Tuesday, June 21, 2016

Countdown to Big Brother 18!!!

The new season of Big Brother 18 is already underway, we just can't see any of it yet. Based on past seasons, here's a hint of what we've missed so far.

The season typically starts with the house guests getting their keys and being given an hour to pack their little Big Brother duffle bag. In reality they're never surprised by this as production calls them in advance to schedule the key ceremony. And the one small Big Brother duffle bag does get packed, but so does a suitcase or two besides.

On Wednesday's show, after we see the key ceremony we'll then see Julie calling them on stage where she'll announce, "This is the first time the house guests are seeing the people they'll be sharing the house with." That's largely a lie as they've been in sequester at the same hotel for a week or more. Many have seen one another at auditions and callbacks for the casting. In some cases they've flown in on the same flights and been picked up and driven to the hotel in a group. They're often taken shopping as a group to buy any supplies they need for the three month stay. They often will get packed together into vans for the trip from the hotel to the studio. They'll be in hair and makeup together backstage. By the time they're all together on the stage, they've pretty much all seen one another quite a few times.

Then Julie will announce three or four names and into the house they'll run. This is one of those, "Holy crap! I'm really here and doing this!" moments. Then all twelve of the house guests will be in the house and after a few "Oh my God!" moments, they'll settle in the living room for the first of the semi-scripted sessions of the year. The meet and greet with champagne.

At the meet and greet we'll get our first look at how the house guests will perform in the Diary Room as they intersperse their first diary room segments with that session. We'll get comments on how this person or that person is hot, setting the stage for the future showmances. At the meet and greet the more observant of the house guests will realize there are only twelve of them. Some are likely to notice that two of the house guests also bear a remarkable resemblance to former house guests. I don't think either Tiffany (Vanessa's sister) or Paulie (Cody's brother) will avoid detection for long.

Towards the end of the meet and greet Julie will come on their television and give them her usual chat about "expect the unexpected." About then the doorbell will likely ring and the four mystery house guests (Davonne, Nicole, Frank, and James) will charge in with their small little BB bags in hand. After a few minutes of "Oh my God" from the newbies Julie will come back on to announce the initial twist. Coaches, mentors, team leaders, whatever and likely announce that the returnees are safe from eviction.

I'm guessing that the returning house guests may be named team captains and a schoolyard pick will take place for them to assemble teams from the newcomers.

Next up will be the first HOH challenge of the season. This is typically an endurance comp of some sort that few really want to win. They all think if they lose the first challenge it won't make them look like a threat. Sure. That never works. The only way you're safe in Big Brother is if you're the HOH. I would never throw any HOH comp. Someone will default into being the HOH likely by not quitting fast enough, and we'll get our first live look at the new HOH room. (I love the fish tank headboard, but the doorless bathroom is annoying. Now friends of the HOH can't lurk in the bathroom eavesdropping as easily.)

The HOH will then form a gazillion alliances with everyone in the house, assuming they haven't already. Everyone will swear their undying loyalty to everyone else, knowing full well that they don't mean a word of it. The HOH and his/her alliances will think the game is easy and map out their road to the finale. "I won HOH this week, you'll win it next week, then you'll win it. We can't lose!" (Oh, yes they can!) 

Then will come the first nominations. At this point two of the house guests who thought it was a good idea to throw the first HOH will learn that they were wrong. This would typically end the first show, but we've got a two hour debut on Wednesday so unless they sneak in a lot of filler material, something else will occur. We'll find out what that will be on Wednesday.

Things to look for in the first show. The bathroom floor. Sand covered the bathroom floor in the very early house tours, but oddly none of those doing the house tours mentioned it in the taped segments that aired. A later photo of the bathroom from The Hollywood Reporter showed the sand gone. I'm guessing production figured out the sand wasn't worth the trouble and killed it and asked to have any mention of it removed from the Entertainment Tonight, and other house tours. The producers could have also asked for them to just not mention it so it'll be a surprise. We'll find out on Wednesday's show if it's still there or not but, I'm betting the sand's gone.

We have some sort of a new mystery comp/ceremony to take place on Sunday's show. This takes the place of the fatally flawed Battle of the Block. We don't know what that comp will be or how it will affect the game just yet, but we'll find out soon. Hopefully it's not something that's as easy to rig as the Battle of the Block was.

Things to look for over the course of the season will be preferential treatment given to any of Alison Grodner's pets. The four returning house guests, Frank in particular, she loves Frank, will likely get some sort of early advantage. I strongly suspect Paul (bearded, tattooed, MMA fighter, model, musician, etc.) will be a new favorite of Grodner's too. I'd be very surprised to see both Frank and Paul out of the house before jury. One might go, but I doubt that both will.

The countdown to the new season is pretty much done! It's almost show time! Let's hope this cast doesn't disappoint and production behaves themselves. (Like that will happen!)

No comments:

Post a Comment