Advantages: Addictive, You can watch it 24 hours a day
Disadvantages: Addictive!, Not the original

...Big Brother is back, and better than ever. With 10 new contestants aiming to get £70,000, thousands of people have been addicted to watching this show to see what is happening in their lives. One of them being me. Now I enjoy my fair share of TV sitcoms, but when I watch them, I know they are not real. With Big Brother, you are watching 10 people live their lives normally (well, almost “normally”-see below) but this time you know it is all real. That’s why you can get so addicted to it. THE HISTORY Big Brother first started last year. Then there was Celebrity Big Brother, which only lasted one week instead of 8, and only had 5 people in it instead of 10. Now Big Brother is back-named Big Brother 2. WHAT IT IS ALL ABOUT 10 people are picked from about 50,000 applicants, and they must go to a house in London... Read review

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Advantages: Its Live On E4, Big Brother Little Brother is on, Has Live on Sky Digital, Better House Than last time, more things to do.
Disadvantages: calls cost 25p and not 10p like last time. So less people will call. Cant go out off the door when someone is being evicted, Play crap music when evicted people leaving, not advertised that much.

...Big Brother 2 has started and is it as big as last time it came around. I have bought all the Big Brother Stuff from Books to CD's to T-shirts and is it all going to happen again and then everyone forgets about it. Is it going to be as good as last time will there be some Action,Drama and Horrer lets hope so, Penny, Stuart and Narinder have gone and is anyone missing them, im missing Narinder she was the best of them all and the most honest. To be honest i think it will be better than last time it came as Big Brother producers know how to livin it up. They have all been throught hell in the Big Brother house when Stuart had a fight with Penny and Stuart he was the Nasty Nick of the house. When they failed the Fire task and Bubble went mad and when he wasn't allowed to put letters up on the wall as he was trying to vontact... Read review

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Advantages: Addictive and riveting
Disadvantages: You either love it or hate it

...WRITTEN July 2002 CONTINUATION This is not a new op but a continuation of an existing op. I got into Big Brother last year. I wrote an op about BB after that series had ended. This year I thought that I would update the BB op after every week. But I had reached the maximum limit of 5500 words. So I am continuing that op here. Last Saturday the dividing bars were removed. The housemates were pretty ecstatic at this. Their Saturday task was a simple one. Two housemates had to be chosen who would see a video of their families. But these 2 housemates were also to be put up for eviction. Straws were drawn and PJ and Kate were the unlucky housemates. PJ and Kate both broke down in tears after watching the videos. PJ and Jade had a great row after Jade admitted lying to him. Earlier this week the housemates drank 6... Read review

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Advantages: either very addictive...
Disadvantages: ...or very annoying

...Yes, Big Brother is back this weekend and Channel 4's hype machine is ready to be switched into overdrive. However, thanks to my crystal ball, tea leaves and tarot cards I can predict exactly what will happen in the new, bigger, Big Brother 2. But first, I'll take a look at what makes Big Brother either your favourite programme or the bane of your life. The Good Points I was actually quite surprised watching the first series just how addictive the programme can be. I was scouring the internet, teletext and newspapers for the latest information as to what had happened and who'd said what to who. In truth a lot of the action in the house can be banal, but once the contestants have a few drinks inside them or have to start nominating each other for eviction it turns into brilliant TV. Some of my favourite moments from Big Brother... Read review

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Advantages: Compulsive viewing
Disadvantages: It's really unfair on the contestants - but hey, we still watch

...Big Brother 2 has been running on C4 for 6 weeks now and has attracted plenty of criticism here on Ciao, with regular complaints surrounding the fact that the contestants aren't as interesting as last year's bunch. Personally, I disagree with this - I believe that they are all every bit as interesting as last years', if not more so. But I do take issue with Channel 4, and the production company, Bazaal Productions, for the way in which BB'01 has been conducted. I have held back for a few weeks in writing this opinion so that I can get a better idea of what's going on with the series than perhaps those who wrote opinions on week one. This is not to say that these opinions are not valid - they of course are. What's very interesting, and what I would recommend you do, is read every article in the Big Brother category here on Ciao... Read review

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Advantages: Intersting SOMETIMES
Disadvantages: Not as good as the last one

...Oh well, I thought it was time I aired my views on Big Brother 2, the original opinion at the base of the page, is actually my opinion on the original Big Brother last year. I’m sure everyone reading this now knows what the Big Brother is all about, be it the latest offering or last year’s version. If not here is a very quick guide to the show, as I am writing this opinion mainly to have my say on the characters. What is Big Brother? Big Brother is a competition, that includes 10 people living in the same building over the course of 9 weeks, although this year’s version had an extra person getting voted in after the first 3 weeks. They are only allowed the very basics to live with; they have absolutely NO contact with the outside world i.e. no Televisions/Radio’s, no newspapers or Phones, as a matter... Read review

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Advantages: Has the huge success of its predecessor to guarantee early viewing figures and media hype, able to exploit people's natural voyeuristic tendencies.
Disadvantages: Going to have to go further than the first series, so we must expect gratuitous nudity, as well as maybe sex and violence.

...The phenomenal success of Channel 4’s ‘Big Brother’ is manifested by the huge number of television and internet viewers, media hype, celebrity status of the contestants and the number of copycat television programmes that it has generated. This ‘reality TV’ has been continued with Channel 5’s ‘Jailbreak’ and now with the very disappointing ‘Survivor’ which has drawn pathetic viewing figures despite very heavy advertising, but how does this relate to Big Brother 2 which we will first see on our screens on Thursday? One of the overriding reasons for ‘Big Brother’s success was its novelty value, seeing real people cope with real problems and emotions, and the mutual interactions between complete strangers. It was also strangely stimulating to see normal people having... Read review

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Advantages: More people-watching
Disadvantages: Been there, done it, and rewashed the t-shirt

.... So... people of Britain...please..pick up the phones and vote for Paul. I can put up with Amma's farting (no smello-vision y'see) but I can't put up with a bloke who asks suspiciously and seriously whether Big Brother could have someone lined up, who would untrain the dog from performing the tricks they'd (I love it that he feels he's had an input into this) taught him. Oh duuuurrrrrrrrrrrrr! UPDATE July 2nd. Oh dear. The fact of third nomination and no eviction is leading Paul down a dangerous road. He now seems convinced that he's in control of the whole household. I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't watched it tonight on BB. Having survived a pop from Liz earlier in the morning on Saturday, he gradually became more arrogant as the week-end went on. Especially when the still shell-shocked household started to talk about Bubble... Read review

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Advantages: The original and best Reality TV show, voyeurism at its best
Disadvantages: The realisation that none of our houses look that good.

...show and any other reality show which throws itself at us this summer. The producers have chosen largely an attractive, witty and prone-to-letting-out-huge secrets set of contestants, which promise to provide some excellent personalities, feuds and general sexual chemistry (Big Brother has even provided a wood cabin at the bottom of the garden which resembles something from a Scandinavian porn movie inside. I don't speak from experience, of course!) So, I feel it necessary to give you a run through of this year's lucky ten who will spend upto 9 weeks cooped up indoors with nothing to amuse themselves but the plucking of their instruments....2 have brought guitars you know... STUART - This bloke has the potential to be the "Nasty Nick" of the piece, in my eyes anyway. He's supposedly 36, but looks closer to his mid-40s with a wife... Read review

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Advantages: Captivating viewing
Disadvantages: We don't need an 11th contestant!!

...I was like a lost sheep when big brother 1 finished but now big brother 2 is here and I'm hooked. I was very nervous about this series as I thought it could not capture my attention like the original but how wrong I was - this is brilliant stuff. All the contestants have their own unique character traits and this makes for interesting and compelling viewing, there never seems to be a dull moment as most of the people are either weird, entertaining or so haphazard in their ways that it should be renamed big brother and the inept contestants. I have to admit that to now my favourite character is bubble, however, I don't think he will win. He has won my respect by being honest and open with all the other contestants and not in the slightest underhand or backstabbing - I think parallels can be drawn between Bubble and Craig from... Read review

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