How It Should Be: Launch Show

The BB Launch Show has come under fire for the last few years for not being live. Last year fans streamed audio and text messages from the audience of the show the night before being broadcast, causing producers to stop taping the show. Will this change this year? Does it really matter?

Sure, the live atmosphere makes it more interesting because you know you are meeting the housemates as everyone else does. However you lose the ability to then show clips of the first night in the house after the housemate introductions.

Plus we are fairly certain now the launch will be broadcast, whether live or not, on the Monday night after the SYTYCDA finale the previous night. How will this affect the ratings after so many Sunday night launch shows?

But here's an idea for the producers to use. Why not pre-record the show during the day on Monday? Show the live stream of the taping on the official website so fans who have paid for premium content can watch it live, and this will even prompt more fans to pay for the live feed. They're not exposing themselves to information being leaked in the press overnight because the show will be aired only hours later. The cut down version of the show from earlier in the day is shown on TV from 7:00pm. AND, between the housemates entering the house and the time of the broadcast, BB has asked the HMs to get into some "getting to know you" activities: a BBQ, some drinks, etc. So from say 8:30pm an edited down and censored version of this stuff is played to the TV audience as "Day 1's Daily Show".

Anyway, what should the Launch Show contain? Well, we need to go back to the hosts taking us through the House for the first time. Not the steadicam man running around. It's OK to pre-record this like Gretel and Tim Ferguson did in BB03, but with 2 hosts now, plus Mike Goldman available, why not do it "live". And there's no need to run around so we barely get to see anything. Maybe show us the house room by room throughout the show.

Also, I'm a fan of the awkward house entry where HMs meet each other one by one as they go into a holding room. But we have seen this for the last few years. BB07 tried a different approach with the all girls, then all guys, and watching each other's entrances. But maybe for something different we could have all the HMs meet each other and enter the house at the same time, like back in BB02. This also saves on meeting a HM, then watching the previous HM enter the holding room, then repeat over and over.

I like the HM introduction method they use, with the pre-recorded clip, followed by an interview with the host(s).

Finally, where should they stage this? A stage built outside the house has been done before but exposes them to the elements and it will surely rain if they do this. If they are rebuilding the stage in the amphitheatre from scratch and want to show it off as part of their fresh new look, then why not just stick to using the amphitheatre! It has a lot more audience capacity and facilities.