TV and Movies

[gardenman]

If Alex Kidwell is right and the show on the 12th is BB related, and the houseguests have already been sequestered (as is widely rumored) then maybe the 12th is a show where the fans get to vote people into the house and then on the 26th they announce the results with the normal show schedule starting on the 29th.

Next week's CBS schedule update should let us know more. Right now every Wednesday and Thursday time slot is filled through the 26th, but there are openings on Sundays at 8:00 PM. Maybe the 12th is to pick the BB cast and the one on the 19th is to pick/announce the Love Island cast?

[gardenman]

There's lots of chatter, but nothing too definitive coming out just yet. Variety and Parade have recent articles posted that largely repeat the rumors that are circulating. Leaks from multiple sources (all unconfirmed and of questionable reliability) still say it's an all-star cast and will start airing in late July. Posts, or lack of posts, on social media seem to more or less confirm some former houseguests may be in sequester. According to the BB detectives, Janelle was seen on SM dyeing her hair platinum blonde, but in what are supposed to be new photos she still has her old hair color and dark roots implying those "new" photos aren't new but were shot before she dyed her hair and are just being released to make it look like she's still active on SM.

The CBS schedule through the 26th shows no Big Brother but has holes at 8:00 PM every Sunday for something. We should hear something soon or there may be no Big Brother this year. Would Variety and Parade waste space on a show that's not going to air? Why post articles in late June/early July unless they know the show will start airing soon? Hmmm....We shall see.

[gardenman]

Despite even more chatter, there's still nothing concrete. The CBS schedule is now out through August 2nd with no BB listed. The latest rumor is it'll start on August 5th, but who knows? TMZ is now saying it'll be an All-Star season and more media attention is on BB every day, but nothing official yet. BB is supposed to be on Entertainment Tonight tonight so maybe we'll get something official then. It looks like it'll go well into the fall season if they have it at all. That'll likely hurt the ratings as the Thursday and Sunday shows will be facing off against the NFL. An August start would have the season end in late October or November.

Survivor's season 41 won't be on the fall schedule now as they're saying they won't even start to shoot that until September (according to insidesurvivor.com.) That opens up the schedule for BB. There's still a season of The Amazing Race that's available to air. I'm guessing we won't see Survivor until the February sweeps.

Do they time out BB to end in late November for the November sweeps and hope it carries the ratings? Push the start date all the way back to September perhaps? We'll have to see. 

[SusieQ_2]

It seems like Big Brother is no longer just a reality show, it's also a mystery! 

It's always been a summer staple and it just seems wrong that we're not watching it and talking about it like we usually do. Trying to figure out if and when it will air doesn't count, lol.

Anyway, @gardenman , thanks for keeping on top of it and letting us in on what you know. I am missing it so far this summer but I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it still happens. 

[gardenman]

The word on the street is that this week we'll finally hear something official. Jokers has replaced the images of last year's players with the question marks which is typically the omen that a new season is about to start. Hamsterwatch has heard from her sources that mid-late August is the current launch window. The studio is showing lots of signs of life as workers work on transforming the old set. Now, bear in mind this is about the sixth week in a row where we've been promised we'll hear something, so who knows. 

A late August launch makes some sense. Survivor isn't shooting until September at the earliest and Survivor typically takes months to turn around and get it on the air. We'll probably not see that until the winter season now. CBS could ride BB and the already shot The Amazing Race right through the November sweeps period giving them new programming that the other networks couldn't match. 

Word is BB is trying to figure out a way so much of production could be done from the homes of the crew. Remote editing of the live feeds wouldn't be impossible. Remote camera operation is also a possibility. It's going to be interesting.

A fall season of BB on their normal schedule would have it going up against NFL football on Thursday and Sunday nights which could be a tad tough on the television ratings. 

Survivor could try going on a ramped-up schedule with faster than normal editing and turn around the shows quickly. That could be challenging however given the quantity of video they shoot. The producer of Amazon's "The Grand Tour" was commenting recently on the time it takes to put together each episode of the show and he said it takes them five weeks just to upload all of the video they shoot into their editing machines. Then it takes another five weeks or so to sort through it all and catalog what shots they have before they ever start putting together a show. Ramping up the Survivor schedule enough to get it on the air and done before the holidays is probably asking too much.

So, another week where we're supposed to hear something definitive. Will it happen? Who knows? At this rate, we may hear something solid around June of 2021.

[SusieQ_2]

"At this rate, we may hear something solid around June of 2021." @gardenman 

Glad to see your sense of humor is still going strong. 

Thanks for the update! 

[thechedda]

Thank you, GM.  Your posts are really appreciated.  

[gardenman]

Some drone photos of the backyard of the BB house shows multiple white tents (like catering tents) set up in the yard as they work on getting the house ready for the new season. There's also a giant pile of furniture in the middle of the yard.

Apparently one of the big holdups right now is from the union representing some of the crew. The plan is to sequester the whole crew along with the cast for the whole season and for whatever reason, the crew isn't thrilled about living in sequester for the whole ninety-plus day season. 

It does look like things are still moving forward. They're spending a lot to refurbish the house and get it ready. A late August/early September launch is looking more and more likely though.

[gardenman]

In the announcement that Survivor won't be on this fall, CBS says that The Amazing Race will take its place at eight and then SEAL Team and SWAT at nine and ten, but none of those is Big Brother. Could the BB 22 All-Star season be another OTT that only airs online? Interesting stuff going on. CBS is clearly expecting to put on season 22, but it doesn't seem to fit in the schedule anywhere. CBS All Access makes sense, or maybe the fall schedule is a lot more flexible than it seems to be?

[gardenman]

And another week of expected news is now nearly over with no news. Work continues on the house which implies something is still happening or hoped for. The latest rumor has sequester starting next week, the houseguests move in on August 5th and the first show airs on August 12th, but this is about the fiftieth rumor of dates and none have been true so far. Is this one true? One of them is bound to be true sooner or later, so maybe.

The CBS fall schedule has no hole for BB which makes it less likely it'll air in primetime. Of course, production on many of the shows in the lineup hasn't resumed so maybe they'll get bumped off the schedule for BB?

The August 12th date works in some ways. BB typically runs for about three months so the finale would air in mid-late November which would have it happening in the November sweeps window. I'm not sure the ratings will matter a whole lot this year though given everything going on in the world. 

So, will we hear anything next week? Based on recent history, I'd say no. There is activity, lots of activity, at the studio which only houses the set, so they're doing something and spending lots of money doing whatever it is they're doing, but we just don't know what the outcome will be just yet. A fall season of BB? That opens up lots of interesting possibilities for Halloween and other fall-ish events. On TV or just on All Access like BBOTT was? Unless they seriously revise the announced fall schedule, most likely on All Access. The regular Wednesday, Thursday, Sunday schedule would have BB competing against NFL football on Thursdays and Sundays which would be tough on the ratings.

So another week has largely passed with no news. We do have some drone images of the backyard and video of people walking around the studio though, so that's something. I'm not sure it's anything good, but it's better than nothing. They would have to redo the house before the next season anyway, so maybe they're doing it now and going to put it in cold storage until next June? Who knows? On to next week and whatever new rumors pop up then.