House Sneak Peak

The official Big Brother Facebook page has just released 7 photos of the BB House renovations. Based on these photos and the latest Nearmap aerial photo of the site, here are some observations:

• Some of the garden has been planted with tropical plants against dark grey garden walls.
• It looks as if the House interior has been extended into the south-east corner of the former garden area. The structure looks like an airport with a high rounded roof and tall windows. Timber studs attached to the old structure make it look like a new false wall will be mounted to the building.
• The old White Room / Aeroplane Simulator entry area has been converted into the exterior of a weatherboard house with eaves, guttering, and a tiled roof. The Holiday House Lanai area seems to have been walled in with the same eaves overhanging. This whole area could have been converted into a separate indoor House area. The Holiday House Garden area has been extended to the south, and the entire area decked around the existing pool from BB08. This could be a "backyard" for the Weatherboard House.
• There will be a pool with a round spa on one side. From the aerials, this could be in the location of the BB03/04 pool in the middle of the yard which has been dug up again.
• There is an interior photo of a modern-looking curved, slatted ceiling and wall.
• There is an interior photo of an empty corner (big help, guys!) and some sheets of small, white, square tiles on the floor that could be for a bathroom or kitchen area.
• The Friday Night Live Arena has been removed, and the north-east camera run looks like it is being rebuilt.

Goldman Heard, Not Seen

Its now been officially announced that Mike Goldman will be back on BB this year, as revealed on his website credits. The Age have now confirmed in an interview that he will narrate the series but will have no on screen presence this season.

New TV Spots

Nine are using the huge ratings expected for another of its reality shows, The Block, to launch new TV advertising for BB.

The original "You'll be surprised" teaser ad launched alongside The Voice finale episode. Now during The Block we've seen two new spots.

The first suggests finalisation of casting and features people looking to the sky and out of office windows to a huge eye logo with the voiceover "This is Big Brother. It has been decided that there will be Housemates from Melbourne in the Big Brother house".

The other features Scott Cam and Sonia Kruger announcing a new house coming to 7:00. The red Block house logo changes to blue to match the previous BB ads and they promise to turn the Big Brother house "upside down". Sonia then starts inexplicably doing the Big Brother Shuffle. (Ok, she can dance already!) Who knows if the upside down concept could possibly be literal in some way.

Season Tag Line: "Think again."

The official BB Facebook page has been revealing print ads recently. The ads feature the characters from the TV teaser ad covered with a red "REJECTED" stamp and the tag line "Think you know Big Brother? Think again."

Obviously the focus for this season is casting over any other gimmick or twist. We could get a true back to basics season this year which would be fantastic. Let's hope they are looking at a good age spread of HMs this year too.

Mike Goldman's Website Confirms Return

Mike Goldman's official website has been updated to list "2012 Big Brother" in his credits. This confirms the series' former voice artist, warmup guy and host to be returning for the new season. In what capacity he will be involved is still unknown.

Mike narrated Daily Shows for all eight previous seasons, was the crowd warmup guy for most of the series' live audience shows, hosted Big Brother UpLate from 2003-2007, co-hosted Friday Night Live with Ryan and Bree from 2005-2008, and even co-hosted a Live Eviction show with Jackie O in 2008 when Kyle Sandilands was unwell.

Mike was always more in touch with the show and the fans than Gretel, and his return in any capacity will be welcome.

The Ratings Test

Channel Nine's The Block is currently keeping Big Brother's timeslot
warm, or is that HOT?

The Block is enjoying nightly ratings of around 1.5 million Mon-Thu,
around 1.1m Fridays for The Block Unlocked, and almost 2m for its Sunday
Room Reveal show. The Block has already been renewed for a 2013 season,
and rumour is possibly two seasons next year.

Once The Block finishes next week, it gets replaced by Nine staple The
Big Bang Theory repeats at 7pm until The Olympic Games begin three weeks
later.

The question is, can Big Brother sustain this kind of audience? It will
be very interesting to see what the Opening Night ratings look like,
followed by what the "curiosity factor", as well as production, format,
and casting, do to subsequent nights and weeks. Can the BB experiment
work for Nine and get renewed for another season?

David Spoofs BB Flashmob Ad

David Campbell has spoofed Sonia Kruger's Big Brother flashmob TV ad on their show Mornings, but wait for 2:20 when Sonia shows him how it's really done.