[smartalec2718]

After reading this thread the whole way through, I have a couple of thoughts. This is gonna be a long post, but stick with it.

Here's what it comes down to, guys. A combination of the race row, bad housemate selection (going from average, likeable, and relatable people to faux-celebrity freaks with mental problems and God complexes), and the elimination of live feed, is what brought down Big Brother. Obviously C4 can't take back the race row, no matter how much it probably wishes it could. The race row made it harder to find sponsors for the show, which was a problem, and it also just highlighted a lot of the things people didn't like about the show in the first place (not to mention the fact that it drove away a lot of viewers who were loyal to that point but disgusted by what they saw on CBB5).

Housemate selection is the biggest problem with recent series - remember the days of Brian Dowling, Jade, Nadia, Daniel, Victor, Makosi, Kemal, Derek, Nikki, et al? I mean, come on, let's be honest - there haven't been any housemates that were remotely entertaining since BB8, and even that's a bit of a stretch. At the end of the day (there's a classic BB phrase for you) it doesn't matter how much money C4 throws at BB, if there's a good selection of HMs then the magic happens on its own. That's what happened up until BB8 aired. C4 could, theoretically, fix this problem in BB11, but what are the odds of that, after 3-plus years of terrible casting? If they could get the right mix of people in the house once again, people would watch again. But it most likely won't happen.

Finally, there's the live feed. This is one problem that C4 could easily rectify, and they should, because the justification for axing LF in the first place was empty. Honestly I think canceling LF was the only reason BB lost 2 million or so viewers after BB9 because there was no noticeable difference in the quality of BB8-10. BB10 could have pulled 4-5mil easy if live feed were still around. Maybe that's one thing C4 will fix for BB11. We'll see.

In the end I agree with Tom. BB was a great show for what it was between 2000 and 2006, but over time it's gone so far downhill that it hardly seems worth saving or grieving over. I think we can all appreciate what BB once was, but now it's time to move on. Nothing lasts forever.

[Stu]

There is a big misunderstanding about the budget of a show like Big Brother. In actual fact it does not cost that much to make at all versus something like say, a drama show, where you have actors and writers and set guys and all these people you have to pay. The fact that it's a very cheap show to make is why so many countries have adopted it.

And unlike dramas your budget does not just give you 2 million a night of the week, it gives you 2 million every night of the week. All for cheaper than what it would take to make something else.

[lemi-lemi]

they must otherwise the day after bb11 final, its the end of me, i will kill myself

[Tom]

Originally Posted by smartalec2718

After reading this thread the whole way through, I have a couple of thoughts. This is gonna be a long post, but stick with it.

Here's what it comes down to, guys. A combination of the race row, bad housemate selection (going from average, likeable, and relatable people to faux-celebrity freaks with mental problems and God complexes), and the elimination of live feed, is what brought down Big Brother. Obviously C4 can't take back the race row, no matter how much it probably wishes it could. The race row made it harder to find sponsors for the show, which was a problem, and it also just highlighted a lot of the things people didn't like about the show in the first place (not to mention the fact that it drove away a lot of viewers who were loyal to that point but disgusted by what they saw on CBB5).

Housemate selection is the biggest problem with recent series - remember the days of Brian Dowling, Jade, Nadia, Daniel, Victor, Makosi, Kemal, Derek, Nikki, et al? I mean, come on, let's be honest - there haven't been any housemates that were remotely entertaining since BB8, and even that's a bit of a stretch. At the end of the day (there's a classic BB phrase for you) it doesn't matter how much money C4 throws at BB, if there's a good selection of HMs then the magic happens on its own. That's what happened up until BB8 aired. C4 could, theoretically, fix this problem in BB11, but what are the odds of that, after 3-plus years of terrible casting? If they could get the right mix of people in the house once again, people would watch again. But it most likely won't happen.

Finally, there's the live feed. This is one problem that C4 could easily rectify, and they should, because the justification for axing LF in the first place was empty. Honestly I think canceling LF was the only reason BB lost 2 million or so viewers after BB9 because there was no noticeable difference in the quality of BB8-10. BB10 could have pulled 4-5mil easy if live feed were still around. Maybe that's one thing C4 will fix for BB11. We'll see.

In the end I agree with Tom. BB was a great show for what it was between 2000 and 2006, but over time it's gone so far downhill that it hardly seems worth saving or grieving over. I think we can all appreciate what BB once was, but now it's time to move on. Nothing lasts forever.

Pretty much sums it up. In theory they can fix it by shortening it to 10 weeks, axing the celebrity version and putting in pretty much normal people with a good ad campaign and all the other stuff people agree on that needs changing. But in reality it probably won't make a difference. For a start normal people probably won't audition anymore because its such a tainted show based around freaks and z listers and I think that is reflected in public opinion as people won't watch it anymore no matter what they do. The fact that every series since BB8 the launch has been the most watched episode of the series says it all about public opinion. People just watch on launch night to see who the latest batch of freaks are, then turn off.

In many ways its a victim of success, they've tried to push and push controversy each year until it finally exploded onto a worldwide scale, and since it has been censored to hell and people are complaining over the slightest thing. Anyone remember in BB6 when Science and Maxwell had that massive argument and a bin got flung across the garden at one of them? Or when Kemal got chased around with the mop? Maxwell throwing water? Scabs being put in food [apparently]? The list goes on and noone batted an eye lid.

The only good series since BB7 (including all spin offs) has been BB9 which was very much 'old' BB in the style it was done (housemates, twists etc) but even that didn't get much public interest. Otherwise it has been terrible. I would've stopped watching at some point in BB10 (lost interest in that and CBB6) if it hadn't been for the axing. I'm looking forward to CBB6 and BB11. I'm not expecting an amazing series but I'm hoping its half decent to go out on.

[Tom]

Originally Posted by Stu

There is a big misunderstanding about the budget of a show like Big Brother. In actual fact it does not cost that much to make at all versus something like say, a drama show, where you have actors and writers and set guys and all these people you have to pay. The fact that it's a very cheap show to make is why so many countries have adopted it.

And unlike dramas your budget does not just give you 2 million a night of the week, it gives you 2 million every night of the week. All for cheaper than what it would take to make something else.

At £60m per series, BB10 made in total £32m or something like that, making a huge loss.

[Beastie]

It will have a break regardless of how high or low the ratings will be.

[arista]

It will a better Show on the Watch Channel.

[Stu]

Originally Posted by Tom

At £60m per series, BB10 made in total £32m or something like that, making a huge loss.

Really? Fuck! I am shocked. What could they possibly have spent £60m on? Where do you get these figures?

[Gavin]

Channel 4 won't save the show. Ironically, Big Brother is still one of the most watched programmes on Channel 4. Channel 4 overpaid for the rights for the 2008-2010 contract, but the show is still profitable if an appropriate amount of money is given to Endemol which is definitely possible.

The problem with Channel 4 is that they have no desire to keep Big Brother as they're seeking public money from the license fee. In order to do that, they need to get rid of "controversial" programmes like BB so that they have a better chance of getting the cash.

Unfortunately it looks extremely likely that Channel 4 deliberately made poor decisions in the last 2 years to ensure BB gets terrible ratings. Angela Jain's decision to remove Live Feed from E4 daytime was a travesty. By all means, continue showing Friends around 8pm, but Live Feed did well in the afternoon in previous series. Removing the live feed was a huge mistake. It's like taking away a life support machine from someone who is in critical care at hospital. The show is dead in its current form.

I hope it does return one day to Pay TV such as Sky 1. Sky1 would treat the show well./

[Rob]

Channel4 definately won't be bringing it back, the show unfortunately is past its sell by date and they will want to re develop the channel for the new decade. Big Brother has done very well to last as long as it has over the past decade and is one of the longest running in the world.

Let's all just enjoy the final series' and let it go out with a bang, we've got a brilliant CBB ahead of us by the looks of thing and hopefully an excellent BB11.

[Gavin]

You see: loads of people said that BB9 would be brilliant due to the glass shattering campaign. Loads of people also said BB10 would be good due to the fingerprint rumours etc.

Both ended up as average series, especially BB10 which was poor IMO. I have to say that the campaign for CBB7 so far has been excellent. But an excellent campaign does not = an excellent series. I think based on previous experience, we shouldn't expect a good series. If you go into a series with expectations low, you can only be impressed. That's what I'm doing anyway.

[Rob]

In all fairness this series hasn't had a brilliant campaign, weve had a few teaser trailers and one advert. No signs of any countdown adverts or house adverts, its been a fairly repetitive campaign this year with the same advert over and over.

[Tom]

Originally Posted by Stu

Really? Fuck! I am shocked. What could they possibly have spent £60m on? Where do you get these figures?

They reportedly paid £180m for the rights between BB9 and BB11. The show budget is apparently £5m meaning Endemol make £55m profit off the back of the show. But Channel 4 obv need to make £60m per series to get their money back and its not happening although I think they made £72m on BB8 and about £50m on BB9. Figures just come from random news articles I've read over the years I can't seem to find atm, I retain pointless info

[Tom]

Originally Posted by Gavin

I hope it does return one day to Pay TV such as Sky 1. Sky1 would treat the show well./

As I said earlier in the thread this is it for BB for me. I don't like remakes so I wont watch it if it returns. But if it does it has to be on Pay TV, I don't think it can be sustained on terrestrial TV anymore.

They'd have to axe the celeb version and slash the summer version to about 9 or 10 weeks to make up for budget cuts, and if they brought back the live feed via red button (subscription) and brought back red button voting etc they could make a bomb off it. Bringing it back at the right time is the key.

[arista]

Originally Posted by Gavin

Channel 4 won't save the show. Ironically, Big Brother is still one of the most watched programmes on Channel 4. Channel 4 overpaid for the rights for the 2008-2010 contract, but the show is still profitable if an appropriate amount of money is given to Endemol which is definitely possible.

The problem with Channel 4 is that they have no desire to keep Big Brother as they're seeking public money from the license fee. In order to do that, they need to get rid of "controversial" programmes like BB so that they have a better chance of getting the cash.

Unfortunately it looks extremely likely that Channel 4 deliberately made poor decisions in the last 2 years to ensure BB gets terrible ratings. Angela Jain's decision to remove Live Feed from E4 daytime was a travesty. By all means, continue showing Friends around 8pm, but Live Feed did well in the afternoon in previous series. Removing the live feed was a huge mistake. It's like taking away a life support machine from someone who is in critical care at hospital. The show is dead in its current form.

I hope it does return one day to Pay TV such as Sky 1. Sky1 would treat the show well./

No Sky can not Fit it in.

'Watch ' Channel has taken it.

[Gavin]

Originally Posted by arista

No Sky can nort Fit it in.

'Watch ' Channel has taken it.

Sky can most definitely fit it in if they want to. They have a big budget.

The Watch channel would not be able to afford the show. It's a very unpopular channel as well and would not serve Big Brother well. I'd even prefer Living TV to have Big Brother than Watch.

[Tom]

Originally Posted by arista

No Sky can not Fit it in.

'Watch ' Channel has taken it.

On Watch it will be about as successful as Richard and Judy

[anto42]

richard and judy was a compleate failure on watch i think one show only got 150000 viewers

[Billy]

Originally Posted by Tom

Did you not watch BB1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 or 9?

BB8 is the worst of the lot (along with BB10)

There's no point going into that cause it's all about opinion really (I loved both 8 and 10 haha).

The reason BB is falling is because everyone fed up of it now. It would have happened regardless.

[Spike]

C4 wont save it because they have already started spending the money saved from axing it. If Big Brother some how survives after BB11 it will be on another channel
Its not about money and ratings to why C4 axed it, they knew they wanted rid of the show after the race row to keep a public service image, the huge downturn in ratings just made the decision easier.

[Patrick]

Originally Posted by ********

BB8 was a brilliant series though. Brian was a legend and Chanelle was so funny !

Oh For ****

[Patrick]

tbh I still stand by what I`ve said all along,

Its falling in ratings because of the Race Row.

BB7 was so successful, CBB5 ruined everything.
If Jade had kept her big gob shut, then BB wouldnt of been axed.
Simply because..

1. Jade argued with Shilpa
2. Made Headlines, Randomers in India went nuts, everyone was pissed.
3. For BB8 everyone was pissed off and didnt watch it because of the Race Row.
4. BB9 was brilliant and got a pretty good average tbf not brilliant though.
5. The Producers axed the Live Feed because they didnt want any HM saying anything racist, C4 go on about it being because of money, which isnt the real reason.
Its all about them being far too PC and scared of another Race Row.
6. After they axed the LF, Everyone got annoyed and switched off completely.
7. Show Axed.


It all comes back to Jades stupid Argument over an OXO Cube.

[Marc]

It'll never be as good as it used to be