Could Big Brother return to being a social experiment?
 

Could it reinvent itself again and return to its original purpose, to be a social experiment? Would that help boost its popularity or do you think it'll never be able to reach the heights it once achieved?

All it needs to return to it's former glory is an intelligent selection of HMs..

The problem is.. the majority of applicants are probably fame-*****s.

I'm not sure, I'd love it to, but channel 5 is the tv channel equivalent to Glenn Quagmire so Idts.

Desmond wants it to be exactly how it is now I think.

I think you're right... things got stale because they kept picking stereotypical characters for the show, rather than interesting people.

Yes, if they stop putting in fame hungry wannabe fannies and use an actual cross section of society.. Completely cut them off from the outside world, ban all electrical items, have them bake their own bread etc again and cut out the gimmicky noms and evictions!

In a way, it always will be, putting strangers in isolation is a social experiment, it's just things like too many twists making it too contrived,

You're right, but I think they've stuck to this predictable formula of picking weirdos and attention seekers for too long - it was brilliant in BB7 but by BB10 it had become stale and now we're hurtling towards BB15. A rebrand to advertise it as a social experiment again and having every day people would be great, I think.

So you think by BB7 it was still a social experiment?

They all wanted fame....Every single one but to me that's not a problem.

To me the experiment is putting people in who totally clash with each other and are complete opposites and see how will compete to get that fame because that's what BB has become.

It will never go back to BB1 even BB2 was seen as a platform to get famous as Narinder has admitted.

You need to redefine the meaning of social experiment because from what im watching is 12 people socially interacting in a house from all different backgrounds, different ages and complete different opinions on behaviour.

It still is a social experiment.

No I was referring to picking weirdos and attention seekers - BB7 was the pinnacle of that, Nikki personified Big Brother's fascination with picking the most outlandish characters possible - after that it was overkill because she was the next best thing after they'd had Makosi.

Having people who clash is fine and is a welcome addition to a series; but instead they pick stereotypes with the expectation they'll clash and the reality is nothing like that at all.

I 100% agree.....real people are infinitely more interesting

:thumbs::thumbs:Fully agree,but doubt it will happen!! The interference has ruined it,especially showing clips from the diary room. You'd be mad to say anything negative in the diary room now!?!

No way they'd do it without all of the ****ty editing.

Not in the days where trashy TV rules all

Either just pick 12 randomers from the street (the ones who say yes of course) or go the BB CH route and get different housemates from different professions so that not one housemate is the same

12 wannabees with plastic tits and spray tans is sooooooooo boring mun

Big Brother was a trend setter though, maybe it could lead the charge for change once again by moving away from trashy TV. I think there's a general fatigue for trash TV now, X Factor's ratings are slipping etc

BB has been on since 2000 14 years later what realistically do you want?

Last year they went back to basics as much as they could (They didn't even have a bathroom and had to grow their own veg). The housemates were brilliant and the ratings increased by 500,000.

BB14 had some very normal housemates: The twins worked in Sainsbury's, Sam worked in a shop, Sophie worked as a dental nurse.

Its still a social experiment but the editing has changed, they have toned it down a lot since 2011...ALOT! It was ridiculously bad then with music being played over most of it and a cast that looked like they were all bought in from Essex and all had some sort of media background and were under 30.

BB is still a social experiment and sorry but the days of Paul and Helen holding hands (as much I was actually gripped to that) or Cameron Stout reading the bible are over.

What normal person is going to apply for BB anyway lol.

What lee said. I was actually saying to my mum during CBB that when they get halir straighteners it really annoys me. In the early days they didnt get that
But like daniel said the twins were normalish Sam was normalish Sophie was Charlie was normalish Jackie was. Thats prob why i liked last series so much just calm down with all the too many twists go back to 2 or more nominated housemates and limit the outside world stuff(It will never be like the early day stuff but no phone calls from celebs or random stuff)
I think its gone beyond the whole social experiment but if theres `good` housemates wit a few twists then Im happy

I disagree. The producers are just too spineless to get a more realistic cross section. easier to get some fake boobs instead

I think that BB is inherently a social experiment. However ridiculous the HMs are that they put in, however dumb the tasks or editing can be at times, at the end of the day we are still watching a dozen or so people live out their lives on our television screens for weeks on end in a very particular set of circumstances. The whole appeal to the show is in watching how these people react to the situation in which they find themselves in, in that confined house living with complete strangers. It's just as much a 'social experiment' as it ever was.

More gameshow and gameplan based now though, despite Nasty Nick

and we're not getting full coverage to make our own mind up these days, instead being fed what they want us to see so they can make the story up a large extent

I suppose you're right, but I still feel that the show has become stale because of the type of people it puts in the house. I think if they got a bunch of normal people in the house it could still be interesting and pull in better ratings, if they pushed the advertising for the show more than usual.

Last year wasn't back to basics that growing veg thing was a pile of bs