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.

A World Of Good

Darlene L'Archeveque, and her wonderful, powerful memoir: a world of good.

In 2007, award-winning author Darlene L’Archeveque was ahead of her time. In the past year or so, the traumatic and far too often, deadly, effects of schoolyard bullying has become a catalyst for high profile celebrities and others, to share their own tales of torment - and hope. Darlene’s powerful memoir a world of good, presents the first 17 years of her harrowing, extraordinary childhood. Not long after it was published, this amazing book went on to win the Independent Publisher’s Book Award.  

 

Darlene Larcheveque (left) & me. June 2008

At a publishing convention in Toronto, in 2008, I was privileged to meet Darlene, who I’m delighted to say has become a cherished friend. Darlene says, “I decided to write my story because I was often asked, “How did you get into the music industry as a musician and sound engineer? I certainly didn’t have a stage mother and I didn’t meet my father until 2000. The culmination of my life groomed me for that work. It wasn’t conducive to sitting and chitchatting, and saying, ‘Well you’d have to go back to my childhood.’ So I decided when I retired from the industry it was time to put my thoughts down on paper and address that.”

The pivotal moment when her life transformed from idyllic to nightmare was when her mother suffered an emotional breakdown. Darlene explains, “My mother attempted suicide when I was an infant. She probably had a bipolar disorder.  I was the only one left at home with her as my sister and brother were in school. My mother put me in my crib in one room and then barricaded herself in another room with some music blaring very loud. My 11 year old sister, who found my mother, says she discovered her because she heard my screams over the music. That’s when our mother-daughter bond was severed. I was very young just under two. But I was very aware that my mother was my world at that point and that I depended on her for everything. I felt that she had ‘left’ me. In the meantime my mother was taken by ambulance to hospital and my sister and 9 year old brother and I hid from the social workers who were trying to apprehend us until my mother got back from the hospital a few days later.”

“When she came home from the hospital it was evident that she had not completely recovered.  As a baby, I kept waiting for my mother to return. I was convinced that this woman wasn’t my mother - just a look-alike replacement until my mother was ready to come back. She had her physical features, but her eyes showed me that she wasn’t my mother. It took months until I realized that my mother wasn’t coming back. I felt motherless from that point on.” 

She continues, “As a result of that, music and I didn’t start off on a very good footing. It took me several years to get over that. When my mother uprooted us and brought my brother and I to Calgary, insisting that we never speak French again, it was a shock. At school there was no way to catch up and learn a language I didn’t know. In those days there weren’t any ESL (English as a second language) classes. So I turned to music.” 

In a world of good Darlene recounts in heart-wrenching detail, how as a sensitive child, she coped along with her two much older siblings, in a broken home, when her father deserted the family shortly after she was born. Darlene endured frequent neglect and brutality from her mentally unstable mother - and her maternal grandmother; barely survived poverty in the Welfare System; suffered sexual abuse from various pedophiles; culture shock from being uprooted at the tender age of 7 from Francophone Montreal to Anglophone Calgary; and schoolyard ostracization - due to being forbidden by her Anglophone mother to communicate in French, the ONLY language she could understand at the time and was unable to converse in otherwise.  Apparently her mother was trying to wipe out any connection to her previous life in Montreal with her Francophone husband.

In Montreal, Darlene was able to escape the insanity of her home life by going to school, excelling as a student, and playing with her friends during and after class. In Calgary, there was no such respite. At school she was taunted and beaten for being different – for being the ‘Frog’. 

To escape this type of horrific reality some kids might turn to drugs or the streets, becoming runaways or delinquents, or to contemplating suicide themselves. Instead Darlene turned to music for serenity and empowerment. She initially found it by listening to Karen Carpenter’s songs because Karen enunciated clearly, slowly, and precisely. Darlene says, “In the song, Yesterday Once More, I learned 150 English words! That was when music became a driving force, reaching out to me.”

Karen Carpenter

Her saving grace was, and remains to this day, her sunny personality, and the magical and comforting effects of music on her soul. In Darlene’s case, it was the nurturing, angelic voice of Olivia Newton-John, which inspired a growing belief in herself, and the possibilities of a happy and fulfilling future. “Instinctively, when kids have a void in their lives, they will reach out for something else, they will go look for it.” With creativity and determination, the elfin teenager managed to meet and unwittingly elicit kindness and encouragement from such stars as Cheryl Ladd and Cliff Richard, and ultimately, Olivia Newton-John. Darlene met Olivia under the most unusual circumstances, which I won't reveal here, as it's a must-read.

Cheryl Ladd

Cliff Richard

Darlene with Olivia Newton-John

The book not only has the requisite photographs of Darlene’s childhood, and the celebrities she’s met, astoundingly she’s unearthed and included government documentation, explicit proof of her days subsisting on welfare, and social workers commenting (confirming) her mother’s unstable behaviour.  

In her late teens and early twenties Darlene escaped the grim trajectory in which her life was headed, and got involved professionally in the music industry.  She says, “My sister, who is 11 years older than I am, became my legal guardian. She signed my first contract when I was 17. At 23 I was on the Board of Directors for the Alberta Recording Industry Association. I began to write my story in 1998 when I retired, after a lucrative, diverse run in the music industry.

Steve Kipner (who wrote Physical), Darlene and John Farrar (who wrote Olivia's other hits & producer) at the Beverly Hilton, Los Angeles.

These days Darlene is an EMS Practitioner and Examiner for the Alberta College of Paramedics. She frequently works as the medic at NHL games, and travels as a trainer (den mother) with various AAA teams. “They are my boys.” She announced proudly, introducing me to the team when they recently visited Ontario for a tournament.

Darlene (far left) and her 'boys': 2009-10 Sutter Cup Bronze Medal Champions! A/C Avalanche

The book’s title a world of good encapsulates my friend Darlene’s optimistic, cheery attitude. She didn’t buy what life tried to sell her when she was a youngster. She ploughed through the emotional and physical landmines like a superhero, and was reborn via the healing powers of music. As an EMS Paramedic, she’s become a true force for good in the world. She’s proof positive that life does get better and she's paying it forward. 

 

Best of all, Darlene has a joyful family life with her terrific, supportive husband Darin and their four children. Unbelievably, to me at least, she’s also a grandma of two. Oh and for someone who wanted to become a Veterinarian when she was a youngster, Darlene is also 'mom' to a house full of pets including dogs, cats, parrots and turtles! 

Currently she's working on a sequel, and a screenplay based on her memoirs. As Cheryl Ladd enthused in a glowing endorsement on the back cover: (a world of good is) "an inspiring, uplifting story.” Don’t we all just love a happy ending? I know I do. 

Darlene at a book signing event.

To order a copy of a world of good: Click Here

For more information regarding this book: Fax. 877.326.3272