Effectively eradicating recent speculation that the next edition would be celebrity-based, CBS has announced a nationwide casting call for Big Brother 9, starting this Saturday in Los Angeles and wrapping up Dec. 8 in Tampa, Florida. (Go to CBS.com for a complete list of tryout venues and dates.) This ninth cycle of the typically summertime reality competition will air "in 2008," says CBS, "on dates to be announced." Meaning, "as soon as Julie Chen can get back in training for how to say, 'But first.... '"
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Question: Why haven't ABC, CBS and NBC copied the cable networks with new summertime programs like The Closer, Damages, Burn Notice, etc.? Don't they know the public is clamoring for good programs to watch during the summer hiatus?
Answer: The networks often say they'd like to put good stuff on in the summer months, not just failed burn-offs and shows they've otherwise given up on (Traveler, for instance). And the trades continue to announce provocative projects (like a horror anthology for NBC) that could air in the off-season. But for the most part, I'm betting we'll still see mostly reality on the networks in the summer. Some good (So You Think You Can Dance), some awful but popular (America's Got Talent), some hateful (Big Brother), and many that come and go without a ripple (Pirate Master, anything on ABC). The reason: economics. Cable networks see the summer as an opportunity to promote and produce some of their best work, to establish their brands and make noise. The networks will
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Big Brother 8 finalists, Daniele and Dick by Cliff Lipson/CBS
This Tuesday's ratings at a glance:• A two-hour The Biggest Loser matched last week's premiere audience — 7.9 million total viewers — and surged to nine mil in the 9 pm hour opposite Big Brother's finale.• Beauty and the Geek scored 3.34 mil on its first-ever fall date. That's a 30-percent drop from the previous season opener.• Big Brother wrapped up its season with 8.5 mil, a three percent improvement on the Season 7 closer. All told, BB8 matched 7 in average audience size.
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Daniele and Dick Donato, with Julie Chen, Big Brother 8
After 81 days and countless dramas, Evel Dick emerged as the $500,000 winner of Big Brother 8, with his daughter, Daniele, taking the $50,000 second prize. The dynamic Donato duo certainly faced their share of controversy and managed to survive being on the block — with each other — three times. The day after their big win, the two shared their favorite moments of the summer, what they plan to do with the money and some surprisingly tender insights about each other.
TVGuide.com: What was the key to your success?Dick: Working together. Best teammates ever, best team ever!
TVGuide.com: That's been your motto since making it to the final two. Why do you think you worked so well together?Dick: Nobody else did what we did, including Danielle and Jason and their secret alliance in Season 3, Will and Boogie in All-Stars, the twins in Season 5, the exes in
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“By golly, it’s either Evel or Evel Spawn that’s gonna win.” That about sums it up, Dustin. I have to guess that the toughest part of being on this particular Big Brother jury is looking back at all the wasted opportunities they had to evict the Donato-nators. In the words of runner-up Daniele, it must be so… “frusterating"!It has been an interesting, entertaining but, generally, predictable summer in the Big Brother house, so I was really excited that we ended with an unexpected victory. I thought for sure that the jury would reward Daniele for her skill in the competitions (Jen and Jameka agreed with that philosophy, though I think their votes were more about personally disliking Evel Dick than the game itself). I don’t know if it was Eric’s impressive ability to sway the jury or their own acknowledgement of being thoroughly played, but Dick emerged victorious over his offspring. After looking back at a number of episodes courtesy of my DVR,...
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No matter how you feel about the Season of the Donatos (and based on your comments, I think it is fair to say they have been a decidedly polarizing force), it was definitely fun to look back at what has been a very entertaining summer diversion. Truth be told, I haven’t been a fan of Big Brother since the early days. I started watching during Season 5, got hooked with Season 6 and then really got hooked with last summer’s all-star outing. After seeing players like Janelle and Dr. Will throw it down, I doubted I would ever find any season as engrossing or enjoyable again. Man, was I wrong. After a slow start, I was quickly sucked back in this summer, and despite all the ups and downs, I have thoroughly enjoyed the ride. Unlike some of you who claim you are done with the show, I will be back to see what’s in store for Season 9.As we prepare for the finale on Tuesday, I’d like to thank all of you passionate Big Brother fans for sharing your comments this summer. Now...
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Hey, CBS, I’m sorry to say it, but Season 8 of Big Brother basically ended tonight… with a whimper. As finale night approaches, let’s face facts. Since Daniele and Dick played the entire game as a team, it really doesn’t matter which one the jury ultimately selects. (Though obviously they will opt to reward Daniele for her prowess in the competitions and for having Dick as a father.) No matter how you slice it, the Donatos dominated this game almost from day one and it was no surprise to see Zach walking out the door as the final evictee. The only thing that surprised me was his "teary" reaction to Dick's farewell video. Were we watching the same video? I guess after a week of no-holds-barred infantile tirades, that video felt almost cuddly by comparison. I saw an interesting comment this week that I wanted to talk about for a minute. Someone questioned whether or not it is legitimate to really call Big Brother a game and as the season wraps up, I think it is an...
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Jon Tenney, Kyra Sedgwick and JK Simmons by Andrew Eccles/TNT
Judging from the press cable networks were able to get this summer, you'd think the broadcast networks went out of business. TNT's The Closer set a ratings record for a scripted cable drama and helped launch a new hit in Saving Grace. Lifetime's Army Wives and FX's Damages scored strong numbers and good reviews for their networks. Even movie channel AMC was able to establish an appointment show with Mad Men. And, oh yeah, there was a little movie on the Disney Channel called High School Musical 2. But the ratings for this past summer are not out of line with what's gone on in past years. Every summer broadcast-network audiences drop off substantially from what they draw during the TV season, while cable sees a spike. But the influx of originals on cable should have been an added ratings boon this summer, right? Yes, the broadcast networks were off 13 percent from last summer among the advertiser-coveted audience of viewers ages 18 to 49 (exclude sports and the decline was 9 percent)...
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The Evel Dick-proclaimed "Season of the Donatos" is drawing to a close, and the dynamic duo has made it to the end of the line, along with, quite possibly, the most unexpected HouseGuest of all. After tonight’s display of juvenile cockiness courtesy of Dick, I have to say that I am really, really rooting for Zach. Yes, the renewed faith bit is a little contrived for sure and he certainly waited too long to align with, as Amber would say, the "good people" but he was also the only one who made a real effort to get Dick and Daniele out. For either one of them to fault Zach for going his own way and breaking their (shaky, at best) alliance is incredibly hypocritical. How many people did they backstab and throw under the bus along the way? Let's ask Jessica and Eric, the two most recent evictees.Once Daniele won the PoV, it was all over for Jameka, and she accepted her fate with the same maturity and grace she has displayed throughout the game. At times Jameka allowed herself to be...
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Geez, you go away for one week and all hell breaks loose! There is so much to talk about tonight, but first I’d like to send along my thanks to Nina for doing such a great job during my vacation. Thanks to her fantastic recaps, I was able to catch up on all the action. And boy was there a lot of action since last I blogged! And tonight, I am so excited by what went down, I don’t even know where to begin! So here goes....Jessica and Eric are gone and Dick, Daniele, Jameka, and Zach are in the final four. And how about Zach? If you told me back at the beginning of the game that he would make it this far, I would have laughed. Guffawed even. This was a guy who rubbed people the wrong way just by being in the room (unlike, say, Dick who put a lot of effort into rubbing people the wrong way). Throughout the course of the game, numerous HouseGuests have mentioned Zach’s weirdness. Daniele summed it up tonight, saying that Zach is the friend who calls your cell phone and you...
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