Big Brother in the Media
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TV ClubHouse: Archives: Big Brother 4 General Discussion Archives through July 28: Big Brother in the Media

Ryn

Monday, June 30, 2003 - 01:17 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
Here is a place to post big brother Articles:

From today's Variety:

'Brother' big on 'ex' appeal

Now that the contestants on "Big Brother 4" have been safely sequestered, producers today will reveal a new twist on the CBS reality show's traditional format.
Hoping to add more drama to the summer staple, exec producers Arnold Shapiro and Allison Grodner have concocted a plan to reunite ex-boyfriends, ex-girlfriends and ex-spouses within the "Big Brother" house -- without any of them knowing.

Shapiro and Grodner call it "Big Brother 4: The X Factor."

"We think we have the most exciting and unpredictable twist that we have ever done," Shapiro said. "I can hardly wait to see how it plays out."

In past summers, "Big Brother" has simply followed the exploits of strangers cooped inside a house, where they must adapt to each other and life without contact from the outside world.

Love connections

This time around, after casting an initial nine contestants, the "Big Brother" crew started investigating those players' former loves (without their knowledge) and contacting those exes, four of whom were ultimately recruited for the show.

All told, 13 players (seven men, six women) will live in the "Big Brother" house this summer, up from 12 a year ago.

That means eight of the players will be stuck in the house with their former flames, while the other five won't be.

And none of the contestants -- even the four who were chosen later in the process -- know that they're about to encounter their exes in the house.

"As a result of the way we did this, Alison and I and the entire casting department can qualify as spies for the CIA," Shapiro said of the covert casting operation. "This had to be done so delicately and creatively."

Shapiro credited Grodner with initially creating the "X Factor" idea.

"We see 'Big Brother' as a soap opera, and thought this was perfect soap opera fodder," Grodner said. "For us it was all about what could we do that was so different from the other years. What better way than bringing in pre-existing relationships, and potentially volatile ones?"

Strategic moves

The producers believe the "X Factor" will alter the contestants' pre-conceived strategies in the house, as some exes form alliances and others go head-to-head. As in years past, houseguests will vote each other out of the house on a weekly basis, with the final player winning $500,000.

Shapiro and Grodner also have other changes in store for "Big Brother 4," which premieres Tuesday, July 8, at 8 p.m. (show will also air Wednesdays at 9 and Fridays at 8).

"Big Brother 4" will include the show's youngest-ever (19) and oldest (59) houseguests. And unlike past years, no one in this year's cast is married.

The producers also decided this year to open up another house to sequester players who have been voted out of the "Big Brother" house, starting with the fifth banished houseguest.

That way, the final group of seven players -- who ultimately return to pick the show's winner -- won't be swayed by what they see on the show. They'll be allowed to watch portions of what airs on the "Big Brother" telecast, but not segments from the "Diary Room" -- in which contestants reveal secrets about their strategy.

Those isolated players will continue to be taped, with some footage from house No. 2 likely to be used on the show. "When they're in this house, they're still playing the game," Grodner said.

Decision to keep sequestering the players came after last year's show, when producers felt that banished houseguest voters were swayed by watching the Diary Room comments.

As for the house itself, Shapiro and Grodner have redecorated it to boast a swingin' '60s-style motif -- complete with shag carpet.

"Big Brother 4" comes from Shapiro/Grodner, in association with Endemol USA. John de Mol created the format.

Shadowkat

Monday, June 30, 2003 - 02:52 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
From Zap2It.com

"'Big Brother' Introduces the Ex Factor


By Rick Porter

LOS ANGELES (Zap2it.com) - Technically, CBS isn't lying on its web site when it says "a group of strangers will live together" on the new edition of "Big Brother." The network was just withholding part of the truth.
Instead of people who've never laid eyes on one another, several houseguests on "Big Brother 4" will see their pasts come back to haunt them. On the premiere episode Tuesday, July 8, four players will discover that their ex-boyfriends or -girlfriends are also vying for the $500,000 prize.

"We have no idea what's going to happen," says executive producer Arnold Shapiro, who's returning for his third season on the CBS series. "We just know eight people -- four ex-couples -- are going to get the surprise of their lives. About anything you can imagine might happen, might indeed happen."

Three single men and two single women will also be part of the mix. They'll enter the house first along with half of each of the former couples; the exes will join them later in the premiere. The players have already been sequestered, so none of them know about the twist.

Allison Grodner, Shapiro's producing partner, came up with the idea as a way to make sure that "story [is] already there" at the start of the game.

She says she wanted to begin this "Big Brother" with something more than the typical getting-to-know-you episode in which everyone makes small talk and tries to get to know the other players. "In this case," she says, "we've got people already walking in with stories, with a past."

None of the four couples were married or had children, although some did live together for a time. The reasons they broke up, and the lingering feelings, are different in each case.

"Some broke it off on good terms. Some actually might want to be reunited," Grodner says. "And some [breakups] aren't as happy as the others." At least one is in the never-want-to-see-you-again category.

The contestants, who range in age from 19 to 59, will be introduced Thursday (July 3) on CBS' web site and the pages of Entertainment Weekly. Julie Chen is returning as "Big Brother's" host. Shapiro and Grodner decided to keep last season's big new element, the veto, in play this time, and they promise a new wrinkle to that aspect of the game as well.

The show will air at 8 p.m. ET Tuesdays, 9 p.m. Wednesdays and 8 p.m. Fridays. The Wednesday episodes will air live and feature the eviction of a player.

While the reunion of the former couples is the big hook to start, Shapiro thinks the five singles may be a wild card.

"What happens if one of them hooks up with one of the exes?" he asks. "Is there going to be a jealousy factor with the other ex? You just never know what could happen here."

Shadowkat

Monday, June 30, 2003 - 03:06 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
From Jam! Showbiz

"Monday, June 30th, 2003


'Big Brother 4' twists revealed
By JOHN POWELL -- Jam! Showbiz
Big changes are coming to 'Big Brother'.

CBS has announced that some of the 13 players on this year's edition are going to have to come face to face with their pasts if they want to win the $500,000 grand prize.

Sub-titling the series 'The X Factor', some of the 'Big Brother 4' HouseGuests are in for a shock. After the contestants enter the house they will be living and competing in for three months, the producers will reveal that four of them will have their ex-boyfriends or ex-girlfriends joining them in the game as participating players.

CBS claims that none of the participants know they are about to be reunited in the 'Big Brother 4' house. All of the contestants are currently being sequestered in the L.A. area and will begin moving into the house later this week although the show doesn't debut on CBS until July 8th.

'Big Brother 4' producers Allison Grodner and Arnold Shapiro maintain that the couples who will be on the series have lived together previously but were not married, none have children and there were no violent situations involving their break-up. The HouseGuests will be entering the house in different groups on the debut show.

"The twist was the brainchild of my partner Allison Grodner. She came up with this idea for 'The X Factor' and we think that this is the single biggest change that we have ever introduced to 'Big Brother' since we have taken over the show. It is totally unpredictable. We have no idea what is going to happen," series co-producer Arnold Shapiro told Jam! Showbiz.

In the casting-interviewing process, the producers learned about the HouseGuests' former loves, tracked them down and invited them to be on the show as well - though the 'X Factor' twist was kept a secret from them.

"There are volatile stories and positive stories ranging from 'the-one-who-got-away' to 'I-never-want-to-see-that-person-again'," said series co-producer Grodner. The identities of the HouseGuests will be made public on July 3rd.

According to Grodner, the change to the show wasn't introduced because anyone felt the series was becoming dull. Grodner and Shapiro just wanted to spice things up and hopefully provide some better storylines for the viewers.

"We are still playing the game the same way and it is still a big social experiment. We have just upped the ante as far as the 'social experiment' aspect goes," said Grodner. "We wanted something that would be a new twist and would really knock people's socks off," said Grodner.

Within hours of the twist being leaked, Internet fans were quick to give their reactions to it.

"Sigh. It doesn't sound like a good plan, but if we're stuck with it, I'll just hope for the best (or worst)," wrote "steffy" on Joker's Updates.

"If it's true, I am thankful that at least they are trying something new this season," wrote "UnkleKevin" on the same Internet site.

Grodner and Shapiro will also altering the finale of the game. Only the last seven evicted HouseGuests will have the chance to vote on the eventual winner of 'Big Brother 4'. Unlike in previous years, the 'Big Brother' jury will be sequestered and not permitted to view any portion of the televised show or the live Internet happenings.

"In 'Big Brother 2', Will was the most outspoken person in the Diary Room that you could imagine. He managed to insult everybody and he won! Last year, it went just the opposite way. Many people feel Danielle played the game the best and yet did herself in because of her Diary Room comments. This time, the Diary Room will not be a factor and people can speak totally candidly and uninhibitedly, which is what we want. The Diary Room won't affect the vote," Shapiro stated.

Along with Julie Chen returning to host the series so too will a rule change made on last year's edition. The much-maligned Power of Veto will still be a part of the game but altered slightly.

As far as the design of the 'Big Brother' house itself, it too has undergone some changes.

'There are quite a few "X's" worked into the design elements throughout the house. The audience will be in on it upon seeing it but the HouseGuests will not until they learn of the twist," commented Grodner saying that the house has a 'retro sixties' look to it and that the Head of Household room will look like something out of 'Austin Powers'.

The fourth installment of the summer-long reality series will premiere on July 8th at 8:00 p.m. The series will air three shows a week. The show will be broadcast on Tuesday, Wednesday and Fridays. The Tuesday and Friday editions will be taped and edited from the past happenings in the 'Big Brother' house while Wednesday will be the live eviction show during which a HouseGuest is voted out of the game. Friday will be the nomination show.

In the 'Big Brother' show, contestants must remain in a house on the CBS Studio in California for three months without contact with the outside world. The 'Big Brother' house is outfitted with 38 cameras and 62 microphones, which record the lives of the 12 contestants 24 hours a day. The goings-on are broadcast on TV as well as over the Internet. Each week the contestants vote one of their own out until just two are left. The final surviving HouseGuests are then subjected to a final vote.

In past years, Net viewers have watched the happenings in the 'Big Brother' house live on the Internet 24-hours-a-day for subscription fee from Real Networks. Grodner and Shapiro said that Net element of the show would be the same this year and that information about ordering the live 'Big Brother 4' Net feeds would be made available in the coming days.

In last year's edition, Lisa Donahue, the 26-year-old former L.A. bartender turned photographer took home the grand prize of $500,000. Danielle Reyes, the 30-year-old media buyer from California came in second place winning $50,000.

Will Kirby, a 28-year-old physician from Florida won 'Big Brother 2'. Nicole, the 31-year-old personal chef from Atlanta, was the second place finisher.

Eddie McGee, the New Yorker who lost his left leg to cancer, won a half million dollars as the winner of the first U.S. 'Big Brother' after the viewers and not a jury of evicted HouseGuests voted for him during a finale phone poll."

Tabbyking

Monday, June 30, 2003 - 03:11 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
i guess i don't understand why the additional 4 guests won't go in until day 3 or 4. the others will have already started forming alliances and scoping things out. they should have them all enter the house blindfolded and take off the blindfolds once the door locks behind them. or have some enter from a back entrance and some from the front, so they see each other once they are all the way in the house running to find a place to sleep.

Tabbyking

Monday, June 30, 2003 - 03:14 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
also, i'll bet some of the exes have some of the same friends...and if they each just told one person about trying out for the show and they each told the same person, or the person they told just told one other person...well, i am just wondering if there is any way some of them could have known in advance about exes ending up together in the house?

Wilsonatmd

Thursday, July 03, 2003 - 01:43 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
A transcript of a telephone press conference with the media and The Producers Arnold and Alison from June 30th.....

Part 1

Part 2

Maris

Thursday, July 03, 2003 - 01:53 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
great stuff Wilson.

waiting for the Smoking gun story:

KNS: There's no police record on any of these people?

AS: There are some DUI's that we know about. Nothing of a violent nature
has turned up with these people. You can be arrested for something and
then released and it doesn't even go on your record, and that's a
situation that does happen with certain people. Every state law is
different, no two are alike. It makes it very challenging but we have a
very good background firm that has now done the show for a couple years.

Cmc209

Thursday, July 03, 2003 - 03:20 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
Maybe CBS shoud have hired the smoking gun to check the records of these people this year - that way they would know for sure if they had a clean bunch.

I bet it's only a matter of days before something leaks out.

Crossfire

Thursday, July 03, 2003 - 03:22 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
I'm shocked by the amount of DUI that there seems to be floating around in the wild.

Smarten up people.

(But we covered this last year in depth so I'll pipe down.)

Maris

Thursday, July 03, 2003 - 03:51 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
I know crossfire. What is wierd is I never even met a single person who was ever arrested for DUI yet Arnold seems to be saying, nah we just have a couple of DUIs, the usual stuff.

Dipo

Thursday, July 03, 2003 - 08:09 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
Maris, I think you might be surprised. One of my jobs with a company was to get licenses for lending. Some states require a lot of personal information on the officers of the company. I was pretty surprised to find several had DUI's. i don't think it is something people bring up since is it an error in judgement. So you might know people and not know it.

Twiggyish

Thursday, July 03, 2003 - 08:17 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
Well they all DO hang out at Belly's.