BB on Channel 5 is failing badly, their idea of how BB should be has had people feeling angry, annoyed and fed up. Watching BB has left people so drained after every series that they can't be bothered to return for the next one.

Ratings are falling quite heavily now, it's pretty clear that things need to be changed. It's starting to look like BB is on it's last legs.

Back when BB4 failed to impress on Ch4, they quickly changed things before they lost their audience, Ch5 need to do the same thing, but that may actually be too late. They have let things become such a mess that it's got to the point now where pretty much the whole country see's the show as a complete joke and many fans feel embarrassed to openly admit that they like it.

The constant arguments, the manipulation, treating the fans like idiots, outside contact / information, inane tasks, nominations, the diary room being pointless, fixing things so that evictions turn out a certain way, bad interviews, rushed eviction shows and finals, BBBOTS, the new generation of fans. All of these things have damaged the show, and it's all thanks to how BB is being run on Ch5. Because of how long this has been going on, it may now be impossible to undo the damage, but they have to at least try.

Live Feed has been a big success during this series of CBB and the majority of the fans have enjoyed it. It's easy to see why it's been so enjoyable too, it's more REAL. It has none of this fake stuff, everything we see on the live feed is happening naturally, that is what we want to see from Big Brother, not this forced drama. It seems like everything about BB on Ch5 has to be about arguments, it's boring, it feels like every series of BB is just a repeat of the previous series, it's like Ch5 have nothing else to offer.

Things need to change next year, and they need to do the same thing as Ch4 did with BB5 and get the audience up for it again. When was the last time BB had people seriously excited for a new series ?

They need to advertise it well and get the word out that things are going to change, because if they don't do things soon, then they will be getting well under 1 million viewers every single night.

Anyway, that is how i feel right now, i just thought i would share it with everyone

I agree wholeheartedly with you. But the trouble is that the current producers seem to be inexperienced and think they know best. They assume their audience to be teenagers and they are probably not that much older themselves. Unfortunately younger viewers don't remember the earlier series when BB was a social experiment and not a 'reality' show with producer-generated storylines.

Twists are meaningless unless the audience knows what the norm is. This series began with so-called twists, which made no sense at all.

Celebrity BB has always been a mistake. Real celebrities (i.e. people who are famous because they are talented) are not available as they are busy acting, singing etc and would have no spare time to go into CBB. So we end up with people who were famous for their talent years ago and are only famous for what they once did. Or people who are not famous for their talent but simply because they are notorious for their association with famous people. They are the sort of people who have no proper job and have the time to spend in CBB because they have no other work on hand.

Yet 'civilian' BB is becoming more filled with models, failed pop singers and other fringe 'entertainers' who have agents. So the distinction between BB and CBB is blurred.

A complete rethink is needed and this can only happen if the whole team is changed and includes producers who are old enough to have seen and enjoyed the earlier channel 4 series.

no it doesnt....

the last 3 years have been great.
some people dont like it but the good thing is there are 200 other channels and likely something on them they would like doing what they like already.

Time to axe the whole shoddy, embarrassing, lame, pathetic farce. I didn't watch a second of this series after they claimed not to know anything about Tila Tequila's past (be interesting to know what they employ their Researchers for) and then threw her out. I imagine the production meetings are frequented by a bunch of undergrads all thinking that things like bullying, sexual deviance, gang rape and gunging are a 'bloody good jape, what?'

It's a programme made by idiots, blatantly aimed at the lowest common denominator and they've taken what was a genuinely interesting (at times), fun, well researched and cast programme and made it into a human cesspit of unwatchable, crass, awful, predictable, confrontational drudgery. It has become a parody of a parody and they clearly can't even attract anything resembling a celebrity any more. Austin Armacott? Some bloke from the Apprentice? (Who won)!!! If I was a producer or in any way associated with this tripe I'd be embarrassed and ashamed to put it on my CV.

Admittedly I only half-heartedly watched this CBB.

It was pretty dire after the Fake eviction

I get exactly what you're saying, changes do need to be made. Sadly, I fear it's all too late now. It goes beyond Channel 5 as well, to be honest. The ratings have been, on the whole, disappointing since BB8, showing it's never fully recovered from Shilpa-gate. Besides, reality tv is so saturated, I think the wider public are just naturally bored of BB now.

But for us die-hards, it'd be nice to see the show less manipulated and more varied.

Yeah, it's so great that it's losing viewers in it's hundreds of thousands with every passing series. The more viewers they lose, the more money they miss out on, and without the money the show is finished.

The January series isn't losing viewers, the civilian and summer one though are dropping like flies
Last edited by Oliver_Tomlinso : 25-09-2015 at 17:07

Well the creative director Denis O'Connor has left (pushed?) after just five months in the role, so that's a start.

He did actually work on the last civilian series on channel 4 as a main producer...

I know ! Hence some of us had high hopes. But things actually got worse under O'Connor.

I feel sorry for the person taking over in January because they've inherited a right mess, especially the civilian version. Hopefully their vision for the show is a lot less cynical and more in keeping with the original concept without obsessing over some of the more outdated elements.

The change they need to do is have no evictions. The show gets more boring as people leave imo.
Channel 5 could get their voting money by the viewers voting on what tasks to do, which housemate does certain tasks etc, a bit like 'I'm a Celebrity'.

I didn't have high hopes, I thought the last civilian on channel 4 was a massive damp squib. your right he has made it worse, didn't think it could be possible. Hopefully the new one is actually creative, I won't hold my breath though...

I agree but sadly the people who vote these days seem to think the more obnoxious you are the more you should win hence the type of winners we have had in the last few years. I'm not saying James was in that bracket but someone like Austin being runner up says it all and the deeply offensive Helen Wood. BBLB was fun with Dermot but now Bbbots is just rubbish with the same old odd audience members. I truely wish it could return to its former glory but I fear it's way past its best and with the production team at channel 5 it has no chance

What I would like to see happen and might put to C5 is the idea of some kind of sit down meeting including representatives from Endemol, Channel 5 and the fans. Direct feedback from those who know the show best - the loyal viewers - would be a lot more effective than these endless surveys that don't go anywhere.

I want to see a completely fresh and new aspect or feature to the show. I'm not too sure what though.

I agree with the OP and only dipped in and out of this series, watching occasionally. I couldn't be bothered to watch the final either which shows how much my interest has waned.

The fact that bad behaviour seems to be encouraged as it gets more airtime means that nobody decent has a chance of winning the show now.

What wasn't decent about James?

A thoroughly nice chap.

Wow, you tell it like it is Pru and I agree with every word.

They need to stop with all the 'twists' and manufactured drama, and go back to basic BB:

A group of strangers who are 'normal' people, i.e. haven't been on TV before, haven't dated anyone famous, don't aspire to be a WAG or whatever...
Weekly nominations where the top two are put up for eviction (VTE) with NO twists or changes.
Punishments for breaking rules, especially nom talk.
A few tasks a week to win a luxury shopping budget and perhaps a treat. No twists.
No regular alcohol.
No 'secret rooms'.
No outside contact.

People will create their own arguments and conflict naturally because of the environment and boredom, no creating fights for the sake of it.

Strip it right back and follow the same rules as series one, no luxurys, basic small house, make the diary room a private place at all times where conversations will not be disclosed to others. No nomination or eviction interference.

Yes, this too.

Good points in the thread, however none of them are the reasons the viewers are dropping, for starters this year we have nothing to compare it with, because both civilian BB and CBB were on different times of the year than they had been in previous series on C5.
The winter CBB was their highest rated yet! If the next winter CBB rates much worse then its time to worry, however if its around about the same then C5 will be happy.

i think alot of people struggle with the fact this show IS NOT what it used to be! and it never will be, either accept it, or watch something else.
for me personally, i think the celebrity series have been great on channel 5, with the civilian series pretty damn awful. especially the last couple. i am not entirely sure what they can do to draw in more viewers - its a tired format.

the main thing i would like to see change though is the constant outside contact, i love the idea of them living in a bubble knowing absolutely nothing of the outside world, not even being able to hear the crowd noise! unfortunately channel 5 seem to love the tacky eviction shows with that god awful rent a mob and that god awful outdoor staging - first and foremost i would love them to change that.

if your controversial you get kicked out to early its really stupid, people just be quiet and don't get involved much and win, how can you stop this?

that is not true for the celebrity version though, we have seen many controversial characters last weeks, even up to the final !