To loosely quote the inspiration for a reality show that is currently getting me through this drought in entertainment caused by the writer’s strike – I love Big Brother.
If you know anything about me, you know that my entire existence is wrapped around film and television. So, you can imagine my reaction to hearing that both writers and actors would be going on strike to fight for fair wages in a post-streaming service and AI world.
I fully support workers not allowing the greed of studios and other entertainment companies to profit from them without little care or concern for their wellbeing.
Streaming services like Max and studios like Disney only care about adding more zeros to their bank accounts while their writers whom they treat like cash cows struggle to make a living.
This doesn’t even take into consideration how artificial intelligence is being used as a cheaper alternative to hiring workers and treating them with decency and respect.
But two truths can exist at the same time – I support the strike and I also feel like I am trapped in my hell.
Yes, I’m being dramatic but the point still stands.
With this boredom, I have learned to appreciate the finer things in life. I’ve started reading more, I picked up my old high school gaming addiction, and – like many Americans – I have been forced to reduce the high expectations of shows like Succession set for me and survive on the lowest form of entertainment. Reality television.
This genre of TV doesn’t offer any ounce of commentary or true development. It’s a cycle of the same mess and before this long writers drought, I would never be caught dead by watching a reality show.
My opinion was, and in some cases still is, that shows like Keeping Up with the Kardashians and Jersey Shore only exist to rot the brain.
But times have changed.
I have found a new respect for all things reality TV. Sister Wives, the 90-Day franchise, and even the Kardashians have become tolerable over the past few months. And at the top of the pyramid stands CBS’ Big Brother.
Big Brother follows a group of adults who are forced into self-isolation to complete a summer-long social experiment shown on public 24/7 live feeds consisting of backstabbing, emotional manipulation, and paranoia. This season centers on 17 houseguests and only one of them will claim the $750,000 reward.
Before the strike, I never paid close attention to competition shows. But now I can’t stop talking about it. My obsession peaked when I gleefully watched the houseguest participate in a sixteen-hour endurance competition and was more worried about my favorite players winning than going back to work and doing my actual job.
The only tragedy in all this is I have no one to talk Big Brother with. No one in my world seems to share my devotion to watching every breathing moment of each houseguest.
Thankfully, The King’s Opinion was built for situations like this.
Currently, we’re at week seven of a hundred-day game. And it feels like the game has only just gained momentum. The house is in the midst of yet another power struggle. But this time it seems like the ones who have always been on top will go home empty-handed.
Navigating the Big Brother house seems like a near-impossible task from outside the walls.
Love birds America and Cory have irreversibly intertwined their games, and it has only hurt them. Their romance has put a target on their backs. That and Cory’s decision to make it known by all that he is going after Jared and Cirie after he and Jared’s heated argument.
Jared being the current head of household, meaning he has the power to put up two players for eviction, has decided to put up the pair.
America and Cory are currently on the block but are their dreams of winning Big Brother at an end? It seems like America’s dreams are done while her boyfriends are a different story.
Cory is a player who has studied the show for years, and it shows in how he plays his cards. He has a strong social game and is very easily able to turn the tides of a conversation in his favor. But that alone isn’t the reason why he will survive in the long run.
He knows that he isn’t a physical threat, so he uses his social skills. Cory has surrounded himself with strong players who have felt isolated in the game – Jag and Matt.
These two have shown nothing but loyalty to Cory and without a doubt, they will continue to.
On the other side of the equation are Jared, Cirie, Felicia, Mecole, and Blue. They’re all working together but how long this half-hearted alliance will last is tough to tell.
Finally, there are two outsiders in the game – Cameron and Bowie Jane. Yes, they’re the outsiders but their games couldn’t be farther from different.
Bowie Jane has done nothing in the game to make her stand out and seems to be treating this multimillion-dollar competition as a summer vacation.
On the other hand, Cameron, who fans have dubbed this season’s villain, is the strongest player and seems to have the greatest chance of winning the $750,000.
It shocks me how much I’m invested in a show like this, but here we are. We’re all stuck in the middle of this no-man’s-land level of entertainment due to the strike.
With projects continuing to be pushed further from reach, the only thing that seems to feel like that movie-shaped hole in my reality is the heightened and distorted reality of reality TV.
