CBS has been strangely silent over the past few weeks about their big summer reality series Big Brother. What we know about the eighth installment of the cult hit is minimal. It will debut July 5th and Julie Chen will be the host. That’s about all. We don’t know which days the shows will air, how many times a week it will be on, who the cast is, what changes have been made to the format, or even what the show’s time slot will be. Can CBS have a good reason for keeping all this Big Brother knowledge a secret?
Your Take
macy said: Will big brother 8 usa air in the uk this year?
Jessica said: As if its not live, how lame! Thats well crap Big Brother USA sucks!
eezee said: BB8 starts filming 6/24 and will air July 5th.You will not want to miss this season
It’s understandable that they are keeping the format changes and cast a secret. They’ll reveal all the new twists to us at the same time they do the cast. Also, it’s possible that CBS hasn’t even nailed down a final cast list yet. Given the live nature of Big Brother, it’s easy to swap in cast members at the last minute. But, still, why won’t CBS say anything about time slots or schedule? Well, maybe they want to keep their options open.
Big Brother has typically aired three times a week, and one of those weekly time slots is the Thursday 8PM slot. Right now, that time slot is being occupied by Mark Burnett’s new reality creation Pirate Master. Will CBS take over Pirate Master’s slot? Will Pirate Master move? Will they both air on Thursdays?
The answer probably isn’t yet known. It would be wise of CBS to wait and see if Pirate Master can catch any kind of ratings traction. The reality series’ first episode received disappointing ratings, but they weren’t apocalyptic. It’s possible that CBS will put Pirate Master and Big Brother back to back, and the order will depend on how well Pirate Master is doing. If the show picks up some more viewers, CBS could very well decide to make it Big Brother’s Thursday’s lead-in.
What do you think? What should CBS do on these summer Thursday nights?
-Oscar Dahl, BuddyTV Senior Writer
Senior Writer, BuddyTV
