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Mike Goldman Podcast - Interview's Alex Mavroidakis

He sure loves being interviewed doesn't he? No wonder why we have lots of wannabe celebs in the Big Brother house when the executive producer is one.

Anyway don't bother listening to this guys I can give you a recap:
(In British accent)
"Blah! Blah! Blah!" "This is the best year of Big Brother ever" ... "I'm a Big Brother purist you know" ... "They never say nice things about me but I don't care" ... "Big Brother will never be a house full of revolving doors" ... "No one watches the live streaming" ... "I think we have done a great job of sanitising Big Brother to family friendly but not too much" ... "The housemates are doing so much we can't keep up with them".

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You know, I honestly do think Alex is a good guy. I think in some alternate universe he'd probably have an account here and be a really vocal contributor. You can tell he's frustrated with Nine, and you can pick up from the way they both reacted to each others' slight criticisms of Nine that it's something they talk about often, like it's an "in-office joke" or something. He may act like a bit of a douche every now and again, but I dunno, after listening to that, I can't hate him, because I can hear in his voice that same frustration that I feel when I'm talking about this year's show. Poor guy.
 
It's a bit of a wank fest, but hey.

Talks streaming, his past, Ten should of rested the show in 2006 and more.
http://www.onthemike.com/2014/11/the-real-big-brother/


I am choosing not to sit thru this

It will tilt me

If someone could provide cliff-notes / major points would be appreciated

I agree; it will be a ball -washing exercise where they take turns cupping one anothers' nuts and reassuring the purists in themselves

No
N
O

No
 
"Live streaming is the future of Big Brother" - (Shh Alex Nein don't want you saying that)

The people doing the Chinese version are coming to visit next week.

Intruders were a shake-up

Regrets not putting Lina and Penny in from the start

Mike met Tom a few years ago on Bondi beach (no influence on him getting in though)

Alex says "if you told me Tully was going to change her sexuality half way through the season I would have never believed you" lol, haven't you heard that she was always bisexual Alex :rolleyes:

4 or 5 people were put in this year for a particular reason and they turned out the opposite, some in a good way, some in bad way

How are we getting rid of the rest - 1 tomorrow, 1 wednesday, 2 tuesday (maybe one on Monday), second last night 3, 3 left on the finale

Alex's favourite tasks - freeze, remote control, ignore the obvious, catch the watermelons

Mike claims he invented the freeze tasks (you can listen to his justification for this yourself)

Tasks get repeated because they are great

Last year's freeze came from Norway, Alex saw a tiny clip of it on the exchange DVD but it was changed

Alex likes Big Brother when it's funny

Funniest Big Brother housemate - Fitzy

Alex doesn't wear any boxers or briefs.

Is it true that you make it up as you go along - yep

Some favourite housemates - BB01 Sara Marie, BB02 Nathan, BB03 Reggie, BB04 Fitzy, BB05 Tim Brunero changed to Vesna, BB06 Brodie & TJ

From Lawson, can he go back in - no
From Aisha, can he keep Lina away from Travis - no

How much money does he earn - not enough

Who will win - probably Skye

Where are the oldies - he tried but it's hard

Said about housemates getting paid (the $500 a week, although Mike said $600)

Will you ever do a Big Brother all-stars - never say never but they don't work globally
Celebrity Big Brother - we don't have the same celebrity pull in Australia

Why so many twists - you can to keep reinventing the format. He is a fan of just leave them and do nothing but the modern demands of TV requires a promo-a-day and to get new viewers.

Ideal world - stream 24/7, 7 nights a week show, Uplate with Mike Goldman - but all they can do is what they are asked to do

Do you hold private auditions for the token gay housemates - no, ridiculous

2013 housemates and season was one of the best Big Brothers in the world

How much difference does the crew make - about 300 crew members, massive operation, couldn't be done without them. One of the best TV crews.

Behind the scenes could be a reality TV show itself

Mike Goldman is paid by Nine (he laughs about he might not have a job next year)

Finale ideas - they say they know Behind Big Brother is going to listening to this, we just want to know what he is doing. "They all love me"

Mike tells him to give us some - Definitely announcing the winner in the house, wants to keep pillars of last two year finales, keeping the News VT, family member/friend coming into the house for winner after the announcement, lots of firework and tears, stay true to the fact the show has done 10 years now doing some sort of retrospective moments and iconic moments


From the current task - Priya's husband went in the house today, Priya kept getting rewinded up and played on the diary room stairs so she only got the see him a bit. Robbers in the house today, stole some makeup and Priya's cash. Have to have a meeting about giving it all back to them because they need makeup for the live show tomorrow.

Do they make it up as they go along - yes absolutely, they have a 2-3 week plan, can't do Big Brother any other way.

Last 3?
Mike - Skye, Daivd and Priya
Alex - Penny wild horse, Ryan, Priya or Skye - I don't know. David has a chance. Leo another way maybe.

Leo sometimes takes 15 minutes to tell a story.

Leo is a 10/10 intruder.

"Too many stories going on", what he means is there is "too many little stories going on". HMs do things that aren't in big scenes. Tried to tell the story of the house.

Why can't we put the little stories on the web - "we don't own the digital rights" "my only job is to do the TV show - the rest of it is up in the air", Mike presses him and he says it's a tragedy and that he and Chris (Blackburn) argue about what should go in and they argue with Channel Nine about what should go in. It'll make your hair curl some of the stuff that doesn't go in.

Mike - Let's have some more fun, "to the future".

Kiss my Alex Mavroidakis
 
Happy I listened and probably deserve execution anyway so here goes -

Mike comes across as genuine with big heart and is proud of his contributions to BB. He should be.

Alex sounds very different than expected from his pix and criticism. Everything he said rings true & sounds like he gives BB all that he can within the constraints. His focus seems hardcore & his vision appreciated. Advance press of Alex had indicated a whiny nerd voice, but am happy to discover that is far from true, he sounds to know exactly what he's doing. Admirable that he stands by his crew 100%, but still probably kicks ass as necessary.

But... I'm not impartial because I think Alex's BB is the most entertaining on this planet. I'll fill you in of BB on the next when this red dot disappears...
 
Purist? How fkg ridiculous. The current BB bears very little resemblance to the original years. He says the future of the show is online streaming FFS! We used to have the online streaming. He's trying to say they can't do it...how does he explain them doing it? All excuses, no value to any of the crap, just lame attempts at justification for a crap production year.

He's not doing his job behind the camera, I sure as hell done want to hear him in front of it. OP described it as a wank fest. Nailed it.
 
"Live streaming is the future of Big Brother" - (Shh Alex Nein don't want you saying that)

The people doing the Chinese version are coming to visit next week.

Intruders were a shake-up

Regrets not putting Lina and Penny in from the start

Mike met Tom a few years ago on Bondi beach (no influence on him getting in though)

Alex says "if you told me Tully was going to change her sexuality half way through the season I would have never believed you" lol, haven't you heard that she was always bisexual Alex :rolleyes:

4 or 5 people were put in this year for a particular reason and they turned out the opposite, some in a good way, some in bad way

How are we getting rid of the rest - 1 tomorrow, 1 wednesday, 2 tuesday (maybe one on Monday), second last night 3, 3 left on the finale

Alex's favourite tasks - freeze, remote control, ignore the obvious, catch the watermelons

Mike claims he invented the freeze tasks (you can listen to his justification for this yourself)

Tasks get repeated because they are great

Last year's freeze came from Norway, Alex saw a tiny clip of it on the exchange DVD but it was changed

Alex likes Big Brother when it's funny

Funniest Big Brother housemate - Fitzy

Alex doesn't wear any boxers or briefs.

Is it true that you make it up as you go along - yep

Some favourite housemates - BB01 Sara Marie, BB02 Nathan, BB03 Reggie, BB04 Fitzy, BB05 Tim Brunero changed to Vesna, BB06 Brodie & TJ

From Lawson, can he go back in - no
From Aisha, can he keep Lina away from Travis - no

How much money does he earn - not enough

Who will win - probably Skye

Where are the oldies - he tried but it's hard

Said about housemates getting paid (the $500 a week, although Mike said $600)

Will you ever do a Big Brother all-stars - never say never but they don't work globally
Celebrity Big Brother - we don't have the same celebrity pull in Australia

Why so many twists - you can to keep reinventing the format. He is a fan of just leave them and do nothing but the modern demands of TV requires a promo-a-day and to get new viewers.

Ideal world - stream 24/7, 7 nights a week show, Uplate with Mike Goldman - but all they can do is what they are asked to do

Do you hold private auditions for the token gay housemates - no, ridiculous

2013 housemates and season was one of the best Big Brothers in the world

How much difference does the crew make - about 300 crew members, massive operation, couldn't be done without them. One of the best TV crews.

Behind the scenes could be a reality TV show itself

Mike Goldman is paid by Nine (he laughs about he might not have a job next year)

Finale ideas - they say they know Behind Big Brother is going to listening to this, we just want to know what he is doing. "They all love me"

Mike tells him to give us some - Definitely announcing the winner in the house, wants to keep pillars of last two year finales, keeping the News VT, family member/friend coming into the house for winner after the announcement, lots of firework and tears, stay true to the fact the show has done 10 years now doing some sort of retrospective moments and iconic moments


From the current task - Priya's husband went in the house today, Priya kept getting rewinded up and played on the diary room stairs so she only got the see him a bit. Robbers in the house today, stole some makeup and Priya's cash. Have to have a meeting about giving it all back to them because they need makeup for the live show tomorrow.

Do they make it up as they go along - yes absolutely, they have a 2-3 week plan, can't do Big Brother any other way.

Last 3?
Mike - Skye, Daivd and Priya
Alex - Penny wild horse, Ryan, Priya or Skye - I don't know. David has a chance. Leo another way maybe.

Leo sometimes takes 15 minutes to tell a story.

Leo is a 10/10 intruder.

"Too many stories going on", what he means is there is "too many little stories going on". HMs do things that aren't in big scenes. Tried to tell the story of the house.

Why can't we put the little stories on the web - "we don't own the digital rights" "my only job is to do the TV show - the rest of it is up in the air", Mike presses him and he says it's a tragedy and that he and Chris (Blackburn) argue about what should go in and they argue with Channel Nine about what should go in. It'll make your hair curl some of the stuff that doesn't go in.

Mike - Let's have some more fun, "to the future".

Kiss my Alex Mavroidakis


Greatly appreciated !

Thank you
 
Thanks for this @matts bb! This is the kind of stuff that I'd never stumble across if it weren't for this forum so I appreciate it. I found it was a really good listen and very interesting. Yet again I'm left wanting to give Alex a hug and tell him that most of us understand the stuff we bitch about is out of his control but unfortunately since no one from 9 ever talks to us, he's the only one we can take aim at. It's not fair though so I'm going to do my best to stop that now.
 
stay true to the fact the show has done 10 years now doing some sort of retrospective moments and iconic moments
Um... It's done eleven seasons now. D'oh!

Plus, does a "retrospective" recap of previous years hint at the fact it is not returning in 2015? Because why randomly recap past years?

Also, Alex got it wrong when he said that Mike Goldman has VO'd every show in AU - there were a few Daily Shows in 2002 (I think) where they were absorbed into the Live shows and Gretel VO'd for some reason. I remember thinking at the time I preferred her VO to his.
 
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So, how much of this should we actually believe?

This.
* "We don't get people from talent agencies"..."people have to audition"...I suppose that explains why great-looking people with connections make up 99% of housemates.

*"we don't put one person over 40 because they stick out like dog's balls and get evicted first" - that's why you put a MIX of ages, just like you try & make us believe your 'ideal' house would be. Pfft...if you wanted to put an average-looking mix of ages in, you would.
 
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I'll have to listen later. I don't doubt that Alex has a side to him that obviously cares about the "purist" nature of the show, however the thing that bothers me is when he is continuously hypocritical.

I was reading some of the "summary" posts about the podcast above and there was one point (well, one of many actually) that completely contradicted something he's said once before. Here, he says that in an "ideal world", live streaming would be 24/7, there'd be Uplate, yadda yadda. Um, did he forget his response to BBBA earlier this year about live streaming supposedly only being watched by a "few hundred people" and that it is not a viable format anymore, blah blah. He went from one extreme to the next. Complete bullshittery, if you ask me.

I will commend the Finale talk though. Coincidentally, I was actually intending on creating a thread this week with my "final request" for what I would like to see in the BB Finale this year. I'm glad that they also see it as a very significant event in a BB season, as it's one of the most important aspects of the show imo, and after last year's atrocious Finale they need to up their game.

But yeah, I may voice more of an opinion once I listen to it myself.
 
I was reading some of the "summary" posts about the podcast above and there was one point (well, one of many actually) that completely contradicted something he's said once before. Here, he says a that in an "ideal world", live streaming would be 24/7, there'd Uplate, yadda yadda. Um, did he forget his response here about live streaming supposedly only being watched by a "few hundred people" and that it is not a viable format anymore. He went from one extreme to the next. Complete bullshittery, if you ask me.

There's a difference between 'viable' and 'ideal world.' Not necessarily a contradiction!

Even if it is... I think 'old media' are slowly coming around, (because they are forced to) but it will take them quite some time...
 
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