Big Brother’s Big Review – 2015

Big Brother’s big changes could be make or break for the show in 2016.

 

 

2015 for Big Brother. It’s been okay. January’s celebrity outing was certainly controversial, with Katie Hopkins and Perez Hilton taking centre stage. Of course, we shouldn’t forget Ken Morley’s early ejection, the Jeremy/Chloe incident and Alexander O’Neal’s ejection from the house due to homophobia. It also proved to be the highest rating series on Channel 5, a record only set the year before. Katie Price won the series in the end, some would say undeservedly, but at the end of the day she did provide a lot of entertainment (well, for me at least anyway).

 

A breath of fresh air was certainly needed after such a whirlwind of a series. Alas, May rolled around with the announcement of Big Brother: Timebomb – an interesting idea for a theme to say the least, made more interesting by the fact that it was launching a month earlier than usual. A glossy advert and a steampunk-inspired eye had my hyped up for this launch. But it was a bit flat to be honest. One by one the housemates went in, until the obligatory launch night twist was announced. After being teased as a “Big Brother first”, SHOWBIZZZZZ Simon ended up being evicted after only being in the house for around half an hour. A predictable yet sad twist of fate. Yet, it was alright as the series got off to a good start. The first two weeks were a breather from the drama-heavy Power Trip series from last year. A lack of twists, manufactured conflict and some fun tasks were very enjoyable to watch. Unfortunately, viewing figures did not agree, with the series rating much lower than the year before.

Then it happened. What can only be described as one of the worst nights of Big Brother history, the #4In4Out fiasco was a desperate attempt to claw back viewers. Originally, the housemates nominated normally in the Diary Room as usual. However, it actually turned out that Jack McDermott (who had topped a popularity poll the week before and turned down the chance to walk away from the show in exchange for a car) was to be told that those who were nominated were actually immune, and that those who weren’t nominated were up for eviction. It was then announced to viewers that 4 housemates would be evicted, and 4 housemates would be going in. Everyone’s first reaction: “why?” It made no sense to do this after the great atmosphere in the house, yet the producer’s mentality was exposed in one simple quote from Emma Willis on the night “You were all being nice so we had to do something”. The night itself was an utter shambles. All I’ll say is that I hope the Timebomb Machine burns in hell.

#4In4Out – the night that killed what had the potential to be a classic series.

 

#4In4Out sort of set the precedent for one of the most shambolic series of civilian Big Brother I’ve ever seen. Constant nominations twists, more outside contact, manufactured conflict and the return of Helen f***ing Wood do not make for a good series in my book. Yes, it had some fun moments, but all of that was overshadowed by the constant nastiness brought in by producers. Thankfully, the controller of Channel 5 Ben Frow has now banned Helen Wood from any of its programmes but for me it’s a case of too little too late. It was also the first series in the UK franchise to feature no regular set of nominations – an absolute shambles. Anyway, Chloe Wilburn won the near £116,000 jackpot (the largest cash pot in the show’s history, but down from the original £150,000), but unfortunately the damage to the series was already done – it was the lowest rating in the show’s history. I can only hope that the producers have learnt from the many, many mistakes made in this series so that they never repeat themselves again.

TL:DR – I didn’t like Timebomb that much.

 

Thankfully, the civilian series ended in July, which meant that we got around a month’s break from the show before the summer CBB launched. If I’m honest, I don’t usually get excited for the summer celeb. I think its overkill and a waste of money. Personally, I vastly preferred the pattern on Channel 4 of one celebrity series in January and one civilian series in the summer. However, I was pretty pumped for this one. As previously mentioned, we had a month’s break before it launched meaning that there was a bit more hype around this one.

The summer celeb series did not follow the previous civilian theme as per the norm (thank god). Instead, the producers decided that because Hopkins vs Hilton was so good in January (by the way, Team Perez) that they should make a theme in their honour. Thus, UK vs USA was born. I’ll admit, at first I had my reservations about this theme. After all, by the end CBB15 was just a drag to watch. But eventually my mind came around, especially after watching the gloriously tacky trailer. Also, the announcement that live feed was going to be returning on week nights was good to hear. Signs of improvement were visible.

Let the battle of the nations commence

The launch was – well… Let’s just never mention the cheerleaders and Queens guards again (also, the incredibly lame twist of shooting footballs out of a glitter cannon). But a lacklustre launched proved to not put too much of a dampener on this series. The (usually mediocre) summer series this year proved to be one of the best series of CBB on Channel 5. Housemates such as Janice Dickinson, Fatman Scoop, James Hill and Austin Armacost provided enough drama that the producers didn’t really need to stir. Of course, they did on a few occasions (revealing nominations to the house, face to face noms and a Weakest Link-style eviction twist that saw Farrah leave the house), but one of the biggest shocks was to come from the obligatory secret house. As per a normal fake eviction, Farrah and Jenna were told that they weren’t actually evicted and that they were going to spy on the housemates. What they didn’t know was that the joke was on them, as the rest of the house were let in on the secret and told that if they didn’t get nominated by Jenna and Farrah, they’d be, well, nominated. I was a bit perplexed by this twist at first, but it turned out to be brilliant. An unusual take on the (usually) predictable twist payed off with huge results.

James Hill from The Apprentice won the series in the end. Not the winner I’d have chosen (I wanted Janice to win), but a deserving one none the less. But has my opinion changed on whether two celeb series a year are needed? I’ve reverted back to being unsure. The idea of CBB outnumbering BB next year repulses me, but if civilian BB continues to be awful then some light relief will be very much needed. However, if it was down to me then I would axe the summer CBB and reinvest the money back into improving the January CBB and summer civilian series.

 

So, 2015 in Big Brother. Again, it’s been okay. Not a stellar year by any means but it’s had a few classic moments. So what’s worked? If I’m honest, not a lot. This year to me has sort of felt like Big Brother: Power Trip – The Sequel. Nastiness has been at the forefront of most of this year’s series. It was only on a few occasions that we got to see some niceness; Perez and Nadia’s relationship, the first two weeks of Timebomb and James and Austin’s bromance spring to mind. But all of that has been completely overshadowed by the nastiness that has taken centre stage; Hilton vs Hopkins, Marc (and Helen) vs rest of the house, Helen’s “murderer and a rapist” comments to Big Brother legend Brian Belo, Helen Wood in general and Farrah and Jenna’s arguments with Janice and the rest of the housemates. The production team still need to find the right balance of fun and nastiness and not just try to stir things up. Big Brother is at its best when they just let housemates get on with it, not when it’s trying to create drama with tasks such as “who said what about…” and “here’s what this viewer thought in this tweet”. Tasks like that aren’t fun to watch.

This year felt a lot like Big Brother: Power Trip – The Sequel

Constant twists are also currently a problem. As previously mentioned, Timebomb was the first series in the UK franchise to feature no normal set of nominations. Instead it was full of constant twists; face to face nominations, reversing nominations, tag nominations, only Timewarp hosemates nominating, showing nominations to the housemates etc. The twists are just boring. All the viewers want to see is regular nominations. Yes, they’re an important part of the show, but as a viewer I would prefer to see more house highlights rather than just constant twists and squabbles over said twists. It’s an endless loop of recycled bad ideas and constant drama.

A simple solution for this; adopt Big Brother Australia’s system of nominations. Here’s how it works; each housemate has five points in which to nominate two housemates. They do this in a soundproof glass box in a room with all of the other housemates in it known as the nominations chamber. However, one housemate is granted the nominations superpower. This is a weekly twist that gives the chosen housemate an upper advantage with their nominations. This could range from the ability to spy on other housemates nominating to gaining an extra 5 points to nominate with. In BBAU, the housemate granted the power was chosen by that week’s evictee but the public could vote for it should we adopt this system of nominations.

 

Moving on, in my opinion, a complete rethink of the format is going to be needed for 2016. If this show wants to continue and be successful, it can’t go on the way that it’s going.For starters, no more themes – all they do is circle the problems that the show currently has. A house theme is okay – but the series itself does not need a theme or a subtitle.

 

Now, let’s tackle the drama issue. The best way to tackle this would be to reintroduce a full online Live Feed. That way, the viewer can choose to dip in to the action whenever they want, rather than having to wait for the highlights show. It also lets the viewer form their own opinions, rather than that of the edit which is hugely favoured towards the most outspoken housemates. If cost is an issue, perhaps they could host it on YouTube (after all, it’s free to do so). I also know a large amount of viewers would be willing to pay to access live streaming. It’s an essential part of the show that’s been missing for too long.

 

Editing is also something that needs vastly improving. Firstly, the warnings at the top of the show. Up until CBB15, all programme warnings regarding Big Brother were taken care of by Channel 5 continuity (this is still the case with live shows). Why the sudden change to a card at the top of the show with Marcus Bentley giving the warning (pictured below)? This honestly needs to revert back. It’s just unnecessary and takes away more time that could be used to show more house highlights.

This used to be read out over idents before the start of the show – so why has it become a part of the show instead?

Moving on, let’s take a look at the opening VT. Now, I’m not against having these at the top of the show. For the casual viewer it’s good to get a recap of events that you might have missed. However, this tends to be far too long and very over-produced. They rarely give a good insight as to what’s coming up in the show – only the arguments. They’re also full of terrible text effects, cheesy lens-flares and an over-excited Marcus Bentley shouting over most of the clips. Sure, it’s supposed to give a high-budget movie trailer vibe, but it just screams Windows Movie Maker. They would be a lot better if they just got straight to the point – a short clip of a small segment of what is coming up in the show (basically, how it used to be on Channel 4). As for the ‘COMING UP’ segments, they just need to go. They waste time and spoil the next part of the show!

 

Now for the editing of the highlights. First of all, can we scrap the music video montage of the housemates waking up? It really cheapens the show and, again, wastes time that could be used to show more highlights. Oddly enough, the waking up montage is scrapped on eviction nights for the reason that I just outlined, so why can’t they ditch this on a regular highlights show?

The name tags. They do serve a purpose… in the first few weeks. After that they’re really not needed. It just adds to the TOWIE-style editing that’s just not needed with a show like this. I think that after watching the housemates for 6 weeks we can figure out who everyone is. So again, for the first couple of weeks they’re alright as we’re still getting to know everyone. After the first few evictions though they need to disappear.

My main point here is that the editing of the highlights shows just needs to be stripped right back. No cheesy graphics, no Marcus Bentley gags, no TOWIE-style editing. After all, this is Big Brother – the original and the best reality show.

The name tags are okay for the first few weeks, but after that they just need to go.

 

I shall now look at tasks. For this, I shall be splitting this part into three sections; editing, shopping tasks and producer-manipulated tasks.

 

Firstly, the editing. This has to improve. For starters, for the tasks that we do see, they’re either put into a letterbox frame or made into music video montages (much like the top of the show). I’m not objected to there being a bit of fun with the editing but compressing it so much to the point that the task itself is ruined is just stupid. Just show the task as it happened with a light backing track. There’s no need for silly graphics, lens flares, or Marcus Bentley’s ‘commentary’.

Now for shopping tasks. What happened to these? It seems like the fun shopping tasks have just been pushed aside in favour of more drama-orientated shopping tasks which no-one wants to see. It’s either that or tasks that just involve gunge or Big Brother attempting to be I’m A Celebrity. The simpler tasks are the better tasks. Just look at the box task from Big Brother 6, or for a more recent example the “in the dark” task from Big Brother: Timebomb. Both are very simple ideas that payed off massively. Now I’m not opposed to the more elaborate tasks but I’d just like them to be more creative than “let’s get the housemates to guess this and if they get it wrong then they’ll get gunged”. I’d also like to see more shopping tasks that are longer than one day and make use of the house more than the task rooms.

Time now to look at tasks that are manipulated by producers to stir up drama in the house. These just need to go. They’re not needed at all. Just let the housemates create their own drama rather than trying to stir it up with “guess who said this about this housemate” or “is this viewer tweet real?” Tasks like this just aren’t needed and are a big problem with this show at the moment. Forced drama is not what Big Brother is all about – in fact, it’s the one thing that makes me want to switch off! So again, please just ditch these tasks and let the housemates create their own storylines rather than trying to push one for voting revenue.

 

Stepping away from tasks, now it’s time to look at the live shows. Since I have a lot to say at this point, I feel that it may be easier to just bullet point rather than try to form a paragraph for each point. The problem will be in red and my solution will be in green. So, here goes:

• A pre-recorded house tour on launch night or sometimes no house tour at all.
• A live house tour on all launch nights.
• Marcus Bentley shoehorned into every live show at any given opportunity (introducing Emma as she walks out of the eye, reading the voting T&Cs, shouting at the housemates to leave “IMMEDIATLEY”/”YOU ARE THE WINNERRRRR”).
• Emma can read the voting terms, Big Brother could introduce her (or there could be no introduction at all) and tell the housemates to leave the house.
• Gags in the script like “a house transformation that would give Bruce Jenner a run for his money”, “our security is tighter than Calvin Harris’ abs” etc.
• Just don’t include gags in the script – no one finds them funny.
• Strange camera angles (shots of the sky, zoom ups on the screen, random shots of the crowd).
• Just stick with basic angles – there’s no need for the angles mentioned above.
• Random graphics (‘VOTING NOW FROZEN’/’VOTING NOW CLOSED’ across the whole screen/housemate photos taking up half of the screen on launch night).
• A simple strap in the lower thirds of the screen would be perfect for this rather than taking up the whole screen.
• Sounds/jingles being used when they’re not needed (the underscore theme seems to be used every 5 minutes now when it was only ever used on the live final before 2010).
• The underscore over a link to the ad break is fine, but scrap the jingles. They were never used in Channel 4 live shows and aren’t needed today.
• The tension theme being played over the eviction announcement.
• Use a lighter tension theme and play the main one when the housemate leaves (as was on Channel 4 for 11 years).
• The crowd booing/chanting over every interview making it hard for the evicted housemate to have their say.
• Either tell the crowd to be quiet or build a separate studio away from the house (perhaps in the workshop that currently houses the control room?)
• Housemates best bits following the same pattern (housemate enters/clip split into three frames, housemate has fun, housemate gets into argument/letterbox/greyscale mode with dramatic music, housemate has happy time/montage of happy times/other housemates in the Diary Room saying how great they are/housemate leaves).
• Get creative with the best bits – actually show some of the housemates best bits in chronological order rather than the mess that is outlined above.
• Live specials being very anti-climactic (e.g. fake eviction re-entrances where the housemates are just shown a VT and that’s about it).
• Get creative – think of other ways to give the show more of an eventful feel.
• Live finals feeling very rushed – the parade of the ex-housemates being scrapped, only a few minutes of highlights being shown & the final evictees/winner being given five minute interviews.
• Extend the finale into a 2 hour/1 hour 45 minute show or split the finale into two shows. Give it more of an event feel (Lip Sync Battle could help with this – perhaps a Big Brother special similar to the 8 Out Of 10 Cats BB specials).

I think that I’ve covered everything there, but if I’ve missed anything out please feel free to leave a comment or tweet me and I’ll add it in if I think it’s a problem. I’ve also made a few videos on how to tackle some of the problems in the past. If you’d like to watch them, the links are below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFOhMIuaeAI

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2wya4j_big-brother-uk-possible-eviction-sequence_tv

 

I’d like to add one more point before I move on from live shows as well – a new set would be fantastic. We’ve had the same set for nearly 5 years now, so a refresh is desperately needed. It’s time to knock down the stands, build a smaller eye, ditch the curved stairs and build a separate studio away from the house. This will also make it easier to adapt the set for each series like Channel 4 used to do.

 

I’m now going to quickly look at the spin-off shows before I move on to my final point. BOTS either needs vastly improving or scrapping. I’m not sure whether the change in production this year meant that the standards of the show went downhill, but most of the time it was unwatchable. However, the host is not the problem. Whilst I have been vocal about my dislike of Rylan on BOTS, watching him present Most Haunted Live and This Morning has proven to me that he is a more than capable host. So, I shall repeat. Either change the format of BOTS or just scrap it. A revival of Big Brother’s Little Brother would also be fantastic – perhaps fronted by Matt Johnson. I’d also like to see some form of reunion show or a similar show to the I’m A Celebrity – Coming Out programme for when the series is over. Oh, and if another Big Brother Best Bits series is going to be made, either include the Channel 4 clips or don’t bother.

 

Finally, I’d like to look at fan-engagement. More specifically, online fan engagement. Fan engagement is something that Big Brother could be doing very well, but at the moment it isn’t. Obviously there are many solutions to this but I would like to focus on just one – the Big Brother app. There is so much potential there that isn’t being fulfilled. In my opinion, a bolstered Big Brother app with daily updates from the house, a live feed, free app voting (similar to all of ITV’s shows) and a Fifth Judge-esque game (which could open the door for more sponsor revenue) would not only keep fans engaged, but it would enhance the experience that fans get once the highlights finish on Channel 5. Second screen apps are something that a lot of other shows thrive off, so it’s about time Big Brother got in on the action.

 

A bolstered Big Brother app could pave the way for more online recognition for Big Brother.

Well, that’s about it. All I’ll say now is that Big Brother needs to change if it wants to start being successful again. Perhaps the past two years of falling viewing figures and negative fan opinions will finally open up Channel 5 and Endemol’s eyes up to the problems that need changing. After all, Big Brother is a show that many still care about and want to be successful. Big Brother just needs to get back to what it does best and make use of the many opportunities that it heralds.