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BBAU Rewatch

I actually love theres no music in the edit, it makes it feel very natural like I am looking directly through a window into someone's house. I am up to Day 42 and Ben and Blair also got to speak to the dog Ebony's owner and the housemates got pretty close to the security guards and outside every week on eviction nights. One thing also is there is not alot of bum dancing in the edit. There is alluding to it on the live shows and in some daily shows but its only been shown once or twice so far and mainly on uncut. I assume at the time the feeds were popular.
Oh it was so much better without music. I'm kinda surprised to actually hear any at all, which is why I mentioned it. As luck would have it, we got Bigpond cable connected right at that time, so yeah, I was hooked on the feeds. And it really was a real "water cooler" show. At work a bunch of us would chat about it every day.

I'm just wrapping up Sharna's eviction now. Need to make more effort to catch up to you!
 
My favourite thing about the series so far is Sara-Marie being useless in the weekly tasks lol. Her laughter at Big Brother announcing they fail or what the woeful budget will be is hilarious.
 
There is also minimal use of the Big Brother voice. He only speaks to them when they nominate and announcing a task. It is so strange how in 2021 almost every seen has Big Brother either being quirky and messing with housemates or organising a secret mission.
 
I actually love theres no music in the edit, it makes it feel very natural like I am looking directly through a window into someone's house. I am up to Day 42 and Ben and Blair also got to speak to the dog Ebony's owner and the housemates got pretty close to the security guards and outside every week on eviction nights. One thing also is there is not alot of bum dancing in the edit. There is alluding to it on the live shows and in some daily shows but its only been shown once or twice so far and mainly on uncut. I assume at the time the feeds were popular.
Was pretty common worldwide for housemates to be allowed out of the front door on eviction night and wave to the crowd and possibly spot their family members, which often gave them the boost to stick it out another week. Most versions seemed to ban that from their second seasons though which was a shame really.

Generally speaking in many countries the early series got so much right that was lost in later years, but especially humanising the housemates by introducing viewers to their families and showing viewers where they come from. Later series seemed to forego that which I think saw housemates treated as characters rather than people by both producers and housemates alike, and I think the show suffers from that.
 
Yeah they used to allow books and reading materials too to help the boredom bits Like Sara Marie mentioned in that interview they had one of the old magazines memorised, and in that Uncut episode I watched Ben was reading out loud from Lord of the Flies or something.

Regarding Lisa IIRC she was a little bit background compared to some of the louder personalities in the house. They used to allow sleeping during the day too before they cracked down on it or it was used as part of one of those sleep deprivation tasks - remember Claire from BB2003 used to be known as the 'Koala' from memory because BB allowed her to just get away with napping it out during all hours of the day.
 
Up to Day 77 eviction. I find the final 4 pretty underwhelming apart from Sara-Marie. She really shines so brightly in the second half. She is beyond hilarious and is so ahead of her time. I loved Christina in my last rewatch but this time again I just find her to be miserable, Ben is okay nothing special but I understand why he won now (largely thanks to the use of vote to evict) and Blair I have found to be a chauvinistic boring little shit.
 
Up to Day 77 eviction. I find the final 4 pretty underwhelming apart from Sara-Marie. She really shines so brightly in the second half. She is beyond hilarious and is so ahead of her time. I loved Christina in my last rewatch but this time again I just find her to be miserable, Ben is okay nothing special but I understand why he won now (largely thanks to the use of vote to evict) and Blair I have found to be a chauvinistic boring little shit.
ok don't go spoiling the winner though.
 
I always used to skip the Saturday show when I watched this season the previous two times. I've actually enjoyed it and did not know they actually showed daily show footage.
 
Didn't realise they had a Saturday show to start with - that didn't last long did it? Was it a regular daily show then?
 
Didn't realise they had a Saturday show to start with - that didn't last long did it? Was it a regular daily show then?
Check one out here. Hosted by Gretel it featured backgrounding of HMs, pox pops as well as daily house footage.

 
Wow Sami Lukis haven't seen her around for a while, what else was she from (trying to think). Also interviews with an Author? The first season was very variety show.

I remember when they used to have musical guests on at the end of the eviction show - the one where Joanne Accom (you remember her version of 'Jackie' in the late 90's) sang her song 'So Damn Fine' at the end of Lisa's eviction while Lisa and her friend awkwardly grooved onstage to the side and meanwhile Joanne's two back up dancers are just giving the choreography EVERYTHING. hilarious.
 
Didn't realise they had a Saturday show to start with - that didn't last long did it? Was it a regular daily show then?
The Saturday shows were fantastic. They were an hour long and was much more focused on how the outside world (from press/media to fans and HM family/friends) were perceiving the show. They also did a wrap of each evictees first week out of the house, too.

The only reason it discontinued was because Ten acquired the rights to the AFL in 2002.
 
Well I finished my rewatch of 2001. It took me just under 2 weeks which is what I had planned for. Overall I really enjoyed it, Sara-Marie has made me laugh more than I have in probably 3-4 years. The beginning of the series is a bit slow but I'd say thats a typical Big Brother thing not so much it being 20 years old. The middle of the season around week 5-9 is when the show is really enjoyable, storylines have cemented, drama is at it's peak and the housemates are finally comfortable around one another and it really shows. Sara-Marie was so enjoyable especially in the last few weeks. Her laugh is infectious and I found myself smiling every single time she was on screen. I could only imagine how it was enjoying her at the time of it airing. The last few weeks did drag a little bit with the housemates obviously being very bored, the last week itself was not very interesting as it was just the final 3 recapping their entire time in the house. Thats probably the biggest issue I have with the first 5 seasons of Big Brother and also I guess Big Brother in general as the numbers dwindle the storylines do halt, but obviously this will be fixed in the later seasons. I didn't watch Uncut in my first watch of these ten years ago but lol Uncut is grouse, I can see what it's the most viewed episodes on youtube and not even close. Thats where Sara-Marie was probably her funniest.

I am not sure if my next point is because of it being 2001, the show's first season or if it's because I'm watching edited shows with no feeds but it feels like alot of things in the series were overexaggerated. For instance Mike Goldman's narration and Gretel as well as the general public's interpretation of the housemates nominating each other as back stabbing. They all have to do it and a lot of the reasons people were nominated were very trivial or because they picked at random. There was alot of focus on Johnnie also hugging people and him being considered two faced. Maybe this is because it is the first reality show in Australia, but wow it amazing to see what small things made you a villain back then compared to today's meta of reality television. I do not like the final 3 format of evicting a finalist then having the final 2 left to vote to evict. I am unsure of what generally would have happened at the time but based on the Saturday shows as well as the previous voting %s I am inclined to assume if Australia were given the chance to vote to win Sara-Marie may have won against Blair? He may have had a shot as well but I don't see Ben winning against them in a three way vote. One thing I will say is that I had never picked up on the indirect sexism on the season. The house was ruled by the boys group of Blair, Ben, Peter and Johnnie and female housemates like Sara-Marie and Anita were berated for being too loud or opinionated yet people like Lisa and Christina were scolded for not having opinions and for being too quiet. The public were in major favour of an all round good Aussie bloke winning yet a lot of the comments towards the females on the Saturday show were largely negative; "Jemma cares too much about what she looks like" "Sara-Marie is too loud" "Lisa is boring". Different time twenty years ago and it does tend to show. Lot's of little comments and statements that would absolutely not go down well in today's world, first thing that comes to mind is Christina telling Peter "I'd rape if you if I saw you naked". I do wonder if this season was shown on TV today how things would differ, I'd hope that Sara-Marie would win as in all honestly I felt really underwhelmed by the final 2. I would have obviously preferred Sara-Marie and maybe Johnnie or even Jemma. Overall the cast itself is quite iconic and do bounce off each other quite well, I did however find largely I was mainly interested in Sara-Marie for the most part and my opinions on others did tend to decrease overall. Those are my general thoughts about the series so I'll give my thoughts on each of the housemates.
 
Andy: I absolutely love Andy, I think it's a shame she was the first to go. She stood out from the crowd and she was not afraid to be herself. I would have liked to get to know more about her personality apart from her dominatrix career. It's funny, I think Andy stands out to me more as a first evictee rather than most people who made it far into the show. She's the prime reason why I do not like vote to evict, I prefer vote to save as whilst it does result in boring evictions from the start it does keep interesting characters there for the long term. Overall I love Andy and she would probably be my third or fourth favourite housemate from the season.


Sharna: I remember Sharna being shown more than what she was, apart from her birthday party and dummy spat she was actually kind of just there which shocked me. The dummy spat is also only for about 2 or 3 episodes and then she gets over it. I found it comical, I did think it was funny and I would have liked for her to stay longer to see it happen again.

Todd: He is probably one of the two most forgettable to me. He seemed like a nice guy but apart from being smelly I don't feel I got much from him overall. Production seemed to like him though? He was heavily used on the Saturday show, or that may have just been circumstantial.

Gordon: I did not mind Gordon in the beginning, I liked that he along with Sara-Marie did try to do fun things in the house rather than read books. But I can't say I absolutely loved him. It's obvious he did struggle to fit in with the group in general, I would guess because he was older than most and a lot more extraverted than the general household. The Jemma storyline was kind of cringe to watch. I'm indifferent to him leaving as early as he did. RIP.

Rachel: Today I love Rachel Corbett as a panellist on the project. For 2001 Rachel I have almost nothing to say as she was hardly there or shown.

Lisa: She is probably the most forgettable to me. She was shown a decent amount but she really only spent time talking to Jemma. All I really got from her was that she didn't get along with Christina as much as the others? She did speak up more in her last week. I didn't understand the large % to evict her. I get she's boring but why do other boring housemates not get the same reaction? I didn't want to guess racism but it is what comes to mind as a viewer watching only the edited show. I guess in her eviction Blair and Sara-Marie were never going and maybe Australia didn't want to split up the couple or felt sorry for Christina? So maybe Lisa was just collateral damage of being nominated against 3 fan favourites.
 
Peter: I remember liking him the first two times I watched, but this time I didn't. I did not find him and Christina cute, I actually found him at times to be quite rude to her when she spoke up or in general I found him to be quite on his high horse. He was entertaining to a degree and was Christina's whole personality for the first 4 weeks. His eviction was probably the first where I actually noticed someone's absence. I did like his friendship with Johnnie. He did have redeeming qualities I just don't particularly love him. I also don't think he actually wanted to stay with Christina, I got the sense he just was sexually attracted to her, if he really liked her he'd understand why she didn't want to do bednight cuddles anymore. Yet they continued.


Anita: Like most of the other housemates I remember her being more shown that what she was (recency bias plays cheeky tricks on your memory doesn't it) I do feel bad as an intruder she was always going to struggle. The boys were very anti-Anita and it seemed her only friend was Sara-Marie. I loved the entertainment she brought in her last week. The fight with Johnnie and Blair has been ingrained in my memory since I first watched it. I was happy she called out Blair for being a smug little prick because he honestly was. I don't think Anita had any chance ever in surviving long in the house. I appreciate her explosiveness in that last week (for 2001's standard) as it even lasted on impact for the remainder of the time in the house.

Johnnie: I actually really enjoyed Johnnie. More each time I've watched. I found him to be likeable, aware and also had fun times in the house. I wonder if the whole Johnnie Rotten thing came from some form of homophobia or stereotyping? Then again gay contestants after him seemed to do extremely well repeatedly so I am unsure on that. I find his whole villain persona to be so deluded by the audience. Obviously its the first ever show, nominations may have been perceived the same way Richard Hatch's alliance was in the same way but wow I cannot believe that he is really in the category of TV villain. He is I guess the Jerri Manthey of Big Brother Australia. I did find him entertaining, but hey maybe in today's world he would have lasted longer. I think he'd do very well in modern Big Brother he knew how to be likeable, socially amazing and physically fit.

Jemma: I didn't love her as much as I did the previous time but she is all around a nice person who I did find to be likeable. I have no issue with her being image focused, thats her own choice so you do do Jemma. I found the whole argument about her not wanting to be naked in the shower to be so disrespectful. I don't understand why it needed to be discussed, if I was on the show I probably wouldn't shower naked either. She was very aware of what Big Brother was as she mentioned the UK version very much with Craig and Nasty Nick. I do wonder if she went on with the intention of brand deals but I don't resent people who do that as long as they are entertaining television. She wasn't incredibly dynamic all of the time, but I did enjoy her life stories or her opinions as she always seemed to have opinions on people and events. I don't like that she was evicted largely due to her being so called "self obsessed" but what can you do.

Christina: On my first watch I hated her, second watch I loved her and now my third watch she is just okay. She was funnily enough a huge character in terms of screen time from start to end. Mainly due to Peter at first and then her whole journey of wanting to be more loud and opinionated. I felt bad for her as she was clearly as very insecure and shy person and she may have found comfort with Pete but it wasn't shared in the same way I think between the both of them. Watching this show as a 14 yea old I didn't seem to really think about how it would feel to be nominated so much. But I do feel bad that she was the only one nominated three times in a row. She spent 5 of her last 6 weeks nominated. What makes me feel bad for her in that sense is she knew she wasn't meshing with most people anyway so I did feel bad. Not enough to really want her to stay but I do feel bad for her. She was rather a sad figure in the entire season, I think she had a lot of insecurities when in there. I did learn about her more than I did most housemates so I am pretty satisfied with that. I struggle to actually believe she got into stand up comedy. I just cannot see it.

Sara-Marie: I could talk for weeks and weeks on end about how much I love her. She started off a bit irritating I can't lie. I was thinking to myself hmmm I remember loving you so why am I not. But after the first month when she survives a few evictions she shines brighter than anyone on reality TV ever will again. Her laugh, her humour, her pyjamas and her bum dance all together create a dynamic and entertaining character that never failed to make me smile and laugh out loud. She is what I want Big Brother to be, she physically is someone who you'd be likely to run into in your daily life, yet her personality is so unique she is someone you'd be lucky to meet more than once. Her being useless in the tasks and bursting out laughing whenever Big Brother told them their dismal shopping budget, her speaking to the chickens like their dogs, her being genuinely interested in getting to know other people and most importantly her confidence in herself and not not caring abut what other people think are the reasons why I love her and I can so easily see how the audience felt the same. I honestly don't laugh very often at reality TV anymore, but it is impossible to not laugh with her. She took being nominated so much very well and never let it stop her from enjoying her time in there. I don't ever believe there will ever be a housemates who makes me laugh as much as she did (Not gonna quote myself on that as I am very excited for Vesna and Reggie). She is really the star of the season and I honestly don't see why I wouldn't want to rewatch for the sole purpose of watching her again. I will also say however like things I've mentioned throughout my rewatch is a lot of these trademarks by the housemates are not shown very often in the edit? like the lipgloss of Jemma or Sara-Marie's bum dance, they come very late into the edit and aren't shown to a great degree. But obviously live feeds like I keep mentioning were a thing so that is what I assume caused these little things to explode as much as they did.

Blair: I loved him the first time I watched, second time loved him and third time I did not like him. I found him so much more boring than I remembered and he wasn't incredibly dynamic. It is so clear he has grown up with brothers as he was quite critical of the females in the house either for being too boring or too loud. For a 19 year old he is quite reserved and quiet, other than being cute he is not exactly amazing television. He isn't that cute IMO but I understand why girls were obsessed with him. He wasn't exactly amazing television in my opinion I didn't really like him at all on this rewatch. Constantly on his moral high ground and getting pissed off when people disagreed with him. I didn't fall for his apology to Jemma nor did I find him charming. I used to say I'd vote him over Ben but I now largely rethink that statement. I'm not entirely sure what it is about me that's different that has caused me to dislike him this time watching? But I cannot say I enjoyed him this time around.

Ben: He still to me is largely forgettable. He's extremely diplomatic and gives me teacher's pet vibes. He's the one that always had to say "Big Brother we'd like to thank you" which IDK I find cringe over and over again. He had more interesting stories and input than I recall. I used to never understand how he won over Blair and I came to the conclusion that the audience was confused with voting and vote to evict Blair thinking it was a vote for him to win. But now I see Ben as the more satisfying option in all honesty. He wasn't really ever in conflict or ever rude or nasty, he was having fun at times and I think his friendship with Sara-Marie towards the end made me more higher on him than I have been. But yeah I don't have a hell of a lot to say about him overall and I do still think he shouldn't have won as there were better bigger characters who I'd prefer, and he largely wins due to the voting format. But overall my opinion on him did increase. I cannot believe he was 21 though, he was giant and looked and appeared so much older.

Those are my thoughts for 2001, which I generally did enjoy and I do plan on one day rewatching it again with no issues. I do hope the rumour of Sara-Marie being on 2022 is true. I am not really looking forward to my 2002 rewatch as I remember really disliking it and finding it boring, maybe I'll feel different when I start it tonight? wish me luck.
 
Gordon: I did not mind Gordon in the beginning, I liked that he along with Sara-Marie did try to do fun things in the house rather than read books. But I can't say I absolutely loved him. It's obvious he did struggle to fit in with the group in general, I would guess because he was older than most and a lot more extraverted than the general household. The Jemma storyline was kind of cringe to watch. I'm indifferent to him leaving as early as he did. RIP.
Something Gordon said in (I think) the first daily show reminded me of his tragic death. I wish I'd made a note of it now but he said something about getting off his head and partying - something to that effect which implied he liked to pop party pills and have a good time. As I've been known to do (so no judgement from me). And from this article what I suspect happened was he'd taken a pill with GHB or something else in it, which when mixed with alcohol can be deadly.

Sloan arrived at the nightclub in the district of Sanlitun about 3am. Staff say he ordered two beers, sat at a table and appeared to go to sleep. An ambulance was called when they couldn't wake him and the club was closed soon afterwards. - full article

Incredibly sad really. I liked Gordon.
 
Love your insights and I largely agree. Especially about Christina doing stand up. Good on her but, like, how?

And I definitely agree about 2002, easily the most boring season. But maybe you’ll inspire me to give it another chance.
 
I appreciate whoever capped these did a great job taping them on VHS and then ripping them to .avi. I wonder if 10 still has the original widescreen seasons and if they'll put them up on Paramount+? (not that I can access that).

TVGuy used to rip a lot of shows later on. Not sure if he was the original source of the first BBAU seasons though. When I was providing streams of the daily shows live I only had a 1Mbps upstream connection which limited things somewhat. The internet was not ready for me then. Quite a few people from around the world tuned in and persevered with me though That was a lot of fun.
 
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