Insight to the New Season of Big Brother 8

Not everybody celebrated Independence Day being independent, for fourteen people, the Fourth of July was just the start of what will be for some of them a long, secluded summer. According to Nielsen Media Research, approximately 7.4 million viewers tuned into CBS to watch the new group of houseguests give up their freedom on Big Brother 8 on July 5.

Meet the Dysfunctional Brady Bunch
Big Brother in many ways serves as a dysfunctional Brady Bunch-only it's not illegal to make out with your fellow siblings in this house. There are always a couple of older figures who serve as mom and dad, who generally sit back and watch the antics of the younger crowd. This year it is evident who will be cast in these roles-Kail, a 37-year-old business owner and Dick, a 44-year-old bar owner. Ordinarily, I would cast Dick as someone who could party with a younger crowd, but the entrance of his daughter into the house will probably inhibit him. The rest of the house hold fall between the ages of 20 and 30, with the average age being 24.

Jameka might sneak in as a mother figure as well. Although she is only twenty-eight, she is a school counselor. Not only has her job given her added skills to use in the house, it will also probably curb any wild behavior and place her into a role of pseudo-guardian.

Need a Token?
In each big brother, there tends to be several "token" cast members. You will have one or two homosexuals, African-Americans, parent figures, someone a little offbeat, and the rest tend to look like they thought they were casting for a new version of Baywatch. Occasionally, the producers will try to incorporate more than one of these stereotypes into one cast member. This year, the homosexuals will be played by Joe and Dustin. If there are any others lurking in the household, it was not made clear in the first episode. The African-American will be played by Jameka. Parent figures, as I said earlier, will be played by Kail and Dick, who has also been cast as the offbeat character. The Baywatch wannabes are Amber, Jen, Jessica, Carol, Danielle, Eric, Mike, Nick, and Zach.

What's New?
After eight seasons, it's hard to surprise avid Big Brother watchers. The producers did attempt to produce a twist by throwing in three pairs of "enemies." This is sort of a tired redo of season 4 which had "the X-factor" or five pairs who were once romantically involved. This time it is two ex-boyfriends (Joe and Dustin), two former best friends (Jessica and Carol), and father and daughter (Dick and Danielle) who have not spoken in two years.

They have also introduced what they call "America's Player," AKA Eric. Each Sunday viewers will be asked to vote on an assignment for Eric to complete. If he completes the quest, he wins money. Eric is prohibited from telling any of the other houseguests about his mission and can be voted out at any time. I predict this will be either very lame or very interesting. Only time will tell.

CBS has also announced a spin-off series that will air three hours a night on ShoToo, Showtime's companion network, called Big Brother: After Dark. Essentially, this is a live, unedited feed from the house. The show airs from midnight to 3 a.m. ET/PT. While this sounds like three hours of sleeping houseguests, you must remember that the Big Brother house is in California. So, it is showing the house from 9 p.m. until midnight Pacific Time. (My guess is that Pacific viewers will get a delayed version of the East Coast feeds.) Since the Big Brother houseguests tend to be night owls, this is a very active time.

The "unedited" indicates that they will not block the feeds should someone appear nude, something that they had started doing season 5. However, it is unlikely to feature large amounts of nudity. The houseguests might forget that America is watching on the feeds, but it is difficult for them to forget the number of camera operators hiding behind the walls or the numerous mirrors used to hide them. Only the most uninhibited person would not want to cover up (although towels have been known to slip).

Still, with a name like "After Dark" you might wonder what else will be going on in the house, such as sex. Exactly what does and does not happen in the dark under the covers has always been a matter of speculation. While Big Brother versions in other countries are known to be almost pornographic not only in content but also in what they show, the U.S. version has always been a little tame. Big Brother 4 was the first time that two houseguests had sex under the covers (which is featured uncensored on the DVDs).

However, this year the pickings are a little slim for on screen hookups. Although all but one of the houseguests lists themselves as single, you can eliminate several for other reasons. First, you have Joe and Dustin. Since they have already dated and broken up with each other, and it doesn't appear any of the other men are homosexual, unless they patch up those two are out.

Then, you have the father-daughter pair, Danielle and Dick. I would guess that would cut out Dick from the mix (not to mention the wide age gap between him and the other females). Danielle might participate in some antics if only to bug her estranged father.

I am also going to eliminate Carol. Although she's young and attractive, she revealed on the show that her father is a senator. My guess is that she will not want to embarrass dear old dad. I will also rule out Jameka. Having sex on camera is not a good idea for a school counselor who wants to keep her job.

So that leaves us with Amber, Jen and Jessica for the girls and Eric, Mike, Nick, and Zach for guys. We have yet to see if any of them have significant others on the outside, which might eliminate them from our options.

What's Not New?
The Big Brother feeds are back! For those of you have never watched Big Brother, "the feeds" refers to the "24-7 streaming video" offered by CBS through RealNetworks. I should warn you, although it is promoted as 24 hours a day, seven days a week, it's not. It is blocked during household competitions, whenever a houseguest starts singing, or whenever CBS decides to keep viewers from knowing what will happen on the upcoming episode.

Although they block the competitions, it is easy to determine what occurred during the feed blackout. While the most important things happen during the live show, feed watchers do get to know who's been nominated, who won power of veto (POV), and what occurred during the POV ceremony long before TV viewers will. The feeds also give you insight to what is occurring between houseguests and how different houseguests really feel about each other.

Hopefully, this season of Big Brother 8 will prove as dramatic and eventful as some of the better past seasons. To find out, simply tune into CBS on Tuesdays at 9PM ET/PT, Thursdays at 8PM ET/PT (for the live show), and Sundays at 9PM ET/PT. You can also check out the live feeds almost any time of the day and night simply by signing up through RealNetwork.

Sources:
http://www.zap2it.com/tv/news/zap-bigbrother8premiereinfo,0,6087211.story
http://www.cbs.com/primetime/bigbrother8/