A Final Three, Without You Or Me
As expected, there is a feed blackout in progress while the first part of the last HoH competition is under way. The only reason for this is to preserve the secret of who got evicted tonight, which means feeds will likely be off until the (COUGH) live show ends tomorrow--nearly a day . There's precedence for such a long blackout during a time when an eviction has taken place without an eviction show airing live.
But this seems different to me, for several reasons. First, it's very late in the season, and the chance to watch the last endurance is almost always the most anticipated part of feedwatching during the last couple of weeks, when few are still in the house and little of note is happening. Second, the last HoH endurance has become a tradition that links the seasons, and provides fans with memories to kick around. Some of the final comps have been letdowns (the one on All-Stars didn't even make it to the first commercial break after the competition started), but two have been certifiable classics: the floating challenge in Season Three and the Dick/Zach duel that lasted for several hours last season. Is something along those lines taking place right now? We may get to see it on feed delay tomorrow, but it won't be the same.
Not to rub the producers' noses in it, but this season is not going down as a grand success on ratings grounds. The secret being kept here is not one of wide curiosity; anyone coming online tonight to find out what happened is not likely to be dissuaded from watching the television show tomorrow night just because they have learned who was evicted. What entertainment enterprise can survive treating its most loyal fans in such a cavalier way? It's too bad that what has been for most of its length a better-than-average feeds season is ending in this way.
If I've hammered home one point in all my years writing about Big Brother, it's my belief that the people who produce the TV show need to stop looking at the Internet as their enemy, and figure out a way to exploit the medium where their most fervent fans--a shrinking club, some may have noticed--gather on a daily basis. The powers that be believe that they need to keep such secrets as "Sheila or Sharon" in order to save their show, and they will no doubt still believe it on the day the show is canceled.
Comments
I'm sorry we won't get to enjoy the endurance comp as well. That was definitely something I always looked forward to.
"Several hours" last season is an understatement! It went until 5:30AM EST, that was 8.5 hours! Kinda glad we won't have that again though.
Posted by: Matt | April 22, 2008 06:16 AM
I'm done with big brother. This show was so tampered with this season and we all saw it. The powers that be rigging the outcome ruined it for me totally. I hope if the bb10 returns they ban bibles and keep their nose out of who goes and who stays so much. I doubt I'll ever watch big brother again.
Pissed off
Posted by: pissed off at bb9 | April 22, 2008 07:22 AM
There is an increasing lack of respect for BB fans--and an increasing sleaziness of the part of the producers. When they implied that our votes would determine who returned to house, we saw this hair-splitting lack of honest and open description. And frankly, the guinea pig question was the last straw--they were not going to let Sharon win--the long long silence while the producers in Julie's ear figured out who they wanted to win made the set-up obvious to anyone watching. They had competitions based on upper body strength, where no female could win against a man--the firefighting and military trainers talk about how even the strongest women cannot compete against men in upper body strength--yet there was Jani trying her hardest the swing around....disgusting really after a final comp the year before where we feeds watchers could see how she could not reach the key in the air. We later found out they measured her in heels but Maggie and Ivette in flats.... Frankly, it looks as though they have become so emboldened they just "stage" competitions and don't want anyone seeing the obvious cheating going on. Removing the competitions from the feeds completely frees them from scrutiny. Lags while the producers tell Julie what fake answer is right can just be edited out... Well, now there are 3 to 5 rooms of chatters--in the past there were something like one hundred! Says it all. Bye bye BB! Frankly, it will be nice never to see Alison Grodner's smug and horribly homely face again. And I won't miss BB, I will miss the friendship in the chats. Something they never had a clue about.
Posted by: Cynthia Gist | April 22, 2008 07:53 PM