Big Brother

My guilty pleasure this summer has been Big Brother 7: All-Stars. I've watched this show every year, except last year, where it was been ideal summer entertainment: dumb, nutrition-free, and endlessly fascinating. This year, stealing from Survivor (which is a better show, admittedly) CBS has brought back "All-Stars" to play once again. The selection process was a little dubious. Only one winner was chosen to play again, and a few people who didn't get far the first time around were no doubt brought back because they make good TV, rather than for any game-playing skill.

Similar to Survivor, a group of people are put into a house and week-by-week they evict someone until there are only two people left, and then a jury of the evicted chooses a winner. There are fundamental differences between the two shows, though. While Survivor puts their contestants in harsh living conditions, the "houseguests" of Big Brother have it easy. Their days seem to be filled with lying in bed, relaxing, idling, and goofing off. Occasionally their food is restricted, this year at times they were put on "slop," which looks like pretty vile gruel. Still, it's got to beat working. Also, the houseguests are consistently some of the most shallow people you will ever see. This year is even worse, as we have people who are in that small niche known as "reality show contestants." They even have their own lingo, such as "showmance," which is a relationship between two people during the course of the show. Who knew?

Despite the contempt I have for most of the people I'm watching, I'm hooked. It's part soap opera, part chess match. It's fun to see how people constantly make bad decisions. This year, the whole group has been very stupid to allow Will, a Machiavellian dermatologist who won his season five years ago, to manipulate them all like a puppeteer. He's teamed with the incredibly obnoxious Mike (or Boogie), and that the others didn't break up this combo in the first week or any week thereafter is testament to their idiocy. And, again this season, a woman is allowing her feelings for a man sway her thinking. Erika somehow has the hots for Boogie (what can she be thinking) and has hitched her wagon to him, even though we know Boogie will throw her over for Will.

All of this is hosted by CBS news-reader Julie Chen (nicknamed Chenbot by the vicious fans of the show on message boards) who treats the whole thing like it was the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Last night's show was particularly eventful, as Erika sold out her friend Danielle, who has a bit of a drinking problem, and got tanked on vino and made a spectacle of herself. This is the kind of stuff the producers know us viewers love, and I have to admit, I do.