Review: Big Brother 15 USA: Awash in Filth – and Ratings

Cast of Big Brother 15 USA: The three finalists are highlighted. 

Finale Night: Wednesday, September 18th, 2013.
In the USA on CBS / In Canada on Global TV

 

No escaping the fact that this particular season of the American Big Brother show on Global and CBS, has been a toughie to remain loyal to, even for us hardcore fans, because of the unexpectedly blatant racism, anti-Semitism, misogyny, homophobia, bullying, and unrelenting foul language this year. One player joked several times about child pornography, which according to his local newspaper, led to a police raid on his home. Ultimately, they found nothing questionable. Because he is still isolated with the cast on the show, this contestant has no idea that his comments triggered such alarm with his local constabulary. 

Especially for the paying internet feed viewers, this Big Brother season has been painfully awash in filth and is a revolting eye-opener into a very unkind, politically incorrect world. For the most part TV-only viewers have just had to endure a sometimes whitewashed, sometimes explicit-but-still-edited version for their weekly three hour consumption. Certainly it’s an unenviable delicate balance for the producers of the television show.

Since the beginning, all over the world, the Big Brother Franchise has been a social experiment, placing strangers together in a house with absolutely no privacy for approximately 3 months to see who wins the big money at the end - once everyone else has been systematically voted out. In the States, the prize is half-a-million dollars.

Oddly, this year many of the people cast seemed unencumbered by the fact that they were being observed 24/7 by online viewers, and let loose with over the top, disgusting behaviour and verbiage. I mean much, much more than usual. This horrified most fans, and garnered unparalleled media attention, unbeknownst to the contestants. And for the same reason that some folks slow down to gawk at car accidents, the ratings improved. (*Compared to last year, BIG BROTHER USA is up +11% in viewers, +8% in adults 18-49 and +7% in adults 25-54.) The negative fallout: At least one cast member will arrive home to find his employment situation in peril, while two others have already been fired. But until these moths are released from their self-imposed cocoon next week, for the moment they are blissfully unaware of this. 

Certainly not all the contestants displayed this behaviour; a few were victimized and coped as best they could. I would like to believe that while viewership is up, it is because we fans are waiting for this motley crew to get their comeuppance on finale day, and pray that there is some genuine remorse, once they realize their antics were completely unacceptable.  But we will have to swallow that the remaining ‘players’ comprise some of the worst offenders. With a Chinese-American host (Julie Chen) married to the Jewish head of the CBS Network (Les Moonves), the staff at Big Brother must have their heads collectively swirling and twirling around like Linda Blair in the Exorcist… Thrilled to have their best ratings in years, yet horrified as to how it came about, via ignorance and prejudice from a largely unsavoury cast. But the Big Brother Franchise will soldier on; it’s already been renewed for another season - hopefully with more stringent casting.

*Ratings per cbs.com:  http://www.cbs.com/shows/big_brother/news/1001233/

You'll notice that I haven't named any of the contestants on this show, for two reasons. They have garnered plenty of personal notoriety online, on TV, and in magazines and newspapers and I am absolutely not interested in giving them any more personal publicity. Plus this is not so much about certain players and their indiscretions per se, but about how one of my favourite television shows dropped the ball in casting this year's program. For more detailed info about this Big Brother 15 (USA) casting fiasco, all one has to do is a quick online search, and I would encourage you to do so, if you are so inclined.

To be fair, I understand that the same company cast the Canadian Big Brother contestants for Season 1 this past Spring. And this Canadian is very proud and happy to report that they hit a home run with that bunch! As a matter of fact, my previous blog showcased my in depth, in person, conversation with the refreshingly outspoken Liza Stinton of Canada's Big Brother Season 1, and my very NEXT blog, will feature my telephone interview with her castmate, Andrew Monaghan, another one of my favourites from Big Brother Canada.