We're finally arrived at premiere week for Big Brother Season 26, and there's already a big controversy surrounding this season's live feeds. For years, whether via Paramount+ subscription or elsewhere, many have tuned in to see what the Houseguests do every day, hear their discussions and plotting ahead of competitions, and all the other things we don't see in episodes. Unfortunately, that will be a lot more difficult for those who use the service, as a significant change will drastically shake up how people experience this season.
On the heels of revealing a 17th Houseguest may join the game, the series dropped another update about its upcoming season when people logged on to check out the revamped live feeds. Noticing something was amiss, many hit up the Q&A section about the feeds, only to find the following explanation regarding the flashback and archive features.
We've recently made changes to the live feeds experience. Starting this season, archives and flashbacks are no longer available, but you can still watch all four cameras with the live feeds!
As someone who wrote about Big Brother's live-feed updates last season, I didn't have this in mind as the new norm. Pulling the archives drastically reduces the way fans who pay for Paramount+ can utilize the live feeds; plus, it's going to impact those who don't pay for the feeds as well. Let's talk it all out.
What Are The Flashback Feature And The Big Brother Archives?
For previous seasons of Big Brother, fans who woke up in the morning wanting to catch all the late-night conversations that happened could easily do so with the flashback feature. This, paired with the Big Brother's archives, allowed anyone with access to revisit moments that played out while viewers were sleeping, working, or doing something else as opposed to sitting at a computer or television watching the live feeds.
With that gone, Big Brother will now only provide five views for people to watch, and they will only be able to see what is currently happening at that time. Typically, this means Camera One and Two will focus on conversations happening on one side of the house, and Camera Three and Four will focus on someone working out or potentially having a conversations elsewhere. The fifth view lets the viewer to watch all four previously mentioned feeds simultaneously.
Why This Is Bad News For Big Brother Content Creators
It may seem odd to start with how this affects content creators, but it's worth noting that many Big Brother fans wouldn't be aware of a lot of game moves, conversations, or controversies if it wasn't for the hard work of those people. Unfortunately, folks like Taran Armstrong on RHAP and the transcription account @BB_Updates will have to be more diligent than ever while watching, since the option to rewind for accuracy is no longer available. That is, unless they're recording it via a third party and then rewatching, which I imagine is frowned upon by Paramount+.
Without the ability to rewind and revisit conversations in Big Brother, I think it's a possibility the show is hoping to curb any chance of low-key controversies getting over-publicized, or anything else in that realm. In reality, what I can foresee happening is people misinterpreting or blatantly spreading false information about something that occurred in the house, and fans wishing to have correct information having no means to fact-check it. This includes many of the content creators fans have relied on for years to keep them informed, so strap in for a rough season.
Why This Is Bad News For Live Feed Viewers
If you're someone who regularly enjoys the live feeds like me, this is awful. Big Brother's live feeds are regularly down for large portions of the game as is, but at least when a competition was going on, there was an ability to revisit previous moments in the day and catch up on anything you missed while out elsewhere. With this new change, everyone will just have to wait until the feeds are active again to watch.
And just to give a reminder, Big Brother's Season 23 feeds were down 47% during the first two weeks of the game. Which isn't so different from past years, but with the flashback and archives to mitigate those periods, it's always been bearable. Now, I'm not so sure, and I'd be curious if this impacts how many remain subscribed after the first month of the game.
Why This Is Bad News For Casual Viewers
Obviously not all Big Brother fans are glued to live feeds, and will instead tune in for the episodes. I know plenty of those fans, but I also know is that they read the news cycle during the game, and thus rely on comments and context from live-feed viewers and content creators to help explain the game moves that eps themselves often don't. Even with three hours of episodes a week, it's more or less impossible for the series to make an edit that captures every key moment between the HOH and eviction.
Anyone who doesn't believe me should take it from Big Brother 24 winner Taylor Hale. When rumors of Big Brother nixing live feeds first surfaced, Taylor was the first to speak out about how they were integral to telling her experience in the game properly to fans. Viewers may remember Taylor was presented in the episode as an enemy of the house after flaunting her finale dress, and left out the vital context she was pressured into doing it by Paloma Aguilar and others who started a smear campaign to target her.
Taylor's run is, without question, one of the most magical moments we've seen in modern Big Brother and something that we might've never seen happen otherwise without flashbacks and the archives. Sure, it also allows us to capture the nastier side of the game and moments those who run the show would rather we not talk about, but in 2024, Houseguests should have the awareness to understand the live feeds and what digital footprint they leave. I'm very sad this decision was made, regardless of the reasoning, and I'm worried about how it will impact this season for many.
Big Brother Season 26 airs on CBS on Sundays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays at 9:00 p.m. ET. Tune in to see the A.I. twist in full effect, and stay tuned to see if the Houseguests end up bringing in that 17th Houseguest or not.
