Can Big Brother 11 Save Itself From the Impending Crash and Burn?

Big Brother 11 Heads Towards the Worst Ending Ever

We are at the point in the Big Brother season where I usually write my “Player’s Fatal Mistakes” piece. You know, the one where I review each house guest that’s been evicted to date and tell you where I think they sealed their fate. I’m not doing that this year.

One of  reasons there will be no “Player’s Fatal Mistakes” is because the set up of the game  in the early part of this season excluded certain people from eviction for the week. If a member of your clique won Head of Household, you were safe as well. It worked well when it saved people from being evicted for personal reasons instead of game play. It worked poorly when it saved underhanded game players from the fate they deserved.

But each Big Brother season is an experiment. Each season there is a theme that changes the rules of what is essentially a human chess game. CBS doesn’t know how the game will shake out in the end, or if the house guests will find a glitch in the game that can change it fundamentally (like the “six finger” plan made up by Nakomis in season 5, which later came to be known as “back dooring”). The entertainment  factor of Big Brother is based on the fundamentals of all competition reality shows: rules + personalities = good ratings.

And up until  last Thursday,  the ratings for Big Brother have been greatly assisted by the personalities of some of the house guests this season. Despite whatever Ronnie thought about his game play, viewers saw that he was playing too hard too soon, and honestly couldn’t get far in the game because of his strategic errors and social handicap. He would have been evicted much sooner were it not for the protection of the clique. We couldn’t wait to see him get his.

Jessie’s power in the house was really an illusion. He automatically had a built in alliance because of his clique, and others who clung to him did so because he came in as Head of Household and a former player. He was still the arrogant  meathead he was last season, and to make matters worse he showed the kind of man he was in his interactions with Lydia and Natalie. We watched to see if either of the women would wise up.

Chima’s brand of mean-spirited, man-hating, crazy added a big boost to the ratings. We knew it couldn’t last, but we hung in there to see how far her destructive personality would take her. And Lydia. The thing about Lydia’s personality in the game is that sometimes she was funny, and occasionally she had moments of clarity. Sometimes I wanted to pat her on head and say, “you poor thing; get some help.” And sometimes I wanted to throw a bucket of ice water on her and tell her to get a grip.

Everyone else, including  Russell, was kind of a throwaway. Russell played hard, and was a great competitor. And I thought he was cute, cauliflower ears aside. But I really didn’t miss him when he left. And I knew I wouldn’t miss Michelle, but she played a good game.

I could say how much I enjoyed Jeff and Jordan as a showmance, and Jeff as game player and a hottie, but I would be saying what most people are saying out there. Let me just say this, because it has been driving me crazy for weeks: TECHNOTRONIC is a proper noun. Doesn’t anyone remember the song, “Pump Up the Jam”? The  performers derived their name from the music genre known as “techno”.

But Russell screamed and screamed about technotronic not being a word. And sadly, in America these days the rule is that if you scream loud and long enough about something, it must be true.

But I digress. The bottom line is that once Jeff was voted out, America knew the face of the game was going to be ugly.  I don’t know what the ratings were for Big Brother last night, but I  could only bear to watch ten minutes of the show. We knew Michelle was going to get the boot, and Jordan can’t really hold her own.

Which leaves us with the possibility of a final two that actually make Maggie and Ivette of season 6 look popular. Evel Dick of Big Brother 8 sums the situation up in words that mirror my sentiment:

“The final three is so f***ing horrible this year that they are going to have a triple eviction and tell them all to kill themselves…”

It might boost ratings.

Big Brother 11: Is Jessie the New Cappy?

Say “Hello” to the new Nerd Herd

Jessie Godderz has been gone from the Big Brother house for more than a few hours now, and it seems that some people have gone off the deep end. As of this writing, Chima, Lydia and Natalie are all in the kitchen crying because Jessie was evicted tonight. Yes, crying. And ruining perfectly good Chinese food. I can understand Lydia crying because she was secretly hooking up with him for a month and a half, and Natalie is crying because she had to had to get her lips removed from his butt before he could leave the house, but I am not so sure why Chima is crying, unless it’s out of frustration that all her machinations were destroyed by Jeff and the Coup d’etat.

Did I miss something? Do they put you in front of a firing squad, instead of sending you to the Jury House this season?

The only topic of conversation for these three tonight is Jessie. Sure, Chima launches into an occasional venomous Russell tirade, but that’s a conversation that no one is really chiming in on. The three expressed their displeasure at the outcome of eviction by pouring Nerds into Jeff baseball cap, and dumping Russell’s stuff  on the floor. The only time there has been this kind of insanity over one person leaving was when the Nerd Herd couldn’t get over Cappy leaving  Big Brother 6 in week two.  Does that mean that Chima, Natalie and Lydia are the new “Friendship”? I don’t know, but if they start talking about how they are “good people,” we should all start to worry.

And, if Jessie is the new Cappy, is Jeff the new Kaysar?

Big Brother To Return in February

I know a lot of people have been going through Big Brother withdrawl over the past few months, myself included.  I was very excited when I heard that Big Brother might return sometime this winter,  due to the writers strike. And after a little bit research, I’ve found that Big Brother will be returning in February!

The question that looms is: Can Big Brother 9 be as good as BB8 or BB6? Usually, the casting search begins this time of year and it involves a very rigorous elimination and interview process before the show airs in June. What if this rushed cast  turns out to be lame? I don’t even want to think about  stupid twist tossed in  for the heck of it. Maybe under these special circumstances, a straight, abbreviated version of the game would be better.

Check out all of the open casting call dates below. You can also goto CBS.com and download the application, if you’d like to spend a few weeks living in SoCal this winter.

(CBS AFFILIATE ) WLTX Studios
6027 Garners Ferry Road
Columbia, SC
Saturday, November 17th
10am to 2pm

EXCLUSIVE CASTING STUDIOS
7700 Sunset Blvd
Ste. 200
Los Angeles, CA 90046
Saturday November 17th
12-3pm

NY Castings
243 W. 30th St., 3rd Floor
(Between 7th and 8th Ave)
Sunday, November 18th
12:00pm – 8:00pm

ONTOURAGE
157 W. Ontario St.
Chicago, IL 60610
Saturday Dec 1st
10pm -12am

DUFF’S BROOKLYN
N. 3rd St. & Kent Ave.
Brooklyn, NY 11211
www.duffsbrooklyn.com
Saturday, December 1st
7:00pm – 10:00pm

SCREENLAND CROSSROADS THEATER
1656 Washington St.
Kansas City, MO 64108
Saturday December 1st
From 1PM to 4PM

CANS
500 W. 5th St.
Charlotte, NC. 28202
Saturday December 1st
12PM to 3PM

THE STREETS OF TANASBOURNE
19350 NW Emma Way
Hillsboro, OR 97124
Saturday December 1st
12PM to 3PM

AMERICAS MART
1st Floor Meeting Room A
240 Peachtree St.
Atlanta, GA. 30303
Saturday, December 1st
12PM to 3PM

SPICE Bar
491 N. Park St.
Columbus, OH 43215
www.spicebar.net
Friday December 7th
10pm-12am

SUEDE LOUNGE
7333 E. Indian Plaza
Scottsdale, AZ 85251
Friday December 7th
12PM to 3PM

FELT
533 Washington St. (3rd & 4th Floor)
Boston, MA 02111
www.feltclubboston.com
Saturday, December 8th
12:00pm – 3:00pm

FlatIron Crossing
1 West FlatIron Crossing Dr.
Broomfield, CO 80021
In the Dillard’s Court
Saturday December 8th
10AM to 1PM

PARK STREET PATIO
533 Park St.
Columbus, OH
Saturday, December 8th.
2PM to 5PM

THE DUBLINER IRISH PUB
2307 W. Azeele St.
Tampa, FL. 33609
www.thedublineririshpub.com
Saturday December 8th
12PM to 3PM

Jedi Howie Gordon Takes on Real Hero Role

(photo courtesy of CBS.com)

Big Brother 6 & 7 cast member Howie “Hurricane Howie” Gordon has stepped up to the plate in true Jedi form to help raise money for the Rabekah Fund, whose purpose is to raise money for the treatment of a four year old little girl who was stricken with Pontine Brain Stem Glioma,  a form of inoperable brain cancer. For more information, go to Howie’s website , or watch his  video interview, which tells you why Bekah is so special to him and how you can help.