Yeah, the only Asian HM is South Asian, and there's no (out) gayboy. Need to lift their token HM game for sure, improve representation.
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dasnico
Well-Known Member
I'll try to be reasonable but also I can't help but compare with BBUK which has also gone through 3 reboots across 3 different channels.
Some analysis on all of this:
I'm especially disappointed with the casting because it shows Ten haven't moved on from the BBAU 2003-2007 template of young people with hot bods. And since the show is being pushed to have Love Island / MAFS elements, I can only conclude that this is simply the state of Australian FTA television now. Mostly junk food TV, copying each other and doing it on the cheap. The viewers who like this will stay on FTA and the others have so much more choice to go elsewhere. I hadn't watched FTA in years before this, so I find it jarring.
I wanna be kind and say that this is probably being influenced by Ten executives being super risk averse, but really who knows.
I have a lot of friends who work in the creative arts (not only TV) and there's a common theme of needing to leave Australia to further your career because Australia is rigid, afraid of new things, and there's a huge talent drain away to the US and UK. Honestly, I see the effects of this in the current season of BBAU. They are likely doing their best but it's feeling derivative and the staff seem inexperienced.
I wouldn't be super interested in the show if it wasn't for the live stream.
- Lead up / format: They tried to have it both ways with promoting "OG Big Brother is returning" but the show still ending up pretty close to Channel 7 / MAFS / Love Island. When you try to have things both ways like this you end up with a watered down product - it's better to just be one or the other. Obviously the die hard fans have been annoyed. I feel like the casual viewers from OG days will slowly drop (see the Tiktok video above), leaving the young viewers to stick around who don't know any different.
- Daily show: I don't mind the diary room cutaways and I think this is a good way to give BBAU its own identity. But there's a pacing problem. As far as I know BBUK and AU now have the same episode runtime (for regular daily shows). But BBAU feels incredibly rushed and exhausting. BBUK is able to give events so much more room to breathe and play out. I suspect Ten is cramming more advertising into the show than ITV. I feel like I also saw more storylines in the 30 minute Ten days.
The clicky/boppy transition clips are too long and repetitive, they are already annoying. They should have just copied BBUK directly on this - reasonably fast transitions zoomed in on something new from the house each time. It doesn't eat up air time and keeps some visual variety.
- Live shows: Rough and janky. The crew seem inexperienced: lots of timing issues, audio mixing was a problem early on. The eviction stage is Temu BBUK and looks cheap in daylight. I get it - scale and budget is so much smaller in Australia but yeah it looks cheap. As others have said, Mel is a good host let down by low production values.
- House: It is what it is. BBAU has never been known for having signature houses (except for the huge backyards by international standards). They have obviously taken cues from BBUK and it's fine.
- Housemates: They cast 5.5 very blokey straight men (Conor mimics the others in group situations). This is almost half the house. As we've seen on so many BBAU seasons (and also BBUK 2024)... when you have more than 2 blokey men they just dominate every aspect of the house. They form a pack and collectively kick and/or bully out the other housemates. They cause the daily show storylines to be dominated by which hot chick they wanna fuck. The entire storyline for the first two weeks has been Colin and Holly hooking up, and now Coco and Bruce hooking up. Yawn.
- Creative direction: One thing I have always admired about BBUK is a strong creative direction (most seasons). For example, this year the house was eyeball themed. The opening credits featured eyeballs, the house was decorated with eyeballs, the housemates had a purchasing currency called Eyes, there were tubes across the house where Eyes could be dispensed by BB which formed part of various tasks. All very cohesive and put together.
In comparison, BBAU so far feels like grab-bag of ideas with nothing connecting them together. For example, the last supper where Jane, Holly and Michael had to dress as clowns. Why clowns? If this was a last supper like BB announced, wouldn't robes have been more fitting? The room was decorated to look like the last supper chambers! But clowns? It felt like no one had paused for a moment to flesh this choice out. Instead, some one plucked these cheap ass clown costumes from a $2 store and said "this'll do".
Some analysis on all of this:
I'm especially disappointed with the casting because it shows Ten haven't moved on from the BBAU 2003-2007 template of young people with hot bods. And since the show is being pushed to have Love Island / MAFS elements, I can only conclude that this is simply the state of Australian FTA television now. Mostly junk food TV, copying each other and doing it on the cheap. The viewers who like this will stay on FTA and the others have so much more choice to go elsewhere. I hadn't watched FTA in years before this, so I find it jarring.
I wanna be kind and say that this is probably being influenced by Ten executives being super risk averse, but really who knows.
I have a lot of friends who work in the creative arts (not only TV) and there's a common theme of needing to leave Australia to further your career because Australia is rigid, afraid of new things, and there's a huge talent drain away to the US and UK. Honestly, I see the effects of this in the current season of BBAU. They are likely doing their best but it's feeling derivative and the staff seem inexperienced.
I wouldn't be super interested in the show if it wasn't for the live stream.
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Well I for one still feel like I'm waiting for my rugs to kick in.
imsocold
Well-Known Member
The live elements are the biggest gripe of mine at this stage, and I have a feeling it's because they've hired a team who is mostly experienced in offline production. The result is very amateur - suffers from significant pacing issues (alternating between rushed and too much dead air), has poor scripting, a lack of structure, and feels overly unrehearsed. I love Mel but they're really letting her down.
For the daily shows, they're getting much better with the edit, but I am concerned that significant events don't make the final cut. The "previously on" intro needs to go, and the scene transitions need to be cleaned up (including drop the shitty instrumentals entirely). I also want less of the confessional breakaways.
I like the house. Could it be improved? Absolutely, but it's more than serviceable given the location they're working with. I really appreciate the sense of space and the distinctive visual design.
Casting is mostly pretty decent, but the edits are imbalanced and the producers should be creating opportunities for some of the under serviced characters to shine (as opposed to going all in on the showmance). They need to do a better job of weeding out dead weight e.g. Abiola, and adding more diversity amongst the men.
As far as Big Brother goes, I don't want the hard authoritarian version of that character, but I would like a more consistent enforcement of the fundamental rules. I know things are being addressed that we don't necessarily see but it still feels slightly lacking. Pete is not an adequate lead voice.
Certain things like the production down days I can forgive on the presumption that it's a budget issue and I can extend enough faith that it will be fixed for a full series.
For the daily shows, they're getting much better with the edit, but I am concerned that significant events don't make the final cut. The "previously on" intro needs to go, and the scene transitions need to be cleaned up (including drop the shitty instrumentals entirely). I also want less of the confessional breakaways.
I like the house. Could it be improved? Absolutely, but it's more than serviceable given the location they're working with. I really appreciate the sense of space and the distinctive visual design.
Casting is mostly pretty decent, but the edits are imbalanced and the producers should be creating opportunities for some of the under serviced characters to shine (as opposed to going all in on the showmance). They need to do a better job of weeding out dead weight e.g. Abiola, and adding more diversity amongst the men.
As far as Big Brother goes, I don't want the hard authoritarian version of that character, but I would like a more consistent enforcement of the fundamental rules. I know things are being addressed that we don't necessarily see but it still feels slightly lacking. Pete is not an adequate lead voice.
Certain things like the production down days I can forgive on the presumption that it's a budget issue and I can extend enough faith that it will be fixed for a full series.
dasnico
Well-Known Member
Agreed with this with one exception:
Yes the UK seem to have a more cohesive creative direction, but that’s the end imo. It’s not a great creative direction. The UK model is now extremely gimmicky. I’m glad AU didn’t directly copy their gimmicks and odd themes. The eyeball thing seems to be completely plucked out of left field simply because eyes = big brother.
BBAU used to do their shows very well. It was comparable to C4 days with its own unique identity and shared common elements of the general format. I don’t know what this is.
Agreed - if it wasn’t for the live feed I feel I would’ve switched off by now.
Look, I feel like I’ve already gone on enough of a tangent in other threads about my thoughts for this season. I can’t help but just simply echo everyone else who has already replied here.
The pre season campaign was near perfect, but they built the hype and truly underdelivered. The live stream is the saving grace of this revival but, quite frankly, even that is a double-edged sword. It’s giving us (mostly) unfiltered content but it’s also pulling back the curtain and revealing more of an insight into just how over-produced and manufactured this whole season is. Sadly, we’re living in a world where the contrived nature of reality TV is here to stay.
I can see that the Daily Shows are being tweaked and I can’t really complain with the most recent show that aired last Friday (Nov 14). Most of us have already expressed how on the mark that episode was. But the live shows - all the live shows so far - have been some of the worst produced TV I’ve sat through in a while. Whoever is directing these live shows needs to really go back to the drawing board - or find someone else to helm them. This sentiment is also being shared my many industry people online, as well as ex production crew members of Big Brother, so it’s not just us. I also feel for Mel who is evidently brilliant but not being given much to do or work with.
Ultimately I have many, many thoughts but no longer the energy to go on and on about it. So I won’t. I will always love and remain passionate about this show - I have, and will continue to, see it through the good and bad. I do feel like things might get better when and if more money gets put into it. But currently, as others have said, it feels like a step in the wrong direction and a bit of a disappointment.
I give it a generous 7 for now.
The pre season campaign was near perfect, but they built the hype and truly underdelivered. The live stream is the saving grace of this revival but, quite frankly, even that is a double-edged sword. It’s giving us (mostly) unfiltered content but it’s also pulling back the curtain and revealing more of an insight into just how over-produced and manufactured this whole season is. Sadly, we’re living in a world where the contrived nature of reality TV is here to stay.
I can see that the Daily Shows are being tweaked and I can’t really complain with the most recent show that aired last Friday (Nov 14). Most of us have already expressed how on the mark that episode was. But the live shows - all the live shows so far - have been some of the worst produced TV I’ve sat through in a while. Whoever is directing these live shows needs to really go back to the drawing board - or find someone else to helm them. This sentiment is also being shared my many industry people online, as well as ex production crew members of Big Brother, so it’s not just us. I also feel for Mel who is evidently brilliant but not being given much to do or work with.
Ultimately I have many, many thoughts but no longer the energy to go on and on about it. So I won’t. I will always love and remain passionate about this show - I have, and will continue to, see it through the good and bad. I do feel like things might get better when and if more money gets put into it. But currently, as others have said, it feels like a step in the wrong direction and a bit of a disappointment.
I give it a generous 7 for now.
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wilsonwilson
Member
Channel 9 did a much better job with the live shows. I suspect its largely a budget issue, limited number of staff as well.
Rison
Macaroni to win BB2025
I just checked. They're generally around the same runtime. UK kinda hovers around the 46-48 minute mark without ads. The non-live shows for BBAU so far have been 50, 46 and 45 minutes.
BBUK is streets ahead with their ability to edit the shows compared to the monkeys working on BBAU at the moment. Although I'm in a very niche group that has gone from watching BBUK to watching both shows with the overlap week last week - its made it way more apparent than it otherwise would have been.
The difference is quite jarring (and more worthy of being put in the jar than Emily
).