Quote:
Originally posted by Brekkie
I disagree with alot of your views on the general series darky - it's basically very dull and of the outdated view that going back to basics will save everything. We're beyond that now and a full scale relaunch is the only way forward where even the most basic principles of Big Brother are scrapped. There's quite a bit I agree on too though.
(I intended for this to be brief - it's not, sorry!)
10 HMs isn't practical, but it should be cut down to the bare minimum - probably 13, with no more than 3 late comers (a maximum of 18 HMs to allow for a couple of quitters.) I agree though there should be nobody who stands out for the wrong reasons as the obvious winner.
Nine weeks is too short though, but cutting to around 11 weeks might be the right compromise. Crucially though the show needs to come to a natural conclusion, so that means not having 7 HMs left with less than a week to go. At absolute most their should be 5 in the final week. I'm happy enough with 5 in the final (but they need an extra half-hour), but ideally it should be cut to 3 or 4.
A new behind the scenes team with original task ideas and fantastic twists.
A given, but you then contradict yourself saying you don't want many twists. A launch night twist is more crucial than ever this time to win viewers back, but ideally any twists for BB10 should be changes to the core format (so a new nominations format, a new weekly challenge etc.) rather than unconnected random twists during the series. Any further twists should be relatively simple.
Head of House was successful in BB9 and CBB6 really suffered from them dropping it. It made the first week, and then they dropped it without a trace. I've made no secret of the fact I believe a switch to a full scale HoH format is the best way forward for BB10, with weekly HoH's (decided by competitions), and the HoH choosing one nominees, with the others voting for the second. It's a format which has worked brilliantly for Brazil, so it could work for us too.
Vote to Save - no, no, no. It just doesn't work and doesn't save the "entertaining" HMs - Big Brother is all about kicking people out, and often the show benefits from losing dominant characters (Coolio dominating the show is one reason CBB6 flopped). And you need interesting characters kicked out along the way to make people care about and watch the evictions. I hated the fact the people voted out the likes of Luke and Rebecca over Mo and co. last year, but it meant the most entertaining eviction interviews in years.
The House ultimately doesn't really matter (and neither do the HMs actually) if the format is right. However, it needs to look and feel different to anything we've seen before, so open plan and rather trendy and modern is the way to go - not small, claustrophobic and hideous.
And I disagree that Heaven and Hell didn't work, and if they don't go the HoH route I'd rather they took Heaven and Hell to the extremes and really built a contrasting house with a very luxurious rich side and an incredibly basic poor side. Crucially though it has to be done from the start right through until there aren't enough HMs remaining (so around 6 or so) for it to work - not just for a couple of weeks in the middle. If BB9 had started by splitting them into Heaven and Hell and revealing the HoH twist it would have got off to a much better start than the stupid Mario/Lisa thing provided.
The Shows
Firstly, they have to have ads - keep it realistic. George and Jack should stay, and they do need fine tuning, but it's the main show that's the priority so not too much attention should be made on improving them. If the main show improves, the spin offs will too.
I agree with the 9-10.30pm eviction show scheduling, but the interviews need to be cut short, not made longer. The ratings this year show people just aren't too interested in what the evictees have to say (after all, we've heard it over 200 times before).
Friends and family features must return too, along with chatting with both the crowd and people on the street about their opinions and profiling the nominees. Back in BB1-BB4 these features made the eviction shows, and actually took up just a couple of minutes each - no more than 6-8 over all. If they can cut highlights in the final down to 10 minutes, they can afford to lose 5-10 minutes on a weekly basis.
(NOTE: If we did do HoH or even Rich/Poor again I wouldn't mind an hour-long eviction show - complete with eviction and interview at 9pm, and then a second show at 10.30pm or even 11pm for a live HoH challenge)
Highlights - 9pm is for wimps who still have a bed time, and it's since they tried to make the show "mainstream" the problems began. Big Brother worked best at 10pm and should establish itself back in that slot again, cut down to 50 minutes.
A tighter edited show would make for a better show, and sorry, but Marcus Bentley has to go. His voiceovers have become a joke and are now ruining the shows. The Saturday show would be scrapped and a 90-minute weekend round up would air on Sundays at 9pm.
I'd also bring back the psychs, either as a brief feature in the eviction show (for example, last week when the four girls were nominated they'd have looked at the battle of the sexes in the house), or as brief inserts a couple of times a week in the highlights (e.g. when LaToya and Tina discussed Ben and Michelle, the psychs would have looked at the evidence - it's basically flashbacks, but with a bit of psycho babble to justify it). In addition they'd be a "Previously..." segment at the beginning of each show and a "Tomorrow..." preview at the end.
Advertising is the biggest issue and the existing format needs scrapping completely - so that means no eye flashes, no house ads, no countdown. They go for something completely new which (without actually revealing anything), gives people a reason to watch BB, not just the time it's on. They also need to follow the lead of Skins too with some nifty viral marketing too.
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Phew, that was a lot to read! However, it is good of you to reply Brekkie.
For me, 13 HM's is more than the bare minimum, 11 or 12 is enough for me to handle. I think that 3 latecomers is too many and you have covered the almost inevitable situation of a HM walking. 18 HM's in an 11 week series? Too many. You also talked about having a
natural end to the series and having 4 or 5 HM's in the final week. If this was the case then you would need a double eviction or two.
I don't really feel that I contradict myself regarding the twists thing because I still think that they need new producers who will think up good tasks and twists. I say good twists but I only mean a few
really big twists throughout the 9-11 week period. Yes, a launch night twist
is acceptable but it would
have to affect the whole series IMO, as I mentioned in my reply to Matt.
I just generally don't like the idea of HoH but I can understand how it could work well. Although, just because something has worked in Brazil doesn't mean that it will here.
I
completely disagree with you that vote to save isn't the way forwards. You say that Bex, Mo and others from BB9 were evicted early and that they were 'entertaining' evictions, well no, they weren't. We want 'entertaining' HL shows not really entertaining people getting booted out. I do
hate Coolio with a passion but he was the one that kept CBB6
watchable for some people (not me).
Regarding the house, I would quite like to see the BB Italy house which is noticed in a thread called Grande Fratello made by *mazedsalv**, in this thread
you actually posted pics of the house. Look about halfway down the first page, here's the link:
http://www.thisisbigbrother.com/foru...php?tid=106711
No, Heaven and Hell was
epicly **** in BB9 so why do it again?
The Saturday Night Live style tasks won't work, that's why it was scrapped after BB5.
A more tightly edited show is pointless, why cut it down to 50 minutes, that just makes it awkward for C4 to fit in other programmes around it. I do agree though that Marcus Bentley should go.
Yes, the advertising does need to change
massively and I really hope it does because it has been the same since BB6.
25-01-2009, 01:21 PM
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