According to an article by Andrew Sherwin in The Times (via Dave Lee), the ratings for this year's Big Brother have been catastrophic. Apparently, the viewing figures for the desirable 16-34 demographic have dropped by a huge 25.6% while the universal viewing figures have dropped by 16.7% compared with last year. That's an average of half a million less people watching Big Brother.
The article claims that without Big Brother, Channel 4 would struggle to satisfy it's public service duty, which is clearly nonsense as the bulk of Channel 4's output at the moment is Justin Lee Collins vehicles, unfunny comedy and bad documentaries. Channel 4 actually did a much better job as a public service broadcaster before Big Brother ever turned up. That argument is a bit like airlines claiming that any green tax or blocked airport expansion would result in their having to massively raise prices, cheerfully ignoring the fact that is arlines raise their prices then less people will travel and that if Channel 4 do not do their duty as a public service broadcaster then they'll be flogged off or they'll have their license pulled.
That spurious claim aside, the article also suggests that the racist bullying of Shilpa Shetty might well have popped the BB bubble. Personally, I'm not so sure it's that simple.
If racism did have an effect upon Big Brother it was that it set a much higher standard for the kind of ghoulish, prurient scandalous viewing that the British public love and that Big Brother positively thrives upon. Big Brother has always had a human zoo element, like paying to see the inmates of Bedlam, the show allows the British public to sit at home and sneer at the proles while they get drunk, snog, fall over and argue with each other. While the social experiment and soap operatic elements are still present in Big Brother, the show has clearly become more and more about watching a human zoo, hence Big Brother's increasing fondness for filling the house with people who might very well be mentally ill. If the human zoo is the name of the game then watching three minor celebrities bully someone for being asian is difficult to top and this year's Big Brother has suffered from those raised expectations. However, I don't think that this accounts for the drop in viewing figures.
Part of the pleasure of the Big Brother format is its interactivity. Back in the late 90's, interactivity was going to revolutionise the way TV was made but in truth, it had hardly any effect at all. Indeed, Big Brother remains one of the few programmes where the viewer can have a real impact upon the dynamics of the show by choosing to eject different housemates, in principle at least. In truth, the weekly eviction boils down to little more than a rather crude popularity contest with each series' winner generally being the "nicest" person in the house. Whether as an exercise in interactive drama or a moral crucible, Big Brother gives its viewers a weekly hit of psychological closure. Traditionally the edited highlights would sculpt story lines allowing people to make clear moral judgements and, if they're on the right side the viewing public have the satisfaction of booing the shit out of the evicted housemate. How many TV programmes allow you to go and boo the baddies?
This year's Big Brother has suffered for its lack of story lines. For weeks now, the only thing going on in the house has been Chiggy's dismayingly on-again, off-again relationship and Charley trying to make friends and then spectacularly falling out with different people over real and perceived slights. These two pieces of drama have had such a huge effect upon the house dynamics that there is little room for anything else to go on. This is something not helped by the presence of the Twins and Tracey who rarely engage in an emotionally meaningful way with anyone and the failed promise of the likes of Liam who now does very little and militant revolutionary Carole who now spends most of her time grinding her teeth over household chores and people's refusal to do as they're told. However, while this year's selection of housemates has not been particularly stellar, Big Brother's rank cowardice and dishonest protection of Charley has robbed the show of one of its most appealing characteristics; the ability to re-invent itself organically.
Big Brother is a show that routinely changes as it goes on. Initial weeks are spent dealing with the more mouthy and difficult housemates who tend to be swiftly evicted before the more stable personalities are allowed to flourish thanks to the greater attention lavished upon them. As different housemates are evicted, people that were hiding in the background suddenly loom larger and old cliques are broken down and split up by the weekly march of time like great mountains split by an eroding river. This means that if you're bored with existing plot-lines the series will, soon enough, provide you with some new ones. By protecting Charley, Big Brother has effectively robbed the show of this ability to regenerate. The house dynamics are the same on day 50 as they were on day 10; Charley and Chanelle are still bitter rivals, Chanelle and Ziggy are still hooked together unhealthily and the entire house lives in fear of Charley's next explosive temper tantrum. If you're not interested by these dynamics then the current series of Big Brother has nothing to offer you and has had nothing to offer you for at least the last month. Even if you enjoy that particular set of plot lines, to keep them going for over a month will try the patience of most TV viewers.
Big Brother's protection of Charley has resulted in Charley coming to dominate the house to the exclusion of all other potential story lines. The Big Brother producers protect Charley because they're terrified that the ratings will get even worse but at the same time they have done little explore the possibilities of other plot lines or look into the personalities of some of the more discrete housemates. Their timidity is killing the show by depriving it of its ability to, like Doctor Who, regenerate and find new plot lines.
This is why the viewers are turning off in their droves. They're bored. They want something different. At this point a good bit of racism would be a godsend.
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