Who would you like to see on BB7?

[Brekkie Boy]

Digital Spy is confirming today that CBS have renewed Big Brother for Summer 2006: http://bigbrother.digitalspy.co.uk/article/ds8587.html

US 'Big Brother' confirmed for seventh season

Filed: 12:56, Oct 12 2005 by Neil Wilkes

The US version of Big Brother will be back for another installment next summer, Variety said today.

The confirmation of a seventh season is the earliest renewal for the reality show, which normally gets the nod in January.

"This gives us a lot more time to plan for and work on Big Brother 7," said co-exec producer Allison Grodner. "That's particularly helpful given the producers' desire to add new twists to the game each season."

Julie Chen is expected to reprise her hosting duties for the new season.

What I can't believe is they spend ALL year working on the twists - surely it didn't take them from January till July to come up with the PB&J pass?

[GingerSnaps]

Brekkie, is the show originally from the U.K. or U.S? thanks.

[BBFan]

You are so right! The "summer of secrets" was really disappointing. I would like to see more surprises regarding the eviction of houseguests.

[Lynnmurr]

I would really like to see crazy, last minute twists regarding competitions, HOH and POV. I think all of their "twists" are so vanilla and USED UP. Although I TOTALLY loved Kaysar being put back in the house, I don't know if that's really all that fair. At the same time, it really throws a loop into strategy.

[Brekkie Boy]

Brekkie, is the show originally from the U.K. or U.S? thanks.

Neither - it began in the Netherlands in 1999, with versions following shortly in Germany and Spain before the UK and US got in on the act.

Big Brother USA launched in July 2000, sticking with the original Dutch format of having 9 or 10 people locked in a house for 100 days, with nominations one week, evictions the next.

About a week later the UK version launched, but the format was adapted to what has become the international standard, with nominations and evictions every week.

In the wake of Survivor BBUSA was deemed a flop, so a new team came in for BB2, rewrote the rule book and gave birth to BBUSA as we know it today!

[Ivy]

Well, gee, I hope these few extra months give them the time they need to shake this show up. I was really disappointed with the 'summer of secrets'.

I hope BB 7 has a nice variety of houseguests -- and I really truly hope that NONE of them know each other. - No twins, no pairs, no exes.... Just however many compete, diverse strangers, they think they need to have.

And I really hope they can come up with more different types of challenges, and scrap the question and answer ones. Yeah, I know they're easy, and probably cheap to set up and do, but they really are a yawn for us fans. They are just poor challenges, when so many of them end in a tie. And, the tie breaker questions too -- ugh -- closest without going over.... thought I was watching 'The Price Is Right', a few times!

I would like to see more food challenges. A pb&j pass might have been a pretty cool thing, if she had been able to use it more than once!

I'm hoping for a better 'everything' next season!

I was so happy to find a thread where no one is bashing BB6 houseguests, or each other!

[Guest Shockalot]

Neither - it began in the Netherlands in 1999, with versions following shortly in Germany and Spain before the UK and US got in on the act.

Big Brother USA launched in July 2000, sticking with the original Dutch format of having 9 or 10 people locked in a house for 100 days, with nominations one week, evictions the next.

About a week later the UK version launched, but the format was adapted to what has become the international standard, with nominations and evictions every week.

In the wake of Survivor BBUSA was deemed a flop, so a new team came in for BB2, rewrote the rule book and gave birth to BBUSA as we know it today!

Thanks Brekkie.. yes I remember the 'phenom' that was Big Brother Netherlands and will never forget the look on the gals face when she walks out of this seclusion to throngs of mad fanatics cheering in the streets.

I think you are also very much correct to say that BBUSA paled in comparison to the hype that was the American Survivor.

BBUSA did not really do that bad at all in the rating - but - alongside that monster it appeared weak.

Now here is my next question.

I do indeed remember seeing the original Brit version of 'Survivor' and like BBUSA1 I still think of it as a favourite in a 'purist' sense.

However

The very original 'Survivor' was (I believe) called 'Robinson Caruso' and I keep thinking it was Swedish???

Can anyone clear me up on this?

[a_l_o]

Well, gee, I hope these few extra months give them the time they need to shake this show up. I was really disappointed with the 'summer of secrets'.

I hope BB 7 has a nice variety of houseguests -- and I really truly hope that NONE of them know each other. - No twins, no pairs, no exes.... Just however many compete, diverse strangers, they think they need to have.

And I really hope they can come up with more different types of challenges, and scrap the question and answer ones. Yeah, I know they're easy, and probably cheap to set up and do, but they really are a yawn for us fans. They are just poor challenges, when so many of them end in a tie. And, the tie breaker questions too -- ugh -- closest without going over.... thought I was watching 'The Price Is Right', a few times!

I would like to see more food challenges. A pb&j pass might have been a pretty cool thing, if she had been able to use it more than once!

I'm hoping for a better 'everything' next season!

I was so happy to find a thread where no one is bashing BB6 houseguests, or each other!

I agree that BB7 needs to have 14 total strangers it makes the game more intersting on who's actually going to make alliences. And there needs to be a bigger variety of the types of games being played. Nobody wants to watch the houseguests answer questions all the time. It gets boring. Lets just hope BB7 has some interesting twists. There shouldn't always be POV that would make the game a little more interesting if it was every other week. Well that's just my thought.

[Angelo Joe]

Thanks Brekkie.. yes I remember the 'phenom' that was Big Brother Netherlands and will never forget the look on the gals face when she walks out of this seclusion to throngs of mad fanatics cheering in the streets.

I think you are also very much correct to say that BBUSA paled in comparison to the hype that was the American Survivor.

BBUSA did not really do that bad at all in the rating - but - alongside that monster it appeared weak.

Now here is my next question.

I do indeed remember seeing the original Brit version of 'Survivor' and like BBUSA1 I still think of it as a favourite in a 'purist' sense.

However

The very original 'Survivor' was (I believe) called 'Robinson Caruso' and I keep thinking it was Swedish???

Can anyone clear me up on this?

Sweden's Expedition: Robinson

http://www.realitytvworld.com/index/articl...tory.php?s=2425

[Guest Shockalot]

Sweden's Expedition: Robinson

http://www.realitytvworld.com/index/articl...tory.php?s=2425

Thanks Angelo.

Well I guess my memory is more or less steady hehe.

I had forgotten that the very first person evicted from the very original 'Survivor' did indeed commit suicide a while later.

It seems to me they looked into this and found the person had a lot of issues not necessarily anything to do witht he show experience.

Even still, it was a warning and I think they instituted psychiatrists right away on all these reality shows.

BBUSA contestants are given a full year of no-cost psychiatric counselling when they enter the game.

I did enjoy the British Survivor (also I dont think it was called that either so thats another question) but it was shot more as a 'Documentary' and I might be 'losing it' because Im pretty sure it was over a year?

At least I keep thinking it was longer than three months??

I guess like BB1USA it just seemed more 'real' and featured more 'everyday' types of people including older, younger and none who had 'Agents' or worked on their 'Abs' for the show.

No 'gimmicks' either and more of an interesting social experiment rather than a 'eye candy' and jerry springer quality.

I guess Burnett should get credit where its due - he looked at the ratings in the UK.

Jerry Springer was Number one and his show was .. well somewhere in between.

Combine both concepts and SMASH HIT!

Shapiro seems to have figured this out too eheh.

[Jem]

What I can't believe is they spend ALL year working on the twists - surely it didn't take them from January till July to come up with the PB&J pass?

LMAO! That was the best laugh I've had in a couple of days. Sorry, carry on.

[Gorilla]

Here is the #1 Twist I would like to see on the next installment of Big Brother....

Using Real people again instead of celebrity wannabes they find through agents and who don't even have to try out or apply for the show.

[Guest Shockalot]

Here is the #1 Twist I would like to see on the next installment of Big Brother....

Using Real people again instead of celebrity wannabes they find through agents and who don't even have to try out or apply for the show.

I think almost all of us will agree with you on that one Gorilla!

I also go along with Jem and Brekkie on the senseless, mindless PB&J thing.

Yes.. I understand there is a psych principle to invoke their base emotions and jealousies.

Problem is the PBJ thing is so predictable now even to the houseguests who really dont care anymore. If anything it just makes half of them more tired and bored than anything.

I dont think it will hurt if a few of us send some well thought out plans, ideas and twists?

Sometimes they really do read emails and take them seriously.

Personally I thought the 'secrets' idea was awesome 'in theory' but due to the wackjobs in that house it was quickly overshadowed and never quite captured anyones imagination.

A PBandJ pass in a sandwich.

Ugh.

More hidden rooms, more secret listening spots.

Whatever they do.. PLEASE NO MORE WANNABE ACTORS AND MODELS PLEASE!

[_nursie]

was i the only one who thought the new house and the 'summer of secrets' was going to mean maybe secret intercoms in the house? but all they had was the 'spy screen' with no sound....being able to REALLY listen in on others supposedly 'private' conversations would have been a big secret

and yes, no more peanut butter and jelly, unless they are going to make them all do it for the whole three months

[SamtheTVwatchingCat]

Here is the #1 Twist I would like to see on the next installment of Big Brother....

Using Real people again instead of celebrity wannabes they find through agents and who don't even have to try out or apply for the show.

Ha ha - yeah, I've been wishing for this all season. But I wonder whether we really know what we really prefer. Like we all like to think it's what's inside that counts, but really we all want to date somebody who's hot too.

Supposedly James was one of those models with agents who was courted by producers and didn't have to compete with the general pool of applicants, and he was great. On the other hand, Maggie was a 'real' person who never would have done this show if not for Eric, and she was boring as heck. So I don't know what would really make for a good show for sure.

Like I liked having older guys like Jerry (BB3) and Jack (BB4) on, but were the odds pretty much stacked against them from the start because they were different from the rest of the contestants? And Howie was a real applicant who was certainly entertaining, but so dumb it was frustrating when he allowed himself to be egged on by Maggie into turning against his own alliance. And then there was Eric who was a real conversation piece for us all, but a disaster-waiting-to-happen like him would never make it past the 3rd or 4th week. So do we want people who have better game, or are we just content to be entertained by people who represent the extremes in all of us? I don't even know myself anymore!

But yeah, we should definitely write to CBS with our ideas (let them figure it out ). I know The Apprentice on NBC was actually asking viewers to submit task ideas after season one, and they've always managed to keep the show pretty fresh ever since.

[Slowpoke]

The only other BB I've watched was BB Croatia. And not that awful much of it......

But - from what I did see.... they had a lot of week long challenges that were really intersting to watch.

Very innovative too. I'd love to see some of that here.

It'd be a lot more interesting for us to watch... and for the HG's to deal with.

The HG's can still scheme and plot while they're involved in something other that eating, sleeping and seeing how they look in the mirror.

And... I wonder if anyone still wants to send in their applications .... since the last two seasons or so were X's or partners, or wannabees with agents ?

Just think of all those tapes that people spent a lot of time on to apply for the show.... what a waste !

[Guest Shockalot]

but so dumb it was frustrating when he allowed himself to be egged on by Maggie into turning against his own alliance

For the last bloody time.. Howie and Kaysar wanted James out because James was switching 'alliances' or rather playing them.

KAYSAR CONSTANTLY GOADED AND 'INSTRUCTED' Howie to DO THIS.

HOWIE had settled on James BEFORE talking to Maggie!

It probably worked too.. Howie got a lot farther than he might otherwise have gone.

STOP saying it was 'stupid' and Howie was 'stupid' or the Maggie made him do ANYTHING.

She did not.

Grrrrrrrrr

[SamtheTVwatchingCat]

For the last bloody time.. Howie and Kaysar wanted James out because James was switching 'alliances' or rather playing them.

KAYSAR CONSTANTLY GOADED AND 'INSTRUCTED' Howie to DO THIS.

HOWIE had settled on James BEFORE talking to Maggie!

It probably worked too.. Howie got a lot farther than he might otherwise have gone.

STOP saying it was 'stupid' and Howie was 'stupid' or the Maggie made him do ANYTHING.

She did not.

Grrrrrrrrr

Aarrrrggghh!!!!!

As I was writing that sentence, I had this little voice in my head thinking 'gosh, I hope nobody complains that Howie wasn't stupid for nominating James, blah blah blah'

What-everrrr - I stand by my statement

[Guest Shockalot]

Its ok Sam.. it was just a flashback is all.

Good luck on the thing

Back on topic.. Yes, BB7 is a 'Go' and I still havent seen the final 'numbers' on the ratings for this season.

Last I checked they were very good when compared to the rest of TVdom?

[Brekkie Boy]

I did enjoy the British Survivor (also I dont think it was called that either so thats another question) but it was shot more as a 'Documentary' and I might be 'losing it' because Im pretty sure it was over a year?

At least I keep thinking it was longer than three months??

Well, you could be refering to numerous shows.

We had two series of Survivor, one last 40 days and 40 nights with 16 contestants, with the next series being slightly shorter with 12 contestants. Most UK reality shows aren't edited in the same way as US reality shows (in other words "badly", ) but are more done in chronological order.

This was axed as it wasn't a huge hit for ITV, but did get ratings they would die for today! It was replaced by "I'm a Celebrity - Get Me out of Here!", a celebrity reality show which runs nightly over two weeks with 10 celebs living in the Australian Outback.

In week 1 viewers vote for the celebs they want to do the "Bush Tucker Trials" to win food for the group, with week 2 seeing viewers vote for their favourite celeb and the one with the least votes being evicted until we have a winner.

Series 5 begins next month, and though the first three series were big hits, series 4 wasn't a massive success and had become quite repetitive, with many former challenges reused!

There have been other series. You may be thinking of Castaway 2000, a year long BBC series in which strangers formed a community on an isolated Scottish Island.

There were also three series of Shipwrecked on C4, where groups of 16-24 year olds spent a couple of months on a desert island.

These were both just about surviving the conditions, with no evictions, winner or grand prize. Five years since the last series though Shipwrecked is due to return in January, with a new format which will see two teams and one eventual winner!

Back to Big Brother

I think the main problem with BBUSA is the twists have little impact upon the actual format. With the more successful series such as BBUK, you see that the most successful twists are the ones that involve a major twist to the format, with changes to the process of nominations etc.

For example, this year our first big twist saw one randomly selected HM have to get themselves nominated for eviction (by the majority of other housemates, who each nominate two people for eviction) to win immunity!

[dantheman5283]

i defenetly think they need to add more to the show...did you guys knowtice this year that they stopped showing the food comps, and any luxery comps... it was the same thing every episode...HOH comp...Veto Comp...Elections...Eviction..every week... its getting kind of boring....they kept saying it was a summer of secrets..but seemed like they didnt really come up with very many ideas for the secrets in the house...and not very many twists....

[Guest Shockalot]

Brekkie:

You may be thinking of Castaway 2000, a year long BBC series in which strangers formed a community on an isolated Scottish Island.

Thank you!... that was on the tip of my tongue and I couldnt spit it out hehehe

That was the one I followed.. until I left back to Canada and never did get the ending although I caught up via internet reports later.

I might be mixing up programmes in my mind but Im pretty sure that featured (at some point) Teams and competitions to build things like gardens and whatnot (can you grow anything in the outer hebrides i dont know)

Ya, I always assumed that was the first Brit version of Survivor but I am glad you cleared that up.

I cant even begin to rationalise what was the original 'Idol' anymore but I know in Canada it used to be called... 'Pop Stars' I think.

Yep.. I do think that BBUK has been a lot more creative in competitions.

I personally have never been interested in the competitions of BBUSA that much but now they have become downright boring and predictable.

I would very much like to see twists like 'TRY to get nominated'.

Quite a few people here have come up with suggestions to curb the typical alliances that form.

- Mandatory bedroom assignments for example.

- I would even be interested in seeing them start the show in uniforms like the 'Mao' 'Worker Suits' which goes a lot more to the theme of Big Brother anyway.

There are really all kinds of great ideas seen on these boards but I suppose ratings must be dictating they have all 27 year old models in bikinis and shorts playing a 'volleyball' competition?

[Brekkie Boy]

Re: Castaway - hardly watched it but I expect from the nature of the show and competitions etc were basically things the community did to pass time, rather than challenges set by the production team.

Re: Idol/Popstars - for legal reasons I'll say they are completly different!

Popstars began in Australia around 1999/2000. The aim of the show was three judges toured the country holding open auditions to pick five members of a band.

The show aired in the UK on ITV1 in 2001, with "Nasty" Nigel Lythgoe amongst the judges. He went on to create Pop Idol, which aired later that year.

Pop Idol introduced the live show element, and also the concept of the hosts attending the auditions. In fact they weren't supposed to be there, but UK hosts Ant and Dec went along to a few and filmed footage themselves meeting contestants, which ended up being used as a key element of the audition shows. This was the show gave the world Simon Cowell, who went on to create his own talent show.

Pop Idol has effectively been axed by ITV in the UK, with no plans for a third series. It's been replaced by The X Factor, now in it's second series. Judges Sharon Osbourne, Simon Cowell and Louis Walsh judge at auditions around the country open to any solo artist or group over 16.

After the auditions each judge is assigned a category - either 16-24, 25 and over or groups, and hold bootcamps to select acts in their category. The number of acts at bootcamp is cut to 7, who then go to the judges homes for the final round before the auditions, with 4 acts in each category progressing to the live shows.

The live shows work in a similar way to Idol, but with a twist. The two acts with the least votes face the Judges Showdown, singing one final time before the judges vote for who they want out of the competition.

The BBC had a rival format, basically a cross between Idol and Big Brother with 12 singers moving into the Fame Academy, living their 24/7 as they prepare for the weekly live shows. The twist in these shows is that the other contestants choose which of the bottom two (chosen by the public) are voted out! The regular version of this has been axed, but a Celebrity version crops up every two years for Comic Relief and performs alot better. Strictly Come Dancing, what you know as Dancing with the Stars, effectively replaced Fame Academy in the Saturday night schedules.

Anyway, I've gone majorly off topic but I'm sure at least one of you might be interested!

[crappysucks]

Here is the #1 Twist I would like to see on the next installment of Big Brother....

Using Real people again instead of celebrity wannabes they find through agents and who don't even have to try out or apply for the show.

Definitely agree with you here gorilla! Glad to hear the confirmation that my favorite reality show is coming back (if there was any doubt!)

[GingerSnaps]

Neither - it began in the Netherlands in 1999, with versions following shortly in Germany and Spain before the UK and US got in on the act.

Big Brother USA launched in July 2000, sticking with the original Dutch format of having 9 or 10 people locked in a house for 100 days, with nominations one week, evictions the next.

About a week later the UK version launched, but the format was adapted to what has become the international standard, with nominations and evictions every week.

In the wake of Survivor BBUSA was deemed a flop, so a new team came in for BB2, rewrote the rule book and gave birth to BBUSA as we know it today!

Thank you Brekkie for all the info. I never knew this, very interesting. I never did see BB1 either. I started watching second season...i was hooked after that.