sociological experiment soon turned into freak show (Big Brother (TV Series))

Member Name: bruffyboy

Product:	Big Brother (TV Series)
Date:	05/02/09 (47 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: voyeurism

Disadvantages: they're all acting up to the camera!

WHAT IS IT ABOUT:
Members of the public live in a house with a difference: this one's full of cameras. With their every move tracked on TV, the group go through highs and lows throughout the week. At the end of the week, one contestant is evicted by the public, and the winner takes home £100,000. The show airs yearly on Channel 4.

IS IT ANY GOOD:
Big Brother was an exciting concept when it first hit our screens all those years ago. The contestants back then were, on the whole, an interesting but accurate cross-section of society as we know it. The programme was, on many levels, an intriguing sociological experiment that allowed us to observe human behaviour under a micro-scope. There were dramas (Nasty Nick in particular), but the house remained a fairly normal place, and the show was strangely entertaining.

Sadly, by season two onwards, house-mates had the advantage that they had seen the previous season on TV, and pre-madonna madness swept the Big Brother Set as year after year the housemates became more bizarre, eccentric and isolated: trans-gender he she and Tourettes man were two examples of the sensationalist angle the show went down. Out of the window went the 'let's see a miniature version of society' angle, and in came 'freak show fight fest'. It was still entertaining, but not educational or food for thought.

IF YOU LIKED IT:
You may also enjoy 'Wife Swap', another show that offers a voyeuristic glance into the secret lives of eccentric and bizarre people.

IN CONCLUSION:
Yet another show that appeals to the voyeur in us, the Big Brother of today is a sensationalist freak show, and has lost its more subtle beginnings as an intriguing sociological experiment.

Summary: pre-madonna heaven