TV Guilty Pleasures: Big Brother

Though it has been billed as a “social experiment,” the long-running Big Brother reality series on CBS is truly nothing more than an excuse to watch 16 aspiring actors and actresses glam it up in the national spotlight and create more fake drama than one can possibly handle. As Big Brother heads into its ninth season next summer, one has to imagine that the pool of shallow, superficial personalities the show draws from is itself getting a bit shallow. Still, there’s something undeniably alluring about a show that promises yearly “show-mances” and backstabbing that would make Judas blush. The power politics Big Brother bases itself on always fragment the house into capricious and unsteady alliances, facilitating late-night strategizing and—perhaps better—late-night drunken screaming contests. Out of the crucible that is the Big Brother house inevitably emerges at least one unforgettable personality per season, like Will Kirby of Big Brother 2—who was so reviled by his housemates that they had no choice but to crown him champion when he skirted all the way to the end of the game—or Danielle Hendrix of Big Brother 3, who surely coined the wisest aphorism reality TV will ever know—“Keep your eyes open and your mouth closed!” Invariably, the best TV characters continually break this rule, but, hey, this makes the show all the more enjoyable. The hot summer nights spent around the TV just aren’t complete without Big Brother wheeling and dealing.