One of the more frustrating aspects of Big Brother has to do with the CBS broadcast schedule. I've complained for years and years about their rigid schedule of events that are shown in each episode. Let's break it down:
Sunday. Outside of a flashback or two, the entirety of this show comes from less than 24 hours of feeds. The show begins where Thursday's live show leaves off (7 pm Big Brother time), and concludes with the nominations held on Friday afternoon.
Wednesday. This episode covers less than 72 hours of footage, starting where Sunday's episode leaves off and concluding with the POV meeting held on Monday morning. A good percentage of this episode is the POV competition, and quite often the last 24 hours of this time frame is squeezed into one short segment before the POV meeting.
Thursday. This is where it gets ridiculous. Eighty hours or so of activity is squeezed into ONE ten-minute segment. Ok, sometimes there's a portion of another segment devoted to house activities, but they rarely handle this part of the show in a realistic manner. It's all designed to make us think the decision to evict is up in the air, which is rarely the case.
To be fair, there have been seasons where little needs to be shown after Monday's POV meeting. The decision has been made, and everybody just waits around for the live eviction. That's not been the case this season. Look back to two weeks ago when Becky wanted Vanessa out. Wednesday's episode ended as if this was a done deal, and Thursday was edited in such a way that made it look like she saved herself with just a couple of conversations. Live feed watchers know this wasn't the case at all. It took a lot of work from a variety of people, and ultimately it wasn't even Vanessa's manipulations that saved herself.
Outside of that ocassion, Monday afternoons are generally when Vanessa does most of her work. This week was a perfect example. She pretty much had private meeting with everybody in the house, and the decision between evicting Steve or John has changed multiple times over the last 48 hours. Equally frustrating and intriguing, her manipulation of Austin and the twins is something that should be shown to the viewers. The insipid rock/paper/scizzors idea that she just came up with NEEDS to be shown. Instead, we're bound to see only short conversations held with the two nominees, along with diary room footage where she (and others) proclaim this to be a tough but important decision.
How can producers fix this? That's the tough part. The obvious fix is to get rid of the nonsense. Recent episodes have relied too much on silly stuff, such as Steve talking to the cameras and James pulling pranks. Maybe more of the Thursday evictions can be dedicated to house material. The family segments and interviews with former "legends" can be cut. A couple of minutes can be saved by that uncomfortable time the house watches the evictee's picture go to black and white. Julie Chen's insipid interviews can also be minimized.
What do you think? Do you wish the broadcasts better reflected house action?
I used to watch BBAD but quit a couple of years ago because of the whispering. That's what I've complained about over the years. Who puts on a show where the actors purposely keep the audience from hearing them? Now, that's stupid.
ReplyDeleteHow many times have we listened to the announcer tell us what happened previously, followed by clips of the things he just told us? Skip those clips and you would have time to show something new.
ReplyDeleteWhy don't they just do an hour and a half show on Thursdays. That seems to be the most problematic day according to your formula. Some people may not like it, but it's just an idea.
ReplyDelete