And this next part might be something I’m most excited about for Big Brother Over The Top. Remember how most HGs didn’t wake up until around 5PM ET on Wednesdays? Those days are gone. “For the first time ever, we’re going to have curfews for people to be awake! Waking hours! Instead of logging on to see a lot of people sleeping like in the summer.”
This change on sleeping is something I definitely hope they take back from BBOTT for the next Big Brother season on CBS. Big Brother Canada has had announcements about “nap time is over” for those HGs who stayed in bed too long so it’s not like this is impossible or unreasonable to do for the CBS season either. Fingers crossed.
Another thing to get excited about are the live Diary Room sessions. ” We’re going to live stream, but it’s their opportunity to go in there and talk directly to the viewers. [They will be] answering questions that will be given to them in some form. We’re still figuring that out,” says Grodner.
Right now there are only two, one-hour slots in the BBOTT schedule for live DRs. I’m hoping that gets extended quickly to allow a lot more time and discussions in there.
Meehan adds, “The thing we wanted to make sure is that if you’re watching the feeds, there’s still opportunities for you to get inside people’s heads to know what they’re actually thinking, who they’re really being loyal to, who they’re playing. We want to give the houseguests the opportunity to tell viewers what’s actually going on.” This is of course hilarious when compared to those awful, scripted DR sessions that make the CBS broadcast episodes. It’s been years and years since we got authentic DR sessions so this should be interesting.
And finally, will we ever see Over The Top again or is this a one-off just to build hype for CBS’s All Access? Buckle up. “Yeah, if it does well and people like it! We’re kind of breaking new ground. We’re the perfect show to do something like this. Having a big show in this digital world would be awesome,” says Meehan.
So there you go and I hope that gets you excited for Big Brother Over The Top starting on Wednesday night at 10PM ET (7PM PT) only on All Access. Sign-up now for the All Access Free Trial to watch all of the BBOTT events, episodes, and Live Feeds. If this goes off well then we can expect more BBOTT in the future!
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
Terrible. No good. Listen, even I don’t know exactly what I want when I watch this show. You can’t judge people on first impressions, and that’s what giving outsiders the power to do is. It’s stupid. I HATED Paul. Hated him. He would have been gone if I had that power, and the numbers prove it. However, he’s a nice and funny guy and I wish he won the show. THE GAME should be decided and played by the PLAYERS only. That’s it. Or it becomes a popularity contest. Paul wouldn’t have made it to the end. SO IT MEANS people are just going to be APPEALING TO THE VIEWER! You want fights? You want drama? Well, you won’t get too much of it, because once we nominate jerks that fight too much, they’ll smarten up and just sleep more in front of the cams.
Not necessarily. Most of the HG HATED Evel Dick, but America LOVED to hate him and put into play obstacles for Eric (America’s Player) that helped ED in the game during BB 8. Therefore, sometimes America can pick a player that is both hated and loved alike and it makes the game more interesting. I am afraid some of these options give viewers too much power…but I am hoping it will work out without compromising the game.
What you’re describing and how this show is set up are 2 different things. It’s one thing to have people sabotage stuff and what not, and then see how the HG’s respond. That’s fine, and that’s what BB should give us. Let us select weird punishments, and crazy little saboteur missions, and all the fun stuff. If we have minor influence on the game, like giving a person safety one week (but we can’t ever help them again) or they can never be a Have-Not.. Cool. Still pretty minor. Letting us select the winner is stupid, and it sounds like we’ll have some other influence that could also decide who HG’s could choose to nominate from? I don’t like that at all.
In your original post, you said HG will start appealing to viewers in order to cultivate some sort of favoritism from the viewers…and I responded with how some players (like ED) are BOTH loved and hated by HG and America alike, so I do not see that as being an issue–and I still don’t. America will always have a face and will influence that players game in favor of them. It has been happening for years.
What I do see as an issue is viewers having too much control in respect to nominations and evictions–and I mention how I think some of the options they are giving viewers might be too much. In this we are in agreement; however, I am also choosing to keep an open mind and wait to see how it pans out before making judgments.
I’m hoping BBOTT will be amazing b/c the live feeds will constantly be buzzing… :)
We’re not controlling the HOH or nominations or evictions. They said we would vote on the winner so we will only control who wins between two people. We don’t control how they get there.
LG, it sounds like the viewers will actually have a hand in the noms and the evictions as well. Hopefully not too much though.
Oh then I read the article wrong. I thought we were only voting the winner because they’re not having a jury. I hope we don’t control it all because some people vote on favorites and not game. But I’m watching it and hope it’s good.
So did Matt misinterpret this?
“Viewers are voting on the winner, but it sounds like they won’t be interfering with nominations as I thought they might with possibly giving some of the HGs safety from danger that week. ‘There’s a nice balance between the houseguests having control in terms of nominations and evictions and other things within the house,’ says Grodner.”
Not too sure Saturn, as I didn’t notice Grodner’s quote. But, here’s what Rich Meehan said in this article:
“And there will be lots of fun and interactive elements for people. Some are already released. We know now that America will be choosing the winner. We know that they’re going to choose the 13th castmember. But they’re also going to play a role in nominations. They will play a role in the eviction and they will play a role in the twists that roll out this fall. There’s going to be lots of interactivity for fans.”
I figured that was whatever this Safety thing is.
Grodner says “houseguests having control in terms of nominations and evictions” which sounds like HGs are doing the noms, not us if they really have control. But considering Grodner & Meehan are saying they’re still figuring things out (ie. the DRs) then who knows the right answer here.
Above quote in the article: ‘In another interview Grodner says, “We can tell you that [viewers] will be involved in nominations.”‘
Read what Matt just replied. ^^
^ That’s a great point…I would have happily voted both Paul AND Victor out at the beginning of the season because I thought they were obnoxious and arrogant…now they are 2 of my favorites of all time. Hopefully this season doesn’t disappoint.
Never mind
Still don’t know the answer to the most important question – What will happen if you can’t watch live (i.e. East Coast, or just elsewhere at the time it “airs”)? Will the “episodes” be packaged up for viewing the next day on CBS All Access, or will you have to use the rewind function?
Rewind is a non-starter, since you can only do it from a web-browser, which you can’t do on a TV-connected device (e.g. Roku, Apple TV, etc.). I guess you could Google Cast or AirPlay mirror, but that reduces video quality.
If my wife and I are going to watch BBOTT, it’s going to be on the big-screen, together. And we’re not going to be up at 10pm or midnight to do so.
Hopefully they’ve thought this through and will have an answer for our timezone. If not, we’ll still have our All Access subscription, but we’ll be watching BB Season 4, having just finished up Season 3.
I’m wondering the same… Because as a mother of 4, there’s no way I can catch things on the feeds as they happen and I don’t like sitting at the computer. Ever. I either use the iPad or my phone to view feeds so hopefully they have thought of this.
The episodes will be packages and available in a list of things to go back and watch. Last season on Roku I could go in and select specific clips/segments for Jeff interviews, etc. They’ll do that with these too.
Great to hear! Thanks for the info. Yes, can always get the clips on Roku, but just wasn’t sure they’d be packaging things this way.
Yes it’s really lame that they don’t have rewind built into the apps
I can still see the DR stuff being scripted, to a degree. I mean, they’re going to be able to read and answer questions from the audience? That just means that production is going to go through everything they get to make sure nothing’s too revealing or controversial, or even hate-filled, for any particular HG.
DR scripting has Corey go in and they say “say XYZ” and Corey mumbles back “XYZ.” Then they say, that was okay, but say XYZ with more energy, and Corey tries to muster a pulse and again says “XYZ.”
That’s the kind of scripted, coached DR sessions we want to avoid. If they’re live and we’re listening then production can’t have that sort of back and forth of redoing lines fed to them until they get it the way they want for the show.
Which will be different, for sure, and something we’re all looking forward to. But let’s face it. They’re not gonna give them questions from the audience that are purposely looking to screw over someone else. Like someone writes: “Dear HG, did you know that HG B has been throwing you under the bus just after the two of you formed an alliance?” THAT’S what I’m talking about.
Not a very flattering picture of either of them.