BB In The Media: Outside the Fishbowl

[TimWil]

I don't think Moonves is referring to just the evicted HGs as the casting mistakes. And I don't think he's referring to them in terms of how they were/are as gamers, either. I think he's referring to them as personalities in the house, people we could be amused and entertained by. I think he was fine with Becky and Meg. Meg was bland but cute, Becky showed a bit of spunk. Steve was a big casting mistake as was Austin IMO. Both are hugely untelegenic. The twins might be pleasant to look at but their personalities are vapid veering on repugnant.

Edited September 8, 2015 by TimWil

[Joimiaroxeu]

It seems to me that this season production has had to try extra hard to create personalities for some of the houseguests. I'd put James and Meg in that category, plus they've struggled to do something with Steve. He's finally starting to develop but his HOH room was relatively dull, IMO, because there's just not much there there. Then we had the stereotypical houseguests who were probably assumed to be able to ride for a good while on their outsize personas or looks. I'd put Da’Vonne, Jason, Jace, and Clay in that category. I  really wonder if TPTB expected Austin to last this long and wonder if production is worried about him making it F2. The twins are walking, talking gimmicks which landed flat since pretty much the whole house figured out the "twist". I also think TPTB made a mistake with Audrey in that they used her to jump on a topical bandwagon and didn't imagine she'd have a total meltdown almost right off the bat. Finally, after BB15 the houseguests are overly conscious of how they think they're coming across to the audience. I think it's hurting the game play because they over-think everything they say and do. It's getting close to the point where production might as well script the entire show since it probably wouldn't be any less "realistic".

[choclatechip45]

 

I don't agree with Les at all. This season's cast in overall the best since like BB11 imo. And certainly no doubt it is better than the last 2.

I agree. The only negative thing I would say is that all of the interesting cast members minus Vanessa and James left pre jury.

[LoneHaranguer]

 

The twins are walking, talking gimmicks which landed flat since pretty much the whole house figured out the "twist".

I presume it was intentional that the "twist" be discovered. Otherwise, they would have provided some assistance to the twins to carry it off. Just letting the incoming twin have a head start on being dressed correctly would have helped, but they didn't even do that much (except for one gimmicky swap during voting).

[peachmangosteen]

I presume it was intentional that the "twist" be discovered. Otherwise, they would have provided some assistance to the twins to carry it off. Just letting the incoming twin have a head start on being dressed correctly would have helped, but they didn't even do that much (except for one gimmicky swap during voting).

 

They swapped clothes every time they switched. They did forget to switch nail colors once though, I believe.

[LoneHaranguer]

 

They swapped clothes every time they switched.

Not quite. They didn't have time to do a clothing change (or passing of information) when they did the swap during eviction voting, so the outgoing twin joined her already-identically-dressed sister for a combined vote before the two swapped places. It was the only time they did this and I'm pretty sure it was the first swap, so someone must have realized it was too much for the incoming twin to not know what had been going on and they changed things a bit (but not nearly as much as they could have).

[peachmangosteen]

Not quite. They didn't have time to do a clothing change (or passing of information) when they did the swap during eviction voting, so the outgoing twin joined her already-identically-dressed sister for a combined vote before the two swapped places.

 

They were dressed the same already, so they didn't need to switch clothes. I mean I think if Liz had gone in DR in one outfit and came out in another one the twin twist would've been found out much earlier!

[Nashville]

Not quite. They didn't have time to do a clothing change (or passing of information) when they did the swap during eviction voting, so the outgoing twin joined her already-identically-dressed sister for a combined vote before the two swapped places. It was the only time they did this and I'm pretty sure it was the first swap, so someone must have realized it was too much for the incoming twin to not know what had been going on and they changed things a bit (but not nearly as much as they could have).

  

They were dressed the same already, so they didn't need to switch clothes. I mean I think if Liz had gone in DR in one outfit and came out in another one the twin twist would've been found out much earlier!

I think what LoneHaranguer was getting at was, the eviction vote swaps were too much of an obstacle for the twin twist because the twins had no conversation/update time during the swap. The incoming twin was entering the House blind of the past few days' conversations and events.

[peachmangosteen]

I think what LoneHaranguer was getting at was, the eviction vote swaps were too much of an obstacle for the twin twist because the twins had no conversation/update time during the swap. The incoming twin was entering the House blind of the past few days' conversations and events.

 

Ah!

 

Speaking of this I can't even remember what reasons Da'vonne gave for thinking Liz was switching. It felt like it came so out of the blue from her, like maybe DR was suggesting it.

Edited September 10, 2015 by peachmangosteen

[ProfCrash]

They noticed physical differences between the twins and personality differences.

[peachmangosteen]

I still say DR was planting it. They never even talked about it before and then suddenly Da'vonne's all "Liz is switching with her twin." It was too abrupt. Audrey did say DR was hinting to her that there were twins in the house, but it's Audrey so it's hard to tell what's real with her!

[Nashville]

I still say DR was planting it. They never even talked about it before and then suddenly Da'vonne's all "Liz is switching with her twin." It was too abrupt. Audrey did say DR was hinting to her that there were twins in the house, but it's Audrey so it's hard to tell what's real with her!

That's closest to the chronology I remember. One day out or the blue (or, more correctly, out of the DR), Audrey came out of a DR session and immediately started quizzing other HGs - in fairly rapid one-after-the-other successive conversations - whether each/any HG had an identical twin. This, of course, set all the HGs a-buzzing about why Oddrey would be asking such - and also had every feedster and Joker monitor wondering why in hell would Production blow up their own twist.

IIRC Jason was the first to recall the S5 Twin Twist, but Da was the first to pick up on the Juliz differences.

[Ceeg]

Anytime the HGs magically start questioning something that should have been a secret, I always assume there's some DR interference. The twins thing, Austin's HOH where he said the DR told him someone was lying to him, and even (spoiler for a current situation happening in the house that hasn't aired yet) 

Julia somehow abruptly figuring out that Vanessa has F2's with everyone. I know Julia has been perceptive before, but her opinion of Vanessa changed VERY suddenly and without provocation in the house. I think maybe TPTB don't want a Vanessa win, or at the very least, they don't want her having an easy road to the F2.

 Although, it makes me wonder why the Goblins never got a clue about some of the goings-on in the house.

Edited September 10, 2015 by Ceeg

[Kris117]

The Summer Camp theme song was playing too loudly in their heads to pay attention.

[Ceeg]

The Summer Camp theme song was playing too loudly in their heads to pay attention.

My favorite part of Summer Camp is when Meg was interviewed by Jeff, post-eviction, and said EVERYONE ELSE IN THE HOUSE was playing Summer Camp. I don't think she knows what that means.

[Kris117]

I know! I'm still mind boggled by that comment. I'd love to hear what she thinks her strategic moves in the house were.

[peachmangosteen]

Although, it makes me wonder why the Goblins never got a clue about some of the goings-on in the house.

 

They probably point-blank told Meg about Sixth Sense and then when she was like 'so what who cares' they just gave up trying to help her.

[SnideAsides]

Jeff was definitely a bust (Phil and Julie both seemed to know it without ever actually saying it, and I'm still not entirely sure he and Jackie weren't put in solely so whichever CBS executive forced the blind date twist on TAR last season could save face), and I can see Les thinking the twins and Audrey didn't work out as well as he and the network would have wanted, but... I don't know who the other two/three people would have been? Clay's no more terrible than the Token Hot Guy usually is (and is certainly hotter), and even Steve is someone I think would work if the editing was less bombastic and pre-scripted than it currently is.

 

I think the real problem at this point is that the twists designed to "shake up the game" are so omnipresent that they're actually compelling people to play as safely as possible. I get why BotB was there again - something had to be done about all the challenge-throwing, and having a challenge where the consequences are "win or face eviction" for every single participant makes sense in theory - but not only does it devalue the HoH, it's also stupid when you consider that by the end of the week it's likely only one of the four people competing in it will actually face the vote (the two who win are immune for the week, and one of the other two is usually Vetoed). And then on top of that, this season had the split launch, Takeover, the twin twist, Jeff/Jackie, and the Fast Forward in the first week alone. Add double evictions and returning players (if you count the coaches entering the game, the last time we didn't have someone return to the game was five years ago) and it's just too much.

[Gemma Violet]

I mentioned this in the latest episode thread:  I can't vote in the Favorite House Guest poll.  I'm logged in, but it keeps telling me I've reach my 20 votes for the day.  The only day I was able to vote was the first day the poll was up.  I've tried each day since then, to no avail.  

[peachmangosteen]

I mentioned this in the latest episode thread:  I can't vote in the Favorite House Guest poll.  I'm logged in, but it keeps telling me I've reach my 20 votes for the day.  The only day I was able to vote was the first day the poll was up.  I've tried each day since then, to no avail.  

 

Yea, that's been happening to a lot of people. Someone posted an email they got from CBS after they contacted CBS about it and basically they said they were working on it and to just keep trying. LOL.

[Sammich63]

Yea, that's been happening to a lot of people. Someone posted an email they got from CBS after they contacted CBS about it and basically they said they were working on it and to just keep trying. LOL.

I'm having the same problem.  Each day I'm told I used up my 20 votes and I haven't voted yet.  

[LoneHaranguer]

 

Yea, that's been happening to a lot of people. Someone posted an email they got from CBS after they contacted CBS about it and basically they said they were working on it and to just keep trying. LOL.

IOW, they passed the problem on to the company they hired, who may or may not care or be competent enough to fix it in a timely manner. FWIW, when The Voice had a problem with web voting they threw out all of those votes and only counted votes placed via other means. BB could do the same if the nature of the problem may have skewed the counts.

[blixie]

I think they should have hired Kansas City Royal fanbase for this job.

[Uwbadgmad]

I'm having the same problem.  Each day I'm told I used up my 20 votes and I haven't voted yet.

The same thing is happening to me. It is so frustrating! I was able to vote 20 times under another email account yesterday but can't vote again today. Don't tell us we can vote 20 times a day and then we aren't able to cast a vote! ARGHHHHHHHH!

[Overwhelming No]

From a Chenterview at ew.com:

 

 

I’ve never seen someone almost refuse to leave the house like Austin did.  He sat there in utter disbelief and almost seemed like he was not going to leave. He was trying to get Vanessa to undo her vote.

 

http://www.ew.com/article/2015/09/17/big-brother-julie-chen-interview-finale

 

 

We were ROBBED!  ROBBED, I tell you!  Instead of fucking Brenchel, couldn't we have seen THAT?!

[ProfCrash]

Well that explains why Vanessa kept explaining herself. heheheheh

 

Austin is a tool

[Wings]

The only reason, I can think that we did not see this, is a producer may have had to intervene and they didn't want to show that.  

[Gemma Violet]

The voting is fixed now but it's allowing me more than 20 votes!

[Uwbadgmad]

I've been able to vote too using both my emails. Yay!

[candall]

I saw an episode of Hollywood Reporter where they were talking to reality show producers.  (If this was an old show and already discussed, let me know and I'll delete.)

 

Julie Chen started the roundtable discussion off with a bang when she said the cameras once captured an orgy in the BB house.  She said it was during an unusual season they rush-filmed during winter and everyone was bored.

 

Later, she talked about one of the houseguests they picked because she looked like America's Sweetheart and how she soon turned out to be racist, homophobic, etc.  (They showed her picture, blonde, but I didn't catch her name.) 

 

With respect to this pretty outside/ugly inside girl, Julie was very interesting when she discussed how many houseguests are shocked at the reaction they receive from the public when they leave the house and how it's a rare opportunity to see yourself and your flaws reflected in a mirror. 

 

She said some people want to change what they see and some of the guests choose to look away and never look back at the mirror again.

[AbsoluteShower]

I saw an episode of Hollywood Reporter where they were talking to reality show producers.  (If this was an old show and already discussed, let me know and I'll delete.)

 

Julie Chen started the roundtable discussion off with a bang when she said the cameras once captured an orgy in the BB house.  She said it was during an unusual season they rush-filmed during winter and everyone was bored.

 

Later, she talked about one of the houseguests they picked because she looked like America's Sweetheart and how she soon turned out to be racist, homophobic, etc.  (They showed her picture, blonde, but I didn't catch her name.) 

 

With respect to this pretty outside/ugly inside girl, Julie was very interesting when she discussed how many houseguests are shocked at the reaction they receive from the public when they leave the house and how it's a rare opportunity to see yourself and your flaws reflected in a mirror. 

 

She said some people want to change what they see and some of the guests choose to look away and never look back at the mirror again.

That blonde would have been Aaryn Gies...

[Joimiaroxeu]

it's a rare opportunity to see yourself and your flaws reflected in a mirror.

I don't know about that. There's something called the Hawthorne effect which says that people's behavior tends to change when they know they're being observed. The average person probably couldn't stand for more than a few hours of constantly being watched without it affecting their behavior in a negative way.

 

Then with BB there's the boredom and stress of being locked up with mostly strangers for months. The houseguests probably aren't eating their regular diet and likely drink at a different level than they usually do. They have their normal sleep cycles disrupted and deal with constant personality warfare coming from all sides. It's a situation built to wear people down because only one of them can win the big money.

 

There have been a few extreme personalities who've revealed their basic ugliness but for the most part I doubt what we see of these people's behavior truly reflects who they are in real life. In fact, many of them clearly adopt certain personas because they think it'll help them stand out from the crowd. (And the producers like having people slotted into identifiable "types".)

[TimWil]

Former players express opinions about this season. It's very interesting...

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/big-brother-17-zach-rance-824583

[peachmangosteen]

That's a really interesting read. Overall they all came off horribly to me lol.

 

Frank is rooting for Liz to win and so am I and it seriously makes me sick to agree with Frank on something.

[peachmangosteen]

Oh, also, I thought it was very interesting that Britney, Zach, and Elissa all said there is no game talk in jury and they're very strict about it yet Frank said you could talk freely. 

[AbsoluteShower]

Rance really called Austin on his creepiness:

 

Austin is pathetic. There are some people in the world that are just like love struck puppies. He was so aggressive and all in her space. Really repulsive. If Liz and Austin were in the real world and Austin kept trying for Liz, she would eventually say, "Yo, I’m blocking your number, leave me alone, or I’m calling the cops." He’s the worst.

 

[mojoween]

I wish they had used their first names throughout the article because I had to keep scrolling up to remember whose last name was whose. I only know them from the show, dammit, I don't know anything else about them.

I read the article with Julie that was linked and surprise surprise Jessie keeps asking to be on the show. I also hate that Julie was so adamant about disliking the takeover but wishy-washy about BotB. Say you completely hate it, Julie. You know you want to.

Edited September 20, 2015 by mojoween

[Arya]

Good to know Frank is still the tool that I remembered. That's my biggest takeaway from that article.

[MitaJo]

Julie Chen started the roundtable discussion off with a bang when she said the cameras once captured an orgy in the BB house.  She said it was during an unusual season they rush-filmed during winter and everyone was bored.

Season 9 I'm guessing.

[SnideAsides]

It's the only winter BBUS, and multiple people from that season had been in actual porn, so... yeah, definitely BB9.

[Nashville]

Seems Dr. Will has some awesome stuff to say about this season: http://www.tvinsider...ery-angry-jury/

One word for that interview: DELICIOUS. And I'm not even that big of a Dr. Will fan.

[Chrissytd]

BB17 HGs' Twitters: https://www.reddit.com/r/BigBrother/comments/3mcpnw/houseguests_twitter_accounts/cvdzwo3

Steve on The Talk

Edited September 26, 2015 by Chrissytd

[PaperTree]

Great interview.  He seemed very honest and humble. Thanks for posting it.

[Wings]

Seems Dr. Will has some awesome stuff to say about this season: http://www.tvinsider...ery-angry-jury/

 

This link takes me to the forums page on this website.  ???

[Zahdii]

This link takes me to the forums page on this website.  ???

 

Yeah, me too.  Some kind of glitch or something.

[Nashville]

This link takes me to the forums page on this website.  ???

 

Try this link instead.

[ByaNose]

Audrey & Clay were guest bartenders on Watch Happens Live!. Audrey looked really pretty. Andy asked Clay how & he Shelly were doing and if they were still together. Clay looked like a deer in the head lights and said. "We are...we are working it out....we are seeing if we have...stammer.....have the connection we had in the house as outside of the house...and we"ll see how it goes". Everyone started laughing because Andy made a comment & Andy wasn't buying it at all. I would be shocked if they last another month. The age difference, he being in school and the long distance relationship doesn't bode well. Also, Clay seems less macho now then he did in the house. He's more metro sexual then I realized and has a shiny face. I guess it could be the makeup but the Clay magic of summer is lost for me.

[RedheadZombie]

Try this link instead.

Will's interview was very interesting. According to Will, no one on the jury listened to Austin because he was so disliked. Isn't this the guy everyone agreed would win hands down if he got to final two because he was so popular?

[Nashville]

Will's interview was very interesting. According to Will, no one on the jury listened to Austin because he was so disliked. Isn't this the guy everyone agreed would win hands down if he got to final two because he was so popular?

 

If by "everyone" you mean "Austin", yeah sure.

[RedheadZombie]

If by "everyone" you mean "Austin", yeah sure.

Ha! It was actually feed watchers who repeated constantly - Austin will win because everyone likes him. And that's supposedly why Vanessa evicted him. Didn't make sense to me, but it was said a lot. I was glad to hear he didn't have a chance. Hopefully he read Will's interview. It would have been fun watching Austin get zero votes in final two.

Edited September 30, 2015 by RedheadZombie