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TWoP 10: Ways to Fix Big Brother

We're at that point of the summer where Big Brother has become less of a guilty pleasure and more of a thrice-weekly chore. But it doesn't have to be that way. The show could definitely improve and manage to entertain us for a whole summer, if only producers were willing to improve it. Here are the things we'd like to see fixed before next year.

10. Find Players
Could they find more competitive people who actually have the skills to back things up? Adam's a big old fanboy, but he's not what you'd call athletic, and some of the other houseguests don't seem like they even want to be there (Porsche, we're looking at you). We don't love the returning players a whole lot, but at least they're making an effort to do more than look attractive on a reality show.

9. Diversify
This show doesn't exactly break out of the mold very much when it comes to age, race or sexual orientation. Each season tries to fill some unspoken quotas, but they could do a lot more than just casting young pretty people.

8. Add Celebrities
Hey, it works for the UK edition, and we've got a whole host of desperate celebrities we'd like to see live in the house, Surreal Life style.

7. Audience Interaction
Do we really care what the have-nots eat for a week? No. And only one chance for viewers to actually affect that game during the course of a summer is lame. Can't we pick someone to get a Veto pass or a get-off-the-block card every once and a while? We don't need another America's Player necessarily, but it would be nice to feel included.

6. No Repeat Players
Actually, that should be no repeat players unless it is an entire all-star season. Having the veterans pitted against new people is like shooting a fish in the barrel. And if they are going to bring people back (since that seems to be the CBS reality show gimmick these days), at least bring players that don't make us want to punch our television sets.

5. Slop-Free Summer
The whole have/have-not aspect of the show is getting old because no one really seems to care all that much. They gripe for a few days and then they are over it. So the competitions to see who gets stuck on slop are essentially irrelevant after week one.

4. More Forced Activities
If you've never watched the live feeds, let's just say they're about as exciting as watching paint dry. For 80 percent of the time, the houseguests are either sleeping or just lounging around on various couches talking about nothing. We've seen cats that are more active. We'd like to see Big Brother find new ways to either torture or reward them more frequently so that we'd feel like we were getting our money's worth. And could there be some sort of incentive for attractive people to hook up? Because some of that makes the UK version more fun.

3. Less Filler
The episodes that air on CBS are so padded, particularly the Sunday and Wednesday episodes that aren't broadcast live. And most of the good fights get edited down to next to nothing. Could we get the real highlights from the feeds, instead of just more of Rachel whining?

2. Better Twists
"Expect the unexpected" is this show's motto, and yet, we are rarely surprised by Big Brother. Oh, they brought someone back to the game? We haven't seen that a million times before. And this season's big partnering twist was a dud the minute that Evel Dick walked out of the house for whatever personal reasons he had -- before the second episode.

1. More Real Time
In this day and age of the internet, it is hard to produce this show without spoilers leaking. And by the time the Wednesday airing rolls around, we've known for days who won the PoV and if they used it, making the padded episode is even more insufferable. Somehow, when it was on Tuesdays, it wasn't as bad. We'd prefer more real-time competitions, and we'd like a half-hour recap show nightly, instead of a one-hour installment three times a week.

Watch TWoP's editors discuss the latest season of Big Brother in this segment airing on the New York Nonstop news channel:

View more videos at: http://www.nbcnewyork.com.

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30 Comments

August 19, 2011 12:31 PM
thatctor
Reply

Her here. One more thing. The silly outfits contestants are forced to wear are ridiculous. Funny once. Yes. But now its tired. Here's a thougt. How about the loser wears absolutely NOTHING for a week? That would make the takes hire for the guests. And fun for us. Not to mention ratings through the roof.

August 19, 2011 1:49 PM
Cathy
Reply

In the UK version, they have to complete tasks in order to get money to purchase groceries. I would like to see that instead of have nots. It is also amusing to see them argue about what they want to buy for groceries. Smokes would cost extra!

August 19, 2011 1:49 PM
Cathy
Reply

In the UK version, they have to complete tasks in order to get money to purchase groceries. I would like to see that instead of have nots. It is also amusing to see them argue about what they want to buy for groceries. Smokes would cost extra!

August 19, 2011 1:50 PM
Cathy P
Reply

In the UK version, they have to complete tasks in order to get money to purchase groceries. I would like to see that instead of have nots. It is also amusing to see them argue about what they want to buy for groceries. Smokes would cost extra!

August 19, 2011 2:24 PM
Joanna
Reply

The best 'twist' they ever had on this show was the year they had a pair of twins playing as one person. People used to amuse themselves in the live feed thread trying to guess which one they were watching at any moment, and then they had these awesome clips during the eps of the weekly trade-off, where they had ten frantic minutes to swap clothes and gossip because one was replaced by her sister inside.

August 19, 2011 2:36 PM
Volourn
Reply

"that we'd feel like we were getting our money's worth."

You don't pay anything unless you are an advertiser.

As for the twin twist, i eprsonally enjoyed it, but at the time, many people loathed the twist.

August 19, 2011 5:22 PM
Jack
Reply


Big Brother is terrible at the end game. Other elimination-based reality competitions-- like Surivor or Amazing Race or American Idol-- do a great job becoming more tense and exciting as the contestants whittle down. Big Brother just becomes more and more boring. I think it's because the fun of Big Brother is more in the contestant interaction than it is in the competition. I would suggest keeping all contestants in the house all summer. All the eliminations are done at the very end. During the run of the show, there could be points or awards given to better ones position going into elimination activity (ie "you've won a guarantee to not be voted on in the first three rounds.").

Anyway, my overall comment is that they need to work harder at maintaining interest as the season progresses. I think keeping all the contestants around would help do this.

August 19, 2011 8:51 PM
Dee Clutter
Reply

How about forbidding cigarettes? Seems like a lot of these contestants this season are smokers. Good for their health, good viewing when they get incredibly cranky ...

August 19, 2011 9:01 PM
TD
Reply

What happened to the contests for food that would determine what they could eat all week...there just used to be a lot more games played..making it more interesting...now it's a snoozefest.

August 20, 2011 5:31 AM
larry
Reply

Don't pay unless advertisers? Obvi u are not a feed subscriber

August 20, 2011 7:11 AM
Patrick
Reply

Move POV back to Tuesday and allow America to vote as well on who should be evicted. If the house votes are mixed, then America's vote is added to the total. If the house has a unanimous vote and America does not agree, it overrides the house vote and America's choice is evicted.

August 20, 2011 2:05 PM
Sherah
Reply

Wow, I love this list....I also love Big Brother, and it drives me crazy reading messages from people who wathc every minute of the live feeds and CLAIM to hate the show!?! REALLY?? They need to compete more and lay around less, stuff on the live feeds and BBAD is way more exciting than the actual over-produced repetitive show. I rarely watch any show live, by choice, but I watch an average of two hours of BB every day....like I said love it.

August 21, 2011 3:37 AM
Nemesis
Reply

So, it's a chore to watch? Here's a quick, easy-to-do trick: change the fucking channel. No one has to watch this shit. The fact that you not only watch it, but spend enough time thinking about it to come up with this list, is more than a little pathetic.

August 21, 2011 1:34 PM
Anne
Reply

I love how in BB UK there are secret tasks given to the houseguests by Big Brother, BB US should do that as well.

August 21, 2011 4:21 PM
argroq
Reply

No more America's Choice! America's vote is what brought Brendon back. If we have more AC this season, all the good things will go to Jeff anyway, since Allison Grodner loves him and gives the bigot the undeserved golden edit.

August 21, 2011 4:22 PM
argroq
Reply

No more America's Choice! America's vote is what brought Brendon back. If we have more AC this season, all the good things will go to Jeff anyway, since Allison Grodner loves him and gives the bigot the undeserved golden edit.

August 21, 2011 8:56 PM
guyute42
Reply

America didn't bring Brendan back, Alison Grodner did. That cat didn't win the fan voting and we ALL know it.
You want to fix this show, do not EVER bring back previous houseguests unless it's All Stars. If you REALLY want to give Jeff and Jordan another 500k just give it to them and don't throw away a whole season with the pretense they haven't been picked to win from Day 1. Also, do a little better background checking, you REALLY think an emotionally disturbed prostitute from Vegas is prime time material? REALLY?
Furthermore, quit it with the Real Housewives of the Jersey Shore fake drama. That stuff worked on ED's season once, but it's WAY old now.

August 22, 2011 1:01 AM
Jana
Reply

I'd like to see Big Brother limit the constant sleeping and napping. If they are sleep deprived and cranky, more entertainment value.

August 23, 2011 9:42 AM
Genius
Reply
replied to comment from Volourn

She's talking about the live feeds, which you do have to pay for.

August 23, 2011 9:47 AM
Genius
Reply
replied to comment from Nemesis

Dude, you are on a website called Television Without Pity. It's their job (and probably preferred pastime) to watch television. Without pity.

August 24, 2011 11:06 PM
Isaiah
Reply

Casting Casting Casting...despite crazy twists and stuff, its the cast that will make or break a season. BB2 and BB3 were great because casting was great...and it wasn't about finding personalities, but finding REAL people--I really miss that.

August 25, 2011 12:34 AM
Lily
Reply

The very first season of Big Brother was the most real, with real people in it. I love seeing older houseguests. I love good fights. Best season was Evel Dick's - what a cast of characters!I never laughed until I cried at BB until that season. Wamber! Dustin! Evel with the pots and pans! They could RE RUN that season and it would be more interesting than this summer. These people are SNORES and BORES. I agree that Jeff and Jordan are there on a coast. Who needs them? Neither is very interesting. One summer of Rachel was more than enough and Brenchel is plain downright nauseating. How about making the Veto MANDATORY. You *have* to use it and Veto winner gets to choose the replacement! Shake up this game, stop giving all the power to one person, HOH is dictator, everyone else in the house becomes irrelevant. More contests, work for your supper, bring in celebrities, diversity, older guests, not everyone has to look like a model or be 21.Get rid of Allison Brodner while you're at it.

August 25, 2011 12:54 AM
wild olive
Reply

These people are boring. Don't like the return houseguest because we have been there and done that, nothing new to view. Not fair to the new guests. Screen this participants better, LaJuan looked like he wanted to be gone and so does Kaliah. I have not seen anybody playing pool or exercising? What about that? No hot tub segments? The shows is so stagnate and if I were not a fan from times past, I would not watch. Get more interesting people out of the thousands that want to get on the show. Too many are of the same age group and of the "beautiful people" of the world. How about some old, some ugly, some fat, some anti social people. Don't make all challenges physical, do more of the mind games. I hate Rachal and hope to never have to look at her or listen to her again. Poor Brendan. He must be a fool to want to marry that. Her mind is her worst feature. She has an evil heart and is not likable, let alone lovable. My favorite this season is Danielle. She is the only one with any guts. At least she has tried to go agains the establishment. I hope she does not get voted off now that she is on the block. If she goes, who are we going to get interested in? I am glad I no longer get the live feed. I would not want to waste that much of my time for nothing.

August 25, 2011 12:20 PM
Vinnie
Reply

just cancel it - the show sucks

August 25, 2011 12:26 PM
everybodychill
Reply
replied to comment from argroq

Jeff's a bigot?? Where does that come from? I haven't seen it, but then again I just watch CBS and BBAD..so..what am i Missing?

August 25, 2011 12:55 PM
rohod
Reply

Been a BB viewer from the beginning. The show is indeed stagnant. Saw the last 2 seasons of the UK version and it is much better. the US version is too dumbed down for one thing. Do we really need to have each nomination ceremony and POV ceremony explained before they take place? Also, diary room segments are simply staged. I would love to see this show follow the UK model in many aspects, but especially the diary room segments.

August 25, 2011 1:54 PM
Rhonda
Reply

I love watching the people come back from past shows to compete... If you don't like the show don't watch it.. no one is putting a gun to your head!!!!

August 26, 2011 7:49 AM
Cathy
Reply

I agree that they shouldnt let the ones who have already won come back there is too many people who would love to play we dont need repeats share the wealth

August 26, 2011 1:53 PM
Tommy W.
Reply

Well this may seem a little Disney but if I had one wish that would be that CBS and WE chanel would come together and if Jeff would ever propose to Jordon they would have David Tutera do there wedding for them.I think that would be as big as William and Kate's wedding but, the USA version.and me and my wife would expect to have an invite.LOL...

December 17, 2011 4:47 PM
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