Big Brother Craze

Just a couple of quick news bites today.

First, Julie Chen’s appearance on Letterman has been postponed until June 28th. So go now and update your Tivo settings! Guests have been bumped this week and CBS played a rerun of the show last night because David Letterman recently broke his nose and had to have it reset.

Also, according to the person I spoke with at Showtime, ShoToo is not available in Canada and there are no plans to make it so. They didn’t know if any of the Canadian networks were planning to pick up Big Brother: After Dark either. I’m still working on this one, but if anyone has any information to share please let me know in the comments section, or send me an e-mail by clicking on the “Contact Me” link on the right.

Julie Chen, David Letterman, Big Brother, Big Brother After Dark

When you watch a show like Big Brother religiously, you tend to start thinking that nothing could really surprise you any more. Well colour me surprised, because Mike “Boogie” Malin is currently sitting pretty on People Magazine’s list of the Hottest Bachelors of 2007. I kid you not.

Mike is listed along with his pal and business partner Lonnie Moore. Okay, so the guy runs some very successful businesses and his restaurants have become pretty darned popular with some pretty big names. That alone makes him a very eligible bachelor. But hottest? Really?

Photo courtesy of Reality Shack.

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If you’ve got an appetite for every tidbit of BB news you can find, tune into the Early Show on Monday morning (June 18th) on CBS. Apparently there will be a “mention” of the show and what’s in store. I doubt we’ll get much info yet since the houseguests haven’t been sequestered - sequester date is rumoured to be June 25th, the same day that Julie Chen is appearing on Letterman.

I’ll be recording the show and providing a transcript if there is indeed a segment on Big Brother.

Update: False alarm. Next week looks promising though!

big brother 8, early show, julie chen, sequester, big brother houseguests

Thanks go to Reality BBQ for uploading these new commercials to YouTube. Not much in the way of spoiler value, but it does remind us that BB8 is getting closer!

The best part of this one is Ali peeking out of the urn.

This one is quite similar …

What do you think of that, (North) America?

Big Brother, BB8, big brother commercials, bb updates

Going back a couple of seasons to Big Brother 6 now. The twist was that one of the evicted houseguests had the chance to return to the house, and that person would be chosen by viewer’s votes. After a week of frenzied voting, Kaysar walked back into the house after receiving 82% of the 5 million votes cast. Pretty impressive.

Of course we all know what happened next, with the endurance Head of Household competition and Jennifer’s betrayal. And let’s not forget the backlash from the fans, who thought that Kaysar should have been exempt from eviction for a week after returning, just as Amy Crews had before him. But for now, let’s forget about the week that followed this episode and relive the optimism and hope that we got from seeing Kaysar walk back into the Big Brother house.

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I got an e-mail from a fellow reality-obsessed friend this afternoon, in which she made fun of me for missing some “major Big Brother news.” This news? Is that Rob Mariano will be a part of the BB8 cast.

Holy heck. Well, if this is true, how did I miss it indeed? I searched Google news and hit up my favourite BB hot spots online, but came up with nothing. Then I found it - there’s a post at Survivor Sucks pointing to Rob’s Wikipedia page. Near the bottom, I found this little nugget:

Rob Mariano will be playing the Big Brother game in CBS upcoming Big Brother 8 (US) reality show starting July 5th. Its still not known what role Rob will play but many people expect him to play the villain. It is still unknown if his wife, Amber, will be playing the game, but many believe that her recent book ventures have brought an end to her reality show adventures.

And yes, there’s a source site listed, and I have no idea how credible this information is. But let’s put it this way. If Rob Mariano is a contestant on Big Brother 8, I will print this post and eat the paper it’s printed on.

Update: The Wikipedia entry has been changed (big surprise there) and now reads:

Rob Mariano is rumored to be involved with Big Brother 8.

As Heather correctly says in the comments here, Wikipedia is updated via user entries. Which is precisely why it isn’t always a reliable source of information.

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It’s official - Marcellas Reynolds will not be returning as co-host of House Calls.

Marcellas posted in the forum of his website yesterday, explaining the reasons why he’s not coming back this season:

Alas it is time to make a statement. Due to budget cuts @ CBS Interactive, a format change & my increasingly busy TV and fashion career, I will not be returning as day to day host of House Calls. House Calls was created 4 years ago with me in mind. It is a show that I am tremendously proud to have been a part of. I not only hosted it but helped to produce it. As a part of the Big Brother, family I am honored to have worked on it and have been so closely identified with it. On a more personal note House Calls gave me something amazing, a friend, the brilliant and talented Gretchen Massey.

You can read the rest of the post at Marcellas’ forum.

All signs are pointing to Gretchen Massey hosting the show on her own this season, along with a string of guest hosts as they did last season. Personally I’m disappointed - I think Marcellas was perfect for House Calls and brought his own special brand of insight to the show. He’ll be missed.

For more Big Brother news, check out SirLinksALot: Big Brother 8.

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Julie Chen, our beloved ChenBot and host of Big Brother, will be one of David Letterman’s guests on Monday, June 25th. The Late Show with David Letterman airs on CBS (naturally!) at 11:30pm Eastern.

I’ll be recording it so that I can give you a transcript the following day. Hopefully Julie will give us at least a little something to ponder over about the new season of Big Brother!

I’m also keeping an eye on The Early Show schedule to find out when the new cast will be revealed. Stay tuned!

big brother, julie chen, david letterman, big brother updates, bb8

Thought I’d have a little fun with the blog post today, since I’ve got no news to report at the moment.

Every season, on every reality show, the audience watches in disbelief as the contestants make the same bonehead mistakes that have led to the demise of contestants before them. “Have you never watched this show before?” is our common refrain. So, with that in mind, here is my advice to the new batch of houseguests who will be entering the Big Brother 8 house in just a few short weeks.

Dear New Houseguests,

Before you walk into the BB house, there are a few things you need to know.

Big Brother fans are unlike any other reality TV show fans on the planet. We become addicted to the show, mostly through the live feeds and the reports of the feeds on the internet. Groups gather online to share information, links, updates, and anything we can dig up on the people inside the house. You’re in for a bumpy ride.

While you’re in the house, the following things will be true:

• The feeds are on. You are being watched by thousands of fans. Don’t ask if the feeds are running, or if the “internet” is on. They are, and it is.
• If you pick your nose, squeeze your zits in the bathroom mirror, pick at your face, or do anything else that may be construed as “gross” on a regular basis, feed watchers will pick up on it and make fun of you for it.
• Don’t think that you can do stuff behind the scenes and then blame the editing later. The live feeds are, indeed, live.
• Having a sense of humour is good.
• Constant complaining and lounging around doing nothing is not good.
• We want to be entertained. Be interesting and you’ll have fans when you leave the house.
• If someone wins the America’s Choice votes, you can assume that they’re popular.

(more…)

CBS sent out a press release yesterday detailing their coverage of Big Brother 8. While there isn’t much new here, at least we have everything confirmed now. Here’s what’s on, and where.

Big Brother Episodes on CBS — Three nights a week: Tuesdays at 9pm, Thursdays at 8pm (live eviction episodes), and Sundays at 8pm. All times are Eastern.

Big Brother: After Dark — Nightly three-hour episodes from the live feeds on ShoToo, a cable network and sister station of CBS/Showtime. Details can be found here.

Big Brother Episodes on CBS.com — Watch Big Brother episodes and highlight reels on CBS.com. You can also snag video clips to use on blogs, websites, etc.

Big Brother Live Feeds — CBS has once again teamed up with RealNetworks to provide 24/7 live streaming coverage from within the Big Brother house. Viewers can access the feeds by purchasing the SuperPass through their favourite Big Brother website, or from CBS.com. As usual, certain things like competitions and double-eviction weekends may be blocked from the feeds to “preserve the drama” of the show.

(more…)

CBS is offering an exciting new addition to their Big Brother coverage this season. One of their sister networks, ShoToo (which is an offshoot of Showtime), will air three hours of the live feeds from inside the Big Brother house. Called “Big Brother: After Dark,” the show will cover some of the action that’s going on live between 9pm and midnight Big Brother time (PDT). That means for those of us on EDT, the show will air between midnight and 3am. This is usually a very active block of time on the feeds, especially if the houseguests have been given alcohol.

Since ShoToo regularly features some adult-themed material, the feeds will be uncensored for profanity and nudity. According to Variety, slanderous conversations and singing will still be filtered to avoid copyright infringement. Anyone who’s had the feeds before knows that BB theme music and a camera shot of a fish tank, flames, or even the front of the house have appeared whenever the houseguests start talking about people they know outside the house, or if they break out into song.

The Variety article also confirms that House Calls is indeed coming back, and Gretchen Massey will host. No official word yet on the co-host setup, however. It may end up being a revolving set of co-hosts for Gretchen, much like last season.

CBS has finally released the official schedule for Big Brother 8, which brings us one step closer to the cast announcement and the premiere.

Big Brother will premiere on July 5th, as anticipated, at 8:00pm Eastern. The schedule will be Tuesdays at 9:00pm, Thursdays at 8:00pm, and Sundays at 8:00pm (all times Eastern). As usual, the Thursday shows will be live eviction episodes.

As a result, Pirate Master will move from Thursdays to Tuesdays, beginning on July 10th. On July 5th, the sixth episode of Pirate Master will follow the Big Brother premiere.

Spiffy logo screen cap comes courtesy of Dingo’s Hamster Watch.

Big Brother 8, BB updates, Big Brother schedule, CBS, Big Brother 8 premiere

While watching Pirate Masters last night, I caught the Big Brother ad a few times - but it’s been changed slightly. Now, at the end, there’s a short clip of Janelle saying, “What goes around comes around.” This is followed by a grinning Julie Chen nodding and saying, “Ohhhh yeah!”

Does this support the high school enemies theory for this season’s theme? Sure it does.

Edit … Here’s the video from YouTube:

Big Brother 8, Big Brother commercial, Julie Chen, BB updates, BB theme, BB8, Big Brother ads

I’m sure you’ve read about the newest race-related scandal on Big Brother UK, but if you haven’t Dave at Pop Buzz UK has the actual transcript of the conversation that led to Emily being removed from the house.

As a result, Channel 4 is being both heralded for stepping up and taking action and reprimanded for airing the offensive comments. Good grief - they can’t win. If they hadn’t aired it, then Emily’s removal would have been puzzling to anyone who doesn’t keep up with what happens in the house outside of the televised episodes.

The fallout in the media was inevitable too. Emily’s uncle, in an article entitled “Big Brother Emily Disowned,” told The Mirror that the comment she made was “completely disgusting and distasteful.” He goes on to say that “her parents will be devastated.” No mention of being “disowned” by any of her family, of course.

I’m sure the production staff is hoping that the race issue will be forgotten when two more men enter the house this evening.

Big Brother UK, BB race row, Emily Parr, Big Brother 8, Big Brother Emily

It’s a slow news day so far for Big Brother, so instead of gossip and rumours I thought I’d help spread the word about a charity event that’s coming up. But there is some BB content here, so stay with me.

The Reality All-Stars Charity Event, hosted by Reality Cares, is scheduled for June 30th, at Joseph’s in Hollywood, and hosted by none other than the divine Janice Dickinson. The purpose of the event is to raise money for Operation Smile, a charity that provides free surgical procedures to children with facial deformities. Their mission is also to “advocate for sustainable health care systems for children and families.”

The event includes drinks, hors d’oeuvres, a silent auction, meet & greets with reality stars, and entertainment provided by former American Idol contestants and others. Sounds like a good time! The Big Brother contestants confirmed to be in attendance are Will Kirby, Erika Landin, Holly King, and Marcellas Reynolds. Invited but not yet confirmed are Will Wikle, Jee Cho, Janelle Pierzina, and Kaysar Ridha. There are tons of stars from many other shows on the roster as well.

For more details, check out Reality Cares Presents.

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