It's all same old same old. Yes, they're out by a week - but it's still as predictable as the sun rising every morning. Even "new" twists or old ones slightly modified.
They really need to depart from the twists they have done, they should look at BB Brazil for some twists. Even though they copy our main twist they have some good ones that they come up with on their own.
BBUSA is so under developed very basic twists could be done to freshen things up - for example rather than a "fast forward" double eviction episode, have a surprise eviction on the Tuesday. The Veto is all done and dusted on the Monday so Julie could simply interupt the HMs on Tuesday evening and announce the eviction is tonight, not Thursday.
They previously did that in BB5-BB7 where one HoH would be determined as normal and on Tuesday a surprise PoV ceremony would take place then the eviction followed by the HoH. The second would reign until Thursday and the PoV comp/ceremony happened live on Thursday. For BB6-BB7 when they had to do two double evictions they did the fast forward week then a double eviction episode.
Since they now have three in the finale one thing they could do is when a double eviction happens change each year how it would happen (fast forward week then fast forward episode) When the Housemates start predicting a fast forward episode switch it to fast forward week.
But the problem with fast forward episodes right now is where CBS moved the second episode from Tuesdays to Wednesdays. In theory they could do it but with the Wednesday/Thursday. But this could also result in the live feeds being blocked for an extended period/pre-recorded footage for After Dark.
I don't think those would work as they're not in the style of BBUSA where no BB exists - and the petty punishments for petty rule breaks are tedious. I guess you could do something for food violations or entering the HoH room without the HoH - and perhaps have a "clock" with the money on with say $10,000 wiped off once the rule is broken - but I do think the better way to do it is start at $1m and wipe off $100,000 when the Veto is used as the Veto has become far too dominant in recent years, so putting a price on using it would really counter balance that.
It can be done, production in recent years have tried to create a somewhat BB character. The easiest way to adopt this twist would be have Julie explain it on launch.
A second way could be when BB starts to ask HMs to put on their mics have the current HoH come to the DR and come out with a note that has to be read to the entire House.
Here are a small list of everyday rule breaks that would occur a $5,000 fine:
*Not wearing a microphone when not in bed, hot tub, pool or showering
*Not going to the Diary Room when asked by BB, if BB asks a second time then a fine is assessed.
*Singing/humming copyrighted music which then blocks out the live feeds
*Talking about a person/event that the network does not have a release for. (In these instances the feed is blocked out)
*Using inappropriate language during live shows
*Eating/drinking a forbidden item while being a Have Not/on a slop restriction (currently this results in an added day of the punishment)
*Talking about production/sequester (again results in the feeds being cut)
Live feed fans do not like it when an HM does something to block out the live feeds beyond the competitions/ceremonies so hardcore fans would welcome this.
And to compensate with the lack of a BB presence here Julie could update the HMs on the status of the prize fund each week and BB could provide a small clip of when HMs are told they have to put on their mic, etc. Or this could be the HoH duty throughout the week to update everyone on how much money they have lost as a result of disobeying BB. Since all the US Housemates are very money centric this would hurt them the most.
Then like in BBAus they could have a series of competitions during the final week in addition to the final HoH so the Housemates can win back some of the prize fund.
Since the second place HM and the public's favorite HM also gets a prize then the 2nd Place prize could be $250,000 with the public prize being $50,000. When money is taken away from the grand prize the secondary prizes also decrease.
That is exactly why it needs to be done though - BBUSA needs twists which do mess with the gameplay aspect and really makes the show unpredictable. BBUK really didn't kick into gear until they were willing to break their own rules back in BB5 - and twists seemingly being unfair is what makes them great, as ultimately it should always be a fairly random series of events which gets the houseguests in that situation.
A studio plan
here which gives an idea of the space they have to play with (not much!). They could always raise the "front yard" to the second level though so people enter on the balcony and then have some kind of "bedsit" underneath it (the BB bunker!), but it would have no outdoor access (though I guess they could go in the garden when the house is on lockdown as Victor/Michelle did last year).
And as much as the house is long overdue a complete revamp, I think the actual footprint is relatively small, but with clever planning and perhaps moving more things to the second story they could do something I'm sure.
I agree with that there but I don't think we would get a twist like the bedsit as long as the current format is performing well in the ratings.
