun and getting to know themselves but this show is full of bitching and nastiness. It's not what I want to see. I know people don't always get along but still. I'm hoping for interesting and intelligent people as well but unfortunately, I seem to be in the minority. I do not understand why people want to see so many unintelligent people on TV and why that has become the thing that people aspire to. Why is it interesting to see people bitching, kicking off and being nasty to each other?

[starry]

I think conflict can be interesting, but it's more interesting among people who can think about the dilemmas involved. Setting up people who aren't that bright and are very gullible is just like shooting fish in a barrel, and the whole secret task thing is overplayed and not very convincing because of that. Watching people just to feel superior to them isn't going to last very easily for 2 months or more.

[psychtracker]

I do not understand why people want to see so many unintelligent people on TV and why that has become the thing that people aspire to. Why is it interesting to see people bitching, kicking off and being nasty to each other?

Throughout the years, i don't think i'd class the HMs in general as "unintelligent". I'd say common characteristics, have been - vain, shallow, self absorbed, impulsive, naive etc.. I believe that's mostly coz they keep picking 20 year olds, many of whom have probably never left home, travelled much or are particularly "worldly". Basically they have limited life experience. And that's not necessarily a bad thing..in moderation, but when three quarters of the house are like that...that's why we've got the HMs we've got! again!!

[thesheriff443]

first of all the only change that has happened to big brother is a number change from 4 to 5 it has never stoped being endamol the production company that has produced bb from the begining!
last year the cut of age for big brother was 30 so all those that went had there time and money wasted

big brother only chooses people who have an over inflated opinion of them selfs
we are down the road where bigbrother is is a game show!
and the old pie in the face gag is seen as hilarious
i cant ever see big brother geting back to the serious documetary type show that it was when it first began when it was real people real emotions.

[starry]

I don't expect it to go to the other extreme, but the extent to which the pie in the face gag can bring in much of an audience for over 2 months is questionable. It's always been a game show, but even game shows can have more people that the audience can relate to. People say American reality contests are just a game, but it tends to be a game played at a more mature level and so I think has a wider appeal that what CH5 offer now.