Peter Black's Freedom to Differ

One more Big Brother post

Given my gushing rant on Monday night you probably thought that would be the last post on Big Brother for some time, possibly ever.  However, I thought I'd post this video that pays tribute to the 2008 housemates:

It's time to go Big Brother ... for now

The last episode of Big Brother ended tonight with the words "It's time to go Big Brother ... for now".  So hope remains that Big Brother will one day return in some form.  But for now it is worth reflecting on the past eight seasons.

I've always blogged a bit about Big Brother and have refused to apologise for it, so I thought it was appropriate to share some of my thoughts and reflections and once again explain I think it was good TV.  So you understand where I'm coming from here is my 2007 declaration where I told readers of this blog that they must watch Big Brother!:

Ok.  I'll admit it.  I watch Big Brother (well, at least the evictions) and follow the going-ons in the house on the Big Brother website and Behind Big Brother. I've even gone to a couple of live evictions.  I've been following the show since year one, day one.  And I enjoy it.  I find the relationships, the characters, the politics, the games Big Brother plays and even Gretel Killeen entertaining - and occasionally even insightful.  Most of my so-called "intellectual" friends and colleagues consider that there must be something wrong with me (even though most are also able to follow a conversation about the show quite easily). However, I refuse to apologise for it.  Big Brother isn't meant to change the world, but it is good TV.

And last night's episode of Big Brother was great TV - we got to select two new housemates, a relationship in the house were revealed, the reason for the mysterious White Room was disclosed, and Mr X was introduced to Australia and the unsuspecting housemates.  If you have no idea what I'm talking about or think that this all sounds silly, then you are missing out.  This season has been set up as possibly the best Big Brother ever.  The housemates are older and more diverse (although still ridiculously good looking), the house has adopted a positive environmental stance, and most importantly, the first two episodes have shown that this season's Big Brother has a wonderfully wicked sense of humour.  The housemates - and us - have absolutely no idea what Big Brother will throw at them next.  Now, that is good TV.

As many of you reading this post will just dismiss it as a rant from a tragically deranged fan, may I suggest that if you are a reality TV sceptic you should read an excellent piece in one of your so-called "intellectual" magazines, The Atlantic Monthly by Michael Hirschorn, "The Case for Reality TV: What the snobs don't understand".  Read it here.

So if you want to know what all the fuss is about, then you should watch this season of Big Brother.  And enjoy it for what it is - good TV.  Don't be embarrassed and don't apologise for it.  After all, you don't have to tell people that you watch it ...

Read it here.

Let me begin by admitting that Big Brother was far from perfect TV - they had to fill so much air time, especially in the seasons with UpLate, that it was inevitable that at times it was far from compelling.  In fact, at times it was downright dull.  Other times, it was incredibly silly, which you could either embrace for what it was or dismiss it as juvenile.  Some housemates, tasks, twists, sets and even hosts were better than others (for the record, I thought Gretel Kileen was far superior to Kyle and Jackie O).  So given its inconsistency, what was its appeal?

For me the show worked for two reasons.  First, it was entertaining.  This was largely due to the housemates and the relationships they formed with one another.  They willingly shared their emotions with each other and with the public.  When at the end of the finale this evening we had a montage of the past eight seasons, I couldn't help but recall so many fascinating relationships and wonderfully real, honest moments.  I'm thinking of Christina and Peter; good guy Ben; Marty and Jess; Peter when his young brother runs into the house after he has been announced as the winner of season 2; Reggie and her heartbreaking self-realisation that she wanted to change her life after Big Brother; Chrissie screaming at Ben; the twins in season 5; Tim Brunero trying so earnestly to lift the tone of political discussion in the house; Vesna's rawness; David, the 'token' gay farmer; the mother-daughter twist; Jamie and Katie; Aleisha and Billy; the White Room; Bodie and TJ's fighting; and then there was the 52 year old grandmother Terri winning this, the final season.  Love them or hate them, Big Brother resulted in Australia seeing some different personalities on TV.

Second, right from the beginning the show became part of the national conversation and it was able to use its unique profile to raise issues that otherwise do not get discussed  on TV: homosexuality, racism, refugee policy, issues of body image, sexual harassment and assault, censorship and sexuality.  And up until this year all this was done thanks to Gretel's deft touch.  Big Brother was able to deal with all these issues in a way other shows could not.  Because it was real.  Or at least a lot more real than Neighbours, Home and Away or A Current Affair could ever even aspire to be.  Whether or not you liked the show you cannot dispute the profound influence it had on Australia's culture, probably more so than any other Australian TV show in the past decade.

So as far as I'm concerned Big Brother will be missed.  To the show's producers, housemates, Gretel and everyone who worked on the show for the past eight years, I say thank you.  For all its occasional banality and triviality, your Big Brother was more than just fun to watch, it changed TV and had a positive impact on Australia's national conversation.

It's hard to tell what is real these days ...

TV Tonight reports on this bizarre intersection of several forms of so-called "reality TV":

Fake Corey just part of the Act

No that isn't Corey Worthington, but this promo made by the Movie Networks Channel was enough to trigger complaints by viewers who felt it inappropriate to hire the notorious party boy.

It is in fact someone else known to TV viewers, hired to mimic Worthington for the Movie Greats 80's Party held last weekend.

To find out who... read on.

ANSWER: It's Shane Jenek, aka gender illusionist 'Courtney Act' from Australian Idol series 1.

Read it here.

A social Big Brother

The online presence of Australian Big Brother, which launched tonight, is embracing user-generated content:

NETWORK Ten is about to take a big leap into the world of social media with the launch of more user-generated content on the official Big Brother 2008 website and a Facebook profile.

The network is developing a series of complementary internet media channels to cater for the core 16 to 24-year-old fans of the reality television show, which begins its eighth series at 7pm tonight.

Ten's head of digital media, Damian Smith, said the network experimented with a Facebook profile for So You Think You Can Dance Australia, which ended its first season last night with about 28,000 Facebook fans.

It also launched a Facebook application -- a "Which Top 20 Member are you most like?" quiz that users could add to their Facebook profile.

The Big Brother Facebook profile will include a news feed and other features.

"Over the next week there'll be interesting things you can get for your Facebook profile," Mr Smith said.

...

"We're very happy to work with a range of social networking sites," Mr Smith said.

"We regard them as complementary to the core website," he said. "Everyone's a competitor and potential partner right now."

He said Ten had more freedom in relation to the websites that it could form alliances with, as it did not have a partner offering its own social networking services.

"We're hopefully in a better position than some to exploit (social media)," Mr Smith said. "We are a little more Swiss (in that) we are not linked with a US portal.

...

"We've got an audience that loves to interact, express its opinions and create their own video, and that's pretty exciting," Mr Smith said. "There's going to be a lot more blogging on the site (such as) Big Brother's Little Sister, which will be a different-toned blog from the rest of the site. It's from people working for (production company) Endemol Southern Star and taking an interesting perspective on what's going on in the house."

Apart from mobile phone coverage of the show, there will be 3mobile Mouthpiece -- a section for uploading mobile video.

Read more here (from The Australian).  Although this is an interesting strategy by Ten, they could still do more to engage with social media.  One obvious oversight is the lack of an RSS feed for news updates.  This means I'm more likely to get my Big Brother news from the unofficial Behind Big Brother portal (which is also allowing user-generated audience blogging) than I am from the official Big Brother website.

It's back ...

I can't think of a better way to resume blogging than with this great teaser for the upcoming season of Big Brother:

Potential Big Brother housemates turn to Facebook

This year three housemates of the Australian Big Brother will be voted into the house by audience based on videos the potential housemates have submitted and can be watched on the official site.  As you would expect, potential housemates have created pages on MySpace and Facebook, and/or Facebook groups, in an attempt to push their profile and encourage people to watch their video and vote them into the house.

However, some potential housemates have also purchased advertising space on Facebook to promote themselves.  I've seen one or two examples and thought it was odd but never actually took a screenshot, but fortunately Behind Big Brother did too a screenshot of one:

Computer geek Scott from Queensland has bought out a Facebook ad driving people to his audition video in a bid to get on the show. Based on Facebook ad rates, he’s probably paying a minimum of $10 a day to have the ads appear on Australian profiles.

Behind Big Brother also spotted another example:

Another housemate wannabe has put an ad on Facebook, this time Tony, a 26-year-old virgin from QLD.

Tony’s ad did not include a photo and was simply text, which displays on random Australian Facebook profiles.

Tony appears slightly less annoying than Scott ... , but says he’s comfortable with himself and that an interesting trait is that he is “random.”

Read more about this on Behind Big Brother here.

I'm not sure what this says about Big Brother contestants, Facebook, or Australian society, but I'm not quite comfortable with this for some reason.  Why do I feel it is ok to have a profile or a Facebook group, but not ok to pay for advertising space?

Update: Scott has a second Facebook ad (the same as above except without a photo) and a website - http://www.scottperry.com.au/:

Another potential housemate, Andrew, also has a Facebook ad: