This is an instalment of a regular commentary on Big Brother from Dr Toni Johnson-Woods, Lecturer in Contemporary Studies, The University of Queensland.
Big Brother viewers come in all varieties. Some view the webcam 24/7 (24 hours, 7 days a week), some just watch the television shows and some do both. This is the first television show to offer such a plethora of viewing opportunities. Your viewing practices influence your viewing pleasures.
Television audiences have only brief glimpses into the personalities of the players and are given the director's cuts. BB is slotted after Neighbours and the lines between television (scripted) program and documentary are blurred. The television viewer is more likely to mirror some of the behaviours of the BB characters-i.e. eating dinner or sitting in a living room with other people. Advertisements break the "reality" and thus the viewer is more likely to perceive the show as part of their television experience, not a "real" show. This effect is magnified because the BB setting is one with which television viewers are most familiar. Since the earliest days of television, audiences have been used to peeking into other people's houses. Some have lived with the Honeymooners, I Love Lucy, Bewitched, The Brady Bunch, and Friends.
While they might have watched Sylvania Waters, generally, viewers have been exposed to scripted, entertaining stories performed by professional actors. The shonky editing and jerky camera work do not fare well in comparison and though it suggests reality, they might prefer the glossy Survivor. BB fails because it is not entertaining; it lacks polish. These viewers are more likely to find BB boring because it is bad television.
The Internet BB audience is more likely to be addicted. They claim to "know" the BB characters better because they have been privy to their most intimate secrets, secrets which the TV show edits out. They are ahead of TV audiences because they are viewing live-the TV show is a day late. They are the doyens of gossip and rumour; they have read emails from people claiming to have dated BB contestants and "chatted" with people who claim to be family. They are in great demand at the water-cooler for they are the purveyors of the urban myths: the BB house was originally used in Paradise Beach, Jemma is a "plant" etc. Each day there is a new myth. Because of their encyclopaedic knowledge of the events in the house, their opinions are listened to with great reverence and their wildest claims are unquestioned.
They may be technocrats who are showing the technophobes how to download Real Player; BB has given them power for they understand the technology. Generally, they are part of the MTV generation who grew up viewing people in houses (in 1992 MTV started Real World); this is a natural progression in their viewing experiences. (The paradox is that they have also been reared on quick takes, channel surfing and web surfing, their attention spans are notoriously short). BB, to them, is reality: from the showers to the drunken parties. They have seen the development of romances and witnessed the fights; they know the full "story". They have been watching since day one and the more they watch, the more they want to watch. These viewers are more likely to be enthralled by BB because it has become part of their lives.
Dr Toni Johnson-Woods
The complete set of commentaries is available at https://www.uq.edu.au/news/bigbrother
