I'll start the What Should Be series with "The Website". Maybe it sounds like a strange place to start, but with a series like BB, the website is almost more important than the TV episodes. The series runs 24 hours a day, and the website provides a real-time portal to the latest information, so it has to be usable.
A lot of people have seen the leaked pictures of the website in development. What we see there is a fairly chunky website-- everything looks kind of big. Having built a lot of financial/banking-style websites myself, I am more used to a site that crams a lot into a small space. As screen resolution gets better, this is not as important though. The site definitely looks clean. The site for the last few years has been dark and drab, with terrible colour choices of greys mixed with a rainbow of menu options-- purple, red, yellow, orange. The new blue and white site is very refreshing.
We can also see, even from the development site, that one of their primary focuses is to find space for huge advertisements before they find a space for content. I understand that advertising revenue is important to the producers. Our BB series are structured around product placements. But the stand-in ads on the development site take up way too much screen space. A third of the page width is taken up by KFC ads. Hopefully these eyesores will be kept to a minimum so they don't take away from the site's usability.
The other thing that needs to be considered is a tie between the look and feel of the site, and the look and feel of the series. BB03 probably did this best with the little "sprite" characters, as they were used around the website and in the titles and logos of the series. BB05-07 tried to match the look of the show by making elements of the site resemble the "boxes" used in the logo and titles, but it didn't pay off. This year's site needs to use elements of what we see on TV to tie the two together.
As for content, I am hoping to see better housemate profiles. I don't want to know what their astrological profile says. I want to know more about the person's outside (and inside) life. The profile never has information like occupation, what their family life is like (are their parents together, separated, do they have siblings, how old, what are ther names, step-siblings?, do they have a husband/wife/partner/kids of their own?-- all important things to know as we watch the series). The diary entries were good and frequent last year, and hopefully this year's site keeps that up. The amount of free content doesn't bother me so much because I will pay for premium content no matter what. Hopefully for casual users' sake, and the general interest in the series by new viewers, plenty of free content is provided, just to keep interest up. I'll cover premium content in a later post.
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Monday, March 10, 2008
Recycling HMs
While I'm on the topic of auditions, I'll cover an issue I have with past HMs submitting videos to audition for this year's series. NOT ON! They've had their chance.
Videos were submitted by Paul (BB04), Vesna (BB05), and Cruz (BB07 White Room) to be housemates in BB08. How disappointing would it be to see a housemate return outisde of an All-Star series, or as some BB stunt.
Paul pointed out in his audition video that there was nothing in the contracts or terms & conditions stating a past housemate could not re-apply. Well, there should be! And if there isn't, producers should not even consider these applicants for another position in the show. What could an audience gain from having to vote out a housemate all over again? And it would give them an unfair advantage / disadvantage because audiences would already know a lot about them from Day 1, when we're trying to get to know all the others. And there are rules about discussions of past series of BB-- a rule that is important to prevent repetitiveness of series. This would be almost impossible to keep up if an ex-HM went in as a new housemate.
Let's hope this was just a cheap publicity stunt by BB to increase interest in the online voting process.
Videos were submitted by Paul (BB04), Vesna (BB05), and Cruz (BB07 White Room) to be housemates in BB08. How disappointing would it be to see a housemate return outisde of an All-Star series, or as some BB stunt.
Paul pointed out in his audition video that there was nothing in the contracts or terms & conditions stating a past housemate could not re-apply. Well, there should be! And if there isn't, producers should not even consider these applicants for another position in the show. What could an audience gain from having to vote out a housemate all over again? And it would give them an unfair advantage / disadvantage because audiences would already know a lot about them from Day 1, when we're trying to get to know all the others. And there are rules about discussions of past series of BB-- a rule that is important to prevent repetitiveness of series. This would be almost impossible to keep up if an ex-HM went in as a new housemate.
Let's hope this was just a cheap publicity stunt by BB to increase interest in the online voting process.
Auditions
Initially when the news came out that BB auditions would be changing I thought it would be great. Applicants submit a video and WE GET TO VOTE FOR THEM! It seemed like the perfect way to:
a) give the viewers a chance to have a say in the stars of the show;
b) give ESS a loophole when viewers complain about the HM choices!
A few issues arose however.
a) give the viewers a chance to have a say in the stars of the show;
b) give ESS a loophole when viewers complain about the HM choices!
A few issues arose however.
- Very few people actually submitted a video. Each year the producers say tens of thousands of people auditioned, however this year I believe under 1000 videos were put onto the website as contenders. Whether this shows the lack of interest in the show, or the laziness of HM-wannabes is unknown.
- The videos that were selected as contenders were BORING!!!! After all the information on how to make your video stand out, very few took the simple advice of just being open and honest. I wanted to see potential HMs talk about themselves and what makes them special. But most talked utter crap, in most cases with no shirt on. A 90 second video of you frollicking on a beach or playing your guitar does not sell you as interesting housemate material, given that the house neither has a beach nor a guitar!
For these reasons I ended up watching very few videos and voting for maybe only 6 or so. I say if that's the way it's going to be done, I'll let fate choose the HMs again, and I'll just watch the show for what it is with the HMs that are given to me.
One good thing to see was that there were older applicants, and I really think this year the show needs to include HMs from all age groups. And not 10 under 30s and 2 over-60s. They need a few teens, a few 20s, a few 30s, 40s, 50s, and overs! Really diversify it. It will help with the audience too. Older people (Channel 9 watchers) don't want to watch a bunch of 20 year olds.
It would seem the producers are not even happy with the way their audition process worked as it has been reported that people who did not submit videos or were not voted in the top 50 were still asked to come in for face to face auditions. And they left their definitions in the T&Cs wide open so that the "Top 2" that get a free pass into the house could be taken to mean several different things: highest rated, most number of votes in total, etc.
In the end, after what I believe to be a screw up in changing the audition process, I don't really care how the HMs are selected. I will either love them, or love to hate them. As long as they are not carbon copies of every other year.
Saturday, March 1, 2008
More Mike
Until just recently, this year of BB looked a little bleak for Mike Goldman. There are rumours of axing UpLate from the schedule altogether, and then the introduction of two new hosts. It looked as if he was going to only appear on FNL and voice overs on the Daily Shows.
But just this last week reports have come out saying due to Kyle & Jackie's radio commitments, they will only be available to host the Eviction shows, meaning Nominations and other mid-week specials may now be driven by Mike. He could even step in to host the adults only show in whatever format it may take. Of course with clips shows like Uncut or Adults Only have been, there is no reason Kyle and Jackie couldn't record segments from a Sydney studio, like Gretel did for the first 4 years of BB.
But Mike is a force BB can't stand to lose. He lives locally throughout the season, he appeals to the younger audiences, he is funny without a script, he is full of energy, and you can tell he really is interested in the show. He knows the housemates and what they have been saying and doing. He's not just an on-screen presenter, he is a fan.
Let's hope we get more Mike in 08!
But just this last week reports have come out saying due to Kyle & Jackie's radio commitments, they will only be available to host the Eviction shows, meaning Nominations and other mid-week specials may now be driven by Mike. He could even step in to host the adults only show in whatever format it may take. Of course with clips shows like Uncut or Adults Only have been, there is no reason Kyle and Jackie couldn't record segments from a Sydney studio, like Gretel did for the first 4 years of BB.
But Mike is a force BB can't stand to lose. He lives locally throughout the season, he appeals to the younger audiences, he is funny without a script, he is full of energy, and you can tell he really is interested in the show. He knows the housemates and what they have been saying and doing. He's not just an on-screen presenter, he is a fan.
Let's hope we get more Mike in 08!
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
K/J to Host in 08
So with Gretel and Big Brother parting ways at the end of 2007, Ten & ESS were quick to announce the show's two new hosts, Kyle Sandilands & Jackie O.
I was happy with this announcement, as I have been a fan of these two since their days on Austereo's Hot 30 Countdown, and followed them through to their drive time Kyle & Jackie O Show. I don't hear a lot of their radio stuff anymore because they do Sydney breakfast and I'm in Melbourne, but we get the 1 hour highlights show each day. One thing I can say for certain is they have built up a strong rapport over the years hosting the radio shows together, so their hosting of BB should come naturally and feel really comfortable right from the beginning. The last thing we'd want is audiences alienated on Day 1 with hosts who don't know each others' rhythms.
And who better to host Big Brother than Kyle, you might ask. Gretel has said from the beginning in interviews that she would never want to be a housemate. But Kyle has been there twice, albeit once a little too briefly. Kyle of course made it to the second-last night of Celebrity Big Brother in 2002 before (wrongly!) being voted out to leave Dylan Lewis and Jay Laga'aia in the finale. And there was his infamous special-guest/cross-promotion appearance in BB07 where he stayed for 1 out of the proposed 3 nights, insisted on taking the Rewards Room away from the FNL winner, refused to live by the housemates' rules, had a childish fight with Big Brother, forced his way out of the house, and left without an explanation to the housemates-- reportedly all because he was promised luxury foods and the ability to leave the house whenever he wanted to. Boo-friggedy-hoo! But that is Kyle for you.
Kyle and Jackie have already promised (with or without producers' knowledge) improvements to be made to this year's series, including the return of Adults Only content, in some form or other, and more diverse housemates, including some from the older age groups-- two things I'm sure will widen the audience of the series, as long as they promote these things before the start.
It leaves us with the question of how the evictions will be formatted to accomodate two hosts. Will they host different segments, or will they run the show side by side? We could see a whole different type of show if they split the hosting role and cut between them for a faster pacing. And the interviews could be a lot more daunting for evictees with two hosts ganging up on them.
I can see this possibly opening the door to a truly live launch show again, since one host can be getting ready with one housemate while the other is interviewing another. The show has gotten a lot of criticism from fans for the last 4 years pre-recording the launch show a day before it goes to air. They could even have a host on stage and a host at the house site doing two different styles of interviews.
You can't ignore the contrast in personalities w're going to see from them. You've got good-guy Jackie, who will probably be the loving mother to the housemates, and bad-guy Kyle who will criticise everything and be as up-front with them as he likes. This will also add huge diversity to the points of view we will get from the shows, instead of Gretel's one-sidedness.
I'm sure Kyle and Jackie will be much more friendly to the live audience. Having been to two live evictions I know that the audience doesn't see Gretel until the TV viewers see her, and during commercial breaks she is all wrapped up in behind the scenes stuff. Hopefully with Kyle and Jackie the format of the shows will be less rigid meaning less planning and memorising scripts to be done, and more audience interaction.
I can see great things coming out of the casting of these two in the lead role for BB this year. It is the make or break year, so hopefully the extra publicity and the new format and hosts will keep the show alive and stronger than it has been for some time.
I was happy with this announcement, as I have been a fan of these two since their days on Austereo's Hot 30 Countdown, and followed them through to their drive time Kyle & Jackie O Show. I don't hear a lot of their radio stuff anymore because they do Sydney breakfast and I'm in Melbourne, but we get the 1 hour highlights show each day. One thing I can say for certain is they have built up a strong rapport over the years hosting the radio shows together, so their hosting of BB should come naturally and feel really comfortable right from the beginning. The last thing we'd want is audiences alienated on Day 1 with hosts who don't know each others' rhythms.
And who better to host Big Brother than Kyle, you might ask. Gretel has said from the beginning in interviews that she would never want to be a housemate. But Kyle has been there twice, albeit once a little too briefly. Kyle of course made it to the second-last night of Celebrity Big Brother in 2002 before (wrongly!) being voted out to leave Dylan Lewis and Jay Laga'aia in the finale. And there was his infamous special-guest/cross-promotion appearance in BB07 where he stayed for 1 out of the proposed 3 nights, insisted on taking the Rewards Room away from the FNL winner, refused to live by the housemates' rules, had a childish fight with Big Brother, forced his way out of the house, and left without an explanation to the housemates-- reportedly all because he was promised luxury foods and the ability to leave the house whenever he wanted to. Boo-friggedy-hoo! But that is Kyle for you.
Kyle and Jackie have already promised (with or without producers' knowledge) improvements to be made to this year's series, including the return of Adults Only content, in some form or other, and more diverse housemates, including some from the older age groups-- two things I'm sure will widen the audience of the series, as long as they promote these things before the start.
It leaves us with the question of how the evictions will be formatted to accomodate two hosts. Will they host different segments, or will they run the show side by side? We could see a whole different type of show if they split the hosting role and cut between them for a faster pacing. And the interviews could be a lot more daunting for evictees with two hosts ganging up on them.
I can see this possibly opening the door to a truly live launch show again, since one host can be getting ready with one housemate while the other is interviewing another. The show has gotten a lot of criticism from fans for the last 4 years pre-recording the launch show a day before it goes to air. They could even have a host on stage and a host at the house site doing two different styles of interviews.
You can't ignore the contrast in personalities w're going to see from them. You've got good-guy Jackie, who will probably be the loving mother to the housemates, and bad-guy Kyle who will criticise everything and be as up-front with them as he likes. This will also add huge diversity to the points of view we will get from the shows, instead of Gretel's one-sidedness.
I'm sure Kyle and Jackie will be much more friendly to the live audience. Having been to two live evictions I know that the audience doesn't see Gretel until the TV viewers see her, and during commercial breaks she is all wrapped up in behind the scenes stuff. Hopefully with Kyle and Jackie the format of the shows will be less rigid meaning less planning and memorising scripts to be done, and more audience interaction.
I can see great things coming out of the casting of these two in the lead role for BB this year. It is the make or break year, so hopefully the extra publicity and the new format and hosts will keep the show alive and stronger than it has been for some time.
Sunday, February 17, 2008
It's Time To Go... Gretel
Gretel said it to over 100 housemates over the years, but who thought we'd be saying "it's time to go" to Gretel before Big Brother?
This is the first announcement we got about the new series, and it came only shortly after the end of the 2007 series. What better way for the producers to prove that the series is being refreshed than getting rid of the show's 7-year host?
Let's not pretend Gretel loved working on the series. It has been evident on screen that since 2004 when Kris Noble took over from Peter Abbott as Executive Producer that Gretel has been unhappy hosting the series.
How much clearer could it be when she took on the role of schoolmarm while hosting Uncut in 2005? After 4 years she suddenly started introducing segments by making the audience feel perverted for watching them! Was she told to do it? Was it supposed to be a good idea? This is when it became obvious that Gretel was over Big Brother.
It went on the last couple of years with her taking the side of most of the female housemates and publicly humiliating the more dominant males-- Glenn (BB05), Michael (BB06, though he deserved it). She even seemed to battle for the hosting role with Mike Goldman in BB06's FNL: The Prize Fight.
It was also perfectly obvious too that her hosting role had become nothing more than a 2-day-a-week job to her. While during the first years she knew all there was to know about housemates and events in the house, for the last few years she seemed to have little knowledge of what had been happening, even events that were covered in the Daily Show. Mike Goldman was obviously there long days, researching, rehearsing, and watching, but it seemed Gretel showed up on Sunday night to host her shows and had little other exposure to the series.
Things turned around in BB07 and Gretel seemed more relaxed in her role. She fired her old dresser and was decked out in more suitable threads. From the beginning it seemed she had convinced herself she was going to enjoy things more. Her interviews were better. She knew when to speak up and when to hold back. She laughed more and stopped treating the live audiences like a primary school class.
And then we were told she was gone. No one will know the real story. Of course the press release says it was a mutual decision between her and the producers. Did she resign? Was she dumped? Just how long ago had it been decided?
People say the show won't be the same without her. Of course it won't. In some ways it will be better, and in some ways it will be worse. But it will be different. And different is what they are going for this year. A fresh look to draw in viewers-- the fans will be back, viewers who gave up on the show will return, fans of Kyle and Jackie will join, the media will definitely be watching, and with good promotion the rest will be drawn in by curiosity. With new hosts we can not possibly expect the same old format.
This is the first announcement we got about the new series, and it came only shortly after the end of the 2007 series. What better way for the producers to prove that the series is being refreshed than getting rid of the show's 7-year host?
Let's not pretend Gretel loved working on the series. It has been evident on screen that since 2004 when Kris Noble took over from Peter Abbott as Executive Producer that Gretel has been unhappy hosting the series.
How much clearer could it be when she took on the role of schoolmarm while hosting Uncut in 2005? After 4 years she suddenly started introducing segments by making the audience feel perverted for watching them! Was she told to do it? Was it supposed to be a good idea? This is when it became obvious that Gretel was over Big Brother.
It went on the last couple of years with her taking the side of most of the female housemates and publicly humiliating the more dominant males-- Glenn (BB05), Michael (BB06, though he deserved it). She even seemed to battle for the hosting role with Mike Goldman in BB06's FNL: The Prize Fight.
It was also perfectly obvious too that her hosting role had become nothing more than a 2-day-a-week job to her. While during the first years she knew all there was to know about housemates and events in the house, for the last few years she seemed to have little knowledge of what had been happening, even events that were covered in the Daily Show. Mike Goldman was obviously there long days, researching, rehearsing, and watching, but it seemed Gretel showed up on Sunday night to host her shows and had little other exposure to the series.
Things turned around in BB07 and Gretel seemed more relaxed in her role. She fired her old dresser and was decked out in more suitable threads. From the beginning it seemed she had convinced herself she was going to enjoy things more. Her interviews were better. She knew when to speak up and when to hold back. She laughed more and stopped treating the live audiences like a primary school class.
And then we were told she was gone. No one will know the real story. Of course the press release says it was a mutual decision between her and the producers. Did she resign? Was she dumped? Just how long ago had it been decided?
People say the show won't be the same without her. Of course it won't. In some ways it will be better, and in some ways it will be worse. But it will be different. And different is what they are going for this year. A fresh look to draw in viewers-- the fans will be back, viewers who gave up on the show will return, fans of Kyle and Jackie will join, the media will definitely be watching, and with good promotion the rest will be drawn in by curiosity. With new hosts we can not possibly expect the same old format.
Friday, February 15, 2008
Introduction
"Hello. My name is Andy. I am addicted to Big Brother."
Well, that's how they start off in group therapy, isn't it? Isn't a blog really just a kind of group therapy? You become addicted to something, it takes over your life, you realise you have a problem... and you start a blog on the topic. It's an outlet.
And that's what this will be. My outlet for everything relating to Big Brother. I'll concentrate on the 2008 season, especially once the promotions get under way, but I'm sure some past things will come up over the course.
I'm running behind already because the hype started early this time around. So over the next few weeks I will cover off the following issues:
- Gretel's removal/resignation
- Kyle & Jackie O's appointment
- Where that leaves Mike Goldman
- The rumoured changes to the format for 08
- The new audition process
- My trip to the Gold Coast to see the BB07 house
- And more!
I hope you enjoy what I have to say. Please leave comments if you have them.
- Andy.
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