It might seem a little melodramatic, but I think Big Brother this season is an excellent example of the 5 stages of grief in a compressed, reality tv show time frame:

1. Denial- This cannot be happening. How did they even find this many truly awful people?
2. Anger- This is horrible, and I kind of want to smack everyone involved.
3. Bargaining- Please, just don’t let Dick or Daniele win. Please. I’ll stop expecting anyone with a shred of decency to be … READ MORE

After last summer’s horrible display, I fully intended to live the rest of my life without seeing another episode. I’ve almost managed to do that- my awareness of this season’s cast came mostly from a relative I’m very fond of (despite her questionable taste in television) who’s addicted to it, until I clicked on a thread by mistake at an online forum and the first post I saw brought some truly appalling behavior to my attention. Now ‘misogynist’ is a … READ MORE

Big Brother All-Stars, part one and part two

So what was Erika’s big crime that focused everyone on her? She wanted to be a good person. Erika’s the one who didn’t pick on anyone, who cried every time she had to evict someone she actually liked, who tried to make goodbye videos that were sincere and apologized for voting people off even though everyone had to do it. And at the beginning of the season she did look a little … READ MORE

Big Brother All-Stars, part one

The show’s finale came down to Mike and Erika. If the other contestants were actually voting for the winner based on merit, there is no reason that Mike’s victory would have been assured, so there was really no other way to go than what happened. While the jury was discussing them even Mike’s best friend Will couldn’t come up with one legitimate thing that would convince people that Mike should win:

“Do I respect the way Erika … READ MORE

Big Brother is kind of near the bottom of the reality-show hierarchy. At the top you have the award winning, generally positive shows like The Amazing Race and Survivor, and the ones that are simply unstoppable ratings grabbers like American Idol and Dancing With the Stars, and then BB is more towards the ‘voyeuristic and vaguely guilt inducing’ end of the spectrum. Last summer’s season of BB found an even more select (and possibly deranged) subset- people who were … READ MORE