Episode BBAU 2020 - Episode 1 Discussion (8 June) - First 12 housemates

[WhyAMIWatchingTHis?]

I’m getting sick of the drone shots of the cliffs. Move on.

Was hoping evictees would get thrown off the cliff!

 

[iJake]

That’s a shame. There’s certainly kinks to iron out and the episode definitely wasn’t without its flaws. But we‘ve kind of known what to expect for almost nine months now - and it was a definite leg up on on Nine’s last run of episodes imo.

Yeah, I'm pretty sad about it tbh. I really wanted to like it, but then...idk, it just felt so cheap haha, and I feel like the whole thing was one big identity crisis that could've easily been solved by simply going all in on the North American format. The 'oomph' would've still been lacking a bit because of the pre-recorded thing but at least there would've been more clarity and cohesion.

Also...wtf is an eviction room and why is it such a waste of space? lmao the house looked good in photos but it's basically just an ugly hallway with a bunch of rooms running off it. Again, no cohesion, no flow...

 

[oddjob]

1. Those steps: Where was the wheelchair accessibility?
2. Keiran mission: Waste of air time.
3. The secret door: You mean the first one you see when you enter the house? Why did you even put it inside the house?
4. Lots of misdirection to hide the lopsided result.
5. Was Kieran really that nervous?

 

[Backflip]

These ad breaks are super short??

Yeah, 7 announced they were going to bring in shorter ad breaks across the entire network starting with BB. TV Tonight had a write up about it https://tvtonight.com.au/2020/05/seven-to-trim-tv-ad-time.html

All this ball talk reminds me of Survivor.

Am I watching Big Brother or Survivor?

Found out while watching that the EP has previously worked on Australian Survivor. Believe they've also worked on 2 seasons of the UK version and 1 of the Aussie version previously.

Overall I thought this new season was ok, but much prefer the 10 style. Def feel like won't get to the HMs very well this season. Will watch another episode or 2 just to see if there's any improvements.

 

[Brekkie]

1. Those steps: Where was the wheelchair accessibility?

Has BBAU ever had a contestant in a wheelchair?

 

[oddjob]

Has BBAU ever had a contestant in a wheelchair?

Were applicants made aware of this situation?

 

[Brekkie]

So 36 pages - I think it's safe to say that'll decrease with each new episode.

Firstly the positives - the house looks great, but why do they need three lounges? A good diverse cast too, though diverse doesn't necessarily mean watchable and entertaining. Logo and presentation looks good on the whole too, plus it was great that for their first challenge they had something visually impressive and original - I don't recall seeing a challenge like that on the US/Canadian version.


The negatives - well, it was a bit of a hot mess. The first hour was killed by an unnecessary secret mission which added nothing to the show at all - I think viewers old and new would have preferred a bit more of the natural interaction of the HGs meeting each other. It also kind of highlighted the unhappy compromise between old and new - felt so rushed compared to the marathon launch shows of all but actually felt so dragged out too and struggled to hold my attention - the challenge needed to come earlier in the episode.

The editing is a right mess as I feared - the Big Brother voice doesn't quite know if it's narrator or confident, and is unnecessarily agressive in the house thinking it's funny. It really didn't need to be in the challenge portion either - the should have used either Sonia or the houseguests themselves to narrate that. It's almost worse that it is added in post.

Format wise well firstly we lost a day somewhere - the impression we got was the challenge was on Day 2 and then nominations were immediately after and the eviction later that night, but then when evicted they said it was day 3. Having no time between winning the challenge and the nominations really takes out one of the key parts of the HoH format, and not a fan of the nominees voting either. That whole "live" segment was so awkward with Sonia not really asking the right questions of the right people (it's more interesting to talk to the non-nominees, then just let the nominees make a plea), whilst the vote reveal couldn't have been messed up more. Producers can't make up their mind what the show is about too - they want it to be this new strategic game but concentrated more on housemates whining about not having tea and having to make their own bread.

Also sucked the most interesting of the nominees went - I think we were all here hoping for a Keiran exit. It's never good when producers pre-select a housemate for a launch night twist - one in this case which was ultimately pointless, but the pre-selection still suggests favouritism amongst the producers and I don't like that.


We always knew this format would be accelerated and different and that isn't necessarily a bad thing, but I think the choice to edit it all into one episode is not a great move. Would have been a more satisfying launch IMO to end tonights show on the Nomination Challenge and then put the nominations and eviction into the show tomorrow.

 

[Brekkie]

Were applicants made aware of this situation?

What situation? If a wheelchair applicant had been successful only minor changes to the entrance of the house and corridor would have been required to accomodate them in terms of the house - everything else is pretty much flat.

 

[Kingston]

I've been watching their podcasts.

Gross... I expected more from you.

 

[nickp]

I’m liking Angela, Allan & Ian after the first episode

 

[starry]

hated the way the way sonia said who went home, no suspense, if they're gonna do that they might aswell show the hm's voting like USA. Dissapointed no 'it's time to go'

I thought that was weird as well. I was happy when they didn't show all the votes in the DR (like in the US version) but then they proceeded to let the announcement out in stages which made less impact anyway.

 

[starry]

Not necessarily - remember they know who stays longest, so the edit will subtly favour that.

Or not so subtly.

They built up a bit of suspense towards the end of this episode anyway, though I felt with the Laura edit being so obviously negative she was unlikely to stay. It would have been nice if they could mix things up more in the edit and let someone dominate the DRs and edit who then just gets evicted anyway to make us guess even more.

 

[starry]

I don't know if they will get rid of Kieran because he's gone into self destruct, you have to watch the ones that are completely calm because they've clearly got other people on their side.

I'm not sure if they are playing really strategically, the edit towards the end suggested many aren't.

They aren't giving much air time to Zoe, I think it might be her leaving IMO.

I doubt someone would just be evicted out of nowhere, the editors would more likely prepare it, though it was prepared lighting fast with Laura.

 

[starry]

I was really hoping they were going to follow the US BB template more closely. I'm disappointed that there isn't an HoH or Veto.

The competition we saw was, in effect, for Head of House. She decided nominations after all. A Veto competition (a chance to take yourself off the block) would have been interesting, but if they are doing this as quickly as suggested in this thread that's unlikely to be seen in this show.

The competition may have been the best part of the show for me, it seemed a relatively original idea. I don't remember having seen it before anyway.

The worst part was the secret task, seen that kind of thing way too many times on Celebrity Big Brother and hoped I wouldn't see it again. They are always judged to have passed the task, even if they haven't. It would have been more interesting to actually see the bedroom continue to be locked off.

Maybe the BB voice isn’t done in post? Possible it’s been enhanced for in the edit or re-dubbed but it doesn’t seem that bad.

It doesn't have any authority to me.

If you like Angela, you need to take a long hard look at yourself.

She's playing up her role, I don't think you can take it that seriously. Funny so far anyway.

 

[Brekkie]

Thought it was odd during the eviction part that Sonia was used mainly to send people to the diary room (mainly off screen) whilst Big Brother conducted the vote. Obviously in the US/Canada one of the hosts main roles is conducting the vote and talking to the HMs in the diary room, and keeping count for viewers at home, whilst random production staff (aka "Big Brother) do the boring bit of queuing up the houseguests to go to the diary room.


Also any sign of Eye Spy or Mike Goldman's show? Are they after every episode or once a week, or just when they feel like it?

 

[mebe]

yayyyyyyy … so happy the show is back (even without feeds and change of format)

If they are evicting someone every episode, how many days a week is show on?

 

[BBantUK07]

yayyyyyyy … so happy the show is back (even without feeds and change of format)

If they are evicting someone every episode, how many days a week is show on?

The show is on three days a week for 8 weeks

 

[BBantUK07]

Thought it was odd during the eviction part that Sonia was used mainly to send people to the diary room (mainly off screen) whilst Big Brother conducted the vote. Obviously in the US/Canada one of the hosts main roles is conducting the vote and talking to the HMs in the diary room, and keeping count for viewers at home, whilst random production staff (aka "Big Brother) do the boring bit of queuing up the houseguests to go to the diary room.


Also any sign of Eye Spy or Mike Goldman's show? Are they after every episode or once a week, or just when they feel like it?

I saw one of mike goldman's shows go up, im assumig it must be after every ep. No mention of eye spy though, i think theyll do one every week though.

 

[BBantUK07]

I dont know if someones mentioned it, but im assuming a producer or someone behind the scenes would have played the role off bb while they were in there since the voice was added in post.

 

[refundeR]

So nice to see all the old faces back! Hey gang Agree with your synopsis @Brekkie.. Would have loved to see a whole lot more natural interaction between the hm's. Those initial awkward first conversations are gold.. First ep was a garbled hot bucket of seafood extender but so happy to have the show back 8)