surfgranny

I don't think Ranster is a shill. The posts are pretty much in line with the tone of the board and don't stick out like a sore thumb. Of course, shills used to be easy to spot. They posted threads like, "Gigli rocks, bi-hatch!" and "For shizzie... Mickey D's chicken selects are off da hizzie." Now shills post in all-ready existing threads as if they were just like the regular members. Sometimes it's easy to tell because they're trying too hard to be "hip" and "cool" to try and win us over with typical teen or internet slang. This used to result in many a severe flaming of the shill to which they wouldn't respond. They'd just go with it trying anything and everything they could to push their product and get that new video game. Those days are gone because shills fight back now. They won't go with out a struggle and they will bring the whole board crashing down with them to push their product. I have friends who work at these marketing firms where they write fake reviews and give kids things like IPods to create buzz for their product on the internet. The kids they hire are net-savvy and couldn't give a rats' arse about the product they're hawking. All they want is to get that promised prize or paycheck and they're familiar enough with the web to pull it off - most of the time, anyway. It's not easy, but media shills still leave some tracks: -The reviews are designed to sound like a fan's ramble and intentionally contain odd phobic remarks and extremely exaggerated reactions, sometimes with slang that is oh so last year. Example: "Howie is such a hottie!!!!!!!!!!!!! I hope he keeps his butt to the wall when he's around Beau. Can't stand that girly-man, but the real guys are da bomb!" -The reviews are never completely positive. They usually start with gushing hyperbole in favor of the show or film tempered with a mention of it's shortcomings. Example: "Big Brother 6 has the coolest cast I have seen in years. Yeah, they may talk about farts all day, but who cares when they are so hot and so funny?" -The ending of the shill's post often includes a statement aimed to spin any negative talk on the board. To the multiple discussions on this board about the homogenous cast they might say, "The biggest surprise is how great looking everyone is. It's amazing how even though it is a young, hot cast that it is so diverse with a Muslim, a lesbian and so on. Believe me, they cast it right." -The shills are often instructed to post right around the same time as real test screenings (of movies) so they webmasters will assume they are genuine. Here it might go like "I know someone who's on the cast and he is hot. I can't wait for the season to start."

ALL of them! Then I'd bring in some past hgs and do an allstars. At least we know they'd be interesting. OR - better idea - replace the cast with the regular posters in this forum. Now that is a cast that would ROCK! Are any of you eye candy? (I'm not).

Now THAT would be a twist worth watching! AMEN!!!!!!!!!!!!

I don't think people know each other. It probably seems that way because it's moderated very well without a lot of flaming and personal attacks. I've only started posting this season, but I've read the board and Morty's recaps for the last few years. For me, this year's show is not nearly as interesting as this website is.

They played the theme on the live feeds? That WOULD get annoying! :shock:

If you saw last night's show, they portrayed Kaysar as a devout Muslim, showed how he gets up @5:30 every morning to pray, showed him saying he was going to be true to his faith even in a cutthroat environment like the BB house, yet the live feeds show him to be more of a frat boy than a choir boy. He uses the F word frequently and says things like he's "into pussy." They didn't show Ivette's gossipy backstabbing or April's catty comments. They showed about as much of Howie's sexual commentary as they could. They didn't show much of Michael at all. They showed Rachel going ape over Jennifer locking her out of her room but that wasn't discussed here in the live feed forum - which means there was probably fish at the time.

You are soooo right! Old folks, fat folks, wierd folks - their demographic doesn't matter nearly as much as their personality or interaction. Variety probably would have added some spice, but unless it works together, the show is gonna flop as bad as this dish is with all the same ingredients. Yana: Are you working for CBS? I'm not trying to be a smart-ass here, but I've heard that BB has hired people to "create buzz" on the Internet by going into chatrooms and on message boards to talk up the show. Most of the discussion on this board has been of disappointment in this season or cautious optimism that the show might get better. While I agree there are some special perks in the (not so) secret room, I can't see a safe or nice chairs holding America's interest too long.

Sorry, Depeche, I was making a joke about the whole thread, not bashing you. Apparently it came off different from my intentions. I'll try again, in non-cavalier language: Nudity or not, the show and the cast still needs to be good. I personally liked Jack, but apparently CBS had other ideas. The BB producers obviously don't feel he was good ratings - otherwise why all the eye candy? No one over 50 has appeared on BB since, which if you've been reading this board, you know I think sucks. My point is, nudity won't boost ratings - interesting cast interaction would. Albgardis has confirmed my concerns: This year's cast is beefcake and bimbos and boring as all hell. If they'd gotten interesting bimbos or interesting beefcake, it might have been a different story, but it is not. I don't think nudity would save this season.

Big Bro music was before the Jimmy Kimmel music - shows you how original Jimmy Kimmel is. I don't hate the new music, but I have to admit that when I heard the old music @ the start of the show, I would feel some excitement in anticipation of seeing what we'd read about on Morty's. What I don't like about the new music is that shows that are jumping the shark usually change their music as if a new theme song is gonna get more viewers. Trading Spaces has changed so much trying to get more viewers and instead they get less. nebartist is right - people don't watch the show for the music. If they wanted to "fix" something, they should have started in the casting department!

This year's forum is more interesting than what's going on in the house. I've been a regular fan of Morty's site for the last few seasons, and this is the first time I've ever posted more than one comment. If the season stays the way it is so far, maybe they ought to give one of us or Morty the million bucks for lasting the whole three months!

Why don't you watch the Australian feed for their BB show instead? That oughtta satisfy your "needs." Would you feel the same if Jack were on this season? :shock:

Hmmm, a guy who can't stop wanking and loves to talk about it in a house full of girls with fake boobs - sounds like a kid in a candy store. It's only harrassment if it's unwanted. From what I read, these bimbos seem to thrive on it rather than be repulsed by it. Oh where oh where are the HGs of yore that would have let Howie have it!!!! :shock: Can we lobby CBS for a real twist, like a cast substitution for one of the siliclones?

http://www.myspace.com/thejamesrhine James is from Florida - he goes to school in Georgia. Morty's idea of a sequester-v-house scenario is a hell of a lot more interesting since it would last a lot longer than just a twist of them figuring each other out and finding a "hidden" room. Maybe the CBS producers will read this thread and get a clue of how to salvage this season. Of course, if they read Morty's ideas last year, they missed a prime opportunity to spice things up with more twins or bringing Holly back as Molly.

The ones who got mad at Kaysar for deigning to want clean air when he's eating have shown how little class they truly have. The boys back @ the frathouse would be so proud.

Yup, that's true because last year Morty reported that Marvin didn't want to be on the jury because if he needed to go back to work before the game was over, he'd lose all his $$$.

LOL! Now on a serious note, Julie has a degree in Broadcast Journalism from USC and as a journalist, she has taken a lot of flak from her colleagues for doing the BB hosting. She's been portrayed as blurring the line between between entertainment and news. Maybe she wants to leave the Big Bro house and move on from morning anchor to something bigger, I hear Dan Rather's job is still open because the guy in there now is just temporary. I like her as the host and it wouldn't be the same w/o her. If she does go, wouldn't it be a kick to get Paige Davis the host who got fired from Trading Spaces for making a tape of her having sex with her boyfriend. At least she and Howie would have something in common - oh no, wait - he was alone!

Yeah, but a decidedly few do it in a room full of strangers and even fewer do it on a live national television feed. He's been there a week, not three months. You'd think he'd still be conscuous that the cameras are there. Howie, the Randy Handyman needs a hobby north of his waistline. :shock:

Dairy Room!!!! Never thought about lactose intolerance but you did! That is too funny!

It's because they don't have anything else to talk about. They can't really talk too much about their lives because it might give away their partnership. They aren't much different from each other so they really don't have anything to pique their curiousity - remember Cowboy asking Will if he dressed in women's clothing? Between the twist and the cast's lack of diversity, they're pretty limited to convos typical of fratboys, five year olds or middle school mall sluts.

Yeah, the twist means they can't really hook up w/ anyone there - since they're either there w/ someone or the one they might hook up w/ is there w/ their main squeeze. What's a poor, horny, red-blooded frat-boy dumbass like Howie to do???

It's like the casts on these shows put people into categories and vote off the ones that are different. Last year, it was Nakomis because she wasn't the typical houseguest and Mike because he was the old guy up first. If they were smart, they'd vote off their competition first like they did on Survivor last season.

Very true. Hopefully things will change, but experience tells me they showcase the characters right from the start. I think they're in the house for awhile before the first show - like a week. If this first show is the best of a whole week then we're in for a long summer. :roll: I remember hating Kent and Autumn right from the start in BB2 because she trolled for sympathy (hoping to to manipulate others because she's a single parent - boo hoo) while was an arrogant moron. Made the show interesting because I had someone to root against right from the start.

Hadn't thought about the restricted airspace - it makes sense. Didn't someone's boyfriend send a message in a plane once cuz he was upset with how his girl was flirting in the hottub? I'm really familiar with the Burbank airport area and several studios are clustered around there, including NBC, Warner Bros and Disney. Uni Studios and the CBS studios are a little farther away but in the hills just south of the airport. CBS studios are pretty much in between both airports, but Burbank is inland in the San Fernando Valley while LAX hugs the coast on the other side of a mountain. LAX flights all must approach and depart over water due to noise restrictions which is why even flying east from LAX one gets a nice view of the ocean and coast before heading back in the right direction. http://local.google.com/maps?li=lmd&hl=en&...&hl=en&ie=UTF-8 The image is a satellite picture of the route from the BB house to LAX - note the round-about route to get over the mountains.

The biggest difference between the guys that I can see right now is their sexual orientation. I suspect more than just Beau are on the down low. There isn't much difference in the way they look either - four have hair, two don't, and all six have similar builds. No one I see now is as hot as Drew was last year, but that could be because next to Cowboy, just about anyone would look like a stud. Thank goodness for Morty's archives!

When CBS moved the house location, they must have moved it to a part of the lot nearest the Burbank airport (aka Hollywood/Burbank). LAX is a long drive from there (1-2 hours, depending on traffic). You think their sound people would have clued them in.