A week in just thought it's worth taking stock now of what we've seen so far in more general terms outside of the individual episodes thread.
Firstly other than being pre-recorded the actual format is fine. It's not quite as strong as the US/Canadian format but it is the equivalent of where the familar BBUSA format began (19 years ago). Only difference really is 3 nominees instead of 2 and the nominees get to vote, plus housemates can win back to back challenges. I also think the house is great and the challenges are pretty good so far.
However it is the overall production and editing letting the show down, and specifically around the two key moments of each episode - the Nomination Challenge and the eviction itself. I think even though it's pre-recorded both these issues could be fixed too.
Beginning with the challenge adding Big Brother narrating in is just so awkward. Big Brother has never been the narrator of the show and generally never spoken to housemates outside of the diary room. The commentating on challenges just makes no sense at all, and adds nothing to the show. As annoying as cutting away to housemates speaking after the event may be at least it would give us more insight - we have no idea if all the housemates are trying to win challenges or how they feel about others winning challenges, and that would be more useful than "Big Brother" commentating on events. Failing that just use Sonia to update the situation as she is used for narration elsewhere. Big Brother is there to talk to housemates in the diary room or call them to the diary room - not to narrate for us.
One thing though that can't be fixed now is the timing between the challenge, nominations and eviction. There is just no time for proper strategy and gameplay with nominations being immediately after and the eviction later that night - at the very least have the nomination challenge the night before then nominations and eviction the next day.
The other big flaw is the eviction itself, or more specifically the voting, which I think is partly due to it not being a live show and being seen from the perspective of the house rather than the studio. I fear they're going more for tribal council than eviction show with Sonia questioning the housemates - that does happen in the US/Canada but usually remains quite light and generic. One thing we are missing here is a direct plea by the nominees - we're only seeing them respond to Sonia's questions.
What really needs to change though and could still be re-edited is the voting. Spending a few minutes on not showing us how the vote plays out is pointless - we need to see who is voting for who, and frankly if we've watched the show for an hour and a half we're not going to tune out 5 minutes from the end just because the votes have been revealed. That moment of us knowing but the housemates not knowing gives viewers the feeling they know something they don't (or at least didn't 4 months ago), and part of the expeirence of watching. Finally, and too late to change this, but even with no crowd I think Sonia should have greeted the housemate upon leaving the house and asked a couple of questions rather than us ending with the evictee talking in the car.
Other than that I think the show is struggling to get the balance between the traditional scenes of every day life and the gameplay and leaving everybody feeling somewhat short changed. However worth remembering though that 3 days into 90 minutes is about the equivalent of what the show had on Ten with the 30 minute daily shows for most of it's life - but then we had the 24/7 live feed and website to flesh out the characters and enable us to get to know what was happening in the house beyond what we saw on screen.
I also think packing everything into one night is doing the show no favours - it could easily be split into two with a format point (like Intruders arriving or a shopping task) and the Nomination Challenge one night and then the nominations and evictions the next night. Yes, it means shorter shows each night but it means Seven could schedule it 4 nights a week for 10-12 weeks rather than 3 nights a week for 6-8 weeks.
Overall ignoring the sin of pre-recording it's not as bad as I feared, although I do think episodes have dragged so far and it's not really kicked into life yet. It remains to be seen if it ever does.
Firstly other than being pre-recorded the actual format is fine. It's not quite as strong as the US/Canadian format but it is the equivalent of where the familar BBUSA format began (19 years ago). Only difference really is 3 nominees instead of 2 and the nominees get to vote, plus housemates can win back to back challenges. I also think the house is great and the challenges are pretty good so far.
However it is the overall production and editing letting the show down, and specifically around the two key moments of each episode - the Nomination Challenge and the eviction itself. I think even though it's pre-recorded both these issues could be fixed too.
Beginning with the challenge adding Big Brother narrating in is just so awkward. Big Brother has never been the narrator of the show and generally never spoken to housemates outside of the diary room. The commentating on challenges just makes no sense at all, and adds nothing to the show. As annoying as cutting away to housemates speaking after the event may be at least it would give us more insight - we have no idea if all the housemates are trying to win challenges or how they feel about others winning challenges, and that would be more useful than "Big Brother" commentating on events. Failing that just use Sonia to update the situation as she is used for narration elsewhere. Big Brother is there to talk to housemates in the diary room or call them to the diary room - not to narrate for us.
One thing though that can't be fixed now is the timing between the challenge, nominations and eviction. There is just no time for proper strategy and gameplay with nominations being immediately after and the eviction later that night - at the very least have the nomination challenge the night before then nominations and eviction the next day.
The other big flaw is the eviction itself, or more specifically the voting, which I think is partly due to it not being a live show and being seen from the perspective of the house rather than the studio. I fear they're going more for tribal council than eviction show with Sonia questioning the housemates - that does happen in the US/Canada but usually remains quite light and generic. One thing we are missing here is a direct plea by the nominees - we're only seeing them respond to Sonia's questions.
What really needs to change though and could still be re-edited is the voting. Spending a few minutes on not showing us how the vote plays out is pointless - we need to see who is voting for who, and frankly if we've watched the show for an hour and a half we're not going to tune out 5 minutes from the end just because the votes have been revealed. That moment of us knowing but the housemates not knowing gives viewers the feeling they know something they don't (or at least didn't 4 months ago), and part of the expeirence of watching. Finally, and too late to change this, but even with no crowd I think Sonia should have greeted the housemate upon leaving the house and asked a couple of questions rather than us ending with the evictee talking in the car.
Other than that I think the show is struggling to get the balance between the traditional scenes of every day life and the gameplay and leaving everybody feeling somewhat short changed. However worth remembering though that 3 days into 90 minutes is about the equivalent of what the show had on Ten with the 30 minute daily shows for most of it's life - but then we had the 24/7 live feed and website to flesh out the characters and enable us to get to know what was happening in the house beyond what we saw on screen.
I also think packing everything into one night is doing the show no favours - it could easily be split into two with a format point (like Intruders arriving or a shopping task) and the Nomination Challenge one night and then the nominations and evictions the next night. Yes, it means shorter shows each night but it means Seven could schedule it 4 nights a week for 10-12 weeks rather than 3 nights a week for 6-8 weeks.
Overall ignoring the sin of pre-recording it's not as bad as I feared, although I do think episodes have dragged so far and it's not really kicked into life yet. It remains to be seen if it ever does.