networker

Yes, that was Nicolas Bechtel. It took a little time for me to recognize him without a jacket, tie, or overwhelming arrogance.

I am also not a Zach fan and I felt the same way about the mission. I didn't like the idea of missions that could be used to hurt the games of other players. Since I saw how one of Zach's ways of entertaining himself was to make other people feel bad, I must admit that having him bear the brunt of this made me less annoyed by it. Similarly, TA knew that Zach thought it was fun to hurt other people's feelings so they immediately went to him for the TA "start a fight at a ceremony task." As soon as TA heard what the mission was, they saw Zach as the embodiment of Chekhov's gun and all the previous days as the first part of the play.

I took "player" to mean "good with women" since they showed his little strip performance when they said it.

CBS added time to the season due to the low ratings of Extant. That series finale was supposed to air during CBS's premiere week, but when it became clear that it wasn't going to draw an audience they burned it off early and moved Big Brother. I believe the network always had this as an option since it is my understanding that the houseguests knew the season might last longer than they originally thought.

A Team America player has to win the game to earn the extra $50K. I thought it was interesting that they mentioned the Caleb/Amber situation, but did not show any clips of it.

No, there have been several seasons without the houseguests having sex with each other. The first official sexual activity was with David and Amanda in season four.

I feel the same way about this. I loved hearing the final two discussing the jury questions, their own reactions, and their perceptions of the jurors' responses to their questions. I still have fond memories of Adam and Ryan wandering around the house, partially amped up and partially dazed. I also think that if the final two could go either way for a juror the old style question left them better able to make a decision. In addition, the final two could defend and explain their games better. The poor final juror is experiencing a whirlwind of emotions and is told to make a decision in minutes. The new format is just all around bad for me.

Okay, I know that I should have been more interested in this year's players, but I loved that they showed Jeff and Jordan's squirrel discussion. That cracked me up when it happened because Jeff was adamant that a squirrel was a bad choice and Jordan was just as adamant that squirrels were great.

I'm going with the theory that production was prepared for the harsh reception that Aaryn would receive and controlled the audience. I don't think they expected Christine's reception to be so harsh and they were blindsided.

I had the same thought initially, but then i realized that the other players didn't know what Derrick's answer was. They couldn't have thrown it without that information. I thought the same thing. They probably prepared somewhere between seven and ten of those. Christine has compared herself to Britney with the Brigade before. I never understood this because Britney did not even get to the finals. Being the last female in the house doesn't guarantee you more money unless you are sitting in one of the final two chairs.

I wouldn't say they were long-time co-stars. Grandes's "Cat" was from the series Victorious and McCurdy's "Sam" was from the show iCarly. The characters were brought together for the new show which lasted one season. Both shows were from producer Dan Schneider who some may remember as one of the students on the show Head of the Class.

For the record, I remember the comedian Flip Wilson doing a drag character called "Geraldine" from when I was a small child. His television program was a weekly network show. I just wanted to make sure that we have enough generational cover to show that Frankie's statement is idiotic for virtually every age group that could be watching this show. This season is starting to remind me of the Survivor: Tocantins season. Almost everybody seemed to be playing for J.T. to win. These people seem to be playing for Derrick to win. They don't think they can beat him, but they are not trying to eliminate him.

I have to agree that Ariana did not need promotional help from Frankie. By the time Big Brother started, she had already had a Billboard hit last year, performed for the President and the First Lady at the White House, and appeared on national television shows (American Music Awards, etc.). Funny note: One of my friends is a bit older than I (early to mid sixties) and I asked her if she knew Ariana Grande. She said, "Sure, she's the girl who was one of the singers at that White House performance along with Patti Labelle, Melissa Etheridge, and a few other strong female singers." I had forgotten that the White House performance had aired on PBS until she reminded me.

I would certainly not use the term with anyone who requested that I not do so, but during my upbringing with my parents (in Tennessee) the use of the term was not related to the age of the person I was addressing. It was simply considered a polite form of address. Thanks for the insight.

Please explain why this form of address is offensive. I admit that I was raised to use it (as well as "sir") and I was unaware that some may find insulting.

I remember that several years ago the HGs were saying that the stipend was $750 per week. I don't know when it was increased to the $1000 per week that it seems to be now.

I don't think that Zach was as bad as some of his fellow HGs, but I was always annoyed with his desire to attack people because it would be fun for him. I remember watching other people (Frankie, Derrick) talk him out of planned attacks to preserve some sort of harmony in the house. This was why Team America chose him for the "start a fight at the nomination/veto ceremony" task. They knew he thought attacking people was fun so it was incredibly easy to use him as a weapon. The problem for TA was that they did not point their weapon at someone who responded in kind.

Agreed, but I think that some of the players were also concerned about the final 3. The public would vote for the winner and I don't think that people wanted to be viewed as "sinister" players because of it. I believe that the lack of strategic play was partially a desire to be viewed as a "good" person and because they just wanted to get rid of people with whom they found it difficult to live.

In fairness to the first season players, the voting was done by the public. They had to be far more concerned about the attitude of the viewers.

Normally I would feel sorry for someone who is in the position that Zach appears to be. However, after watching him gleefully plan ways to hurt other people's feelings I can't help thinking of reaping and sowing. If it was so much fun to torture other people (especially those on the way out), he should be fine with experiencing some emotional pain. Also, I have seen several comments here saying that Donny is a janitor. I thought he was a groundskeeper. Is he both?

I know that people often complain about "floaters" having success in the game and there is the idea that a "strong" player should win. I wonder if this was the producers way of trying to address those concerns. For the record, I define floaters as those who try to throw competitions to avoid becoming a target. I happen to think it is a legitimate strategy, but I think some stumble into while others actively pursue different ways to influence the game when they are not technically in control (power without official control). Derrick has actually done a variation of the latter. Dan spent weeks of his first season using this strategy as well.

Frankie is actually saying the same things that other houseguests said when he made his big reveal. Zach repeatedly stated to several of the guys that the rest of them did not have a chance at Favorite Player (Zach even felt that he would get voted out if on the block against Frankie because of Frankie's charitable plans). Nicole and Christine compared it to Elissa winning M.V.P because of Rachel, but with someone more famous. Someone else also felt that Favorite Player was no longer a possibility (maybe Caleb?). Nicole immediately panicked that Frankie and/or Ariana's fans would make "hate pages" dedicated to her for working against him. They eventually calmed down a bit, but Frankie probably decided that it would be good to remind everyone of these ideas that were floating around the house.

As pennben pointed out, this was also the America's Player season. As I remember it Dick would have been voted out when he was on the block against Dustin if Eric controlled his own vote, but by this point the country was in love with Dick Donato. Fairly early in the game almost every America's Player vote that could benefit Dick started to go his way. People tend to forget that Eric was very good as America's Player. He was often successful in getting the people that America wanted nominated on the block. He was usually very nervous when confronted, but was good at covering himself and avoiding serious trouble. He was even pretty good at explaining "hinky" votes. Essentially Dick had an ally in the house that he never had to consult. For the record, I realize that many people believe that the "America" who kept voting for Dick's benefit was actually the producers..

I said the same thing to a friend recently. Every season they cast some people who are big fans of the show, but have no experience with the feeds. These people don't really know what they are getting into. Not only are they unaware of what the other contestants can be like, but they have no real sense of the downtime that they will experience. I always feel a little sorry for them because I believe they go in with the attitude that they know what it will be like. Derrick has experience with the feeds in addition to everything else that has made him successful in this game. Every winner has to have some luck, but from a pure "game" perspective he has been fantastic. Donny is the only person that I have heard who really seems to know how powerful Derrick is. Almost every group that could have tried to go against the "Derrick machine" had at least one person who trusted him. Also, any group that could have gone against the machine had trouble putting together members to get the numbers. Joey was "ratted out" by Amber and showed her cards too easily; Christine thought Donny was creepy; Christine, Nicole, and Victoria thought Amber was "fake"; Paola, Jocasta, and Victoria were too "weak" to work with; Donny can't be trusted because he is lying about who he is since a groundskeeper can't be that smart, etc. And again, someone always likes Derrick enough to tell him what is going on.

I thought the same thing. I immediately thought of season six (The Friendship vs. The Sovereigns). After all, there was a night when Big Brother separated people for fear that they would come to blows (Cappy and Michael) and Arnold Shapiro said that they had never previously had a house divide that quickly and that rigidly.