2008 Winter TV Preview: Big Brother 9

By Kelly West: 2008-02-10 20:29:25

Big Brother Season 9

Premieres: Tuesday, February 12th at 9:00 p.m. EST
Network: CBS
Creator(s): Allison Grodner (exec-producer)
Starring:: Julie Chen (host), Adam, Alex, Allison, Amanda, Chelsia, Jacob, James, Jen, Joshuah, Matt, Natalie, Neil, Parker, Ryan, Sharon and Sheila
Website: CBS.com

Big Brother is a reality show in which a number of contestants from a variety of backgrounds live together in the same house. They compete in challenges for food privileges as well as the coveted Head of Household position for the week. Each week two people are nominated and following a Veto competition (in which the winner has the opportunity to remove themselves or another nominated houseguest from the chopping block) the rest of the houseguests vote to evict one of the nominees. The houseguests are completely cut off from the outside world. No phone calls, internet, letters, radio, TV, newspapers, or books. They aren’t even allowed a pen and paper.

Unlike with other reality series, fans of Big Brother have the opportunity to see what’s going on in the house as it happens by subscribing to the live feeds. This means that feed-viewers are able to see a lot of stuff that never makes it into the episodes.

In almost every season, there’s a twist. This season, which has been tagged “’Til Death Do You Part,” the houseguests are strangers to each other but what they’ll find out when they get into the house is that they’re going to be teamed up with another houseguest. The teams will then share a bed, compete in competitions together and even be evicted as a couple.

Big Brother is one of my guiltiest pleasures. I love the live feeds and the fact that we’re able to make our own judgments based on the uncut footage through the live feeds. The episodes fill in the blanks with a lot of stuff that’s not shown on the feeds, like footage from the diary room sessions as well as competitions, and ceremonies for the nominations, Power of Veto and the live eviction. A lot goes on in a typical week in the Big Brother house. Perhaps this is why there are three episodes on each week. The two pre-recorded episodes air on Sunday and Tuesday and then we get the live eviction episode, which is usually on Thursday nights but it looks as though it's been moved to Wednesdays this time around.

Some people tune in for the drama; I tune in for the strategy sessions. I love seeing how the houseguests maneuver themselves throughout the game. Late-night talks, secret alliances and last-minute decisions always keep the game exciting to watch.