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Big Bother with new formats

Changes to Big Brother, and not just replacing Gretel Killeen with Kyle and Jackie O, appear to have cost the TEN network dearly already.

When last night’s ratings were shaken down, Nine scored well in the 7:30pm timeslot against ho hum shows on TEN and Seven.

60 Minutes returned to glory with 1.7m viewers ahead of Big Brother and Police Files / My Name is Earl both on 1m viewers. Nine comfortably won the night with a 32% share ahead of Seven’s 27% and TEN’s 20%.

The disappointing figures for the first live eviction also hit Rove hard. He didn’t start until 9:03pm and only attracted 776,000 viewers. Following So You Think You Can Dance Australia he was getting around 1m viewers.

Without even getting into casting issues of housemates and hosts there are significant changes to the eviction show that need addressing. The decision to alter voting / nominations is a perilous move. Asking viewers to nominate and housemates to evict has seen the old Monday nominations merge into the Sunday eviction show. And it’s taken over.

Sitting there watching each housemate decide their votes was like watching paint dry. It shifts the focus of the show away from the eviction stage to the house -the same house we’ve been watching all bloody week. Hearing them bang on about “oh umm 2 votes to David cos he interrupts my conversations oh umm but he’s a really nice guy” is hardly prime Sunday viewing. Get them out and get them to the audience faster.

The ‘revolve’ device must have seemed like a good idea on paper. It looks like a lame ride at a country fair. The only positive change I saw was in seeing the housemate’s reaction the minute they are literally turfed from the house, rather than giving them a few minutes before hitting the eviction stage.

Asking viewers to vote for their favourite all week isn’t much of a call to action either. Any storyteller knows the power of a ticking time bomb -except the 2008 producers. I’m guessing votes are way down this year. Why? Because if I know who the bottom three are I might be more compelled to save one of them, and to tune in.

TEN need to communicate the bottom three to viewers before the Sunday show, to drive up ratings. If by 7:30 Sunday everyone is on a level playing field where’s the urgency? Where’s the risk?

90 minutes of this stuff in its current format is just too drawn out, and the show is already behind the 8 ball with its divisive hosts. It cannot be allowed to drag down Rove and the Sunday share for TEN, week in, week out.

Finally, Seven will also need to rethink Police Files in the 7:30pm timeslot.

Week 20

6 Responses

  1. I reckon they should pre-record the housemates’ noms like they used to a few years back, and chop the eviction show from 90 minutes to 60. Liked the Peter Denahy clip though. I’d love to see more piss-taking like that. That footage of Brigitte in the diary room is ripe for a re-voicing…

  2. I don’t think it’s too late for the eviction process to be changed. Instead of all the house mates giving reasons for their points, they should just exit via the diary room and press a button or put a ball in a tube. Don’t even show it, just keep it short and simple so it’s not so boring!

  3. The hosts aren’t helping the show either. Gretel may have appeared to be a bit too clever, but the new hosts do not have a fraction of her wit.

    Jackie O seems to be trying very hard, but she is not a skilled interviewer. Kyle on the other hand does not appear to be making much effort at all, and on the eviction show last night he was wooden at best. Does he have issues with the producers that he is acting out in public?

    I think this season needs to be rescued before the whole franchise goes into terminal decline. Dump Kyle for someone younger and more vibrant, but keep Jackie as the “co-host”.

    Next year even more substantial changes are required (if the show lasts that long). Maybe a change of network?

  4. The revolver is a bad idea because the best part of the Sunday evictions was the heightened emotion in the House when the evictee was announced. Now they have to say good bye to three, not knowing which one is actually leaving. No real emotion there, boring. Oh, and Gretel is sorely missed. Her contribution to the show has been severly underestimated.

  5. you’ve hit the nail on the head there dave. the eviction show was just plain boring and the new nomination/eviction procedure is much worse. Good on them for trying to mix it up a bit though.

    IMO they need to just get rid of nominations and give the HM’s another way to express their thoughts on each other. Just have everyone up for nomination every week – none of this “Danger zone” business.

    Snap evictions would be great too. None of this forewarnig crap, just boot somebody out at a random time of the day with no notice.

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