Big Brother is set to return after a five-year hiatus: what's behind this reboot?
03.08.2022 - 21:01
/ msn.com
Big Brother is set to return to British television, five years after being axed by both Channel 4 and Channel 5, following a slump in viewership. The announcement made earlier this week during the final of Love Island – a similar popular reality show – blared that Big Brother would make its return in 2023 on ITV2 and the new streaming platform ITVX, with a new cast full of “carefully selected housemates from all walks of life”.
This merry band will live for up to six weeks in the famous Big Brother home, renovated with a “contemporary new look”, as the public watches on via the house’s network of surveillance cameras. The influential reality TV show aired for 18 years in the UK, first launching in 2000.
But why has the show made a comeback? And how does it reflect on how European watching is changing post-pandemic?Dr Jess Martin, from the University of Leeds School of Sociology and Social Policy, argues that the return of the series, as well as the ongoing popularity of reality TV, signifies the genre's “cultural significance in the UK media landscape. ”“Once seen as a niche genre, [reality television] is now very much mainstream, and the proliferation of new formats is a testament to its popularity,” Martin told Euronews.
Dr Gareth Longstaff, lecturer of Media and Cultural studies at Newcastle University, goes as far to argue that television itself “holds up mirror back to the society it's broadcasting to” – something that is “particularly the case regarding the relaunch of Big Brother”. “It’s a very strategic thing, particularly post-COVID, given that people have been in lockdown in domestic spaces – people have been cabin feverish.
I think a lot of people have experienced that,” he told Euronews. “Our viewing habits
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