Yeah, me too, I actually find the discussion here more interesting than the prog itself! Sad, I know but my interest is academic as well as as a viewer. Heh heh, that was pretty poor grammar - mebbe Ellison could help me out

But unlike Ellison and a few others I'm so much interested in the actual psychology of the HM's (even tho' I enjoy discussing it), I'm more into the reasons people watch and why a show which seems so boring on the surface is actually compelling viewing for many people.

I'm a DS addict so I was here to start with.


Watch BB because the "real life" group interaction interests me, was also the reason I took A'Level Psychology.


EmEmSe

I like to look at Jade: when I look at her I feel Soooooo beautiful.

Jack

xxxxxxx

Key reason for watching BB for me is to try and understand why I like watching it
No, it's very little to do with voyeurism - much more to do with 2 sides of the show:

1/ Trying to figure what is going on in the housemates heads from observed behaviour and conversations - part of this is trying to 2nd guess who'll be nominating who

2/ trying to understand what it is that the public sees in the show to decide who they will vote for.

Point 1 is the same as 'people watching' in the pub, or any other social situation, but with the added advantage of being able to stare without guilt or risk of being caught staring. I think it is a natural desire to try and figure out those around us as a survival instinct....in human society for the past 10,000+ years the biggest threat to survival has probably been other humans around us, so a tendency to want to understand and be able to 2nd guess others is bound to have had some evolutionary benifit

Point 2 is where I find the biggest facination with BB over other 'reality TV'. The interactive part of the show draws people in to make judgements over those in the house, and people are very happy to discuss their opinions and reasons for voting for people. As a psychological study it is facinating to notice differences between the opinions of people who only watch a few highlight shows and those that watch many "raw" hours. It is also interesting to see how the way events are edited can influence the perceptions of people which is interesting from a socio-media stance.

On another level, it's like a soap with no script but with drama, comedy, excitement, uncertainty, back stabing, and intregue. On this level though the live feeds can be really iritating when they cut to ads just on a key plot twist

BB1 I watched to start with because it just seemed like such a silly idea for a show, but I somehow got hooked into watching more and more because you never knew when something interesting would happen...so you watch hours and hours of people lying in the sun just to catch the odd comment...in particular as Nick in BB1 was scheming it was compelling to watch to see if/when he'd get caught.

BB2 I watched from day 1, and with the late night fire task early on I found myself watching and feeling I was there with them...having sat late at night around many camp fires while people joke and tell stories it just felt familiar - plus Bubble and Dean who were up late in that group I found so funny they had me laughing out loud on and off for hours.

BB celeb was different as it was an exercise in seeing celebs in a different light to how you'd percieved them in the press etc before, plus some great amusing personalities - not a surprise as they make a living at it.

BB3 I had high hopes of finding as funny as each show seemd to be better than the last. Somehow this year though at the start I didn't see anyone I personally would relate too, and so the show didn't grab me as quickly. The psychology quickly became interesting though, and as time has gone on, various hm's have shown themselves to be much more interesting than they first seemed. But, is it just me or are they talking all the time about pretty inane things this year? OK, they did that every year, but previously I've felt the hm's have revieled much more about themselves. This year they seem too well informed of how people will be studying every word they say, and are hence being much more closed and superficial. I'm waiting to see if this is still my view as time goes on - if so, in itself its an interesting outcome psychologically - does this mean BB4 will hardly have a serious conversation about anything through the whole show?

Much as I didn't like the set topic discussions BB have given in the past, I think this year we'd benifit as observers if the hm's could be nudged into a few more 'deep' discussions about life, the universe and everything...

oh...and I like to waffle....