Love it or loath it, Big Brother has, over the past 10 years, gained unfathomable popularity and recognition as the Godfather of reality TV.
On July 18th 2000, 11 hopefuls who were unaware of the potential of the show (along with its producers) to boost their celebrity, entered the house. Commonly blamed for ‘dumbing down’ television and creating celebrities out of people who are now simply famous for being famous, the show had undeniable impact on our viewing habits.
This impact, however, is waning and Big Brother is likely to finish on a high…well, at least on the way down.
In its infancy, Big Brother enjoyed mass popularity as the ultimate form of voyeurism – never before had we been privy to such minute detail of the lives of others. Kept like a group of pet hamsters in a giant house-like cage, we watched them, silently judging and absorbing scandal from the comfort our own homes and tearing them apart with friends, family and co-workers.
Big Brother perhaps came as a welcome change from the heavy focus on privacy at the time. The likes of Twitter and Facebook did not exist in the way they do now, providing insight into the daily lives of everyone in our network, so the concept of minute social sharing was indeed new.
The show, however, soon became a source of irritation for the public. Whilst some tuned in religiously, others eventually switched off indefinitely. Numerous attempts to save the show, increasing the audience’s interaction, creating scandal within the house and ’getting evil’, as Big Brother claimed, saw only mild peaks in viewing. The phrase ‘flogging a dead horse’ comes to mind.
As a society we are so constantly inundated with information and updates of others’ activities and thoughts, that watching somebody else live out their life on television seems somewhat boring now. Add that to the fact that we no longer watch ‘ordinary people’ on Big Brother, but instead, the most outlandish, fame hungry contestants Big Brother producers can find and it’s easy to see why the show is on its way out.
That said, hats off to the Big Brother executives who took a chance on a new idea and fed a voyeuristic hunger which was unprecedented. Big Brother is undoubtedly one of ‘the greats’ and, in my opinion; the only major mistake they made was staying around a little too long. ‘Always end on a high’ is a cliché for a reason, after all.
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