powered by the cuteness of kittens
Back in another time (and quite possibly another life) I was involved with a show called E.T.H.O.S. on 6UVS-FM and RTR FM 92.1.
My dear friend Leo Zaza recently came across some old photos of “the crew” hard at work and made a lovely little montage to some audio from the show.
OK. I admit it. I’m a Big Brother junkie and have been following the series here in Australia since it started in 2001. But as each year goes by, the program seems to be failing it’s predominately young audience with ridiculous twists, boring housemates, and the same tired host (Gretel Killeen) and overused sidekick (Mike Goldman) who have obviously given up trying to relate to the vacuous souls who are obviously chosen through an exhaustive process that eliminates anyone vaguely interesting
At first I thought that the format had just grown tired – but then I was fortunate enough to watch the 7th Season of Big Brother from the UK last year. Just incredible! Although the UK producers follow the same format (to a point) – the main difference is that the housemates are interesting and engaging people who will not hesitate to argue their point or slam a fellow housemate down – especially during nominations. The UK version also remains true to the whole philosophy of Big Brother – no contact with the outside world. The hosts do not enter the house while housemates are there, there’s no Friday Night Live games, and the host does not talk to housemates other than to announce the latest evictee.
The recent announcement that the Australian host Gretel Killeen will be entering the house to ask the housemates questions that have been submitted by viewers is the death knell of this show as far as I’m concerned. What happened to “no contact with the outside world”? Gretel comes from the outside world. The questions come from the outside world. IT’S NOT RIGHT!
Big Brother in Australia needs a massive facelift if it’s going to work successfully next year. I can only hope that the producers take a few leaves from the UK big Brother book to make this show more interesting. Get some decent housemates who aren’t Neighbours clones. Get a new host. Get rid of Mike Goldman and Friday Night Live. Stop the host from talking to housemates. Most importantly – get rid of that really deep “Big Brother Voice” – it just sounds ridiculous!
I’ve stopped watching this series of the Australian Big Brother, and have moved my attentions to the UK Big Brother. Thank the Lord for the internet!
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