Big Brother 19 - TV Review

This was one of the worst seasons of the show overall, but the finale wound up being very satisfying and redeemed it a little bit.

This season's twist was having a veteran return (Paul) and having someone else go home on the first night (Cameron). What made this more and more frustrating as the season went on is that Cameron seemed like he would be an interesting player. Meanwhile Paul was given three weeks of safety and in that time he was able to mesmerize over half of the house. From Ramses' eviction on, every week was predictable. Jessica, Cody, Elena, Mark, Matt, Jason, Raven, Alex, Kevin all went in the order we'd guess. Mix that in with serious mob-mentality bullying and harassing, and it was unpleasant. Each year there are houseguests who display loathsome behavior, but this just felt worse than most. And yet, equally annoying were the ones who refused to play the game.

The best thing about the finale was the jury interaction. Mark blasting his frustration at Matt's terrible gameplay, Raven actually making decent arguments, Cody just staring straight ahead, occassionally shaking his head.

Now that it's all over, I think the producers and future players will learn a lot from this. Get players who actually want to win, not just make jury and coast. Get players who aren't idiots. And no more mixing of vets and newbies. I mean, if they want to bring back vets, bring back ones who were eliminated too early, like Cameron.

CBS's Big Brother 18 - TV Review

This has been one of the lamer seasons in recent memory.

1. The cast skews too young - The original vision of the show was to have people from all walks of life living under one roof. The median age of the cast has been going down steadily, which means you're lucky to have more than two people over 30. This means the show is more concerned about showmances than engaging personalities. It also means they think Millennials will watch more if there's less variety in age.

2. Too many empty pretty people - Corey may have a nice body, I've been told, but the guy has no personality. He is boring boring boring. Then you have Paulie, who got in based on his brother's gameplay, but he wound up proving to be a misogynist bro. Every show needs a villain, but my goodness. As for the women, the ones with the most interesting personalities (Davonne, Bridgette) are out, although Natalie's the best of the remaining.

3. Too much diary room; not enough juicy footage - The show relies more and more on houseguests summarizing what happened in the diary room, rather than just showing us. BB17's Johnny Mac used this to his advantage, displaying a far different personality in the DR than outside. This time around? Ehhh, I'd say the best at it is Paul. But most of the HGs, I do not want to hear them gived coached summaries of what happened.

4. Too many opportunities to return - Victor won his way back into the house TWICE. There should only be one time someone can win their way back in, if there's an opportunity at all.

CBS's Big Brother 14 - TV Review

Wow.  It's been a pretty good season so far, but Wednesday night's episode may have been one of the greatest performances ever on that show.  Ever.  You can argue who the best player is in BB history.  They had the All-Stars season, and they've had past guests creep back in for this reason or that.  Some winners lucked into it; some earned it big time.  Dan earned his the first time around when he won it.  And what Dan did this week put him at the top of the pantheon of BB players.

Dan and three other past players (Mike Boogie, Janelle, Britney) came in as coaches, picking a team from the houseguests and helping them get to the end.  Dan's team was narrowed quickly to just Danielle, but then a twist came where the coaches were allowed to join as players.  Dan was in an alliance of five on one level (Britney, Shane, Ian) and an alliance of six on another.  Janelle was blindsided.  After the alliance of six blew up to send Mike Boogie home, the next target was Frank, but Frank won HoH.  He nominates Dan and Danielle.

There are two vetoes available, and Ian won the first one.  So if Britney or Shane can win the veto, both alliance members can be pulled off.  Trouble is, Frank's ally Jenn won the veto.  Dan's toast.

The veto competition had punishments tied to points.  Frank racked up a lot, but one of Dan's was to be in solitary confinement for 24 hours.  Dan had a full day to be by himself and plot.

When Dan came out, he dressed in black, and he welcomed everyone to Dan's funeral.  He generated tears from a few people, as Dan's a very likeable guy.  He said he knew he was going home but had nice things to say about everyone.  He left Frank and Danielle for last. He said he'd said some things about Frank he wasn't proud of and he wanted to explain and apologize in private later.  For Danielle, he said he knew she betrayed him and she was dead to him.  Dan and Frank left, and Danielle sobbed.  If Dan had kicked a puppy, it would have come off as less cruel.

Dan confesses everything about the alliance of five to Frank, and he makes sure Frank knows that Ian is the one who betrayed him last week.  He gets Frank to agree to a new alliance of four if Jenn would use her veto to save Dan and vote out Britney.  Michael Corleone and Walter White would marvel. Machiavelli would make some new notes to the special edition of The Prince.

Now Dan pulls Danielle aside.  She says "You broke my heart" but he explains it was all an act.  He lets her know the plan, and that Britney has to be the new target.  Instead of an alliance of five, he saved them both and now has them in an alliance of four.  "Couldn't you give me a heads-up?" "No because the tears had to be real."  "You would use my emotions to advance in this game?" "To get you to the end of this game, yes." And you could see the newfound respect for his means-justified ends wash across her face.  It took a few minutes, but in the end, Danielle was smiles.

And so, Ian didn't use his veto, but Jenn did, and now Britney's on the block with Danielle, her spirit broken.  Britney is the casualty, and as nice as Dan can be...

...don't ever back Dan into a corner.

Thursday's live show was almost anticlimactic.  We got to see Ian not fold at all but be determined and angry.  We saw Danielle doing a good job of pretending she and Dan were still on the outs.  And we saw Britney get in her digs before she was voted out.  And at this point, I don't think it matters who wins HoH.  I know Dan will always find a way to survive.

CBS's Big Brother - TV Review

The way the producers manipulate the outcome of this show is shameless, but I guess the house-hamsters are all aware of that when they come in. It was obvious they wanted a veteran to win, so they introduced Pandora's Box on the week that Porsche won HoH, and then made the next HoH competition physical in a week when Porsche can't play. Nice. Meanwhile, Adam has replaced Cowboy as the most useless BB player in history. I'm rooting for Porsche to win and I never would have guessed I'd feel that way in Week 1. I'd say I'm rooting for them in this order:

1. Porsche
2. Rachel
3. The house falls through a crack in the ground after a giant earthquake
4. Adam

Big Brother 11 Power Rankings

1. Jesse - The muscle-headed idiot from Season 10 is playing a little smarter this time around, though he's not about to let Russell go soon, as he knows the longer Russ is in, the longer he's in. His ego's still there, but he's a lot better about hiding it this time around.

2. Casey - The "hip-hop" teacher, and the oldest guy in the house, is playing it smart. I see him and Jesse facing off in a few weeks, but meanwhile Jesse's going to try to get out the last of the Populars while Casey works on getting out Chima.

3. Natalie - She's hot-headed at times, cool at other times, like a good athlete. She's willing to give up on Jeff but sees that Russell is hurting her team, and the way she's going she could easily be the last Athlete standing.

4. Jeff - He won the PoV when he needed to, and half the house loves him. And his main enemies CAN'T put him up for eviction.

5. Michelle - She's flying under the radar right now and will be able to continue to do so for a while. I'd be shocked if she wasn't the last Brain standing.

6. Kevin - Kinda weak right now. He'll get far by staying in Lydia's shadow, in that he'll always be safe as long as she's there, because anyone who wants him out wants her out more.

7. Lydia - She's proven to be a fighter, and with her blow-up with Russell, it looks like she'll be able to play both sides for a bit.

8. Jordan - If she survives tonight's vote, this blonde'll be considered one of the weakest players in the house, and therefore could almost guarantee at least another month of survival.

9. Ronnie - The "rat" is proving true to what many players before him have done, at least the ones who think they're smart. He overthinks everything, started playing both sides before there were any clear dividing lines, and he doesn't have the charm of, say, Dr. Will or BB10's Dan to win back sympathy.

10. Chima - Her diva attitude won't get her far.

11. Russell - The house bully has everyone on edge. I don't see him making it to the jury.

12. Laura - She's smarter than her enhancement surgery would suggest, but methinks she won't be able to survive tonight's vote.