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BB21 Ratings Thread

Thank you for articulating this so eloquently. You are spot on the money. These have been my thoughts too.

The fact Seven have entirely eliminated past seasons and refer to the current series as “seasons 1 and 2” says it all.

Despite the producers and Sonia harping on and on about the “old version” not working for today’s audiences, the original can and would absolutely stand up on its own if done properly. Especially in 2021 where the possibilities to execute it even better than before are endless. For a list of reasons, the networks are just too afraid to invest in it and do so.

Now more than ever, however, I do believe Ten will bring it “home” and revive the original one day. Even if it’s a decade from now.

The lack of acknowledgment of the past series is really disappointing, especially given the show's 20 year anniversary. BBUK had Ultimate Big Brother to send off the channel 4 iteration and BBUS had an All stars for 2020, we have nothing monumental to acknowledge BB's past. I heavily am of the opinion the format itself could work wonders for any network if they honestly put their heart and soul into it. It is a high risk but also could potentially serve as a very high reward. I am however am in two minds about how I feel about the show staying on air. In one mind I would absolutely love to see it return live with 24/7 feeds over a 3-4 month period with live shows and public voting, yet on the hand I am aware that it is likely to never happen again. In a way I'd be happy for it to have not returned at all to 7 and to just appreciate the memories of the show for what it was and enjoy them. Rewatching the series as an adult compared to when I initially watched them as a child was a really enjoyable experience for me and even sufficed as a regular new series in all honesty. I've binged all of the US seasons and I'm working my way through BBUK. There is a load of BB out there that I can still enjoy and watch at my viewing pleasure. As much as I'd love to see it return to the show that shaped my childhood, I also do not enjoy watching a show I have known my entire life to be such large event television be dilapidated.
 
Rewatching the series as an adult compared to when I initially watched them as a child was a really enjoyable experience for me and even sufficed as a regular new series in all honesty. I've binged all of the US seasons and I'm working my way through BBUK. There is a load of BB out there that I can still enjoy and watch at my viewing pleasure.
I relate to this so much, before the revival last year I binged 2003-2007 and a few CBBUK series from 2008, 2015 and 2016 to get myself pumped. It was like watching a brand new season and going in blind, there’s so much gold and it’s really sad that 7 can’t get over themselves and just broadcast content that actually divides viewers and provoke audiences to change the narrative and course of the show each Sunday night.
 
The lack of acknowledgment of the past series is really disappointing
tbh it wasn't at all surprising. Seven have gone to great lengths to distance the show from it's past, so it would make no sense to undo that effort and acknowledge anything that came prior.
 
tbh it wasn't at all surprising. Seven have gone to great lengths to distance the show from it's past, so it would make no sense to undo that effort and acknowledge anything that came prior.
Which disappoints me further considering the great respect to the past they showed DWTS:AS, from the snippets I managed to catch. Granted, it was primarily Seven during those years, but still.

Worldwide, BB series’ have always acknowledged their past and built upon that. It’s part of the brand.
 
Which disappoints me further considering the great respect to the past they showed DWTS:AS, from the snippets I managed to catch. Granted, it was primarily Seven during those years, but still.

Worldwide, BB series’ have always acknowledged their past and built upon that. It’s part of the brand.

I agree fully. Disasccoiating itself from the show's fast just even more so makes it feel less like Big Brother. Funnily enough is what is probably the intent of 7, but all the same makes me dislike the revamped show a lot more.
 
No, because I believe Endemol still failed to deliver anything worthwhile in the first place for the the execs to hack.

Nice try though.

Edit: I’ll expand, since I’m pretty sure you still won’t get it. Is Seven’s vision shit? Yes. Does it hamper the the production? Sure.
But it’s still, literally, Endemol Shine’s job to produce a good show that’ll satisfy both Seven’s vision and the general audience.

Clearly you just don’t “get it”. Endemol can’t only do so much with one hand tied behind their back while having the entire show dictated to them by the network. We’re also only seeing what the network has approved of us to see so we have no idea what was left on the cutting room floor. Endemol are producing the product they were contracted to produce.

I think you're both right, and both wrong. Ultimately, Ch7 and Endemol have agreed to produce this altered version of BB. Who went to who with the idea, I don't know and I don't care. It's Endemol's fault for allowing it to happen, and Ch7's fault for airing it. As for who is making it shit, it's circular. Ch7 asks for a certain type of TV show (ie cheap, pre-recorded etc), Endemol delivers a cheap show, then Ch7 wants it changed to look less cheap, which then results in quick hack changes that make it worse, then it goes to air. It's just a shit show all around.

Whether it's a streaming network (like Stan, Netflix, Amazon etc) or a FTA network, or even a combo of the two (ie Ch9 and Stan, Ch10 and Netflix etc), we now know for certain that BB needs to be live, it needs to have audience interaction, and it needs to go back to its roots on Ch10 where housemates nominated in secret, there was no out in the open gameplay, the focus was purely on human interaction, and you could vote to save your favourite nominated player.

If I were to structure BB for 2021, using Stan and Ch9 as an example, I would do the following

On Ch9, I would air
Sunday: 30min Daily Show then Eviction
Monday: 30min Daily Show then Nominations
Tuesday: 30min Daily Show
Wednesday: 30min Daily Show
Friday: Adults Only after the NRL/News

These would also be live streamed on Stan.

Stan would exclusively get:
A 1hr daily show every day of the week
Live Streams of all cameras 24/7
Friday Night Games like Ch10 used to do (Although I'm open to it being on Ch9 on a Saturday Night instead if they're not showing the NRL).

Ideally the season would last at least 100 days, I would run it from the start to the finish of the AFL/NRL seasons. You need to get people hooked on the free stuff (Ch9) but provide incentive to get them onto Stan too.
 
I think you're both right, and both wrong. Ultimately, Ch7 and Endemol have agreed to produce this altered version of BB.
You’re wrong. Endemol are a business... If a network is interested in buying one of their formats they aren’t going to say no and if a network wants changes they aren’t in a position to decline. While there may be some negotiations between the two ultimately the network has the final word.

The EP from the Nine era was pretty vocal about the fact that production and Nine were often not in agreement and that they were often overruled by the network.
 
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I read somewhere that it was actually Endemol who pitched the revamped BB format to 7 as they were busting to get any form of BB back on the Australian TV airwaves.
 
I read somewhere that it was actually Endemol who pitched the revamped BB format to 7 as they were busting to get any form of BB back on the Australian TV airwaves.
This is how I recall it as well. In reality there was probably a lot of compromising/tweaking between the two companies which ended up in this mess we're currently enduring.

Camel-is-a-horse-with-drop-shadow.jpg
 
I read somewhere that it was actually Endemol who pitched the revamped BB format to 7 as they were busting to get any form of BB back on the Australian TV airwaves.
It may have been Endemol that initially pitched overall concepts based on the North American format. That said it should be clear that Seven were behind most of the other changes made to the format.
 
Episode 7 - 5th May 2021

Five City Metro - Total People
#10
- Big Brother 556k

25-54 demos #3 (Nine News #1 & 2)

18-49 demos #1

16-39 demos #1

Still beaten by Travel Guides (644K), Hard Quiz (633K) and just in front of Masterchef (535K)
 
probably a lot of compromising
I’m not sure compromise is the right word there. A lot of the changes made are decisions that only the network can make. Seven were looking for cost savings, a limited episode run, as well as an extremely polished and compact finished product. Endemol looking to sell the format has little room to do anything but agree to those terms. The current format is such a drastic departure from the original and seems to be unique to Australia that I have serious doubts the current product was devised without a list of demands from the network.
 
Episode 7 - 5th May 2021

Five City Metro - Total People
#10
- Big Brother 556k

25-54 demos #3 (Nine News #1 & 2)

18-49 demos #1

16-39 demos #1

Still beaten by Travel Guides (644K), Hard Quiz (633K) and just in front of Masterchef (535K)

With a show like BB total viewers are not that important but demos. I think 7 wouldnt be too stressed at the moment as its doing well in the younger demos unlike most of their other shows.

For example Dancing With The Stars did not make the top 5 in any demo after its premiere episode.
 
With a show like BB total viewers are not that important but demos. I think 7 wouldnt be too stressed at the moment as its doing well in the younger demos unlike most of their other shows.

For example Dancing With The Stars did not make the top 5 in any demo after its premiere episode.

True but doing well in the demos only on Wednesday's when there is no Lego Master on. 😆
 
I wonder how Gleeson hasn’t been lured over to a commercial network yet, his gold logie acceptance speech is everything
 
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