‘Big Brother’ finally grows up

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The producers seem to have realized that their show had a following, but that it mostly consisted of people who mock the show relentlessly and seek professional help after wasting three months of their lives watching the show. Instead of filling the season with moronic gimmicks like allowing four “Survivor” cast members to visit the house for a few days, as occurred in season two, producers created a significant America’s Choice question.

Then viewers took over, overwhelmingly voting for Kaysar. He received 82 percent of the vote, a sure sign that viewers like strategizing and appreciate intelligence. With six weeks to go, the game has its strongest player once again.

There is a slight problem, though, and that is that “Big Brother 6” is a little too close to becoming every other season. That’s because the house’s major players have all been (smartly) targeting one another. If most of them get evicted, that leaves a preponderance of dolts.

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Beau, Ivette, April, and Jennifer don’t appear to really be playing the game most of the time, unless you count making frowny faces as smart game play. Perhaps they’re playing by stepping back and letting the alpha houseguests eat one other, but that’s unlikely. After Eric was evicted, Ivette was so absorbed in the cultish sadness over the loss of her leader “Cappy” that she couldn’t possibly have been been thinking about anything else; she was also blindsided by the partner twist.

For a moment this past week, April and Jennifer appeared to be making a move, and the game seemed like it could swing again. The two admitted that nominee Ivette was a bigger threat than Sarah, who was also nominated for eviction. But eliminating Sarah had the potential to wound James, who’s clearly the strongest player.

Plus, they are passengers on The Good Ship Friendship, so they stuck with The Friendship’s plan.

Of the players who remain, only Maggie, James, Howie, Rachel, and Janelle have shown signs of engaging the game, at least on the televised version of the show. With James’ girlfriend Sarah gone, he’s possibly wounded, and definitely still targeted as a threat.

Along with his propensity to lie constantly and shift his allegiance to whatever group has power, James has become the player to beat by winning multiple challenges and saving himself from eviction.

Whatever ultimately happens, though, “Big Brother” has finally grown up, completely pulling away from being a fun-to-mock reality show about isolation and becoming an engaging reality game.

Andy Dehnart is a writer and teacher who publishes reality blurred, a daily summary of reality TV news.

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