Big Brother--Too Far?

[Barbara L]

I have always enjoyed watching Big Brother. Sometimes some of the houseguests go a little overboard morality-wise (my opinion), but people are people and sometimes that happens. Last night though, I think CBS went too far. One of the requirements to participate in the luxury competition was that they had to take all their clothes off. Yep, totally in the buff. If they chose not to participate, the whole team would lose. There were soap bubbles coming down, but they had to move around so much that not much was ever covered. Of course they put the blurry circles over any parts that cannot be shown on network TV, and the males vs. females teams had a barrier between them (they could still see each other when someone would step to the side of the barrier), but there were a lot of camera operators and other people connected with the show around. Now and then a houseguest will streak or something, but that is their choice. I do not believe CBS should have had the right to ask this of them. I'm sure they probably had them sign a waiver before coming on the show, but that isn't the point. This is not a cable network that people have to pay for. I know for a fact that a lot of kids watch Big Brother (that's a whole new discussion! lol). Another thing I noticed was that even though they used the blurry circles, the cameras seemed to focus on the women a lot more than they did on the men. Hmmmmmm. Did anyone else see the show last night? What is your take on this?

Barbara

 

[GrillingFool]

Pretty tame compared to what else can be seen in the same time frame.
I seriously doubt if any of the narcissistic in love with themselves contestants
had any problems with it.
From what I hear, some of the women don't bother to towel themselves
when getting out of the shower, so they are baring all to any who have the
feeds... or youtube.

 

[Barbara L]

Whether the contestants were bothered by it (some were, but obviously not enough to abstain) wasn't my issue with it. I just don't think CBS should have asked that of them. The TV networks have been pushing the limits for years (well, since TV networks began, lol). They are already allowing flashes of nudity, and the language they allow is getting worse. It won't be long before you will be able to see it all on network TV.

Barbara

 

[jeninga75]

While I didn't watch the show (not too much into reality shows as half are staged anyway, IMO) but I do agree with you in that Network TV is getting worse. Seems like every season there's something that goes a little further as far as nudity, language or subject mater. This goes for sitcoms also, nit just reality shows. I don't watch as much as I used to because the quality of enterainment has gone downhill in the past 5 or 10 years I think. About the only things I watch are Sci-Fi channel, Learning/Discovery etc., Food Network and Animal Planet with a large helping of CSI. Sitcoms are no longer what they used to be.

 

[Michelemarie]

I agree with you Barbara - they should be ashamed of themselves.

 

[Katie H]

I don't watch reality shows either. Had far too much reality during my childhood and first marriage! Been there, done that...and didn't get paid handsomely for it, to boot.

 

[GB]

I do not see anything wrong with the network asking the contestants to do that. They did not force anyone to do anything, they asked. The contestants were free to say no.

For those that watch this show (I do not) and feel the network went over the line, will you continue to watch? The networks do these things for one reason and one reason only. It gets them ratings. They take their cues from all of us. If you stop watching then they will very quickly change their ways. Majority rules in things like this.

 

[Barbara L]

Yes they asked, but if they said no the whole team would lose. And as I said I am sure they probably had to sign a waiver, but I just still don't think it is right for them to ask them to do that.

As far as watching the rest--I have watched this far and will watch the rest. I will also watch Survivor when it comes back on, but I don't plan to watch any new reality shows on CBS because of what they did with Pirate Master. For those who don't know, they ran eight episodes, then showed the rest only online. I (and many others) wrote to CBS about that (I said they should have shown it to a focus group and decided before starting it whether to show it or not, but once they started it they needed to commit to it, even if it meant showing it at odd hours and we could record it). CBS never acknowledged my email. Anyway, like I told them, I don't want to start watching a new show, and start to get into it, and have the show pulled, so I won't watch new ones. I understand that they are all about the money, but as I said, they could put it on at 3:00 a.m. instead of just showing it online. Most people have a VCR or DVR and can record it. I know that with dial-up it would take a long time for me to get through it. Sorry this was so long!

Barbara

 

[QSis]

I didn't know that about Pirate Master, Barbara! Why did they do that? Just curious.

I watched most of the first 8 episodes, and when it disappeared, I just thought I was just too busy and missed them. I wasn't too invested in it, obviously.

Lee

 

[GB]

For those who don't know, they ran eight episodes, then showed the rest only online.

That is a new trend with TV shows. I have seen that happen too many times. Does anyone remember the show "Vanished"? It was on for maybe 6 episodes and just as it started to get good they moved it to online only. Then they only did a few episodes there and never finished the season. I know of a number of other shows that did that too. It is very annoying.

 

[Katie H]

Guess I'm totally out of the loop here because I watch very little TV. I have a feeling I'm not missing too much.