Just finished watching this season, and would love to find out what everyone else thought about it and who they liked/disliked etc. as i haven't kept up with the forum throughout the show.

I'm happy that Ian won, although Dan was more of a deserving winner, he became so much more unlikeable this season. Britney was my favourite HG and as always her DR time was the highlight of the episode. Annoyed that Janelle got evicted so early on and didn't have a huge presence this season.

As for the new HGs, the only ones i really liked were Ian and Frank. Ashley, although pretty useless player her sweetness was nice to watch. Shane and Danielle = boring, was not buying the 'showmance'. I wish JoJo didn't get evicted so early on as i thought she could of been a real star. Jenn and Joe (the ultimate floaters) annoyed me beyond belief and i hated that they made it so far.

What did everyone else think?

I considered BB14 to be somewhat of a return to form after 12 and 13 proved to be such dire series, most of the reason for that being that rather then the traditional themes of Grodner seasons which focused on over the top trainwreck characters such as Rachel and Evel Dick the show instead was forced to focus on strategy and gameplay, largely thanks to Dan's involvement in the series and his heavy cut-throat gameplay.

For me the series could be split into two halves, the first prior to Dan's 'Funeral' and the second afterwards. The first half of the series was in my view rather lackluster, largely due to the domination in airtime of Frank and Grodner's insistance in keeping him in the game, such as her 'retconned' week 3 when Frank was all but out of the door, robbing us of potentially a great blindside. As well as this the early boots were all rather poor and devoid of much excitement, especially during Frank's HOH weeks.

Post funeral however the series was great, and largely stemmed around the story of whether Dan could get to the end and the lengths that he would go to get there, we also saw the producer's pet Frank leave and in the process give UTR character such as Jen and Joe more airtime to establish themselves. The late game also saw two alltime great moments in Dan saving himself by convincing Frank to veto him (even though I think the funeral itself was rather needless) and Shane's brilliant blindside, which will be one of the great BB moments I feel.

I do think flaws were evident though, namely in casting. I'm not a fan of veteran and newbie seasons, and whilst this one was much better then BB13 I still feel that more could have been done with the newbie housemates, whilst Ian, Danielle and Frank did prove strong characters the rest of them on the whole were largely lackluster, such as Jen, Kara and Jojo whilst others such as Shane were so generic and one-dimensional, added to this was the stunt casting of Willie which thankfully for us blew up in production's face, hopefully leading to the end of that type of casting.

For BB15 I hope that Grodner can shift away from casting based on type and instead shift towards a cast based on diversity and an ability to play the game well, certainly as BB14 showed that this side of the game ultimately brings about the most drama and entertainment.

I lost interest very early on, and never really got back into it. It's a shame, because I gather the series got much better in the second half, but I just didn't care by then, and just followed proceedings online.

I thought 13 was better. Ian was a decent winner, though the show was made far too much about Dan for my liking. Britney was a terrible coach and the whole coach twist didn't really work out that well. Most disliked probably Joe and Frank.

Pretty crap, preferred 13

How can people prefer the complete Rigfest that was BB13?

Agreed, but Dan only became a cut-throat once trapped on the block with Danielle. Before then, Dan and Danielle were playing as well as any duo have hitherto. Watching them on the live feed, working in tandem, subtly and successfully manipulating the entire house was a real pleasure, mitigated only by the often glaring stupidity of the other HG's.



The non-eviction in week 3 could have been planned just as easily to save Shane. Remember the entire house wanted him out in week 2. If he hadn't won the following HoH, he would have almost certainly remained in that predicament.



The Kara eviction was drama all week. No one really knew who would be evicted right up to the vote (thanks Ashley). The backdooring of Janelle was one of the most epic blindsides ever, with the added comedy value that she didn't even realise she was the target. Delicious.


Agreed.


Agreed, although there are no guarantees. Daniele Donato knows the game very well, but still allowed herself to lapse into stupidity in BB13. Showmance anyone?



I found the blatant rigging both contemptuously amusing and simultaneously vomit inducing. Ratings are the bottom line to CBS, the vehicle (in this case the game) is incidental. The only good thing about BB13 for me, was Shelly's game

If you love Dan I suppose you'll love the season, if you don't and find him boring it's unlikely you will. The producers made most of the season from his point of view and I just got completely tired of him.

As for manipulation every BB is manipulated.

I haven't taken a stopwatch to measure the number of minutes Dan appeared in each episode, but I think this is a subjective opinion, coloured by your personal dislike.

If you choose to value and judge the HG's on their personalities or looks, or whatever else it is about them that interests or attracts you (or otherwise), then your view of the game itself is inevitably skewed. Ofcourse I'm not above bitching about their habits, or praising their appearance and so on, but ultimately I prefer to judge HG's on what they do in the game, rather than how they are as people. I found Dan's juvenile schtick tiresome (no change from BB10), his weaselly looks unappealing and was greatly disturbed by his unnecessary psychological abuse of Danielle in the final week. Nonetheless, I regard him as one of the 2 greatest strategists in the history of the BB game (next to Dr Will). You used the word "love", I choose respect.

I would suggest there is a clear divergence of opinion between those who only watch the heavily edited, increasingly personality driven CBS shows and those who have access to the broader context (and in depth insight into the game) of the live feed. I've found more than a few HG's boring and even repugnant in some cases, for one reason or another over the years, but still recognised and appreciated their good gameplay (Natalie BB11, Hayden BB12, Porsche BB13, to name a few).

Having said all this, I do accept that what floats my boat (about BB) may sink yours.

BB14 was a solid series. Though it did improve as it went on, I didn't find the early weeks too much of a drag.

The good thing about it was that it was unpredictable and the alliances kept shifting.

Live feed is important for the buzz around the show it creates, but the show itself lives or dies on the HLs.

BB isn't just a game, it's a reality show and that means people's characters are a part of the show. I just found Dan boring. He pretty much dominated the DR segments and he was annoying. The one story through the second half of the show was Dan, that was it.

I agree that you can split the season in half.

The first half (other than the amazing first week) was pretty lackluster. Even though it featured blindsides and evictions of big players like Janelle, it all felt a little tame and boring.

Then the second half after Dan's funeral was awesome. Some of the best Big Brother there has ever been.

Overall BB14 was a hell of a lot better than 12 and 13.

'Dan's funeral' was so stupid. The fact that anyone could be taken in by that just shows how stupid most of the HGs were this year.

Most of the HGs are stupid every year.

All the newbies pretty much allowed the veterans to take control even after the stupid coaches twist was scrapped. Last year was better.

Odd then that 2 coaches were ousted within the first 3 evictions, following the reset.

Janelle had 2 of her players vote her out.

Boogie's eviction was inspired by one of his own players.

Britney was effectively voted out by her only player, who was the swing vote that week.

The only veteran with control (of both the game and other players) was Dan, which is why I suspect you are really complaining.

That's the only thing that annoyed me about this season, was how all the newbies allowed veterans (DAN) take control of the entire game. Season 13 the newbies were trying to take on the vets which i liked, this season they were all too scared.

Really? I thought in BB13 the newbies sucked up to the Vets A LOT more and even those that eventually decided to go against the vets...were doing it with Daniele (a vet) as their leader!

The likes of Adam and Shelly's (until she eventually turned) sucking up to Jeff, Jordan, Brendon and Rachel was horrible.

This year there was much more animosity towards the returning players. Janelle's team didn't like her and got rid of her as soon as possible. Boogie didn't last much longer either.

Britney did well because, well, she's likable and got in a tight alliance. It didn't have much to do with her status as a "vet".

And Dan, well, Dan is Dan. He controlled them because he's a great Big Brother player.

By the way, Dan has posted how he came up with the Funeral idea on his blog: http://www.dangheesling.com/the-funeral-explained/

I really feel for the DR staff sometimes.

Always in the shadows, never getting any credit.

It's nice that he does things for fans, but only Americans I think would put up with someone with that kind of astronomical ego. In Britain that kind of deadpan arrogance would be annoying, we would want some humour (self-depreciating) to go with it.

Shelly going against Jeff was favourite moment that season, priceless! I just felt that in BB13 the newbies towards the end were really against the vets and tried to take them down. In BB14, it didn't really happen. Sure they took out Janelle and Boogie, but really they were all just doing Dan's dirty work. The way nobody tried to take on Dan was so frustrating! It was like they were starstruck by him.


It's nice to know that Dan does really care/love the game of Big Brother. Makes a change to people that just want to get on tv and get their 15 minutes. Suppose he is doing that as well, but you can see he actually loves the game!