Caustic EW Daily article on BB finale
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Caustic EW Daily article on BB finale
Shan | Monday, October 02, 2000 - 11:44 am  This is a must-read. But be warned: when you hear a voice cackling with glee when you read the parts about Jamie and Eddie in this not-so-nice review by Josh Wolk, it's meeeee! ______________ Slow Exit ''Big Brother'' ends with a whimper. Let's hope the housemates stay far away from show business, says Josh Wolk After the first week of ''Big Brother,'' when most viewers had abandoned it in favor of more rewarding pursuits -- like, say, doing jumping jacks with underwear filled with broken glass -- I made a vow to see the series through to its end. After all, being able to claim that I had seen this historic televised misstep in its entirety would come in handy someday when I have children, and they're sitting around complaining about, for example, how awful ''The New Johnny Lipnicki Variety Hour'' is. I will gather them around me, and say, ''So you think that's bad? Come a little closer and I'll tell you about the time I spent 14 weeks watching 'Big Brother.''' Oh, the respect I'll receive. But sticking with it until the end was hardly easy, especially considering the abominable moments I had to endure over the final two weeks. Just try to leave a TV on while watching roofer George misspell ''Ma'' and slowly lose whatever sanity he originally squeezed into his shingle size brain. And then there was the footage of ''All Perky All the Time'' Brittany (whose glittered/ splattered face looked like a Jackson Pollock canvas if he had had a ''sparkly'' phase) on her first acting audition, where her nuance free Minnesotan Valley Girl inflection made me glad she hadn't read from a scene from ''Sophie's Choice.'' And then there was Jamie's expulsion, where in subsequent interviews -- one on ''Big Brother,'' one on the CBS' ''Early Show'' -- Julie Chen collected any journalistic ability she could find under the cushions of the sofa her ''Big Brother'' paycheck bought her, but still could not wrench an honest answer out of the lip gloss spackled beauty queen. By the end of the series I had to surround my own television with chicken wire so I could not reflexively kick it in. Finally, last Friday, it ended, with Eddie the victor. When Chen finally made the announcement, with Frat Boy Supreme Josh getting second and the Guffawing Wonder Curtis taking third, I was filled with neither joy nor surprise nor anger nor gastric distress. The only feeling I emerged with was relief that it was over, and a vague distaste for how I had spent my summer. What incentive was there for caring who won? Unlike ''Survivor,'' there was no ''man you love to hate.'' No, they were all the man (or woman) you felt indifferent to being indifferent to. Sure, I have mixed feelings about Eddie winning. Yes, he technically deserved the money since he had medical bills to pay. But if you take his tragic story of losing a leg to cancer, you were left with a guy whose behavior veered toward the unrewardable. Wasn't it he who once hopped around a stone faced African American Cassandra banging pots and doing what sure looked like a parody of a tribal dance, and who later discussed the pleasure clotheslining Jamie would give him? Kind of puts a bad taste in your mouth that you couldn't get out with a $500,000 toothbrush. But looking at his competition, no one else deserved to be the victor either, for the main reason that nobody since Will Mega (the first one out) ever copped to actually wanting to win (preferring to blather on about enjoying the ''experience''), something unforgivable in a game show contestant. As Gene Rayburn, host of ''Match Game,'' might say, these phonies made me want to shove their radio mikes up their Blanks. At the end I had a faint preference for Curtis, if only because he was the only one of the finalists who admitted to wanting to win (Oh, the hubris!). But even that admission was couched by rapid fire disclaimers that everyone else deserved it too. If he can't stand tall and demand the prize, the hell with him. Yet there IS still one ''Big Brother'' moment that I am looking forward to, more than any banishment or nomination episode. I am salivating for the day I hear an enormous thud emanating from Los Angeles, which will be the noise made when all of the housemates' showbiz dreams collectively plummet to the ground. Because even in an industry built on vacuity, there is no room for slates as blank as theirs. Oh, the irony: While each of them refused to disagree on camera for fear that a little ''attitude'' would ruin their images and hurt their future showbiz opportunities, the resulting blandness made them eminently unmemorable and uncastable. So if I ever see Jamie on the street, her face streaked with mascara running from tears that only the news that you've been rejected for a guest hosting gig on USA's ''Strip Poker'' can elicit, then and only then will ''Big Brother'' make me feel the thrill of life. |
Kuh | Monday, October 02, 2000 - 12:03 pm  Even worse, a guy who spends his summer watching a show he hates so that he can write some pissy, catty little article about it. What a loser. |
Katie | Monday, October 02, 2000 - 12:05 pm  The guy is an attention-seeking jerk. No one held a gun to his head forcing him to watch the show. |
Prince | Monday, October 02, 2000 - 12:12 pm  Some of this media 'journalists' who continue to berate the show really have no idea what the show is about. They keep comparing it to 'Survivor'. I am not saying the show is perfect since I think a lot can be done to improve the show but I think some of these 'journalist' have been 'close-minded' from the start. BB 2 and a success story or 2 of one of the HGs will probably quiet this critics. Then again, maybe not. |
Battlestar | Monday, October 02, 2000 - 12:12 pm  TV only viewers (reviewers) just don't get it. I would love to see a review from someone who also became involved in the internet viewer BB community. The feelings people had for the Syrvivor contestants has no compariosn to the passion that many people felt for certain HG (love or hate) |
Prince | Monday, October 02, 2000 - 12:14 pm  Some of this media journalists who continue to berate the show really have no idea what the show is about. They keep comparing it to 'Survivor'. I am not saying the show is perfect since I think a lot can be done to improve the show but I think some of these 'journalist' have been 'close-minded' from the start. BB 2 and probably a houseguest success story or two could probably quiet down this critics. Then again given how irrational this people are, maybe not. |
Tukuul | Monday, October 02, 2000 - 12:30 pm  This reporter is very angry. He sounds like he has some serious personal problems in his life. Too bad he can't be casted for BB2, so he could show America how it's done while we all evaluate him. |
Ocean_Islands | Monday, October 02, 2000 - 12:33 pm  It's a show everybody loves to hate! And no one wants to admit they watch. But every one knows what it is, don't they? CBS is crying all the way to the bank! Survivor II is going to be a bust. Big Brother II is going to be a breakthrough! It's better to improve than decline, isn't it? |
Matty | Monday, October 02, 2000 - 12:37 pm  Good point Ocean.....the only place Survivor II has to go is down. (Anyone ever hear of the "Sports Illustrated Effect" - that after you're on the cover, your performance goes to pieces. (Not a true cause and effect - but the point that if you're on the cover, you're at the top with no where to go but down.) I just hope that if/where there is a BB2 - that appropriate differences are made with regard to production/editing/etc. |
Battlestar | Monday, October 02, 2000 - 12:38 pm  On the next Survivor---everyone will be going in with the purpose of making the 'Winning Alliance"--but this time everyone will remember the 'OUTWIT part of the game. |
Stillme | Monday, October 02, 2000 - 12:38 pm  Uhh, folks, this guy has a job. He gets paid to review TV shows. This show is one of the more high-profile busts of the last few years. He has every right to criticize it. |
Ocean_Islands | Monday, October 02, 2000 - 12:42 pm  Bust? What are you talking about? Get your nose out of your butt, CBS MADE money on this show. |
Battlestar | Monday, October 02, 2000 - 12:45 pm  But it was an Internet SUCCESS---why doesn't anyone ever comment on that??? CBS didn't lose any money on the show---they made money. The ratings are higher than last summer---and the younger audience had a huge percentage increase. It's only crime was that it was not a Blockbuster like Survivor. |
Donnalea | Monday, October 02, 2000 - 05:37 pm  http://www.latimes.com/print/opinion/20001001/t000093189.html 'Big Brother' Perfectly Captures America's Psyche By NEAL GABLER AMAGANSETT, N.Y.--According to the sages of television, the big hit this summer was "Survivor," while the big disappointment was "Big Brother," which sputtered to its conclusion last Friday with none of the fanfare that accompanied the blockbuster "Survivor" finale. |
Mbliving | Monday, October 02, 2000 - 07:26 pm  I loved Survivor. I can remember yelling my head off when Kelly made it into the final two. I remember being disappointed but not surprised when Rich took home the money. We all talked about it for a day or two and then pretty much forgot about it. If I notice an article in the paper on one of the people, I'll stop and read it but I never really cared alot after the show is over. Now with Big Brother, its 3 days later and I still think about it a lot. I wonder what everyone is doing and if they're okay. I really care about the people who became part of our lives. You just can't compare the two. Survivor felt like a TV show and BB felt like part of our lives. Incomparable. |
Prince | Monday, October 02, 2000 - 07:44 pm  You hit right there Mbliving. I also liked Survivor very much when it first aired, but seeing it weekly, you really don't form a "bond" with any of them. Most of the excitement of Survivor was guessing who was going to be booted of next. BB especially if you watch or read the live feeds, participate in discussion board/chats, you form a special connection with the houseguests. You don't feel that they are "characters" in a T.V. show but real people. At least for me, I could care less what happens to Rich, Rudy, Susan or Kelly but I do care how Eddie, Josh, Curtis & Britt (and also the others to a lesser degree) life turns out to be in the future. |
Bbfrick | Monday, October 02, 2000 - 07:46 pm  Oh, every critic will make the big deal that Survivor had 20.0+ ratings, while Big Brother had only 8.0 averages. What about the web site: #1 New website? How many fan pages did Regina Lewis say: 14,000? Umm, Bomb? Wednesday and Saturday LIVE shows were CBS's highest rated shows of the week, after Survivor ended. Maybe CBS should of made only a few shows a week, instead of 5. But then, it'd be harder to let us know about everything going on. 1 hour shows for possibly Monday, Wednesdays and Fridays for Feburary, 2001? Wednesdays LIVE, and at the end, Fridays LIVE.... 2 hour finale, so we can see everything that we missed out this time around. Better planned challenges.... NO TELLING HOUSEGUESTS WHO'S THE MOST POPULAR! I think Brittany got a little cocky there. Interesting NOTE - the Top 4 rated houseguests from that poll went down in Order - From most popular to 4th most popular! Brittany, then Cassandra, then George, then Jamie - isn't that the order that the Top 4 were when Julie told the houseguests who was most popular? |
Britisnaive | Monday, October 02, 2000 - 07:52 pm  I will keep it brief: Critics are just people who can't make it! This guy is just suffering the most severe form of withdrawal symptoms. And, maybe things are not all the rosey at EW either. |
Prince | Monday, October 02, 2000 - 07:54 pm  I don't know why I remember that poll but the percentages where Britt - 33%, George - 17%, Cassandra - 12%, Eddie/Josh/Jamie tied 10% & Curtis - 8%. AOL Polls are pretty bogus though, but Eddie did use it for his nomination strategy. I agree, at most 4X a week. 2 live shows a week with nominations & banishment. No nominations & banishment maybe for 4 weeks, and then once a week for 7 weeks. Final 3 for a week instead of 2 days. Live feeds similar to BB Germany where you can track a HG and go there.
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Banish_George | Monday, October 02, 2000 - 07:58 pm  "Interesting NOTE - the Top 4 rated houseguests from that poll went down in Order - From most popular to 4th most popular! Brittany, then Cassandra, then George, then Jamie - isn't that the order that the Top 4 were when Julie told the houseguests who was most popular?" Most observant BBFC poster of the year goes to..... BBfrick |
Lafatme | Tuesday, October 03, 2000 - 12:36 am  i'd like to see the show live every night. done like the evening news with anchor (or 2). telling us what's happening in the RR, showing clips, interviewing banished guests or family members. they could bring on celebs who watch, maybe rosie, or andy dick, maybe even neil etc. to comment about the show. they could also interview "bob" or "sexy bedtime lady" about what they're seeing from the control room, wouldn't that be great! it could be a little different every night and keep us up to date on what's happening instead of just clips that have no "heart or soul" to them. oh please mr. romer, let me produce the next show. maybe i've never done it but this idea would work, dammit. |
Gizmo | Tuesday, October 03, 2000 - 08:48 pm  Yes Lafatme, that would make it a much better show. Just add one thing. No outside contact, means, NO outside contact. None of this letters from from the kids stuff or phone calls. If they say they're going to walk then let them. (I'm referring to George and Karen early on in the show.) Don't encourage them to stay in the house, encourage them to leave! |
Renee | Thursday, October 05, 2000 - 01:12 am  But CBS Had to make money on BB, no matter what the ratings, just because of the ad revenue (totally discounting the 900#) versus the overhead on the show. No writers, no actors, etc. I don't think it's that relevant. I don't think that the T.V. Show Was that succesful - it was an Internet hit. For good reason too, the show was poorly done and overproduced, but on the internet you actually saw what happened. I wouldn't have watched at all if I hadn't found this site. Going only on what CBS showed, it was really disjointed and boring. I also thought they slanted things a lot. The ideas that posters have given have been excellent! Sure hope someone in a position to implement changes in the future is reading all of this - then maybe they'll get a top-rated SHOW instead of Site. From what I've read, BB in European countries have seen the ratings go down on succesive shows for the reasons stated about Survivor: they know what to expect going in. The first season it was all an unknown. It will be interesting to check out both shows when they do them again and see how the next "contestants" behave, as well as what changes may be made. I'd add to the wish list for next time No AOL lady! What a waste of time that was - and where did she come up with those quotes? LOL They never seemed to bear much resemblance to what I was reading. Then again, guess that's why I was Here instead of on the AOL boards. Smart move! ;) |
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