Big Brother is Watching
LOS ANGELES (AP) via NewsEdge Corporation -
On the CBS Studio Center lot, tucked into a
corner usually given over to parking spots, is the
house that voyeurism built.
Dutch, Spanish and German viewers have gone
wild over a television show that joins 10
strangers in a spartan home for three months
under unblinking cameras and the audience’s
judgmental eye.
In July, America will get its own version of the
peep show with “Big Brother,'’ and CBS is
gambling that the titillation quotient and ratings
will be as impressive on this side of the Atlantic.
The upside for players: a $500,000 prize for the
one who avoids being expelled by fellow
housemates and the TV audience. The
downside: cameras everywhere. (Yes,
everywhere. Even in the bathroom.)
And then there’s the tacit “No Exit'’ sign.
“They can leave if they want. The door’s open
… but it’s a one-way door,'’ said Paul Romer, the
Dutch TV executive who helped create “Big
Brother'’ and is producing the U.S. version.
CBS is the same network that’s airing
“Survivor,'’ based on a Swedish show, in which
16 people compete on a desert island for a $1
million prize. Both followed the success of ABC’s
“Who Wants to be a Millionaire,'’ patterned
after a British game show.
And audiences have responded. “Survivor'’
managed to hold its own in its debut against
“Millionaire'’ and scored impressively among
coveted younger viewers.
“People want something different. There’s more
of a voyeuristic nature to our watching habits,'’
contends Leslie Moonves, president of CBS
Television, which paid a reported $20 million to
Dutch producer Endemol Entertainment for rights
to “Big Brother,'’ to run July 6-Sept. 30.
“People are intrigued by seeing someone who
could be their next-door neighbor or their Uncle
John in a situation like this,'’ Moonves said.
Robert Thompson, director of the Center for the
Study of Popular Television at Syracuse
University, agrees.
“Voyeurism and television were destined to
embrace, and the miracle, I think, isn’t so much
that they’ve finally done so. The miracle is
they’ve taken so long,'’ Thompson said _
especially given the successful tenure of MTV’s
“Real World.'’
The mild-mannered Romer makes “Big Brother’s'’
concept seem benign, despite its chilling
Orwellian title (drawn from the novel ‘’1984,'’
about a totalitarian society devoid of privacy).
“It’s just a television show. It’s fun,'’ he said.
“Humans are curious beings. We like to know
how other people live. We like to know what
other people do.'’
The audience will see “normal Americans, living
their lives more or less normally in this house …
It’s fun to get to know them during those three
months, and it’s kind of a reflection of society.'’
Kind of. First, the 10 participants will surrender
virtually all contact with the outside world along
with their privacy.
The 1,800-foot home, with adjoining vegetable
garden and exercise area, is screened to prevent
the CBS studio crew _ which represents the
outside world, kind of _ from contaminating “Big
Brother’s'’ hermetic environment.
The house is stocked with staples, including
beans, rice, potatoes and frozen meat.
Participants have to tend the vegetable crop
and the chicken coop.
There’s no television, no radio, no newspapers,
although each person can bring a small suitcase
with a few distractions such as books or games.
What’s in plentiful supply are cameras (28) and
microphones (60).
Tracks running behind one-way mirrors allow the
cameras to sneak along in pursuit of the players.
Other remote-control cameras are fixed
throughout the house, including a small
“lipstick'’ version in the shower.
“The bathroom camera is never shown on
television,'’ said series co-executive producer
Douglas Ross. “It’s there for the participants’
safety. We also want them to not have any
private places, so they can’t go into the
bathroom and have a conversation which we’re
not privy to.'’
Condensed versions of each day’s footage will be
shown in half-hour episodes Monday, Tuesday
and Friday, with a one-hour recap Saturday. On
Thursday, “Big Brother'’ raises the ante with a
full hour of live TV.
Internet users can conduct round-the-clock
surveillance.
Every two weeks, the housemates will nominate
two colleagues for expulsion, with TV viewers
then voting out one of them by telephone. At
the end, the audience will choose the winner
from the three remaining players.
The German version of “Big Brother'’ used
careful editing to juice up the action, according
to one magazine article. Romer, who contends
that’s “not entirely accurate,'’ said no liberties
will be taken here.
“We’re on the Internet 24 hours a day, real
time, so if we try to manipulate events we would
have a lot of reaction from the Internet
community,'’ he said.
“Big Brother'’ will, however, toy with its guests.
The group will face regular challenges, such as
agreeing on who gets dibs on rare phone
privileges.