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Davina hosts BBUK: Best Episodes Ever from 14 June

I think I read the first ep launched to 700k, If i'm correct that's just under what channel 5 pulled average for there last series. I think that's rather good considering it was a spinoff and on E4.
Hopefully potential for a future series!!
 
To be honest though weren’t most CBB casts in the C4 era primarily British?
yes, but more of them had international profiles, even if they were from Coronation Street or Eastenders or whatever, so having lived in the Antipodes you'd stand a chance of recognising them at least.

Just struck me this time because it's an episode out of context from a season I hadn't watched. Usually you watch from the launch ep, get introduced to them and learn about the ones you don't know as the season progresses (as you do with civilian seasons).
 
Hoping it's true. Think it's silly they always hype up the celeb one over the civilian, cause then it makes less people care about the civilian.

"They" was Channel 5... Comparatively CBB always came second to the civilian series on Channel 4. In fact C4 put CBB on hiatus several times over their history.
 
I think I read the first ep launched to 700k, If i'm correct that's just under what channel 5 pulled average for there last series. I think that's rather good considering it was a spinoff and on E4.
Hopefully potential for a future series!!
Yes, it's fell a bit during the week (but was up against a nightly BBC drama getting 7m viewers), but on the whole it has been very well received beyond the core BB fanbase. Most people still have rather fond memories of the C4 era.
 
The BB3 ep, or episodes, were by far my favourite of the classics we've seen - mainly because they were just pretty much normal episodes and it highlighted what a great series it was. Even though what they showed tonight included an eviction, two tasks, the biggest twist in the shows history, nominations being revealed and a quitter, it almost felt like nothing happened - and it was so much more engaging. Such a classic series, built around all the housemates, not just the producers favourites - and just pure brilliance really.
 
The BB3 ep, or episodes, were by far my favourite of the classics we've seen - mainly because they were just pretty much normal episodes and it highlighted what a great series it was. Even though what they showed tonight included an eviction, two tasks, the biggest twist in the shows history, nominations being revealed and a quitter, it almost felt like nothing happened - and it was so much more engaging. Such a classic series, built around all the housemates, not just the producers favourites - and just pure brilliance really.

Considering how well that series was received it astounds me that “back to basics” was the direction they took with the following series... That said I guess we can credit BB4’s flop to what many would view as BBUK’s golden years.
 
It doesn't surprise me too much - by the time they got rid of it the house divide was choking the season, so they needed something simpler for BB4. And the rewards room was a good way to continue the live challenges while reverting the shopping tasks back to the weekly format. The only real issue with the season is that they cast two show-ruining presences in Steph (who's never in any real danger) and Cameron (who is immune for two weeks, destined to get both The Scottish Vote and The Evangelical Vote, and has two months of Dermot O'Leary pimping in his favour). Take those two out of the picture and, even with all the other evictions shaking out the way they do, the season becomes MUCH more bearable. It still wouldn't have been a hugely great season, but a Ray/Scott/Nush final three is better than a number of other seasons people typically think of as among the best.
 
It doesn't surprise me too much - by the time they got rid of it the house divide was choking the season, so they needed something simpler for BB4. And the rewards room was a good way to continue the live challenges while reverting the shopping tasks back to the weekly format. The only real issue with the season is that they cast two show-ruining presences in Steph (who's never in any real danger) and Cameron (who is immune for two weeks, destined to get both The Scottish Vote and The Evangelical Vote, and has two months of Dermot O'Leary pimping in his favour). Take those two out of the picture and, even with all the other evictions shaking out the way they do, the season becomes MUCH more bearable. It still wouldn't have been a hugely great season, but a Ray/Scott/Nush final three is better than a number of other seasons people typically think of as among the best.

Regardless of how things played out the point they hit a plateau... Without it they wouldn’t have revamped the show the way they did... Subsequently I doubt they’d have lasted more than a few series after.
 
It was a strange decision to build the show up over 3 years, and then when it’s reaching a peak in popularity take away a lot about the show which made popular in such a huge way.

The Big Brother 4 companion book was an interesting read in that they explained why they made the creative decisions that they did - particularly the departure from BB3’s raucousness. They also talked a lot about the reasoning behind the cast. I haven’t owned the book for about 10 years now but I think they wanted a cast that you could imagine being friends with, and that in casting ‘nice’ people, the drama would unfold organically. I think the crowd’s reaction to Adele, and newspapers running scratching headlines about Jade and her appearance (“Evict the Pig”) resulted in them wanting a more positive series.

I always liked BB4. It wasn’t particularly exciting but it was still popular in a way Big Brother couldn’t fathom being now. I remember watching the BB5 opening weekend and initially hating it - thinking they had jumped the shark and ruined my favourite TV show because they had actively set out to do everything that they had avoided for the previous 4 years. However, by turning the show completely on its head they ended up saving it.
 
Format wise BB3 should have built on BB4 - it would have been a natural progression to either take the Rich/Poor divide to the next level with bigger challenges and a more extreme divide, as seen in the European versions - or have a new spin on it like BBAU did with the two houses, which were essentially two poor houses merging into one rich house.

I think they listened to the wrong people - criticism like snideasides gives above wasn't reflected at all in the ratings, which were hitting 7m a night and 8m for evictions, far higher than BB2. Yes, all the stars aligned for them that series but scaling back wasn't the right thing to do, though I agree BB4 was nowhere near as bad as made out and the rewards room was actually a better use of the live challenge slot than how BB3 used it, plus they restored the weekly task having scrapped it completely in BB3. Indeed maybe that is why BB3 was so good because most of it was natural day to day interaction - they had a half hour live task on a Saturday, nominations on a Monday and a mini-task midweek, plus the eviction of course, but other than that it was just a group of people living together keeping themselves entertained.
 
After an absolute dud yesterday with a poor episode from a poor series (CBB7) which baffled most fans they genuinely did deliver a "Best Show Ever" tonight with the box task from BB6. Another civilian series so well cast - every HM seemed to have a role, even the boring ones, and it was a far more diverse cast than previously which made it all the better.

Incidently with the box task turning up in Australia next week the EP of your current series did work on BBUK during the series it originated too.
 
The line-up of episodes has been questionable to say the least.I guess a lot of the housemates who were in their 20s are now in their 30s holding down jobs and don’t really want the exposure of seeing themselves on national television again drunk, naked and having screaming matches. A lot of the great moments would show people in vulnerable situations that are maybe best left in the past. Vanessa’s breakdown, Fight Night, Spit Gate amongst many others are big moments, but I guess C4 don’t want to expose people’s darker moments for entertainment over a decade after they happened.

The show still has a duty of care, and highlighting how volatile someone was 10/15 years ago on national television probably isn’t the best idea.

That said, I’m sure there are still better episodes than the CBB7/ CBB6 episodes we got. I’m sure there are even better episodes from those SERIES never mind the whole C4 archive.
 
No idea why we’re reliving this drama again seven years later... Just for fun I thought I’d point out something that’s always omitted in this discussion... Rumour was Emma was always Channel 5’s first choice but gave in to pressure from Brian. They both took a gamble with the role and obviously it didn’t work out. I really have no idea why he’s still bitter about it. It’s a shame really as I think he would have made a great BBOTS presenter...

 
They definitely messed up giving Brian the main gig. In theory it works - the double-winner from C4 ushering in a new era on a new channel. But it just didn’t work. He lost all of his personality, which is ironically something that probably wouldn’t have been a problem if he was hosting Bit on the Side, where the presenters have a lot more freedom to ad-lib, chat and I think his personality (the reason he was so popular) would have shone through.

Emma hosting the main show with Brian in the spin-off sounds a lot better. Also, at the time, Brian was a lot more tabloid-friendly than Emma, which Richard Desmond was all about. I remember they also screen-tested to be co-hosts but they obviously never went for that option.
 
They definitely messed up giving Brian the main gig. In theory it works - the double-winner from C4 ushering in a new era on a new channel. But it just didn’t work. He lost all of his personality, which is ironically something that probably wouldn’t have been a problem if he was hosting Bit on the Side, where the presenters have a lot more freedom to ad-lib, chat and I think his personality (the reason he was so popular) would have shone through.

Emma hosting the main show with Brian in the spin-off sounds a lot better. Also, at the time, Brian was a lot more tabloid-friendly than Emma, which Richard Desmond was all about. I remember they also screen-tested to be co-hosts but they obviously never went for that option.

Just goes to show that Brian’s ego is what’s landed him in this position... Either he fought a lost cause or should never have accepted the position to start out with. Not falling for his pity party as far as I see it he only has himself to blame for his tarnished legacy.
 
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