DS Forums

 
 

At what point in time did BB cease to be a social experiment and become a freak show?


Reply
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Old 02-06-2005, 19:46
bob.bobsta
 
Posts: n/a

When did BB in this country stop being a kind of social experiment to see how twelve strangers would interact with each other in the extra ordinary circumstances of the house and become the circus it is today?
  Reply With Quote
Please sign in or register to remove this advertisement.
Old 02-06-2005, 19:47
kidwoofwoof
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2004
Posts: 967
In the part of London I inhabit ... society's a freakshow ... straight A ...
kidwoofwoof is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-06-2005, 19:48
yahoodlums
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2004
Posts: 3,105
After BB1 I think
yahoodlums is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-06-2005, 19:53
skazza
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2002
Location: Mamas Pizza, BD10 Parmo Shop!
Posts: 4,648
It's seen a steady decline in 'psychological experiment' credibility, that's for sure. It's just a springboard up to the heady heights of z-list mediocri-celebrity now.

Mind you, I still like it.
skazza is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-06-2005, 19:53
Tiagress
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2004
Location: Westcountry
Posts: 3,086
The moment they put Emma & Michelle back in the house from the bedsit in BB5.
Tiagress is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-06-2005, 19:54
dome
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2002
Posts: 52,176
Midway through BB1 I'd say.
dome is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-06-2005, 19:55
novice
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2002
Posts: 3,703
about the time the booings started and the ratings soared and even my DENTIST was watching!
novice is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-06-2005, 19:55
wanderer
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2004
Posts: 997
when BB4 was really boring and less and less people watched it
wanderer is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-06-2005, 19:58
billgates
Forum Member
 
Join Date: May 2003
Location: home of the tractor boys
Posts: 1,230
once people like kemal got in this year
billgates is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-06-2005, 20:01
Matabaruka
Banned User
 
Join Date: May 2005
Posts: 1,073
As soon as Endemol realised theres a sh*tload of money to be earned from freaks.
Matabaruka is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-06-2005, 20:04
elena
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2004
Location: London
Posts: 13,864
BB1 and BB2 were quite innocent shows...

By BB3 Endemol knew they could make a sh*tload of money and that's when it started becoming more mainstream and less experimental.

It was BB5 when it turned into a freak show.
elena is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-06-2005, 20:06
brunobrookes
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: Out the road
Posts: 4,440
Nasty Nick running for 5+ days in the tabs?

According to Bazelgette, from day 0.
brunobrookes is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-06-2005, 20:08
Jaygoose
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Lincolnshire
Posts: 240
Bob I love this thread!
It's still a psycological experiment though.
My guess is the housemates are hand picked to have different personnality types. Rarther than the simple premise of 13 total strangers the focus of BB has chainged to see how far they can push HM and how far will HM push each other.

The environment and contestents are hand picked to cause the most stress possible. It's getting a kinda sick experiment because i wonder how soon it will be before a contestant really does crack or possibly suffer burnout or breakdown.

I agree however each years contestants are becoming "freak show" worthy. In fact a paper i read recently compaired BB to the origanal circus freak shows.

That said i still love the show, and the 13 have shown remarkable guts entering
Its psycology entertainment!
Jaygoose is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-06-2005, 20:14
fdooby
Banned User
 
Join Date: Jun 2005
Location: Rampton
Posts: 2,557
It was never a social experiment, no matter what anyone might say. From day one, it was entertainment for the masses, pure and simple. And on that level (with the exception of BB4), it has succeeded brilliantly. People analyse things too much. BB is great fun to watch and debate. Why not just enjoy it without the need to dissect?
fdooby is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-06-2005, 20:20
da33431
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2001
Location: Maidstone, Kent
Posts: 45,959
I think the social experiment part of it was the core at the start but once a show takes off like this one has then you've got to think about sustaining it's success. BB4 was a blowout and it seems that a battle between agressive lads, camp queens and bitchy girls is what the public want if you consider the ratings now.
da33431 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-06-2005, 21:15
galena
Forum Member
 
Join Date: May 2005
Posts: 7,000
Around about the time Jade Goody entered the house?
galena is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-06-2005, 21:23
Red_Duck
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2004
Posts: 3,256
Originally Posted by bob.bobsta
When did BB in this country stop being a kind of social experiment to see how twelve strangers would interact with each other in the extra ordinary circumstances of the house and become the circus it is today?
It was already a freak show before it began in this country. It meant that exhibitionists like Caroline and Nicola already knew the score from what they would have heard about the foreign programmes, even if they hadn't seen them.
Red_Duck is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-06-2005, 21:24
dawson
 
Posts: n/a
I posted this earlier today in this thread:

According to Peter Bazalgette, speaking about BB1:
Big Brother is nothing but entertainment; it never pretended to be a genuine social experiment. It's just a game show with a prizewinner
Source: http://www.becal.net/toolkit/damaris/bigbro.html
  Reply With Quote
Old 02-06-2005, 21:26
lancey_999
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Pontefract, UK
Posts: 2,306
*Sigh* It's simple - at first it was new and people enjoyed watching 12 people sit in a house, and there was sometime little going on, but as the series as they went on were getting boring (eg BB4) then they had to step up the mark to get the viewers....why complain? Just don't watch it, if it's that bad
lancey_999 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-06-2005, 21:27
kidwoofwoof
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2004
Posts: 967
Originally Posted by fdooby
It was never a social experiment, no matter what anyone might say. From day one, it was entertainment for the masses, pure and simple.
Why should the 2 be mutually exclusive? ... don't "the masses" have a 'psychology' & isn't what 'they' find entertaining one aspect of it? ...

Not only is BB still a social experiment ... but so are all the offshoots ... like this very forum ... 'society' is humans interacting & communicating ... get the picture? ...
kidwoofwoof is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-06-2005, 21:31
kidwoofwoof
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2004
Posts: 967
Originally Posted by dawson
I posted this earlier today:
According to Peter Bazalgette, speaking about BB1:Big Brother is nothing but entertainment; it never pretended to be a genuine social experiment. It's just a game show with a prizewinner
What does he know? ... that's like listening to Malcolm McLaren pontificating about the Sex Pistols ... Bazalgette's no guru, no authority ... he had a bright idea ... didn't understand the ramifications ... anything but unusual ...
kidwoofwoof is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-06-2005, 21:44
Edna
 
Posts: n/a
Originally Posted by galena
Around about the time Jade Goody entered the house?
That's exactly what I was going to post.
  Reply With Quote
Old 02-06-2005, 21:45
phonicBrian
Banned User
 
Join Date: Apr 2005
Posts: 1,123
Since the entrance of Victor who came in primarilly to "stir it up".

Shizzel my nizzle? Get to F...
phonicBrian is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-06-2005, 01:05
Colourwitch
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: England
Posts: 251
I guess from the outset it was a psychological experiment being used for entertainment, and has since become increasingly a freak show in order to continue to be entertaining in the cut-throat world of competing for ratings within which both Channel 4 and Endemol are operating.

Serious psychological experiments themselves have a rather dubious and checkered history - for example the ones done by Milgram on conformity where participants were asked to administer (imaginary) electric shocks to others, to see how far they'd fo in obeying orders. That kind of thing wouldn't be allowed nowadays. The British Psychological Society lay down a strict code of ethics that have to be adhered to, including that the participants should not suffer adverse effects from the experiment. I know the BPS is concerned about 'reality TV' shows like Big Brother, and there could well be pressure for programmes like Big Brother to also have to adhere to the same code of ethics.......
Colourwitch is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-06-2005, 01:28
melodytoon
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: London
Posts: 2,270
Originally Posted by bob.bobsta
When did BB in this country stop being a kind of social experiment to see how twelve strangers would interact with each other in the extra ordinary circumstances of the house and become the circus it is today?
The quize night where Jade was able to strip off to total nudity while her other HMs sat there fully clothed. Quite apart from the sight of her, I still feel a bit uncomfortable even remembering that night - as if I'd stumbled on a video of a friend doing something I'd never have thought them capable of.
melodytoon is offline   Reply With Quote
 
Reply




 
Forum Jump


All times are GMT. The time now is 06:55.