Yeah, basically everything wrong with this franchise boils down to BB16's existence, including:
1) the fact that it was basically a cotton candy, Nickelodeon version of Big Brother that was purposefully designed to be "safe" after the controversies of BB15. They cast a bunch of dumb clowns like Caleb and Zach who were more than eager to read cue cards and put on dumb costumes and give producers content for the episodes. Somehow this yielded good ratings (probably because of Amanda Grande's brother
) so the franchise views this season as a success and continues to force recruits to watch it in sequester.
2) For the reasons above, 16 was pretty much the beginning of the modern era of BBUS, and having a Battle of the Block season become the entry into a new era absolutely had a negative impact on things. Recruits are forced to watch this season in sequester and their main takeaways are that you are successful by joining a big alliance in Week 1 and riding out for as long as possible, and that's pretty much what happened every season since? Sure, we do get a few hiccups along the way like #PauleExposedParty and Day 44 of BB21, but the gameplay of the modern era has largely been about securing a big alliance early on that can win Competitions and just rolling with it. I think this problem really first started with BB12, but BB16 absolutely exacerbated it. For a show whose motto is "expect the unexpected," it more often than not couldn't be any more predictable. I
do find it interesting how BB rarely has any blindsides whatsoever while Survivor is all about #SurvivorBlindsides, but that's another piece for another day*
3) Derrick Levasseur. Not only is he the most predictable winner ever and was a complete funsuck and drama killer, but his arrogance is astounding to the point where he ruins everything he touches. BB16 was a complete snoozefest due to his steamroll, but at the end of the day I can only blame him so much for that because it was absolutely to his benefit to play the game that way since he won $500,000 for it. What
is completely inexcusable, however, is how he also ruined BB18 and BB22 by organizing pregame alliances and relationships for his dumb cronies. I just can't imagine so arrogant that you would interfere with a season you have absolutely **** all to do with not once but twice! If there's any good thing that's come out of this season, it's the fact that certain sects of the fanbase like Reddit are finally turning against him because they're finally realizing what a ruinous piece of **** he is.
But yeah, I'm not really enjoying this season much at all. I have enjoyed the random alumni gossip and Nicole A's descent into madness, but it's by and large a snoozefest. The opening week was the most boring and uneventful since BB18, and this season is being set up eerily similar to BB16 with the majority alliance being composed of Comp beasts and the outsiders having god awful reads and no agency whatsoever. Cracks are forming in the majority alliance for sure, but I'm not getting my hopes up. Every week so far has consisted of a male runner-up winning HOH and a former AFP getting evicted, with the outcome being obvious as soon as the feeds come back on Saturday after the POV Comp. **** is stale already and it doesn't help that this cast isn't a "who's who" of Big Brother as much as it's a "who's available."
*And with all of that said, I still somehow think BB is in a better spot than Survivor in its current state because we at least get an occasional good season on accident like BB17 or BB21. Survivor is somehow even more stale than BB and isn't nearly as fun even from an ironic sense.
So yeah, this season is ****e and I, for one, am ready for Love Hotel on Monday. I hope you all enjoy me in the migration to the Love Island subforum xx