Big Brother 18 First Impressions: What We And Readers Think So Far

Big Brother 18 kicked off the “craziest summer vacation” ever Wednesday night in a two-hour premiere filled with too many twists, too many competitions and too much stunt casting.

BB18-Premiere-ep-1

Between four returnees, billed as “stowaways” and two siblings of recent players, this season makes me think Big Brother producers don’t have faith in their show. At least they skipped Season 15 when they sent out those returnee invitations.

As for the returnee choices, I think it would have been nice for them to dip a bit deeper in the barrel since they’re all from Season 14 on, but I do think they made some solid choices. I was a big Da’Vonne Rogers supporter last season and James Huling and Frank Eudy both won the fan favorite vote. Nicole Franzel is a super-fan who played with a lot of heart, so it makes sense she’d be asked back as well. Maybe Season 16 fan favorite Donny Thompson passed?

The newbies are definitely strong this season. They all seem to know the game a bit more than ones in season’s past. I’m not saying they’re super fans or anything like that, but they must have paid attention to the seasons they made them watch in sequester.

As for newbie likability, there’s not much to go on yet, but there are definitely some people already rubbing me (and others) the wrong way. Paul Abrahamian is a bit much, as is Jozea Flores. Glenn Garcia is likely to end up our first boot, so the fact that he is horrible at competitions doesn’t even matter. Paulie Calafiore and Tiffany Rousso look too much like their siblings to pull off their secrets. Lucky for them, the vets are the bigger threat.

Now let’s get to the twists. I don’t mind the team angle that much. I like the idea of knowing that certain people can’t go home. I’m a nervous person by nature, so I think I’ll be pretty happy when players I like are definitely safe from the eviction vote. I also like the idea of the first person going home being the person who loses the competition. That’s not how it’s going to be all summer, so I can handle it the first round.

There’s no word if the rest of the summer will play out similarly to this, however. I’m guessing the rest of the season will go like a team season usually goes: the team with the HOH is safe and can’t be nominated. We should find out more on that tonight.

So there are my two cents, what about yours? We’ve turned to Twitter to get first impressions from some of our readers and you guys did not disappoint.

@ddamp23: Da’Vonne is annoying and needs to leave soon

@p_mowrey: liked it. thought the immediate elimination was a good idea.

@PupRiku: Paul is PERFECT drama. Victor is a sleazeball. Day is making same mistakes. Glenn is in trouble.

@avamariacarter: Really REALLY disappointed in Da’Vonne … can’t believe she’s having a breakdown already and has no clue on the idea of teamwork. It’s all about HER

@haeleitak: Interesting start. Not loving the team idea but they had to keep the returnees safe somehow. Still, Im excited to see whats next

@LoraK318: God help us all if Michelle, Nicole and Bronte all start talking at the same time!

@gary_Beck1: paul needs to go. Way to bossy.

@joshuarhicks: love that there are twists… just hope they didn’t use them all up already. wish 1st evictee was by vote tho

@chattie: too complicated in the beginning. Tried to be cute with the twists.

@kaliasstomach: the usual, CBS is convinced we like twists & scripted diary rooms. Screw the reality, screw the actual game

@farva1966: no way a returnee goes home. I want basic BB the social experiment game that we fell in love with not forced crap

@BradDillon17 : episode felt chaotic and not in a good way. Too much going on. Not off to a good start, but plenty time left

And my favorite:

@StonoPurls: Julie only said “but first” once in 2 hours. I’m so disappointed. Paul is annoying but good to have BB back on tv

Now we’re on to preparing for the second part of the season premiere tonight on CBS at 9/8c with the first eviction and a new Head of Household coming up. It’s going to be a busy night with lots going on so be sure to join us for the fun.

JOIN THE DISCUSSION

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79 Comments

  1. Can’t stand Paul or Jozea. Really, Davonne’s whole team is really annoying. Bronte is super annoying and I can’t wait for her to go. Favorites so far would have to be Bridgette and Cory. Natalie isn’t as ditzy as I expected and is definitely easy on the eyes.

    • Coaching little league, umpiring games, coaching Pop Warner football and refereeing Pop Warner over a period of 25 yrs, I can see Davonne’s attitude is a losing one, she is not a team player.

    • DaVonnes team is bad…she is worse…will be celebrating when they smarten up and kick her BACK out…

  2. What I’m annoyed about with this season so far is how the new houseguest are treating the veterans. The new houseguest should use the returnees to their advantage because the returnees… for the most part, already know how to play this game to jury. Da’vonne’s team really needs to get their act together if all 4 of them want to stay in the game. Cannot wait for the entire team to go. My favorites so far are Frank, Nicole, Jame, Paulie, and Tiffany.

    • The thing was that, at the height of BB’s crazy era of mixed seasons, the majority newbies all lost to a veteran even though some of them worked alongside a few from the other side. BB14 was lucky to have a newbie triumphed over someone who not only was a veteran, but also a past season’s winner.

      So there’s reason for this year’s noobs to feel unease with having to play a game with returnees.

      • James! Good to see you back, how was your season break? I haven’t seen as many veteran commenters back so far, but I’m sure soon enough we’ll see some of our old (and some new) friends around. :)

      • It’s been okay. The BB withdrawals have been quite agitating but I felt a whole lot better once BBCAN started last winter.

    • Well then I guess their casting process worked on you this year. Your favorites are all returnees or siblings.

    • I’m annoyed the old heads have returned period. The producers can’t come up with more original twists than returning houseguests???

  3. when you put the 4 vets on the show,targets were put on their backs.With 12 votes to 4 you have predetermine the first 4 to leave.In the future have it 8 vets to 8 newbies.

  4. It’s probably more difficult to get returning house guests from further back because life happens and many probably have jobs that they don’t want to sacrifice potentially losing to go back and do a been there done that thing. Or they have kids and don’t want to “do this for my baby” (unlike Da’Vonne, hah).

    Frank seems to be more “grown up” and seems in best position of the returnees. Kinda hoping he and another house guest come to blows like his last trip – great entertainment!

    Love the Paul and Day’Vonne drama but CBS pushed it down our throats a little too much.

    Bronte is my least favorite house guest, just ahead of Day.

    • Love that Frank is back, and he’s the only one that has been in the position of being a newbie with returning players. Love that he is back. One of my favs.

  5. Bronte is a nut case plan and simple, I know BB evaluates their houseguest before hand, I have an idea that they picked her bc she is a nut job.

    • she’s so annoying. Like I did the math ( because I’m a mathmatician) Seriously. Even Paul could do that math.
      I mean geez. I would hope you can count chairs or just know enough about big brother to know that 12 ppl don’t make up a cast. Doesn’t really take a genius.

      • The way she talked about statistics of female winners in her intro made it clear that she doesn’t really know what she’s talking about. She basically said that 1/3 of female contestants are winners when she meant to say that 1/3 of winners have been female.

  6. Most of this cast is irritating me. Too many girls with baby voices. and Tiffany is stupid if she thinks noone will notice she’s vanessa’s sister. She literally sounds exactly like her. Plus she’s got 2 ppl in the house from her sister’s season. Paul needs to go asap and as a fellow Louisianian.. Victor! Come on man.. do you have to be such a pig? You’re making my state look bad! LOVE that Frank is back! Good choice on returning players… but i would’ve liked to see their odds stacked a little bit better than 12 vs 4.

    • Can we just have all returning players from now on? EVRY DAMN SEASON? it’s obvious that new people are boring and annoying and everything the show HATES.

      • It’s obvious casting directors FAILED at their job if people have been more annoyed by these houseguests than entertained and it has been going on since season 14. Either they get regular fans to select the new cast or no newbs at all

      • i try not to be annoyed by the houseguests until they have been in the house and settled down a bit. i think we are all annoyed by the fakey first week producer driven crap personalities sound bites that they shove down out throats every year until the feed come on and we can see the hamsters for real….

    • Can’t even begin to say how glad I am that Frank is back. I’m not liking Paul, but I’m really, really trying to hold off on making any decisions on the newbies yet. But Paul…meh.

      • Do not change your opinion about Paul because it is correct. His beard tuned me off right from the start…then he opened his mouth. All down hill from there.

      • LISA! Glad you feel the same way! I was going to TRY to give him a chance, but…if you feel the same way, then I trust you. :)

    • I can’t believe how similar the sisters’ voices are. Was watching the show while doing the dishes without always looking at the TV, and I kept thinking they were showing clips of Vanessa.

    • Sadly the show has been progressively (or regressively) moving more and more towards the ”Babes with boobs and guys with muscles.” casting approach since seasons 9-10… Matt might need to verify this for me, but I believe that’s about the time the show started to panic at the fall in ratings, and they took on a new casting team. I’ve been trying to champion the case for BB to go back to its roots when a cross section of everyone was taken. Yes there was some eye candy, but it wasn’t ”team baywatch”. ;)

  7. From what I’ve read on Twitter, it appears that I’m the only one that LOVES this teams twist.. even if you don’t like it, you HAVE to admit it beats BOTB FOR SURE.. Paul is seriously abrasive and controlling and it’s really pissing me off.. Da ‘Vonne has seriously let me down. Play nice and just PRETEND for the duration of this twist, which most likely won’t last past week 4/5. I see a showmance between Victor and Natalie. #Nictor? #Vatalie? Idk.. I guess we’ll see… Frank is back and I don’t know how I feel. I didn’t LOVE the guy in 14, but I didn’t hate him. Unlike most people, I just don’t care. He makes jury= great. He doesn’t make jury= great. He is in final two= great. I really don’t care if it’s an unpopular opinion. I just don’t care for the guy… Can I just say that I may have underestimated some of these newer players. From the little we’ve been shown so far, they’ve surprised me…… Who’s pumped for night two?! Predictions on who the first evicted will be?

  8. I just love bloggers who think they know more than the producers.

    Oh wait… no I don’t. They’re more annoying than Da’Gone, and should be evicted from the internet.

  9. I am probably in the minority but I like the team twist-at least the way it plays in competitions. I haven’t in past seasons, but I like that first place is safe, 2nd gets reward, 3rd gets punishment and one from the fourth team is up for eviction. I’m kinda hoping it continues. This keeps everyone actually playing competitions to WIN instead of throwing them. And a persons fate is more in their own hand, work hard and win comps and you are safe. It makes it more of a physical competition and less of a popularity contest. I’m looking forward to see how it plays out and how long it lasts.

    • I agree with you. A lot of them (cough cough DaVonne) are just looking at it the wrong way. Sure, some of the teamwork competitions make you have to rely on your teammates (like the pyramid building and castle puzzle), but others it can benefit you by having a good teammate. Three people lost the rocket competition, but are still safe because their teammate stayed on the longest. Teams can be beneficial, too.

    • I also like the team concept. It forms certain bonds that would’ve otherwise been impossible. The show is always trying to solve certain dilemmas like: How do you keep ratings up? Answer, sadly more extreme personalities with more boobs & muscles. So how do we get them to keep the ”token normal people”? Answer, we get them to pick and break into teams so that it’s not ”Models & Actors vs. Normals & Tokens” (they’re all evenly distributed)… Now personally I wish they would dial back on the need for eye candy (yes yes I get that it’s fun to watch the models and hunks bounce around in next to no clothing, but the show started with so much more depth than that, and I’d love to see it be about ”people”). :)

  10. Had Glenn’s teammates listened to him, they’d have won the sandcastle comp. But no… WTF can an old guy know, right? Twerps.

    • Yeah, that was all Nicole and Cory not listening and thinking they know it all. Bet Glenn will be the 1st evicted houseguest!

      • It depends on the competition. Remember, no vote, it’s the loser of the comp on tonight’s show.

      • Oh okay, didn’t hear all of Julie’s remarks on how the 1st eviction will play out.

  11. so here we go again and what can I say there is a lot of players I dont like and a few that I do Definitly dont like the newbees attitude towards the veterans but will see to early to tell but the beatded guy and make up artist as well need to go

    • Hey Girlfriend! I agree with just about everything you said. I’m trying SO hard not to judge the newbies until I get to know them better—but Paul is really not someone I care to get to know. There are plenty of other ‘villains’ we’ll have to pick from. :)
      I’m rooting for Frank—as he was ROBBED during his season. Granted, he trusted that horrible (genius) Dan but, he was robbed.
      I’m not sure this cast will find James as wonderful as we–and his cast—did. They seem too snobby for him. I hope I’m wrong!

  12. I would like to see Da and James get to talking. I am sure the vets have shared info already, like Da wanting Paul gone and Nicole wanting Glenn gone, etc. I think James could calm her down about Paul and Tiffany and be someone she can trust because she is loyal. But I think they need Frank to gel as a productive team. Da and James may be yin and yang but Frank could be a fulcrum maybe. Of course, they have to study their teams to see who is, in Frank’s words, “a fan” – like Michelle, who might be trusted to be a double agent because they know some of the newbs are definitely going to pick off vets first, whenever possible.

    • I dont think james and day will team up. If james has any sense, Day is sadly a ticking time bomb

  13. Wish they would stop casting the same archetypes. Tired of seeing them use the bad stereotypes (angry black woman, catty mean gay person, ditzy white girl, white guy bro meat head). Stop casting these twits and bring in people that actually are decent representations of diversity, because they do exist, and are the majority.

  14. From the 30-something minutes I actually saw, I was all up in Franks team (that didn’t sound right…). Da is definitely different this time around. Not diggin’ her attitude. I’m still reserving my opinions on the other newbies.
    Why can’t I seem to comment on BBN—but on every other Disqus site, I’ve no problem? Had to go to Internet Explorer–which is one of the most likely browsers to get infected with scary viruses and malware (I voted them that—no one else, lol, and not technically a Disqus site)… Anyone else having the same trouble? *sigh*

    LOVED what I DID see. Great twists!

    • The only thing different about Da’Gone is this time she’s only saying half the moronic things that she thinks. Last year she was saying them all.

      • More in reference with what’s going on behind the scenes… Being attacked by uninformed people seems a bit low (I’m hoping you can help clear this up). And no worries about your comment, you’re fine – if anything I need a thicker skin, but you gotta understand us Canadians aren’t used to the whole fighting stuff (we say ”sorry” and try to resolve almost anything). ;)

      • Matt, I have no idea what you’re talking about…uninformed people?! If you’re insinuating what I think you are, YOU’RE a bit low. How dare you…when this American welcomed you back, she meant it. You were the one who made it about me…and made sure I knew that you didn’t hold grudges. ?! Again, I don’t know what you’re talking about, when you speak of ‘being attacked by uninformed sources.’ Maybe you should take a good long look at you and not assume it has ANYTHING to do with me. Yeah, you sure do try to resolve ALMOST anything. I can’t believe you. CAN NOT believe you.
        Enjoy the season. ;)

      • Sharon you misunderstand what I’m saying…I’m not sure what is going on, but I am sad to see the turn of events and I’m hoping that somebody stands up and does the right thing by either addressing me in a non-public forum, or at least knows how to properly discern… Anyways, I do hope you’re well, and I hope we can (along with all our friends on here) get some good observations, analysis and opinions on the game. I’m enjoying the season so far… and you? Who’s your fave players? Worst players? I’m partial to James (good Asian southern boy), Zakiyah (love the silent sexy approach of manipulation that Parvati made famous), and Tiffany (the constant worrier/thinker that I can relate to). On the flip side not a big fan of the overly aggressive, angry, and opinionated DaVonne (something about that personality type is concerning in a big picture kinda way), Jozea & Paul (both seem to misunderstand you can’t start the game by scheming and trying to set plans in motion right off the bat if you don’t know the people well enough…it’s funny watching the other houseguests interview responses to those two guys). :)

      • Ah, the beauty of editing.

        I have no idea what you’re talking about. Who do you hope stands up and either addresses you or properly discerns? See, THAT’S what I don’t get. I have no idea what you’re talking about. How much more clearly can I make that? But that’s your deal…so anyways…
        It’s always fun to see the your take on the personalities of the house guests and how they relate to you…or not. Yes, since you are a such a constant worrier/thinker, I would imagine you’d be partial to Tiffany. I, on the other hand, being the constant apologizer-try-to-make-amender, see things from Nicole’s side. My previous unedited comment would not show me to be that way—but after apologizing hundreds of times to people who have not deserved one whit of an apology from me—well, let’s leave it at that. This is not the forum.
        Enjoy the season. Fa-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la.

  15. I came away with a much more positive impression of Bridgette than I expected from the pre-interviews. She seems to have some actual smarts and ability and isn’t the babe in the woods the interviews made her out to be.

  16. I think I’m done with Big Brother? I’ve watched every season from the beginning and I’m so disappointed! Everything is annoying at this point…productions scripted DR sessions, stale recycled “twists”, wayyyyyy too many seasons of boring unwatchable 20 somethings, unfair match ups with uneven numbers of young vs.old vets vs.Rookies etc. this is absolute horse crap! During the speculation off-season on Twitter I was soooo hoping the rumors about CBS hiring a secret mock cast would turn out to be true!!! I can’t stand the fact that they ignore fans begging them to stop repeating all the same tired formats and come up with something fresh. Oh cool, you renovated the house….. Yawn! How hard is it to stick with the original big brother format so your audience can actually enjoy watching the brilliant social experiment this game was intended to reveal???? Why is it such a tall order for you to come up with clever NEW casting ideas???!!! How about a cast with former showmances only; what about a cast of new people who are ALL related to former HGs; how about a cast of new people that have NO ties to anything and are just there to play the damn game!!!! So sick of this “secret players” BS; sick of random uneven number of vets coming in—- uhhhh booorrriiinnnggggg? Puh-lease stop the cycle of garbage casting, stop overwhelming the game with unnecessary “twists”, stop using the term “expect the unexpected” because for the past 6 season your audience has been able to consistently expect a predictable series of old tired lame casting ideas. I can’t do it anymore, my name is officially on the new unimpressive ‘departure wall’—-I’m self evicting from this disappointing mess of a show:-(

    • Agreed, feel like they’re riding the emotional connection we get with past houseguests and you see the physical similarities in this cast and houseguest from the past
      paulie = codie
      tiffany = vanessa
      corey = clay
      michelle = nicole
      vicotor = looks like Kaysar acts like beast mode
      I just think survivor does a much better job casting.

    • Hoping you don’t leave and know that some seasoned veterans (like myself and a few others) have been crying out for the past 5-6 seasons for them to get back to the show’s ”roots” of not making it an eye-candy contest…. Yes you can (and sadly probably need) some eye candy, but to make 80% of everyone a part-time model, actress, or athlete is getting too much…

  17. I don’t like the team twist but the ay it would keep this season on it’s toes and not be overrun by one alliance or another is each week switch up the teams so it’s always ne. That way there would be less of an opportunity for an alliance to run the house like it’s been in recent past seasons!

  18. I am so tired of Allison Grodner’s cookie cutter casts. You can take every single newbie this season and easily see what mold they fit i.e. Bronte/Ian, Corey/Clay, Paul/Austin, etc. etc.

    Every single year we see how much better BB Canada is without Grodner’s influence (Robin Kass gets to cast BB CAN all the way down to who gets in the door vs. how she only get to cast down to final 50 on BB USA and then Grodner comes in with her cookie cutters and casts the rest!).

    BB USA has gone down the tubes since BB14 and it’s just sad at this point…

    • Hey Neil. I very much agree… Yes ”some” eye candy and some stereotypes are fine, but when the majority of the cast is a part time model, actress, or athlete it’s really quite sad it no longer reflects the original shows purpose. Will I still watch? Yes. But do I care about the characters involved? Not really. I’d much rather cheer knowing that my neighbor from down the road (with 3 kids and a mortgage) has a chance to actually change his life with a show like this, than a 20-something model who thinks this show might help launch their career a step further….

      • Hey, Matt! Just to deviate from your scenario….I’d much rather cheer for a grandma who is raising her grandchildren(and there are many), than, let’s say, an old fart who cheats on his wife. I guess what I’m trying to say is, I’d really love to see a season with all 40’s and 50’s, maybe throw a 60 or two in there. But, alas, I don’t think that would appeal to a high enough percentage of the BB audience, so I know it will never happen. We’ll make the best of and have fun with whatever they give us and they know it; cause, it’s BB and we love it.

      • Oh very much agreed, but on this show it’s funny how people’s morality and understanding of truth gets warped. Take for example what you’re saying with the cheating guy… Dan Gheesling who was everyone’s fave had no issues with lying, cheating, falsely swearing on the Bible, and yes even taking somebody’s warped affection towards him as a means towards his goal. Then others who were older and more outwardly emotional and opinionated like say Jerry (who felt like because he knows ”some” things about what was going on) kept mouthing off and it became apparent that his truth was based more on opinion and his own warped understanding of events… I guess what I’m saying (and hopefully where we can both agree) is that it’s FAR more enjoyable to see a whole spectrum of truth and characters in the house so that everyone can make their own judgements on who ”should” be in there and who shouldn’t.

      • Peachy. Stick around for the show tonight. Hard to follow all the messages, but it’s fun.

      • Truth, in the BB house. Now there is an oxymoron. LOL Dan sacrificed his morals, as most HGs will. I have come to accept that and expect that… to an extent. And, imo, there is no way to live in that house without each individual having their own warped sense of the events. I can still cheer for some of them because they are living in a situation that is not reality. Their true character is being sorely tested. I used cheating guy for an example of someone that his true character is being an immoral, lying, conniving user loser outside the house. It would be difficult for me to cheer for him even if he was the most intelligent, smooth-talking, and most likable guy in the house. Kind of like Frankie, his true character came through in the house. I didn’t find it attractive. But some people loved Frankie. And I’m sure there would be some who believed the cheater guy had good reason’s to cheat. Amazing how we humans think. Gosh, it’s almost time for BB, gonna’ be there? Later, Matt.

    • I think it comes down to the actual quality of the casting pool for BBUS. If it turns out that majority are the same as previous years, it would be hard find one that stands out.

      We’re actually to have gotten even the most interesting characters out of everyone who auditioned, whether or not they were good players: Ian, Chef Joe, Jenn, Helen, Amanda, Caleb, Donny, Derrick, Nicole, Asian James, Jason, Vanessa, Meg, Johnny Mac and Becky.

      Regardless of what they look like, I’d rather see a diverse mix of personalities since this is one that stand out most rather than coming from different occupations, or ethnicities. It’s when these personalities clash that makes Big Brother what it is.

  19. I think Bronte has the best chance of surviving so far. I think Doc girl comes in second , if she can keep her brains under the radar. 1st to go, not counting 1st comp loser, will be all those in the “vets must go clan”, until that concept gets stomped out, 1st to peel of that pack, gets my 3rd best chances of survival.

    Liking the team thing – its forced alliances. So much is going to fall back on the choices that were made on 1st impressions. It gets people see how well people work with each other, out in the open, so after teams split stronger alliances can be formed. That’s what the players should be planning for. This is going to be good. Life’s an experiment, let’s not knock the format until we see how it plays out.

  20. I love Bronte. Hope she hops on the Vets alliance. Paul, Jozea, and Naomi Campbell need to go asap.

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