Bore Me More

OK, I know I’ve previously claimed to not like reality TV shows (‘X-Rated’), but I’ll admit I’m already hooked on Celebrity Big Brother.  And, in what seems a paradox, the less interesting it is, the more I’m enjoying it.  I don’t think that’s as stupid as it sounds though, and it goes back to a long standing problem I have with BB.

For a casual observer, it would be very easy to label the current housemates as  set of dullards, with some showing all the personality of a damp sponge.  But this is a bit of a trick, since the endless parade of freaks that has blighted both versions of Big Brother have left anyone without a serious personality disorder seem a bit of a bore.  In television terms they’re ‘boring’, but this equates in the real world to ‘normal’, and they’ve clearly gone down this route for a reason;I think we all want to avoid a repeat of the petty schoolground bullying that Shilpa Shetty endured a couple of years ago.  This reluctance to put anyone too extreme in to the house has inadvertently shown something that Channel 4 forgot a long time ago. You don’t have to play ringmaster to the circus of the damned in order to have an enjoyable show.   And, that simply watching relationships develop, seeing how they deal with group conflicts and the tedium of the house can provide entertaining viewing in itself.  You don’t have to poke them with the cattle prod called Controversy every five minutes; in fact it becomes counter productive to do so as you get embroiled in an escalating game of one-upmanship with yourself, desperate not to have all subsequent episodes seem anticlimactic. If you have the courage to let things develop naturally, then sure, you don’t make headlines in the tabloids every day and channel hoppers will think nothing is happening (and will tell everyone they work with that nothing is happening).  However for those who stick with it, you provide a much more rewarding and genuine experience.

I stopped watching the regular Big Brother a few years ago after becoming sick of the battling neuroses. When I first started watching the show, with the relatively sedate BB2, the reason I liked it was because they all pretty much got along, they had a laugh and you felt part of the family.  I eagerly awaited BB3, which Channel 4 had seen fit to spice up by turning it in to a hermetically sealed Club Reps. It might be me, but the constant slanging matches and people getting wanked off under duvets seemed like something of a decline in comparison.  Perhaps this is why the more sedate amusement of Verne’s cabs and LaToya the jester seems like a refreshing change. 

Sadly, I suspect that I’m in a minority of one, and that they’ll have Jodie Marsh and Jackie Stallone shipped in by the weekend to save plummeting viewing figures. I’ll just have to make the most of it while it lasts.