Is it just me, or does anyone else notice that the 'vibe' this year is much more like in the old Channel 4BB?

What a great bunch of housemates (including 'ordinary' people). BRILLIANT! The way it's been going over the last few years, with the housemates being 'cast' has done the format no favours. I'm not feeling the poison this year (eg. Helen, Pauline, Mark, Steven, Kimberley, Toya) so look forward to some laughs and a more upbeat atmosphere.

OK it's early doors, but I think this is going to be the best C5 BB yet, although it doesn't have much to beat after last year's depressing argue-fest. Can't say I'm actually disliking anyone yet! I even like certain housemates. Really liking Nick, Harriet, Joel, Adjoa, Danny, Aaron (even Cristian darn it.)

What's already coming across is the 'real worldness', of the contestants, for example Harriet's self consciousness about 'only working in a cafe' , Jack's never having had sex yet, Eileen's not knowing what twerking is, Nick's massive mistake of leaving the jockey school and more or less bumming about since and having no mates. Even Christian's comment about his not being able to keep up with an ex girlfriend in the money stakes.

Brilliant C5 - THIS is what I want to watch!!! Not a load of half baked, shallow wannabees like it's been going the last couple of years. Keep it up.

the first week is always hard to watch... mainly because a few housemates are still doing their "act" they thought up before they went in... after a week that act fades away as the house environment normalises and they forget to act up other than at set points.... and the edit can ignore them acting up.

i thought the launch was interesting because they showed at least one housemate getting out of a car (something else people on the ds forum complained they missed seeing)...

the cast seems to cover many types, and i am sure the structured tasks will make them like puppets as every series has since the 1st (the lack of live feed just makes it more obvious now than it did then, but that has always, ALWAYS, been how the show was made


there will be complaints about the "towie" and "made in chelsea" style of many of the edits... but that is how many 15-25s now speak and act together... in my local pub (where a couple of towie cast also go as it happens) most of the young 20s dress in that style and talk in that style... they way they structure their conversation is a mirror of how towie talk... so it isnt that BB are staging scenes, it is that people in the house stage the scene themselves.

I agree it's good just to get nice people even if a few are still wannabees.

Last year only Christmas was nice the rest were just nasty people says a lot when someone like Helen is not even the worse in the house.

Yes I agree I feel it's been toned down a lot this year. Of course there's a few wannabes but we had that back in CH4 days as well.

It's only early days but it's so nice to see the house mates actually getting on and not constantly bitching. Especially after last year's miserable bunch. Of course this could, and probably will, all change soon. I hope there's not too much manipulation from the producers but I think that's wishful thinking.

Might be something to do with someone who worked with Channel 4's BB being recruited this year.
I'm sure I read it somewhere. A producer maybe?
Sorry abt the vagueness.

Think I read that somewhere could have been on here? I suppose the survey at the end of last series may have played a part in it as well.

Little Chris was nice too if you remember.

Was until he tried to suck up to Ashleigh because he thought he stood a chance and became her lapdog.

yes the guy who produced the last year of BB on Channre;l 4 is the producer again now.

It's certainly a more pleasant bunch so far this year but it's still early doors.

It's early days, but I agree. I even noticed that last night (bar the start), there was no cheesy music segments or montages, and the editing was very good.

I like it better when their is a varied age range and not club 18/30 .
I don't think they are just "normal Joe Public" contestants....maybe Nick and Harriet as the rest seem to have had some media coverage .

It's still better than what we have had for the past few years.

And TBF when was there ever that much of a age range even going as far back as BB1 it was mostly youngesters with one or two token older ones thrown in.

Yeah the feel of the show, seemed a lot more like Big Brother of a few years ago. But yes, again the casting of "media-type" housemates is really quite annoying. Apparently hanging around with the paragons of intelligence, wit and humour that are TOWIE cast members make for interesting housemates.

I think it's certainly looking promising. I just desperately hope that there isn't an early 'divide'. When that happens it all becomes a bit boring and predictable and it's also very divisive on here.

I want to see little individual friendship groups develop but most of them getting on overall. The arguments are so much more 'fun' and meaningful when it isn't just done to death daily.

Lets have a few laughs.

I hope we have some laughs too, especially after the last CBB which was totally joyless.

Shame you hardly get to see them as there is crappy social updates that are not worth the bother. Live feed however would add so much more.

Thanks for this post...I have to admit to NOT watching it up to now this year....I got tired of the Ssame Old Same Old stuff ...I'll give it a go now .

Yeah definitely - loving the Joel / Nick thing. That could become really interesting.

Early days but it is a bit nicer so far. It won't last though. It's an act with some of them.

It is the most unlikely U-turn since the Sun dumped Page 3 – the Daily Star has turned its back on Big Brother.


The paper, Big Brother’s most consistent fan since it returned to TV on Channel 5, tells its readers the show is “in crisis” after half a million fans switched off.


The Star says viewers are “moaning it was ‘full of wannabes’ and not real people” (although how that differentiates this version from previous series is not clear).


But perhaps the paper’s change of heart should not be so unexpected – until last year both Channel 5 and the Daily Star were owned by Richard Desmond, before he sold the channel to MTV owner Viacom for £450m in a deal completed last September.


This is the first run of Big Brother since then (although there was a celebrity edition at the beginning of the year).


Ratings for Big Brother’s opening night audience this week were down 300,000 on last year, to 1.8 million. Its second episode ratings fell to 1.3 million, said the Star.


A TV insider told the paper it is just a “watered down version of the celebrity version. There’s just as much egotism and attention-seeking but we don’t know who any of these people are – so why should we care about them?”


We may see an echo of the media coverage of the show when it first aired on Channel 5 in 2011 after it was axed by Channel 4, when it was largely ignored by all the other papers apart from Desmond’s Star (and Daily Express).


Eventually the other papers, including the Sun and the Mirror, gave more coverage to Big Brother. It remains to be seen if the Daily Star does the same. Or if this time round, viewers really are fed up with Big Brother.

http://www.theguardian.com/media/201...-page-stalwart

Not sure I get whether that's a 'good' or 'bad' report, but personally I want to watch an entertaining program, not a load of shallows arguing the toss every night for 12 weeks. Helen Wood totally dominated and sucked all the enjoyment out of last years program and towards the last few weeks I actually felt 'drained' watching the thing so didn't watch for a few weeks.

This bunch seem to have so much more 'light and shade' to their characters - not like some of the caricatures they have had in recently.

Funny now they don't own it they are pulling it down.

This year is already better than pretty much anything BB under Desmond put out.

At least Mr Showbiz has gone.

I think it is dire that we see virtually nothing of what goes on in the house How you can compare that with the joys of live feed is beyond me