One of the biggest draws of Big Brother for me has always been the social experiment side of it, even from day one. Faux relationships and bitching behind peoples backs have their moments, but they never last and never ask the viewer any interesting questions.
Channel 9 loves it's forced story lines and as a result the social experiment part has fallen to the way side. It hasn't completely disappeared, the producers have done a few little things here and there, but they are never fleshed out, never have any consequences (or major consequences), and never really go anywhere. They half ass it.
Take the following for example; A few weeks ago they had a task where Ben and Matt were trying to build a tower out of a deck of cards. Outside there was a button that when pushed played music. Unbeknown to the housemates every time they pushed the button a fan would turn on and knock down the card tower.
That idea is not completely terrible, but it failed for a few reasons. Most of all it was a tiny bit of a weekly task that had little to no effect on anything.
Instead, imagine if they put a button in the backyard and told them "that whoever pushed the button first would recieve unprecedented power and potential bad side effects". Tell them that anyone can push it at any time and watch the entertainment play out.
There's a few ways it could play out;
Maybe the housemates will come to a unanimous conclusion that no one should push it, but after a while curiosity will start to get the best of them and paranoia will spread. Someone might sneak out at night and push it. Someone will break.
Maybe someone pushes it right away. That's when you have the power inside be completely fake (but you don't tell the housemates that). After the button is pushed you tell the house that the housemate to push the button is given the power of evicting anyone of their choosing and that the person they pick will be evicted at the upcoming eviction in the following week. Now all of this is completely fake (no one is getting evicted), but the housemates don't know that. Imagine the tension and drama it would cause.
Or maybe no one pushes it and the idea completely flops.
But the most interesting part of it is the questions it asks. If you were a housemate would you push it? Would you say you weren't going to push it and then sneak out at night and do so? If you weren't going to push it, would you trust the other housemates? Would you guard it? Would you become paranoid? Etc. etc.
All of these questions raise interesting thoughts. You know what's not interesting? Wondering if Jade and Ed are going to hook up or not.
I say cut the fake stories and fake romances and bring back the social experiment of it all. I came up with that idea in 5 seconds, surely the producers can come up with something better. If not, steal it, I don't care. Just bring back the interesting side of Big Brother again. Ask the audience some tough questions!
Channel 9 loves it's forced story lines and as a result the social experiment part has fallen to the way side. It hasn't completely disappeared, the producers have done a few little things here and there, but they are never fleshed out, never have any consequences (or major consequences), and never really go anywhere. They half ass it.
Take the following for example; A few weeks ago they had a task where Ben and Matt were trying to build a tower out of a deck of cards. Outside there was a button that when pushed played music. Unbeknown to the housemates every time they pushed the button a fan would turn on and knock down the card tower.
That idea is not completely terrible, but it failed for a few reasons. Most of all it was a tiny bit of a weekly task that had little to no effect on anything.
Instead, imagine if they put a button in the backyard and told them "that whoever pushed the button first would recieve unprecedented power and potential bad side effects". Tell them that anyone can push it at any time and watch the entertainment play out.
There's a few ways it could play out;
Maybe the housemates will come to a unanimous conclusion that no one should push it, but after a while curiosity will start to get the best of them and paranoia will spread. Someone might sneak out at night and push it. Someone will break.
Maybe someone pushes it right away. That's when you have the power inside be completely fake (but you don't tell the housemates that). After the button is pushed you tell the house that the housemate to push the button is given the power of evicting anyone of their choosing and that the person they pick will be evicted at the upcoming eviction in the following week. Now all of this is completely fake (no one is getting evicted), but the housemates don't know that. Imagine the tension and drama it would cause.
Or maybe no one pushes it and the idea completely flops.
But the most interesting part of it is the questions it asks. If you were a housemate would you push it? Would you say you weren't going to push it and then sneak out at night and do so? If you weren't going to push it, would you trust the other housemates? Would you guard it? Would you become paranoid? Etc. etc.
All of these questions raise interesting thoughts. You know what's not interesting? Wondering if Jade and Ed are going to hook up or not.
I say cut the fake stories and fake romances and bring back the social experiment of it all. I came up with that idea in 5 seconds, surely the producers can come up with something better. If not, steal it, I don't care. Just bring back the interesting side of Big Brother again. Ask the audience some tough questions!
