Can Big Brother survive?

1. Can it be as big as it was?
2. Can it survive at all under the present ownership with or without changes?

Can it be as big as it was?
The world has changed.  BB was new and exciting. Over the years it changed in what it offered and in what the viewers expected.  As a consequence its share of viewers fell over time.  There is more choice now. 
Can it be as big?  Not a chance.

Can it survive at all?  That depends.
If they don't change it cannot survive.  The reason is simple.  Big Brother has always been more than just a rat cage with performing rats in it.  Channel 5 seem to have missed the interaction with the public that made the show what it was in UK and the world.  Little Brother and Big Mouth, Diary Room Uncut, Psychiatrists plus the live feeds and specials all formed part of that Big Brother Experience for us.  They talked about their experience and we talked about ours.  We felt we owned the programme and for much of the time that was partially true.  We could communicate with the programme providers through the various doorways they provided us with.  We felt that someone recognised that without us the programme would not exist as it was.

That was the truth, here in the UK and throughout the world thanks to Endemol.  They have a vested interest in the success of the brand.  They should not let a team of rank amateurs lose the plot and the goodwill that kept the programme alive.  The money that CH5 gave to Endemol was enough to ensure that BB returned in the UK for one more year but it does not seem to have purchased the wisdom born of experience.

Looking at the show now some four weeks in, it is obvious that there was a fundamental lack of understanding of BB in the team who were selected to bring it to our screens.  From what we see of the tasks it looks like there are still good ideas being brought to the show but what is the point of that if nobody watches?  And nobody will watch because the audience numbers will drift on downwards, then the advertisers will withdraw their funding and then the show will be pulled.


The only way that the show will survive is if they hold a crisis meeting, bring back live feed, bring back real audience participation and generate the goodwill which they are losing with every day they maintain this arrogant and ignorant approach to the very people who can make the show a success.  Success is not measured by the numbers of tasks won, the shopping budgets awarded, the misery heaped upon the rat cage of massive egos and little ability.  It is measured by how much we like it and then how much we watch it and how we celebrate it with our parties and how we talk about it to colleagues.  And it is even measured by how much we vote.

Here is the news Mr Ford.  You choose not to hear us and we will choose to ignore you.  On that basis your show cannot survive.  Time is running out Mr Ford.  The dole queue for unsuccessful producers of TV programmes beckons.