Why I Love "Big Brother"

Hi everyone!

At risk of sounding like a total reality television junkie (though I'll admit that most of the shows on my DVR this summer have been Bravo-based) I want to devote today's entry to my newfound love for "Big Brother." I'm late to the BB party. After thirteen seasons here in the U.S. and countless versions overseas, this season (the 14th) is the first I've seen. And I'm hopelessly, unequivocally, irredeemably hooked. Here's why...

"Big Brother" is like a cross-pollination of MTV's "Real World" with a healthy dollop of "Survivor." You've got your standard twelve or thirteen house guests, ranging in age from early 20s to early 40s, living for an extended period of time in a giant set made up to resemble an adult version of Pee Wee's Playhouse. Cameras installed throughout the 'house' are running 24/7. Every week, these house guests are subjected to a series of ridiculous and oftentimes thoroughly humiliating challenges all of which are designed to pit the house guests against each other in pursuit of rewards that include Head of Household, Power of Veto, and the like. Each week, two players are nominated for eviction. In order to maintain their presence in the 'house,' these players must coordinate, manipulate, brownnose, and convince each week's Head of Household that they deserve to stay in the house. The Head of Household, who gets to live in the 'penthouse' and at least so far seems to conduct most of his or her business while lying half-naked in bed, changes each week.

The challenges so far this season have included leaping across giant rotating beds designed to knock them onto the floor; dressing up as giant Dorito chips while fishing for menu items in giant vats of salsa, guacamole, and melted cheese; and (my personal favorite) engaging in bizarre and suggestive workout routines dressed in 1980s gym clothes right out of Olivia Newton John's "Physical" music video.

The current cast includes Shane, an impossibly tanned 'house flipper' who appears to have an unhealthy obsession with his hair and walking around with his shirt off; Ashley, a bleached blond spray tan technician who is actually smarter than she looks or, for that matter, acts; Ian, a likable though nerdy college kid with limited social skills; and Danielle, a registered nurse who for reasons I've never quite been able to figure out has told everyone she's an elementary school teacher.

This season, four returning 'champions' or runners-up--Mike "Boogie", a 40-something master manipulator; Dan, a high school football coach; Janelle, a bottled blonde Amazon from Minnesota with a bad temper; and Britney (my personal favorite), a girl who seems to have a heart of gold and talks in an occasionally annoying nasal whine--have come to the house to coach the newbie house guests. Each coach is in charge of three house guests and are vying for a rather large sum of cash if one of their particular proteges wins the overall competition.

When they aren't competing in physical challenges, the house guests and coaches seem to spend most of their time lying or sitting around the house, strategizing and striking deals, eating inordinate amounts of junk food, and talking trash about their fellow contestants.

While NBC does a good job editing the thrice weekly primetime broadcasts (one of which is a live show on Thursday nights where one contestant is evicted from the house), what's almost more fun to watch (and gives the viewer a better sense of why the show is called "Big Brother" in the first place) is the live broadcast on Showtime 2 that runs from 11pm CT to 2am CT seven nights a week. I've been checking in for an hour or two before bedtime. This is pure unadulterated reality television, completely uncensored. And while it is only intermittently interesting--last night most of the house guests sat around the common room playing with Play Doh because there was nothing else to do and joking about the fact that they doubted anyone was watching the Showtime live feed--the viewer does get a clearer sense of the ongoing personality clashes and rivalries between everyone in the house. There's an awful lot of backstabbing and, especially with the coach Janelle, bitchiness. Last night, for example, Danielle was close to tears as she complained it seemed to anyone who would listen that Janelle told her she was, essentially, too tall and too fat to win the competition. Britney, who has her own issues with Janelle, agreed that "Janelle just likes to hurt your feelings." Also (and this seems more key to the actual competition) the very gay and lovable Wil has apparently had several run-ins and a blow-up with his coach Janelle over something she said to him a few days ago. None of this is evident on the NBC primetime broadcasts.

What cracks me up is when scolding directives pipe over the intercom from "Big Brother" admonishing the house guests for not wearing their microphone, telling them not to talk about production, telling them not to sing, and to report to the Diary Room. You don't hear this on the primetime broadcast, which is unfortunate because what these nightly live feeds provide is a sense that these contestants really are living in a fish bowl, a completely artificial environment utterly removed from the outside 'real' world, dominated by sheer boredom. I almost get claustrophobic watching them.

Tonight we've been promised a 'major twist,' the contents of which have been a source of endless nervous speculation among the house guests all week. I think the coaches are going to be asked to relinquish their coaching duties and become actual competitors with the newbies. I could be wrong but that's the feeling I'm getting.

So why do I love "Big Brother"? More than any other reality show on television, "BB" demonstrates the lengths to which people will go to win a lot of money and proves that regardless of age, trash talk and backstabbing seem inherent to human nature. When you get fifteen or so people locked in a confined environment for weeks on end with little else to do, it is amazing how quickly things devolve into a Lord of the Flies scenario. But those kids on that island didn't have Play Doh to pass the time...

Ciao.