"Kevin, I have nominated you because you say that the Big Brother game is just like a game of chess. Well Kevin, I just thought three moves in advance, and you just got duped. I'm gonna try to beat you to the punch and get you out this week before you can get me out."
i can't stop the facepalm. 3 moves ahead?! hell there aren't even 3 moves left to make in this season.
though i guess it's not to her fault. michele is pretty confused more often than not and jordan is jordan.
Jordan: "Natalie and Kevin are fighting - you know, that's good for me. But... it's just too good to be true - or... maybe it's meant to be! O_O. You don't know in the Big Brother house!"
I still never get over how the house guests actually care about who the HOH nominates at the F4 nominations. It doesn't matter who gets nominated. The Veto holder decides who goes. Yet people still get offended and give a damn every f***ing time.
Jeff: "If you could be any animal in the world, what would you be?" Jordan: "I would be a squirrel." Jeff: "You could be any animal in the whole world, and you'd be a squirrel?" Jordan: "What's wrong with a squirrel?! They hang out in neighborhoods and stuff!" Jeff: "A squirrel..." Jordan: "Yeah. A squirrel or a dog. I would wanna be an inside dog." Jeff: *facepalm* "...What kind of aspirations do you have for yourself?"
11 was probably one of the worst seasons IMO. It had some pretty spectacular fights, but aside from Jessie, I didn't care about anyone else. Kevin played alright, and probably should have won, but I didn't really give a crap about him. Russell was the only somewhat interesting person who made it further, and that interest factor ranged between various levels of entertaining and annoying.
Also the BB13 Live Feeds "Early Bird" special is happening right now. Instead of paying $15 a month for the feeds, you can get all 3 months (all of BB13) for $30.
After season 12, I don't see why anyone would want to buy the feeds for season 13.
Also, on the subject of the topic title, my Redemption Island game is in its final week. The boot order thus far:
Francesca Krista 18. Krista Steve 17. Steve Stephanie 16. Stephanie Julie 15. Julie Sarita 14. Francesca Ralph 13. Ralph Natalie Sarita Russell 12. Natalie Rob 11. Sarita Matt Andrea 10. Andrea Phillip 9. Russell
1. I've got the time 2. BB12 was the first BB I'd ever watched live, and the experience was fascinating 3. If BB12 was as bad as it's ever been for BB live feeds - and I enjoyed it - then I probably won't mind whatever happens with BB13
Of course, I particularly liked most of the BB12 cast.
Lydia commented on the "Coup d'crap" and how she and her alliance were portrayed as the villains throughout the season, and so they basically couldn't win once that stuck. Evel Dick was like "yeah cause Jessie was a dumb liar" to justify the villain edit, and then Lydia responded with "I want you to live with Jeff and Jordan and see how well America treats you after you go after them." I smirked.
I'm gonna start with something I usually don't bother with: a casual Big Brother seasons ranking.
I began thinking about doing a ranking a few days ago when I went over all of the twists in Big Brother and how effective they've been in both stirring the pot and game fairness. On one hand, twists exist because, as the old saying goes, the audience wants "more of the same, but different", and so a twist will hopefully give that. Different twists have existed over the course of the Big Brother franchise in the US and, for the most part, they haven't all been that bad. I recently got into Big Brother (last summer, around the airing of BB12), after having been an avid fan of Survivor for years now and seeing that Big Brother was similar in design. Much like Survivor, it's the human interaction and psychology of placing a set amount of people into a house, only to watch as they force each other out with only 1 remaining by the end. And instead of an island, it's in a house. At first I thought it would be easier than Survivor, and... though I still think it is, I have to say that I as well think it would be tough to last in an enclosed house for 3 months with people you may not get along with. While Survivor puts you in the wild, the good news is that the game goes by a lot faster. 3 days for every elimination (sometimes even shorter) is actually not that much time compared to Big Brother where evictions happen every 7 days, with maybe a double elim happening once during the season. It's a lot more stressful when you have days worth of plotting to stew in before an eviction, I imagine.
Anyway, I went over most of the twists in Big Brother, all the way back to Season 2, and found myself having different reactions to all of them. And then I decided to rank the seasons, not entirely based on their twists, but just in general. How much I enjoyed the cast, the twists, and the season overall. Mind you, I don't have the greatest memory of every season. There are some houseguests I don't even recall ever being on a season. Even though I've recently watched about half of them, I still can't entirely recall half of a season if I simply didn't care for it.
As well, I've only ever seen BB12 live. Every other season I could only watch via YouTube. So the effect of the live feeds won't exist in my ranking. This may skew my opinion of certain seasons, as I'm well aware of how the editing works. Regardless, the feeds for BB12 didn't have much of an impact on my ranking of it, so maybe it would have been the same throughout anyway.
Oh, and I'm not including BB1, both because I haven't seen it, and because I've heard it's nothing like the other eleven and isn't worth watching. I've also never seen a foreign version of BB, though I'm not entirely sure I'd want to either.
#11 will be posted in a bit. For a clue, I'll say that, if you know me, you may not expect it.
I don't dislike The Brigade alliance, and instead tip my hat to them for the way they played the game. Since week 2 they were able to control how the house was going to operate, and they did it flawlessly. Even when they had two members of the alliance in the hot seat were they able to keep their composure and - thanks to another twist - NOT lose a member. They showed up any other alliance in Big Brother history by having a week 1 deal between 4 players that stuck throughout the entire season, was never exposed until they chose to expose it in the second to last week, and had 3 of their 4 members reach the final four, with the same three reaching the final 3. It's incredibly impressive for a Big Brother alliance to do this, and they did it very well. Having watched the feeds religiously last summer I can say this without feeling like I'm gonna have to second guess myself later on. And as well, the better player of the alliance won the season, so that as well works out.
But then, at the same time, it was because of The Brigade that BB12 takes a turn for the worse. For one, if you didn't particularly care for the alliance, you will end up hating BB12. They own the power all season, minus one minor hiccup where Matt almost left, but didn't because lolproduction. Because they were able to effectively have every person in their alliance reach out and pull the blanket over another person NOT in their alliance, they had a huge power radius circling around them all season, that would always result in the person next to them - not in the alliance - getting the boot. This happened with Hayden/Kristen, with Lane/Britney, and then, at one point, they were even able to incorporate Brendon into one of their many sub-alliances, encouraging him to stear clear of Enzo/Hayden/Lane, and instead go after Ragan/Britney (and Matt, who was being distanced by The Brigade midway into the season). The Brigade had a lockdown on the votes since week 2. They won 7 out of 11 HOH competitions, while 3 of the other 4 were won by Rachel/Brendon. Betweeen Hayden/Lane/Enzo, only 2 votes were cumulatively cast against them (Matt had 6).
Which then brings me to another point of BB12: the "evil" alliance. In many seasons of Big Brother, an "evil" alliance will spring up at some point in the house. This is the alliance that a majority of the house, as well as editing, as well as America deems to be the bad guys of the season. These are the players that we'd love to see FALL HARD at some point, hopefully by the good guys. Mind you, not everyone in the house is a good guy or a bad guy, some can be neutral. Anyway, in BB12, we had an "evil" alliance, an early shomance between Rachel and Brendon. Brendon wasn't so much evil as he was an idiot, whereas Rachel was definitely trashy, sloppy, and a menace to everyone else. They became the lightning rod for everyone else to go after. The problem was that the people who won HOH's were either Brigade members or Rachel herself, and initially The Brigade had decided on not going after Rachel/Brendon because these two menaces would be targeted by everyone else, so why not keep them around and keep the heat off The Brigade? This idea lasted all the way to the jury, where Matt finally decided to get rid of Rachel. Brendon then had his HOH usurped by Matt thanks to the stupid Pandora's Box twist (one of my least favorite twists), where nonentity Kathy left. Brendon was then tamed and The Brigade resumed their natural course of plowing through the game.
Big Brother 12 ranks in at last place for a few reasons. First of all, the big twist flopped. It was meant to be fun, despite the fact that it was advertised as being SUPER MANIPULATIVE and could RUIN EVERYONES GAME, but ultimately it never did, even in the only week that it truly existed. I've noticed that many seasons have had the twist all fall on the shoulders of a single player, and it would seem then that if that player was evicted early on, the entire point of the twist would go with them. This existed with the saboteur twist in BB12, but it as well has existed since BB5, with the DNA twist where twins existed in the house, but only one could play in the game at a time, and when they made it to a certain point they would reveal themselves and have both of them move into the house together. Imagine if the twin twist failed in week one. Then, in BB8, Eric showed up as America's Player. Given the power to have America vote on topics such as who he should try to get nominated, to who he should mess with in the house, to who he should ultimately vote to evict, he had a decent amount of power right off the bat. Eric as well made it far enough into the game where the twist effectively had an impact on the season, and for that reason it's a success. But what if he had been voted out in the first few weeks?
Well, as you already know where I'm going with this, in BB12, the sole player with all the power WAS evicted in the first week, and from there the twist completely dissipated with her. Annie was a cool person, and I wish she'd have stayed regardless of the twist, but... well... "woops." But BB12 doesn't get last place solely because the big twist of the season flopped right off the bat. I actually didn't mind the saboteur twist if only because it didn't seem like it would impact the game on any serious strategic level. It was a fair twist for all. But BB12 still fails because the entirety of the house was, in many ways, really boring to watch. And I say this having enjoyed the cast enough to watch them on the live feeds throughout the entire summer. The problem was that none of the possible crazy events that almost always happen in every season of Big Brother happened in BB12. There were no power shifts, no big fights that had crazy fallouts, or built new alliances, or anything of that variety. I'm not the biggest proponent of finding entertainment in sloppy drama, but what I do enjoy is watching people get owned after they've displayed ugly characteristics all season. I enjoy seeing people get slapped in the face by karma for their nasty behavior. And I mostly enjoy strategic gamesmanship between multiple people in the house, and the power that goes with it flowing around from one side to the next.
One of my favorite players in Survivor is Rob Cesternino from the Amazon, and that isn't because of his personality so much as it was because of his ability to ebb and flow through everyone around him, using his tribemates to his own advantage. I cringe when I see a poor strategic decision made - and this happened a lot last season. And the power never shifted the entire season. And there were hardly any blowouts outside of a single argument between Ragan and Rachel, and then Britney and Brendon. Woo.
The season had no drama. I don't mean just between houseguests fighting, but it very much lacked a "who was leaving this week?" suspense. It was painfully clear who was going to make the endgame from very early on, and the whole reason many people watched was to see The Brigade eventually get exposed, and perhaps ousted. I wasn't rooting against them, but I did want them to get shaken up, because IT'S REALLY FREAKING BORING watching an alliance of intelligent, athletic, capable young guys manipulate everyone day by day by day. There was NO drama in that. It was all "what will The Brigade do next?!" every week. Was that bad? Yes. It was entertaining early on, but then later it was mindnumbing how nobody else did anything against them. Even when Matt was targeted did it lead to no suspense, because he decided to take one for the team and fall on his own sword for them, causing him his game in the end. Bo-ring. This is a lot like Rob dominating RI to a fault.
Oh, and then Ragan was the new saboteur midway into the game, but all he really did was leave Enzo a note under pillow like the tooth fairy. I stayed up to watch that sabotage live and it was mildly entertaining. Definitely not worth the wait though. The DPOV was production trying to stir the pot, and while I understand their reason for wanting to do that, I dislike production going that far. I'm not a fan of Pandora's Box. PB is productions way of doing whatever they want at any point in a season, simply because they can. And they had a diarrhea problem with it this season.
However, I liked BB12, and as I slowly unveil this list you'll come to realize that I actually like every season of Big Brother - it's just that I like some of them for more prominent reasons than others. While I liked BB12 a decent amount, and I enjoyed just about the entire cast (I disliked Rachel, who was both terrible personality-wise and strategy-wise), I can say that I have fond memories of BB12. But in terms of the other 10 seasons, it falls flat on most of the reasons why Big Brother can be an entertaining show in the first place (and yet, despite this, its ratings were pretty high).
Who do I think will come back from this season for another All-Stars? Rachel and Britney. Maybe Matt and Enzo. I know all 4 of them would say yes again.
My next 10 write-ups probably won't be as comprehensive or lengthy since I didn't see those seasons live.
Everyone knew that Jeff was BY FAR AND AWAY the most popular houseguest that season, and so when the producers saw that his alliance was getting picked off (the "Dumb 6") and there was seemingly no way he would be able to make it to the end, they decided to implement a "YOU America get to VOTE for who YOU want to receive THE MOST POWERFUL THING IN THE HISTORY OF BB! WHO would YOU like to see get this POWER? VOTE now!" etc. Jeff easily won in a landslide and, because he was against Jessie, he used it on Jessie and Jessie narrowly got evicted over his second-in-command Natalie. Whereas the Coup d'etat was as well implemented in BB7, at least then it could be won by a challenge. It was fair game to all, because all could participate and if they didn't win it, it was their own fault. BB11's implementation was AUGH-inducing that I had to feel bad for continuing on with the season after it (much akin to the DPOV in BB12, which I'm kinda glad was used to oust the nonentity that season). And apparently so did Chima, as she was expelled from the game a few days later because of her outrage over the twist. Lydia then went next seeing as her alliance had been decimated in under a week.
I get that adaptation is a huge part to winning BB, but there was very little Jessie himself could have done regarding that twist. I'm sure he figured Jeff had it and would somehow use it on him, and I know that Jessie really didn't make an effort to avoid this happening that week, but all in all it never should have existed in the first place. I blame production for this 180 in the season. You cast unlikable people, expect to deal with the consequences of them possibly banding together and tearing through the house, evicting all the favorites.
For a while I had BB11 as last place on my ranking because I felt like, outside of the coup d'etat, there weren't even that many strategically suave players in the house. Sure, Jeff and Jordan were a cute couple that were both charming in their own dumb, innocuous little ways, but neither of them really knew what they were doing. They just knew to target Jessie's alliance. Jordan fell into her win, unless the feeds told a different story, and I wasn't a fan of the lack of intelligent gameplay. I was a fan of hers, but not because she knew how to play the game. Russell tried to play intelligently, but he did some dumb things, overplaying his hand, that ultimately had him evicted by his own alliance. Once Russell left I wasn't sure what to expect, given he seemed to be playing the -best- game (which is kinda sad given he should have been evicted as the first juror). And then I realized that a little gay man named Kevin existed, and was actually playing the best game, and in the end should have won. It's actually really disappointing to consider that he clearly played the best game all season, and yet didn't win because of a tiebreaker question in the final challenge on the last day of the season. So tragic.
Believe it or not, because of Kevin I kinda bumped BB11 up over BB12. Well, I also didn't mind the craziness of BB11. Polar opposites from BB12, where there was no drama to be found. BB11 had fighting every episode it seemed, which was both funny and entertaining. "You got got." likereally? And Ronnie being ganged up on by the entire house, which he deserved for trying to play everyone.
I couldn't stomach the twists this season though, and I really never had a favorite. I was rooting for nobody for most of the season. I supported Kevin in the end because it dawned on me that he was doing a good job, and he understood how to play, and that was great to see, but outside of him, meh. Not a big fan of the cast, though I enjoyed the suspense and drama throughout, as well as the one player who really didn't know what she was doing throughout the season ultimately winning the game. Oh, and she chestbumped Russell in that one heated argument.
Who do I think will come back from this season for another All-Stars? Jeff and... Ronny? Maybe Russell. Hopefully not Jessie, as he's played enough.
Hint for #9: an odd-numbered season, as well as my lucky number
I think many will be disappointed with seeing Season 11 this low on the ranking, but in all honesty I wasn't too gripped by BB11 to place it very high in the first place. The initial twist of having "cliques" in the house was pretty bad, as it changed things up a lot in terms of strategy, and instead of forcing people to couple-up with random players (ala BB9), it forced them to be in groups of THREE with random players. However, unlike BB9, the groups didn't collectively win HOH, but instead if 1 person from the clique won it, they could not put up another person from their own clique. This both meant that multiple people would be safe from eviction pre-jury each week, and that certain people couldn't target certain players because of this twist. I disliked this twist tremendously for those reasons, as it very much changed how the game could function in the first few weeks, and as well was basically a reiteration of the BB9 twist.
But alongside that terrible twist came another: a returning houseguest would be eligible to enter the house depending on which clique won the first competition. This was a first for BB, as never before had a previous houseguest been allowed to enter the game playing with newbies. Because of this, I was hoping that the first comp would be something related to testing BB seasons past trivia, something relatively fair, something everyone going into the house should know, or at least something mixing mental/physical together, and yet instead production decided to have the first challenge be completely physical, where the houseguests had to hang by a wedige while holding a toilet seat, and whichever clique lasted the longest would have their respective returnee join them, making them a clique of 4. A huge advantage. Of course, because it was a physical challenge, the athlete clique won, giving them Jessie, literally one of the biggest tools (if not the biggest) in BB history. Jessie is a character that I actually don't mind all that much. He was shafted in both his seasons by a twist, which sucks for him, but ultimately I don't dislike the guy. He's just full of himself. I probably wouldn't want to hang with him for an extensive period of time though.
But as I was saying, he was brought into the game as the first HOH, wielding all the power. He subsequently formed an alliance that eventually turned into the bad guys of the season, and midway into the game he was ousted due to the most unfair twist in BB history, the Coup d'etat (the coup de-what?). The Coup d'etat is by far and away my least favorite twist of any BB season ever thus far, especially when it was implemented into BB11. Everyone knows why it's bad, and though I'm sure many were happy to see it used on Jessie, it was ultimately bad enough to bring BB11 down a few notches on my enjoyment scale.
People read this topic still?! GTM, do you watch BB?
Okay.
Shorter write-ups.
#9: Big Brother 9
What do I need to say to explain why I have this season ranked in the lower half of the ranking? BB9 had one of my more disliked twists in BB history, that of the couple pairing right off the bat. To go with the theme of the season, that of "love is in the air", everyone had a partner, everyone was a "couple". Because of this, "couples" played together, were put up on the block together, voted together, and were eliminated together. AUGH. Some people sucked, others were decent. BB9 didn't really have any incredibly worthwhile personalities, but it still had some potential. For example, I liked Parker, somewhat. But Parker was paired with Jen, a terrible player. Jen was in a relationship with Ryan, but they weren't paired together, and at the same time they had to keep this a secret. This was a big story arc for the first part of the season, that of Jen and Ryan, and everyone caught in the crossfire (Parker & Alison). Because Parker was paired with Jen, and Jen became disliked by everyone, when Jen was targeted early on, Parker left with her. That sucks. The same happened with Alex and Amanda, though I personally didn't care for either of them. The point is, this twist was so far off from what Big Brother usually employs. Never before had people played in pairs, and it really, really threw off everyone's game - and it wasn't really for the better.
It also didn't help that BB9 didn't really have too many people that knew how to play the game in the first place. There were quite a few people who either played way too hard, or didn't play at all. The glory of it all was that the one player who was off of everyone's radar throughout most of the season ended up winning. Kudos to him.
BB9 is higher than 11 & 12 because, while BB11 had drama, BB9's drama was so off the wall that it humored me more than any other season in that regard. People would BLOW UP for literally the smallest of reasons. Every episode had a big fight, it really made me wonder what was wrong with the cast. I also really liked the Sheila/Adam story arc all season, and I hope Sheila comes back (I think?).
People often say BB9 had a terrible cast, but I don't particularly think so. I just hated how the season didn't really begin until the couples were broken up. It felt like a completely different game (the usual game) after that, and it was for the better. There were a few duds in the cast, but overall it was entertaining to watch, and that's the least I can ask for.
Sheila should come back for All-Stars 2. I don't think I'd care to see anyone else in particular, even if I did like a few other people from this season.
Okay, finished BB2, BB3, BB4 (partially, got bored), BB5, and BB7. By the time I finished BB5 I was so ready for All-Stars and the return of Chilltown that I just skipped Season 6. And BB7 was sooo good. Definitely appreciate the recommendations if only for BB7.
BB7 >> BB2 >> BB3 > BB5 >>> BB4
Also I read rumors that Will and Boogie would do the Amazing Race together, but that was years ago. If they ever did it though my interest in the Amazing Race would absolutely be renewed. So good.
The unintentional duality between BB6/BB7 is very unique. BB7 is in some ways the sequel to BB6, where the good guys from BB6 become the bad guys on BB7 (somewhat). I loved Howie in BB6, but in BB7 he became... stranger. His character was constantly put into question, and he oftentimes paled in comparison to Will (no pun intended). Kaysar and James were the same, for the most part. But vilified moreso. Janelle seemed somewhat weaker than in BB6. Dunno why. Maybe it was because of Will.
I probably will, especially since I don't think I'll watch any of the later seasons (except for 13 which I plan on watching live this summer). The only thing about 6 is that it's been spoiled for me so I already know who makes the final 3. However I did like Janelle a lot, and if she's even more dominant in 6 than she was in 7 than I guess I have no choice but to watch it. As for Howie, he just seemed like a dumb bully to me in season 7 so I didn't actually like his character all that much. He had his funny parts but overall seemed pretty obnoxious.
I'll probably start it in a few days when I realize I'm not currently watching any tv shows and have too much free time on my hands.
I actually don't remember too much about the season, but I do recall the X-Factor twist not bothering me. Sure, it plagued a few peoples games, but I always feel like you need to make the most of a twist, and not let it bring your game down, which is exactly what Jun/Jee, and Robert/Erika did. Jun especially.
The cast wasn't stellar. It was decent, but not amazing. Just like in BB11, I had no favorites. Nobody really appealed to me. Michelle's unintentional humor made me privy to her, but she left early. The constant divisions between alliances in the house was fun, but overall I didn't care for most of the people. I was somewhat glad to see Alison get so far, though. Robert struck me as odd, and I never really came around to him, despite him winning so many of the polls. Jee I didn't mind. He may have been one of my favorites, if I had to pick a few.
I think what really let me down was the level of quality in the cast. BB2 and BB3 had superb casts, whereas BB4 suffered in comparison. There was decent gameplay to be had, but for the most part, I wasn't totally glued.
I still read this topic from time to time! I agree 9, 11, 12 are the three worst but I'd put 9 at the very bottom.
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If you wake up at a different time, in a different place, could you wake up as a different person? [HERO'S PLUNGE] http://img.imgcake.com//wesker.gif
It also didn't help that BB9 didn't really have too many people that knew how to play the game in the first place. There were quite a few people who either played way too hard, or didn't play at all. The glory of it all was that the one player who was off of everyone's radar throughout most of the season ended up winning. Kudos to him.
Kudos to him for winning, but definitely not kudos to him for using his winnings to start a drug ring with fellow houseguest Matty and ending up getting busted with a ridiculous amount of oxycodone or something and facing a long ass time in prison >_> (they were my 2 favorites that season too)
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RIP Caelus, 8/1/01-2/28/11 The old account had to be retired :D
2 is the first 'real' season and has one of the best reality show contestants ever, so yeah that would be a good place to start.
Though I should add that it's one of the more 'dry' seasons, still being new and all. Very little in the way of twists and more just straight up game.
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If you wake up at a different time, in a different place, could you wake up as a different person? [HERO'S PLUNGE] http://img.imgcake.com//wesker.gif
2 is difficult to appreciate until you watch later seasons, I think. But it's probably the best season overall, despite having no twists whatsoever. It's like the Borneo of Survivor.
Just rewatched the scene where Will paints up Nicole's doll for her at the F5 luxury competition. He totally pisses her off with his design and it's hilarious.
Will: *holding up the doll* "This is a doll that Nicole asked me to drop off. What it is is a really angry woman. She has one eye that's a piercing eye, that's used mainly for finding dirty towels on the floor. Also, it's used to find kids who are having a good time and yell at them.
"Pick up your towels! No one is allowed to talk! I'm freaking out about everything! Will, don't have any fun! Don't have any fun! These arts and crafts are bull****! I hate them! I'm not doing them! I'm way too advanced for this! I'm not doing anything!"
I can't go back out there with this or she'll kill me."
I'll save the rest of my BB rankings for another thread.
For now, we can close this one out whenever. I'm gonna be setting up a BB13 live feed thread after the premiere tonight, and an ATWFF thread probably tomorrow or so since that's when Parvati begins her journey.