Okay, so last year I watched BB15. It was the first season I'd ever seen of BB and TBH I loved it. I loved the variety of HM's/alliances, the constant drama and power shifts, the gameplay, the controversy e.t.c. So I was really surprised at the negative reaction it got (I know there was the whole racism drama and most the players were pretty bad people but I still found it a very exciting season). And people kept saying it was the worst season to date, so I decided to start watching all the other seasons thinking they must be amazing, starting from BB3 as I know BB1 and BB2 are kind of separated from the other seasons and I was surprised at how awful it was!

BBUS's concept is meant to be about gameplay and the struggle to win, but in BB3 there seems to be no gameplay to it, all of the houseguests seemed half arsed about winning and are nominating and evicting people on personal connections rather than strategic game moves. The episodes are filled with rubbish about the houseguests personalty traits, there's always little skits of each houseguest, and we never see any game talk or strategizing. There's no fierce, exciting battles between the houseguest. It just doesn't feel as if they're there to win half a million dollars or in any sort of competition, it feels as if they're all there to make friends.

So it got me thinking, when people said BB15 was the worst season so far, were they not really including the early seasons? Because BB3 and BB15 aren't the same at all so it would seem odd to compare them. BB3 is just so old fashioned, and I prefer the modern style of the current BB. So can somebody tell me when the modern BB aspect started? As in the drama, the competition, the gameplay, the strategizing, the alliances, the controversy, the fierce battle to win $500,000? Because I'd rather start from that rather than from the whole social, friendly, BB based on personal connections with not really any competition like BB3?

Having said that, I'm not too far in to the season, I've just got from where Eric has been evicted (the fourth eviction) so if the gameplay aspect comes in to it later then let me know? But if it stays like this all season then tell me when the modernized BB like BB15 started, thanks

The only HG's I actually like so far are Jason, Danielle and Amy. The others are all as dull as dishwater.

The last season wasn't bad, definitely better than 14. I don't know the early ones that much yet.

Big Brother 15 sucked because the most disgusting person ever won the show, I thought that vile creature Dick could never be topped as most vile winner but Andy is closing in. I laugh at him trying to justify his win preaching how amazing a winner he is; the guy was a coward who waited until housemates were evicted to endlessly talk shit about them. I mean he called Elissa a **** like 500 times after she went, little rat had not guts to tell people to their faces. Most people blame Aaryn and GinaMarie for the season being vile/racist but Amanda and Andy were much worse.

It's probably the same with BBUK. Watching some of the earlier seasons now they seem a bit lacklustre because people are now used to the extreme nature of the show today. But they accomplished what they needed to do at the time.
BB15's trouble is that the cast was just too unlikeable. I don't think BB15 was that great when it came to strategy, it was just very hateful and people played their games based on their egos. Andy played the best game (since he won) but that's because everyone else was having meltdowns and throwing their games away while he snitched on them and made vile bitchy comments on the side.

I do think viewers are quite hypocritical though. I think they lost the moral high-ground when they lapped up everything Dick did during BB8.

Agreed about Amanda and Andy. And at least Aaryn and GM have apologized. Amanda initially apologized but when she wasn't allowed to go to some event because of her comments she started ranting on twitter and made a YT video saying how what she was going through was worse than what Candice ever went through e.t.c and it shows how little she's changed. And even worse, Andy hasn't apologized and has claimed that everything he said was light hearted when he'd made fun of Candice's adoption and said he wanted to punch Elissa in the throat...

BB3 is the best season so keep watching and then reevaluate your opinion.

"Modernized" BB starts with BB8, where Grodner takes over as a producer and things take a huge turn for the worst. Almost all of the pre-Grodner seasons are better than almost all of the Grodner ones.

Big Brother 3 is one of my favourite seasons, to be honest. There was a large amount of strategy, but because the PoV was very new to the format, and because of its strange rule that disallowed a nominated houseguest to save themselves should they win it, it was virtually a non-existent twist. The show's format was not contrived, especially with the twists. Expect the unexpected was introduced this year, but there were only about two or three major twists, and it made for excellent viewing.

Most of the houseguests this season I found to be more mature. Sure, they had their crazy moments, but they seemed to be more discerning with their choice of having fun. I wish that level of maturity was found in houseguests in recent seasons.

The Diary Room entries were much less MTV-esque, with no screaming at the camera, and genuine responses to questions posed by Big Brother/the producers. Nowadays, it's as if the producers feed them every line to say, and it sounds very fake. Season 1, though with a completely different format, had the best Diary Room entries, as the houseguests were more candid there, since no strategy was involved.

I agree about three, I enjoyed it but there was little game other than a couple of excellent casting decisions.

I haven't seen 4 or 5, but BB6 was a fantastic season you should definitely watch that one.

Season 4 is a guilty pleasure of mine because it was the first season of BBUS I saw (It was shown on E4 that year) but all in all, it was not a good season. BB5 was when people really started playing with strategy (Nakomis' figured out the 5 finger rule for veto which led to a change in how veto players were chosen) but again, not a fantastic season IMO

For me BB6 was when things really got good. Plenty of strategy and clear house divides, less "floaters" etc. but winner was massively underwhelming.

BB7 all stars was good too, but hated the winner!

From then on, I have to say I loved every season (including season 9 - SHOCKER!)

So for me, BB6 was when things turned around and became the game it is today.

I love BB3, it's one of my favourite seasons (as is the even more old fashioned BB2), I think both of those seasons have great casts. And while the gameplay isn't as prominent as it is now, it did produce two of the best players ever with Dr Will (BB2) and Danielle Reyes (BB3).

But if you like the modern seasons better I'd recommend BB11. That season has an amazing cast and constant drama. It's a season I appreciate more every year. So many great moments.

BB10 would be up your alley too. Very gameplay orientated with a mostly great cast.

I think the gameplay can be overhyped on this style of BB. I'm glad they are mixing in a public vote element now in both the last season and the last Canadian one. It creates more tension within the house which is better than them virtually all knowing who will be nominated and so who will leave most of the time.

I dunno. I did like the MVP twist but as time went on it kinda became clearer it was made so Elissa could get further, and I had myself wondering a lot throughout the game what would have happened if the twist hadn't been there. And when the public started voting for the third nominee it was relatively pointless as not one of the times did it affect the voting (although it could have if Elissa and Helen had helped Candice and Jessie get rid of Amanda)

Honestly I think you're giving the early seasons of the show a major disservice, whilst I agree with you that the later seasons are more orientated around the strategy aspect of the show I think that the early seasons of the show feature some of the best examples of gameplay that the show has ever had, you just need to look at Will, Danielle Reyes or Allison and Jun's aggressive floating strategy for evidence of that, the moves weren't flashy by any means but they were effective.

To answer your question though I personally think that 'Modern BBUS' begun when Allison Grodner took over as the executive producer in BB8. Grodner's takeover of the show in my opinion saw the strategic side of the show go from being on an even pairing with the interpersonal side of the show to becoming the be-all and end-all of the edited highlights show, complete with scripted diary room entries designed around driving along the strategy orientated narrative, as well as this the Grodner era of the show began to place more emphasis on louder, more obnoxious personalities which production knew would make great television and in the process bend the rules of the game to try and help them succeed and giving lesser characters the editing shaft. Whilst the previous Arnold Shapiro era did have flaws itself, a reliance on casting twists with pre-existing relationships for dramatic effect) he did through those slower moments manage to flesh out the characters a lot more and spread the airtime in the cast more evenly. From the Shapiro era I can only think of one final four contestant who was under-edited (April, and even that's questionable) but compare that to the Grodner era and the shaft the likes of Jameka, Zach, Sharon, Kevin and Porsche received.

You need to watch BB6. Though it's still pre-Grodner, it seems more like a modern series. Every season from then is fine for the most part (skipping BB9, BB12 is a little dull). BB6 has some key players who help to define the modern idea of the game.

I just know from your description of what you enjoyed about BB15, you'd love BB6.

What are you talking about !!?? BB14 was one of the best seasons, and the only season that may be worse than BB15 is BB9!!

And about your other comment I think public influence to a major degree is awful, it takes out a lot of the skill from the game

As was pointed out bb8 was the beginning of this era. Although apparently Grodner had a big hand near the end of BB7 in order to get her in the swing of it before the takeover. According to Erika it was Grodner pushing for making Boogie look like a player and her look pathetic. I don't think any other finalist has been so disrespected by the set up of a finale as Erika was, they even allowed first evictee Allison throw some daggers at Erika.

I find BB 10 a breath of fresh air among the Grodner years, I loved a lot of the cast and Dan was a good winner, in BB14 he was all ego.

Am I misrembering something? I recall BB2 US as the season with Dr. Will and Mike Boogie, and that was definitely not to one side the way BB1 was. It was the first with the non-UK like rules and that season's success was the only reason the show stayed on the air at all after the dismal failure the show was in Season 1.

Season 3 was okay, if not ideal, but Season 4 was really great.

14 is quite possibly the worst season of anything in television history.

After disastrous ratings for BB1, they changed the format in time for BB2 which had Danielle Reyes - IMO the best player who never won - as runner up, as a result of which the format was amended further to include the POV and the jury house. I would have said BB2 is well worth watching but if you think BB3 was old fashioned, you might not want to bother.

I agree with your comments comparing BB15 to BB3. I think when people talk about BB15 being bad they are referring to:

1. It probably had the biggest number of disliked players in one cast. There was certainly a disproportionate number of cast members who said disgusting things including (but not limited to) the racist stuff:
2. The way the game was played for so long with all the house voting together so each week's outcome was predictable.
3. A lot of people hated the way the winner had played the game (though I personally don't understand why).

I do think, however, that people are really only comparing it to the more recent seasons - the ones that are most vivid in their memories - rather than the early ones.

I personally thought BB14 was one of the best seasons.

Danielle was BB3, BB2 was Chill Town. After BB3 the jury house was introduced as many saw Danielle's DR sessions as the reason she lost, she was vocal about others behind their back however they could watch it all and that influenced many to vote for Lisa. However I'm not sure it was only that, even if jury house had been around I reckon Danielle would have lost to Lisa when the jurors got chatting to one another.

Woke up today with all the parts of my brain working as a team for a change and realised Danielle was in BB3 not BB2 - that was the one where Will Kirby played a blinder but had vile people like Shannon using other people's toothbrushes to scrub the toilet. No, I'd definitely give that one a miss.

BB14 is my personal with BB6 a close second.

I would start at BB6 (you won't regret it) and work your way up

Definitely. Something to keep in mind about BB6 while you watch, too. Hurricane Katrina happened during the show. The house was not told, and one of the hm's had family living in the region. Howie runs around making jokes about "Hurricane Howie" with no idea that the worst natural disaster to ever strike the US was happening, and it came across as really poor taste. A lot of people were mad at production in general, for not telling the hm's, and not telling him to stop saying it.

Like last season, BB6 had some blatant racism that was buried in the live feeds and didn't make it into the highlights, but did get coverage in the paper and had career repercussions for the person responsible.

I watched BB6 late who was the BB6 racist?

I also didn't know about the Katrina thing, because on BB2 they told Monica about 9/11 and how her cousin was missing. I guess since all of the housemates families were accounted for during Katrina they didn't bother telling them. I can't remember if on BBUK they were told about 7/7?