Ok, I am gonna say it anyway.. bring back live feeds.
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what would you change to get ratings back?
- Thread starter machete
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freddy
Well-Known Member
All interesting comments ... and some fantastic suggestions as well. I have watched BB since series one. I think I've probably only missed a total of about 10 daily shows, ever. I was disappointed when it was dropped off air, but was ecstatic when they brought it back.
Like BBguy, I actually think the way they are doing it right now *IS* a breath of fresh air. The old format was indeed getting a bit tired, in my opinion. I actually enjoy watching things like the HMs trying to work out if a married couple is indeed a real married couple. Those interactions and discussions are fascinating to me and clearly show which individual HMs are calculating, logical, sneaky, couldn't care less, etc. I love laughing at the "gimmicks" (Ben as PA for example), and I do enjoy Alex's humour as BB. The new format is, for me, entertaining and fun to watch.
However, all of that said, I also agree with the posts here that the show is edited far too much. There is no "timeline" to the show anymore (remember when they used to show the time on the screen "9:00am", "11:00am", "2:00pm", "6:00pm" and the daily show was actually shown in the correct order from morning through to night? You actually saw the sun come up, and then go down). Instead we now have seemingly random edits which make the show APPEAR to be rigged in favour of one particular housemate. Whilst I don't believe for a second that a winner has already been decided by the production crew, I do agree that the editing makes the show come across that way.
As much as I do enjoy watching the "gimmicks", I also agree that there are far too many of them. For example, was there even a cricket task this week? We saw barely any of that in favour of Ben being the PA. In one show they were 2 wickets down, then, in the next show, they were 17 wickets down. What the? Where was all that footage?
If the show was not so full of gimmicks, then we would see more of the "under the radar" HMs. For all we know, the under the radar housemates are occasionally doing something good, or contributing to some meaningful conversations ... but, because of a talking fish, or a cheerleader dance by some sisters, we don't see those conversations. Sure, they might not necessarily make riveting television, but at least the viewing public will get to see the personality traits of the people in the house (boring, witty, idiotic, whatever).
So, whilst I do like the new format, and I find it entertaining and funny (including Alex as BB), I think there could be "less" of that kind of stuff so that it does not "take over" the show. BB would then be a little more traditional, ala the old days, but, at the same time, would have some refreshing funny gimmicky things to provide entertainment every now and then.
I also think Uplate should return and "Uncut" as well ... for me, they are a big part of BB and provide even more insight in to the housemates personalities. After all, the idea of the show is for us, the viewing public, to vote out the various personalities from week to week. But, if we have no idea about who those personalities are, then how can we be expected to do that? With that in mind, yes, live feeds of some kind would certainly help in that regard (I never watched the live feeds, but agree 100% they show the housemates for exactly who they are). And, shows like Uplate/Uncut can be used to allow some of the gimmicky stuff to be seen in the earlier 7:00pm type timeslots, then using the later timeslots of Uplate/Uncut to show more of the conversations and "personality" type of stuff.
In conclusion, I do like the new format, and Alex is fine as BB (I love the humour side to it) ... but, I think there can be TOO MUCH of the gimmicky stuff and not enough showing of personalities and tasks. Sure, have the gimmicks ... just not so many of them ... bring back a live feed, and a later evening show such as Uplate or Uncut (or both). I think this way we would get to enjoy a few laughs, whilst at the same time, get to know the housemates and their personalities. We would be able to form opinions of the housemates, be more encouraged to vote based on those opinions, and then get to see the interactions and changing personalities as HMs get voted out and the dynamics of the house change. THAT is what BB is all about.
Like BBguy, I actually think the way they are doing it right now *IS* a breath of fresh air. The old format was indeed getting a bit tired, in my opinion. I actually enjoy watching things like the HMs trying to work out if a married couple is indeed a real married couple. Those interactions and discussions are fascinating to me and clearly show which individual HMs are calculating, logical, sneaky, couldn't care less, etc. I love laughing at the "gimmicks" (Ben as PA for example), and I do enjoy Alex's humour as BB. The new format is, for me, entertaining and fun to watch.
However, all of that said, I also agree with the posts here that the show is edited far too much. There is no "timeline" to the show anymore (remember when they used to show the time on the screen "9:00am", "11:00am", "2:00pm", "6:00pm" and the daily show was actually shown in the correct order from morning through to night? You actually saw the sun come up, and then go down). Instead we now have seemingly random edits which make the show APPEAR to be rigged in favour of one particular housemate. Whilst I don't believe for a second that a winner has already been decided by the production crew, I do agree that the editing makes the show come across that way.
As much as I do enjoy watching the "gimmicks", I also agree that there are far too many of them. For example, was there even a cricket task this week? We saw barely any of that in favour of Ben being the PA. In one show they were 2 wickets down, then, in the next show, they were 17 wickets down. What the? Where was all that footage?
If the show was not so full of gimmicks, then we would see more of the "under the radar" HMs. For all we know, the under the radar housemates are occasionally doing something good, or contributing to some meaningful conversations ... but, because of a talking fish, or a cheerleader dance by some sisters, we don't see those conversations. Sure, they might not necessarily make riveting television, but at least the viewing public will get to see the personality traits of the people in the house (boring, witty, idiotic, whatever).
So, whilst I do like the new format, and I find it entertaining and funny (including Alex as BB), I think there could be "less" of that kind of stuff so that it does not "take over" the show. BB would then be a little more traditional, ala the old days, but, at the same time, would have some refreshing funny gimmicky things to provide entertainment every now and then.
I also think Uplate should return and "Uncut" as well ... for me, they are a big part of BB and provide even more insight in to the housemates personalities. After all, the idea of the show is for us, the viewing public, to vote out the various personalities from week to week. But, if we have no idea about who those personalities are, then how can we be expected to do that? With that in mind, yes, live feeds of some kind would certainly help in that regard (I never watched the live feeds, but agree 100% they show the housemates for exactly who they are). And, shows like Uplate/Uncut can be used to allow some of the gimmicky stuff to be seen in the earlier 7:00pm type timeslots, then using the later timeslots of Uplate/Uncut to show more of the conversations and "personality" type of stuff.
In conclusion, I do like the new format, and Alex is fine as BB (I love the humour side to it) ... but, I think there can be TOO MUCH of the gimmicky stuff and not enough showing of personalities and tasks. Sure, have the gimmicks ... just not so many of them ... bring back a live feed, and a later evening show such as Uplate or Uncut (or both). I think this way we would get to enjoy a few laughs, whilst at the same time, get to know the housemates and their personalities. We would be able to form opinions of the housemates, be more encouraged to vote based on those opinions, and then get to see the interactions and changing personalities as HMs get voted out and the dynamics of the house change. THAT is what BB is all about.
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Cade
Well-Known Member
I thought last nights show was the best of the year so far, FINALLY some character arcs. Even though it was obvious the Tully/Drew conversation was heavily tampered with - or is she really THAT moody?
If anyone from official BB are reading this - LAST NIGHTS SHOW SHOULD BE THE TEMPLATE FOR ALL FUTURE DAILY SHOWS! Not hard to get right is it?
If anyone from official BB are reading this - LAST NIGHTS SHOW SHOULD BE THE TEMPLATE FOR ALL FUTURE DAILY SHOWS! Not hard to get right is it?
I'm pretty simple. I want to see the organic BB again. Give me Twists/Turns, be tougher on the HMs, make the tasks more challenging, make it a better experience!
1) Bring back live feeds, god even if they need to put a few min delay on it, it's what we all want. It honestly baffles me that a network that is financially suffering is depriving themselves of decent revenue & market share increases from the show. Did you know that if around 25,000 people subscribed at a decent season cost of around $65ish dollars, that would be over $1.5 million in revenue for the series. Imagine if 50,000 or even 100,000 people subscribed, that revenue would increase more!
Not only this, ratings would increase as people want to see the action unfold, more people will probably vote in the evictions, etc.
2) Bring back uplate. This show would be a great concept for GO! perhaps.. Even if it's run over the weekend when there is more events taking place, such as games, parties, tasks, eviction aftermaths, etc.
3) Strip the daily show to 30 mins... and add the extra hour in for nominations, evictions, games, and specials.
4) Quit with the shit editing. We understand it's an early timeslot, but channel 10 managed to make it work!
5) Showdown, Extend to 1.5 hours.. Make the games more interesting. Make it LIVE.
Get Rid of Shelly Craft, she's only there because the network can't figure out what to do with Australia's Not so Funny Home Videos!
It's not that hard really channel 9!
1) Bring back live feeds, god even if they need to put a few min delay on it, it's what we all want. It honestly baffles me that a network that is financially suffering is depriving themselves of decent revenue & market share increases from the show. Did you know that if around 25,000 people subscribed at a decent season cost of around $65ish dollars, that would be over $1.5 million in revenue for the series. Imagine if 50,000 or even 100,000 people subscribed, that revenue would increase more!
Not only this, ratings would increase as people want to see the action unfold, more people will probably vote in the evictions, etc.
2) Bring back uplate. This show would be a great concept for GO! perhaps.. Even if it's run over the weekend when there is more events taking place, such as games, parties, tasks, eviction aftermaths, etc.
3) Strip the daily show to 30 mins... and add the extra hour in for nominations, evictions, games, and specials.
4) Quit with the shit editing. We understand it's an early timeslot, but channel 10 managed to make it work!
5) Showdown, Extend to 1.5 hours.. Make the games more interesting. Make it LIVE.
Get Rid of Shelly Craft, she's only there because the network can't figure out what to do with Australia's Not so Funny Home Videos!
It's not that hard really channel 9!
This line basically sums up all of my frustrations. It's such an easy and cheap show to produce, and yet they're still somehow doing it wrong? I am in a state of constant disbelief when it comes to just how much they can ruin such an easy, simple concept.
When you say that do you mean as in the voice of Big Brother? Because Alex doesn't do any of that. The main one (the voice you always hear for nominations/evictions/live shows, etc) is Leon Murray.
I think it was said somewhere that Alex speaks for Surly though.
freddy
Well-Known Member
Ahh. I stand corrected then. I enjoy the humour that Leon brings as the voice of BB.
Caleska
Well-Known Member
I'm in complete support for live steaming, but I'm 100% positive there is no way they could get 25,000 people to pay $65 per season for live steaming. I doubt you could even get 25,000 people to pay $10. Alex himself said that hardly anyone watched the live feeds back when they existed, and there were a lot more hardcore fans back then.
Also, I disagree with you on 30 minute daily shows. With usually around 8 minutes of advertisements, that's only 22 minutes to cover the past 24 hours in the house. That's simply not enough.
Kaf
*****
I'm agreeing here. I want the show to be a manageable length and to make sense.
Much as I like it, I can't suddenly devote 9 hours a week to watching payTV, and the Full Episodes on the website can be very frustrating to use. (I am happy to have ads - but not broken ads that jam the download so that I need 5 tabs running it to find one that runs to the end. I want to be able to skip the thirty minutes I watched on TV and get to the ending I was interested in without having to hang around for the first thirty all over again...)
I want to be able to anticipate when it will be on.
I want to be able to hear the HMs talk with each other - I want to hear how others responded to what was said. I want to feel like I understand what's happening.
I probably will never feel like I'm getting a genuine reflection of what's going on - the way I naively believed I was way back when, but I'd like to sometimes feel like I'm being let in on the secret inside life of the house - I really really wish we had a proper late night Uncut rather than an unheralded mishmash Confidential.
So, I just came across something that I had to quote because it couldn't have been said better and couldn't have been more significant to the many discussions we've been having lately regarding the lack of live BB shows this year, and also following on from the article that's currently on the BBBA homepage.
Watch the following video from 1:47mins and take note of what Gretel says. Note that this was one week after the infamous Merlin incident, which obviously caused a big stir.
It just highlights how differently the producers think about Big Brother nowadays, regardless of what network they're broadcasting on. Their view on what is right when it comes to this show is just so wrong now, and this very statement from 2004 says it all as to how they should still think.
[video=youtube;Op_4rUgJwPk]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Op_4rUgJwPk[/video]
I quote:
"The nature of live television that it is indeed alive. It takes 250 people to bring you Big Brother each week. This week we will be presenting six Daily Shows, five Uplates, one Uncut and four live television programmes and, y'know, we deal with dramas and surprises in every single one of those shows. Live television is what we do and we are very, very proud of the way we do it. And so when people ask me what is your reaction to last week? What do you wanna do about it? What do you wanna say? I just wanna say thank you. Thank you to our crew, thank you to our audience for loving the wild beast that is Big Brother... and finally, thank you Merlin."
How times have changed, huh?
Watch the following video from 1:47mins and take note of what Gretel says. Note that this was one week after the infamous Merlin incident, which obviously caused a big stir.
It just highlights how differently the producers think about Big Brother nowadays, regardless of what network they're broadcasting on. Their view on what is right when it comes to this show is just so wrong now, and this very statement from 2004 says it all as to how they should still think.
[video=youtube;Op_4rUgJwPk]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Op_4rUgJwPk[/video]
I quote:
"The nature of live television that it is indeed alive. It takes 250 people to bring you Big Brother each week. This week we will be presenting six Daily Shows, five Uplates, one Uncut and four live television programmes and, y'know, we deal with dramas and surprises in every single one of those shows. Live television is what we do and we are very, very proud of the way we do it. And so when people ask me what is your reaction to last week? What do you wanna do about it? What do you wanna say? I just wanna say thank you. Thank you to our crew, thank you to our audience for loving the wild beast that is Big Brother... and finally, thank you Merlin."
How times have changed, huh?
You would think channel 9 or the production company would know more about whether it is financially viable than people on this forum. What you fail to mention is the additional cost of providing these live feeds.
sinkingfeeling
Active Member
I don't know about ratings, but I know what I would like to see.
♥ A more diverse range of housemates, personality wise. I know at Nine they're probably like "yep, we got an Asian, an Aboriginal, a lesbian, a mother and a gay guy - we're set!" But think back to when it was on Ten, or even last year. Every housemate was different. I want to see clashes, I want to see a full-blown Bob Katter type in with a Bob Brown, you know?
♥ LET'S NOT TURN THE HOUSEMATES INTO NINE'S OWN LITTLE ADVERTISING MINIONS! I mean Christ, a few days in and we're seeing them on the Ambi Pur ads, last year they had the Gangnam Style thing, it makes it all seem so fake. The commercial breaks are also ridiculous.
♥ I don't like the individual tasks they're handing out to people, really. Like Ben as BB's PA. Just stick to the household tasks. And make them interesting. Make them sleep outside for a week and use a porta potty. Tie them to each other for a few days, I don't know. I know the Ashes thing is relevant at the moment but cricket is dull at the best of times, having them sit around and fail to hit a ball as a weekly task is just horrible.
♥ Do away with the halfway house. I know it's done now and we have to deal, but I just really hate it. Instead, maybe bring back the punishment system. If someone breaks a rule, make them spend the night in a tiny room with half a mattress and bread for dinner, or something.
♥ Bring back uplate - this has been mentioned a lot here, and I think it would be great to have a live show where you could watch the housemates just BE, maybe have people calling in with their opinions on housemates or whatever rather than those stupid games they used to have.
♥ Live shows that are actually live, not as scripted. I understand that Sonia is no Gretel, she's a performer not a journalist, but it all seems so forced when she's on stage.
Also, less crappy editing, less focus on relationships that don't exist, more focus on each housemate - not just the loudest ones.
And the Showdowns are boring.
♥ A more diverse range of housemates, personality wise. I know at Nine they're probably like "yep, we got an Asian, an Aboriginal, a lesbian, a mother and a gay guy - we're set!" But think back to when it was on Ten, or even last year. Every housemate was different. I want to see clashes, I want to see a full-blown Bob Katter type in with a Bob Brown, you know?
♥ LET'S NOT TURN THE HOUSEMATES INTO NINE'S OWN LITTLE ADVERTISING MINIONS! I mean Christ, a few days in and we're seeing them on the Ambi Pur ads, last year they had the Gangnam Style thing, it makes it all seem so fake. The commercial breaks are also ridiculous.
♥ I don't like the individual tasks they're handing out to people, really. Like Ben as BB's PA. Just stick to the household tasks. And make them interesting. Make them sleep outside for a week and use a porta potty. Tie them to each other for a few days, I don't know. I know the Ashes thing is relevant at the moment but cricket is dull at the best of times, having them sit around and fail to hit a ball as a weekly task is just horrible.
♥ Do away with the halfway house. I know it's done now and we have to deal, but I just really hate it. Instead, maybe bring back the punishment system. If someone breaks a rule, make them spend the night in a tiny room with half a mattress and bread for dinner, or something.
♥ Bring back uplate - this has been mentioned a lot here, and I think it would be great to have a live show where you could watch the housemates just BE, maybe have people calling in with their opinions on housemates or whatever rather than those stupid games they used to have.
♥ Live shows that are actually live, not as scripted. I understand that Sonia is no Gretel, she's a performer not a journalist, but it all seems so forced when she's on stage.
Also, less crappy editing, less focus on relationships that don't exist, more focus on each housemate - not just the loudest ones.
And the Showdowns are boring.
mikidiki
Well-Known Member
Fantastic points! Couldn't have said it better if I tried!
I'm guessing yourself & buck1106 either work for channel 9 or for the show? No pun intended.
I disagree with your comments also.
25,000 people out of a core audience averaging 900,000 is not an unreasonable estimate. Works out less then 10%, so I've probably underestimated.
$65 (estimate) for live streaming for a full season pass would work out to be less then $6 per week, and obviously as channel 10 had, there would be options for half seasons, trials, time limits, or weekly to suit people's requirements/budgets or viewing habits more.
Of course it costs money to implement such demands, but if they did it and properly, they'd probably break even or even profit from it. Compared to the old BB days, we are much more technology driven today then we were then with more ways to view the content then previously. The money they are wasting now on over editing and producing content the viewers are complaining about could be better utilised on what the viewers really want - live content, bigger/better games, uplate, uncut etc.
I also think stripping the daily shows back would do wonders for the show in the instance that if update, confidential and games were added into the mix along with nominations/evictions then the content would be more driven, increasing audience satisfaction. As a result of this, Channel 9 could utilise GO! particularly for Games/and or Update to increase the market share for it's digital networks also.
Right now, we are getting 90 minutes of very overly edited material of content that is not live, consistent/driven or makes sense and as a result the audience is decreasing by the day.
Yes, advertisements would suck in a stripped back version of the daily show, but they need to leave us wanting more. This will have viewers coming back. And as mentioned, with live streaming, uplate, confidential, games, nominations, evictions the content is more driven and live!
The network might even see an increase in revenue generated through eviction voting, etc.
I'm no marketing expert, but it doesn't take much common sense to work it out and clearly channel 9 have no common sense, because they are killing their brands and making ruthless mistakes with their programs.
I think your drastically overestimating how many people actively participate in the series. For most people 60-90 minutes of big brother per night is enough let alone live streams. If live shows and uplate were so good and would have the viewers coming back, how come channel ten axed it in 08?
Caleska
Well-Known Member
I guess we’ll just have to agree to disagree, as I still don’t believe there would be 25,000 people who would be willing to pay for any sort of live streaming subscription service. I understand that technology has advanced a lot since the service last existed, but I would assume most people quite simply wouldn't have the time to sit behind a computer when they know they can just watch the interesting content the following day during an hour long episode. Don't forget that the people on this forum are the hardcore Big Brother fans - we do not represent the majority of the people who watch the show.
Anyway, like I previously said, I would love to see live streaming make a return. I just personally don’t think it will and I can understand why.
25,000 would be a very high estimate out of a TV audience of no more than 1m. 10,000 would be my absolute top estimate for live feed subscribers, which at say $50 each to keep the maths easy would bring in $500,000. It would probably be run at a loss so it's more a case of whether profits made elsewhere can be directed towards it, and whether the live feed itself, although loss making, boosts the overall show in such a way that indirectly it does pay for itself.