Thursday, January 03, 2008

Big bother?

NOT RACIST! Big Brother's Celebrity Hijack, Channel 4/E4, 10pm
So, we can't tell you an awful lot about Big Brother's Celebrity Hijack, because according to some sources (well, Digital Spy and the Daily Star at any rate), it's all going horribly wrong before it's even started. Which is novel, as they usually wait a few days to mess it all up.

Anyway, the original premise of this was that a bunch of (ahem) 'gifted and talented' 18-21 year-olds (and that was their first mistake, as the 25 and over housemates are always much more interesting) would go in, and the SHOCK! TWIST! was that celebrities were going to 'be' Big Brother.

Then they announced some of the celebs, and the list sounded promising: Matt Lucas, Joan Rivers, Jake and Dinos Chapman(!) - some of the people who would never go in 'real' celebrity BB.

However, the aforementioned 'early reports' suggest that the producers didn't like their housemates and told the celebs they were going to have to go on, to which the celebs went: 'er, no'.

So who knows what will happen? What we do know is that a) it's on E4 (except tonight's double launch, streamed on C4 and E4, much as The Queen's Christmas Message is streamed across both BBC1 and ITV1 except obviously this isn't of national import, much as it would think it is), so if it all goes tits up they can just put in extra episodes of Friends and no-one will notice, b) this is Dermot O'Leary's last BB thing and c) James Corden and Matthew Horne, who we like round these parts, will be presenting Big Mouth for the duration. However short that is.

Labels: Big Brother, Channel 4

By Rad :: Post link :: ::  
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Friday, August 31, 2007

Little bother

FINALLY OVER! Big Brother, Channel 4, 8.30/10.00pm

We vowed at the beginning of this series that we would pretend this show wasn't even on, so entirely over it are we these days. Amusingly enough, we can't have been the only ones feeling that way, since this series has by many accounts been lacking the must-see factor, and having a considerable number of viewers remembering the advice of a certain kids' TV show of a bygone age, switching off that TV set and doing something less boring instead. Perhaps it's the curse that strikes every fourth series of Big Brother and renders it utterly unwatchable, or perhaps it's just that really, no one gives a toss any more.

We can't even say that we can remember any particularly amusing events from this year - indeed, Emily's early faux pas notwithstanding, there hasn't even been any racist horseplay for the tabloids to froth over. Sometimes this show is bad, but this year it was worse: it was boring. The early promise of the all-female household was quickly squandered, producers insisted on throwing in more and more contestants in an attempt to prolong the show, but forgetting to give any of them a personality beforehand, and as the show squeaks embarrassingly to a close this week, it definitely seems to be lacking the sense of anticipation that usually accompanies the finale.

Compare this to last year, where our initial resistance to the show was worn down by the gradual emergence of the awesomeness of Aisleyne, who clearly scored the moral victory of the series by going on to become best chums with Charlie Brooker and memorably accompanying him to Glastonbury in a tent from Argos - a feat infinitely more interesting than anything that happened inside the actual Big Brother house this year. As of tomorrow, we get our schedules back, and with Celebrity Big Brother "resting" in January (read: not coming back until they can absolutely guarantee that none of the housemates secretly harbour massively racist views that will embarrass both them and C4/Endemol when broadcast), the prospect of respite is even more blissful. Cheerio, Big Brother. Don't hurry back. Now, anybody know how we can take down The X Factor?

Labels: Big Brother, Channel 4, reality TV, TV

By Steve :: Post link :: ::  
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Wednesday, June 27, 2007

Fuck Me Facts!

Amazing facts about Wednesday, June 27:
» Think this year's Big Brother is boring? It was much, much worse in 2003, when the most thrilling thing that had happened that week was African exchange housemate Gaetano rustling up a nice omelette.
» It's 40 years since the first cash dispenser opened in the UK. Before that, people used to keep all their cash in a Peak Freans tin under the bed, but it was fine because you could leave your front door open you know. Eeeeeeeeeeh.
» Who'da thought it - Tobey Maguire is 32 today. He doesn't really look 32 does he? In unrelated news, there's now someone in the building where we work who looks a bit like Tobey Maguire, and the route to the tea bar has become considerably more circuitous since his arrival. No idea if it's his birthday today though - sorry.
» It looks like it might be about to rain again. Not sure if this counts as a fact, but it's probably happened on June 27 in some previous year or other, hasn't it?
» Shall we stop there for today? Yes? Fabulous!

Labels: Big Brother, Some Bloke Who Looks A Bit Like Tobey Maguire, Tobey Maguire

By Paul :: Post link :: ::  
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