Big Brother

I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that I would do a Media Monday on Big Brother and this week is the perfect week because Big Brother: All-Stars premieres on Wednesday! With COVID delaying the usual start of Big Brother by two months, I'm super excited that it's finally airing and to have an All-Star season.

For those who don't know anything about Big Brother, it's a game show where a bunch of contestants live in a house together for 99 days during the summer. Each week they compete in competitions for the title of Head of Household with the winner nominating two people for eviction. There is a competition that allows the nominated to save themselves called the Veto competition, where if they win, the Head of Household will have to replace them with a new nominee. When the time comes for eviction, the rest of the house chooses who to vote out. At the end of the 99 days, a winner is chosen from the final two houseguests by a jury of seven other houseguests.

The game involves interesting personalities, fun competitions, manipulation, strategy, and the best part is it all happens in real-time. Unlike other reality shows, the game is happening actively throughout the summer. So the episodes air while the contestants are still in the house. While the episodes that come on during the week combine footage over the days before airing, the eviction episode is always live. This makes it so the show can never be entirely spoiled.

Another fun part of Big Brother season is the live feeds. If watching the edited episodes and live eviction during the week isn't enough, you can use a CBS All-Access subscription to watch the houseguests in real-time. So once BB All-Stars starts on Wednesday, I will likely have the feeds on now and then to see what interesting things the houseguests are doing as I work from home. Now you can see where the name Big Brother comes in because the houseguests are always being watched.

I started getting into Big Brother last year and have watched some old seasons and the most recent three seasons, and I will say that these newer seasons are pretty cheesy. The show is still great, but if you aren't into stupid and silly competitions or crazy outfits, this may not be the best show for you. If you are, then I suggest checking out this show.

I'm super hype for All-Stars to start this week, especially since the only other All-Stars season was Big Brother season 7, which was in 2006. With COVID causing a shorter season this year, they were able to get old houseguests willing to come back, which has been the main reason for not having another All-Stars season until now.

If you are into reality TV, competition, fun challenges, and/or spying on people, then check out Big Brother, I'm sure you'll love it. Unfortunately, all the old seasons are only on CBS All Access, so if you don't have it you won't be able to watch unless you watch this upcoming season on cable TV. On a positive note, All Access has just added The Challenge to its streaming site so now I can watch my top 3 competition shows (Challenge, BB & Survivor) in one place.