Big Brother

Television Seven Network
1970

It comes from post 19 on this forum:

1971
2 Likes
1972

Well I don’t watch any of those shows regularly, in fact rarely, so I guess it will be different for me. :slight_smile:

1973

dont kill me but I dont mind that promo. for a bit of no brain entertainment it looks OK. I do miss the whole getting to know all sides of a person and the public vote though.

5 Likes
1974

I agree it’s a good ad

1 Like
1975

News Corp was given an exclusive first look of the BB house. While Seven’s press release mentioned the housemates did their own washing, cleaning and recycling, the report said they also had to live off basic food rations and limited hot water in the bathroom (how cruel). The nomination challenges took place in the backyard or an area called The Basement.
https://www.heraldsun.com.au/entertainment/confidential/exclusive-look-in-big-brother-house-after-production-sent-into-chaos/news-story/9d6d99472e25eb179a209d4d9462e7c8

In an interview with Mediaweek, Seven’s director of production Andrew Backwell revealed that Endemol Shine had tweaked a 16-39-year-old skewing show into a show targetted at 25-54 demographic, through changes like casting. He also said the winner would receive $250,000, but hinted at twists with how the prizemoney would be won.

1 Like
1976

There we go. From young-skewing to ‘family-friendly’. That’s going to go down well.

Indoor Survivor all over again.

3 Likes
1977

But unlike Survivor, housemates had more chances to win more luxury food iteams through house tasks.

1978

This is going to flop big time. 7 already have the 25-54 crowd. They should have been trying to get some of the 16-39 group back.

1979

That’s basically the same as the Survivor reward challenges.

1980

Strongly disagree with the bolded statement. Think Backwell is insulting the intelligence of the ‘average viewer’ by suggesting they “wouldn’t accept” a program which airs nearly-daily for two months considering they still do that for programs like MasterChef and MAFS.

If anything, a ‘traditional’ Big Brother would be ideally suited for 2020 considering what such a format could do with things like social media and streaming.

4 Likes
1981

Blackwell’s statement about 25-54 target is completely contradictory to the network’s aim of skew younger. Sounds like the network don’t even know what they’re doing.

Think he has no idea and is out of touch with the audience, just like most Seven producers and programmers in recent years.

1 Like
1982

Yes and I’d also take issue with the “like it to be much slicker” section too. People consume video through so many forms nowadays that slick doesn’t really mean much at all.

1 Like
1983

It’s clear they don’t know what they are doing when you look at some of their scheduling and programming decisions lately.

1984

That interview makes it seem like that the show will be very boring. Also this statement shows he has learnt nothing from 9’s overly family friendly version:

Don’t expect to see couples making out!

Network FTA primetime is now mostly all about wholesome values with nothing too edgy going to air. “We have been very careful to make this a family show,” said Backwell. “ There is nothing we will broadcast that would stop viewers watching it with their children. That is one of the advantages of having a pre-recorded season.”

Um, MAFS is one of the biggest shows on TV right now and is far from wholesome.

4 Likes
1985

What’s the point of Big Brother then? Is this guy deluded?

2 Likes
1986

Even down to the episode structure which ensures there’ll be an eviction every episode. Quoting from the Mediaweek interview:

Each episode of Big Brother now takes place over several days with Endemol Shine being able to control the storytelling and the pace.

Blackwell is right - Seven’s target audience is now the 25-54 demo. Quoting James Warburton from their upfront last year:

From here on in we will be fierce. We will invest 30% more in content on our tentpole programs at 7.30pm. We will program Seven 52 weeks of the year. We will target people 25-54 and we will invest in programming Sunday to Thursday.

1987

Is there any confirmation if the 20 episode count includes the live finale? or if it is 20 pre-rerecorded elimination episodes + a live finale? And if there is only 20 episodes all up and 20 housemates, and 3 finalists, that means theres 3 too many episodes to have an elimination every ep. Unless there are going to be non elimination twists, a chance for an evicted housemate to return (probably unlikely due to coronavirus). I doubt there will also be any intruders due to coronavirus either.

1988

Someone else who is insulting the ‘average viewer’s’ intelligence is producer Amelia Fisk. This quote below from an interview published in the Nine newspapers today is Fisk discussing how this season is entirely pre-recorded:

Big Brother has always been edited, it’s just now ours is a longer edit," Fisk says. "We are crafting a series that can stand up against the other shows and their production values. So we’ve got a whole post [production] team that’s looking through over 66 cameras’ worth of vision.

"Audience are savvy, they want more bang for their buck. So we need the production values, we need to scale, we need to create a house on the edge of the world.

I find the argument being made by those involved with the current iteration that viewers now wouldn’t ‘accept’ a ‘traditional’ version of Big Brother to be really puzzling. I believe they definitely would if it’s done right

5 Likes
1989

By pre-recording a series like Big Brother so far ahead of schedule they’ve pretty much lost all of their production values. Gone are the authentic happenings in the house and now we’ve got to put up with some manufactured drivel.

Seems like they’ve got the wrong hands on the show.

4 Likes