Hey all

First post on here. Been "lurking" for a number of years and love reading all the varied and very often intelligent comments.

I just wanted to know if others share this view I have of the show. First, I've been a fan since day dot, although not seen the last few series due to illness. This series has re-ignited my love affair with BB/CBB again.

This is my take on it. There has often been a pretty snooty attitude from many people in the general public towards this show, seeing it as "dumbed down" entertainment, watched by air-heads. But I don't buy it. To me, BB/CBB provides a magnified view of the human ego, in all its forms. We all have this "ego" (the presentation we give to the world, the image we have of ourselves, and related internal chatter). This gets played out in dramatic fashion in a programme like BB.

We get to see the "presentation" (when they first enter the house, all on their best behaviour!), the "positioning and befriending" (all trying to take up certain roles)...and then the "image rights", where each tries to PROTECT what they believe about themselves. This in turn leads to all the conflict - defense, attack, defense, attack - to ensure they can maintain the image.

But, what we also get in BB is the ego-journey. We often see someone go through many trials and tribulations (popular one minute, villain the next; dominant one day, meek the next). This, to me, is the breaking down of the ego. Where they get to a point where they realise certain facets of themselves are not working anymore and not who they truly are deep down.. I'm not saying this is always the case with every HM. But there are so many examples of what I'm saying, based on all the series I've seen over the last 15 years.

And the viewers play a significant part in all this. Yes, we judge, point and laugh at times. And of course, we want to be entertained. But we also go on that journey with them - bashing them at times, forgiving them at others, rooting for them one minute, disappointed the next (plus, of course, we have our "favourites"!). In the process, we see the frailty of the human ego and the need for every human to be heard, seen and loved. We share in their experience in a very real way (and come on forums like this to discuss it all!).

I know some may think this sounds a bit sanctimonious (the last of my intentions!), but I really do think BB/CBB tells us a lot about who we are and why we behave in the way we do.

Thanks for listening and very interested in any thoughts.

A great deal of your theories and observations are totally correct.

However, I very much doubt that the vast majority of viewers would accept - or even understand - the points you make. I do because, as a retired Psychotherapist, human behaviour is of great interest to me.

This last series though I am finding quite depressing mainly because of the distinction of beliefs, principles, between young and old/older. I'm seeing a lot of things applauded which I find quite sad.

I'm afraid that I would possibly agree with those who are saying it's now a dumbed down programme for airheads.

Good post. I just wish they'd have more interesting people on both the civilian and celebrity series. The last series I really enjoyed watching was the Ulrika/Terry Christian one many years ago, or perhaps the Chantelle/Barrymore one around the same era.

The likes of Gemma, Scott and Stephanie just aren't interesting personalities to me. They don't ask each other interesting questions, they don't listen to each other's answers and they always interrupt each other because they're convinced their point is more valuable than the other person's.

That was the premise 16 years ago . Today's programmes bear little or no relationship to the early shows. And I'm sure if you have watched it from year one you would agree.
Welcome to the forum

Yes I agree with this. The housemates have become less and less interesting over the years. The current lot are like watching monkeys in a zoo.

The channel 5 format seems set up for confrontation and even if any housemates have an interesting conversation we don't appear to be shown it.

Is it not now 'scripted reality' where the production staff give them a 'situation' and they have to 'act' it out and concoct the dialogue themselves.

The original concept of Big Brother, isolating housemates from the world and filming them 24/7 as a social experiment was an interesting idea. It now seems to be a study in how the viewing public can be manipulated by the programme producers, by showing a carefully selected hour each day which shows the housemates in whichever light the producers want them to be shown. We viewers are now the guinea pigs who are being studied to see how we're influenced by what we're allowed to see.

Congratulations on your post! and hello!
Was BB not originally conceived to see how subjects from different backgrounds and walks of like would react to each other in an enclosed environment.? e.g. prison and - at that time - institutionalised mental hospitals.

Hi Cate - nice to know you share that same interest in the programme! The things you say are being "applauded" by some, which you disagree with (and I understand where you may be coming from on that) are, for me, still potent examples of the ego being played out in magnified form (e.g. the shouting and then relenting by certain HMs, the "disloyalty" some HMs may be displaying BUT then their self-consciousness about such behaviour etc)...I agree there is a certain divide between young and old/older (I presume you mean on the show itself?), but feel the younger ones definitely display certain moments of realisation and astuteness, while making their way up the rather rocky road of self-awareness.

But, that's just how I see it

You're much kinder - and less cynical - than me I'm afraid. The realisation and astuteness I'm seeing from these young ones is only a knee jerk reaction, to get people back onside when realisation dawns that they have gone too far. It's impossible to rate self awareness from what we're seeing, but if I were to, I'm afraid anything I've seen has been purely self serving.

Great post!

I'd agree that the programme has got the potential for us to follow housemates rocky journey from 'celeb' to human over the course of a few weeks, but as someone who has watched most of the Celebrity series, I think the opportunity for we viewers to do so has diminished over the years for a number of reasons including ;

Lack of live feed - We never really get to know them.
We never see how they behave when they're doing mundane, everyday tasks like cooking dinner or handwashing their clothes or sitting round the table chatting in the early hours over a cup of tea.
We've got no sense of a 'normal' default level for them.

Editing and manipulation - Being the 'Biggest House Evah!!' might be really exciting but it means of all 16 housemates got an equal share of screentime it'd still mean we only got a fleeting glance in a daily highlights show that amounts to less than 45 minutes.
And somebody chooses what those highlights are, so how easy must it be to find a moment when even the most vile character is seen being sympathetic and supportive, or the kindest individual is shown having an uncharacteristic dig at someone?
Then we have to remember it's 'entertainment', so basically if you don't kick off, fall over drunk or have a grope under the duvet, your screentime is cut to the point where viewers forget you're even there.

Twists - Used increasingly to ensure the 'tight' people stay or go, meaning the series loses much of it's integrity.

Calibre of Housemates - We're now relying more than ever on professional exaggerators of situations. People who make a living picking on the tiniest event or comment and turning it into a full blown drama. Anyone with good manners, a naturally serene disposition or a modicum of self control is at an immediate disadvantage.

So, for me, while your post is great, the opportunity to see the 'journeys' you describe has diminished to the point that it's almost disappeared.

OP - wake up and smell the coffee. Jeez. I really don't know if you're serious (and therefore utterly deluded imo), taking the absolute piss, or part of production crew who spout nonsense on here.

Thanks for the feedback so far guys. I agree with you all that the show is pretty different from the original format (and, yes, the original idea was from a psychological experiment, I believe).

As some of you said, there are two main reasons for the difference: 1) Lack of live feed - and just having the 1 hr summary each day. 2) Manipulation by the producers to create "conflict".

However, where I differ to the above comments is that I believe the "essence" of the show remains. At the end of the day, it is still a group of HMs "locked" together inside a house with certain ground rules, and then cameras filming their every move. As much as it may be edited and manipulated, I still feel it provides many examples of real human behaviour that indeed would be very difficult to script.

The mix up over the "Davids" is one perfect example. In fact, even Ricky Gervais would have found it hard to script that farce and the way it played out! The misunderstanding, Tiffany's initial reaction, then her overly-defensive stance once she felt humiliated for getting it wrong, then the HMs isolating her, then the surrender of her own ego to accept she HAD got it wrong...resulting in support flowing back to Tiffany again (not to mention Megan calling John out on his "isolating" approach towards Tiffany during the said incident). This was all unscripted (only the staunchest conspiracy theorist would believe BB producers somehow orchestrated that one, not to mention David Bowie's untimely death!)...

Terry Christian, Tommy Sheridan and Coolio sat round the table at 2am talking politics.
All three with different opinions and experiences, but all three bright, articulate, thoughtful people.
I adored that series and practically put my life on hold to catch every second I could.

Now, when I miss a couple of episodes, I just wonder which one kicked off that day and don't even bother to catch up.

I agree, the op sums up what the original concept of the show was

These days, in 'regular' BB stories and characters no longer develop naturally because of the constant interference and provocation from producers

In the 'celeb' version we are served up with contrived storylines / romance / rows / meltdowns by the endless array of 'reality TV' people who are accustomed to providing fake scenarios in order to 'entertain'

Thanks to the op for a nice first post, and welcome to the forum

I do agree that those series were particularly good ones, where we had so much more dialogue and social interaction. The Chantelle-Barrymore one was incredible viewing (although I did find a lot of it distasteful, particularly the bullying of Jodie Marsh...the idea that such "conflict" has only been manipulated in more recent times (e.g. Channel 5) is actually not that accurate, with that series from 10 years ago being a perfect example).

My personal favourites for showing the journey of a particular housemate, would be the Bez one from CBB3, and Freddie Fisher in BB10 (2009), arguably the last great Big Brother