'Big Brother 8' - Live Feed Notes - Overnight Into July 6, 2007

Who woulda thunk it? One houseguest is up washing dishes and cleaning in the kitchen as I write this. Are you thinking Kail? Nope, it's Dick. It's past 3:00 AM their time as I write this. He is indeed a character... and he talks to himself. A lot.

Remember, we already knew from my last post that Carol and Amber are nominated for eviction. The Power of Veto will be played out sometime today. They have been in the house for six days.

Here's the latest skinny:

• There must have been a food competition more than a few days ago. Some of the houseguests are on Big Brother slop. Daniele and Dustin, for sure, are slop eaters.
• They don't have playing cards. (Good, because watching them play cards is boring!)
• Eric is a play-flirter with all of the girls. Alas, he has a potty-mouth. But our America's Player does seem to fit in well with the others. Dick has some problems with him -- something about him lying to him about something. But, on the whole, he gets along decently.
• It seems the concensus among the houseguests is a vote off of Carol, at least partly because she said she didn't want to be there when she was nominated.
• If POV is used, Zach may be the next on the block.
• Nick is shy with the girls? His father thought he could be gay until he was around 21.
• Big Brother gave them body paint. The slop eaters wanted to eat it because it's flavored.
• The HOH Room is very futuristic-looking. For some reason, Kail didn't seem to spend much time up there, but Jen did. Jen checked out all of the spy screen views.
• There seems to be a bit of difference in opinion regarding the vote, but it always seems to fall back to Amber staying unless the POV is used to save Carol.
• Dick coughs a lot. It might be good for him to run out of cigarettes this summer.

'Big Brother 8' - First Feeds Screencap and Live Feeds Spoilers

It's ON!

Right at midnight, they came on. Well, not until after I had to uninstall and reinstall RealPlayer. But...!

Okay, the skinny I've caught so far...

Carol and Amber are up for eviction. POV will be played for tomorrow. Carol apparently gave the others the idea she wanted to leave when nominated.

She's telling Dustin how much she's given up to be there. He told her that unless something changes, his vote has to be for Amber to stay. Joe wants to build a Six Alliance, but Carol thinks that Daniele and Dick have a one-alliance pact?

According to Dustin, Zach wants to run things.

Amber and Carol get along well. Carol hates being up against her for eviction. Neither will campaign.

It's Day 6 for them. They don't know if the Three (Dustin, Dick, Jessica) can vote for eviction or not (since they're safe this week).

Ah, well, gonna switch feeds and take more notes.

'Big Brother 8' - Season Premiere and East Coast Spoilers

Although I'm not so keen on such a young cast, I think we have a lot of promise here.

I'm still getting the names straight, but here's a brief lowdown on the happenings...

Only eleven people entered the house first. Carol, Joe, Mike, and Amber went in as the first group to choose beds. Then it was Nick, Daniele, and Jameka. Then Kail, Jen, Eric, and Zach.

Notably missing were Dick, Dustin, and Jessica. Now we knew Daniele is Dick'c estranged daughter. I had guessed it right that Dustin and Joe are a "pair." They're ex-boyfriends with a horrible break-up in their past. Jessica and Carol are high school friends turned rivals.

The three were hidden away upstairs, able to watch the eleven's every move from the HOH room. They were brought down after the HOH competition, but Julie told the larger group about them with no specifics. All three are safe from eviction this week.

Once Julie told them about the "unfinished business, enemies, rivals, the last person you want to be with" bit, Joe immediately guessed Dustin and blamed him for a bout with an STD. Meanwhile Dustin was upstairs denying it was true to Dick and Jessica. A few who don't have the "enemy" in the house were imagining enemies. Daniele told the Diary Room she thought it would be her father, but didn't tell the Eleven. Carol couldn't think of anyone since junior high or high school.

The beds are too short, too tall, and simply not enough. Some will have to share beds.

The HOH comp was neat -- the Eleven had to pair up, leaving Nick unable to take part in the competition. One had to kneel on a spinning mushroom while the other answered questions about the houseguests. The questions were ones posed to them before entering the house, things like "would you give up your bus seat to a pregnant woman?" They only give True or False to a number of how many said they wouldn't, not specifically who may or may not. Every wrong answer made the mushroom spin faster and muck would spurt on on them occasionally.

In the end, Kail and Eric won. Julie let the three upstairs decide which of the two would be HOH. They chose Kail as she was the one to endure the spinning and muck. Eric didn't want to win the first HOH anyway, so he was very happy. He wanted to throw the comp but kept accidentally answering the questions right.

When the three were brought down to the eleven... Joe went from good-going to miserable and nasty. Daniele went to the bathroom and cried. Carol and Jessica seemed to just stare at each other.

Eric is our America's Player. Starting Sunday, we can be the puppetmasters! I knew it couldn't be anyone tied to another in the house and I think he's a good choice. He's a big fan of the show and seems to fit in fine... for now.

I have to see what's wrong with my RealPlayer feeds... today of all days, they've gone awry. The feeds start tonight!

Your impression of the season premiere?

Happy Independence Day!

I hope everyone had a great 4th of July! I decided to take it a bit easy today writing-wise because I foresee three months with little sleep.

The NJ city in which I live had their 84th Annual July 4th Parade which happens to go right by my apartment. So I watched that, played with videos I made of it (more to go) and experimented a bit with YouTube since I'm hoping to upload some feeds videos this season.

Right now as I type this, I have the Boston fireworks on in the background. I've done the Charles River and Boston Pops scene a few times in the past, as I have the Philadelphia and New York City celebrations. Tonight, though, it's raining here. I can hear that the local fireworks event went on as scheduled. But it was a good night to stay indoors.

I've been watching the Boston fireworks wondering if Craig Ferguson, the host of the show, will say anything about receiving his US citizenship today. According to one of the NYC WCBS news folks, he was slated to be sworn in (or whatever they do) today.

Sleep well tonight... tomorrow is the start of Big Brother 8!

More 'Big Brother 8' News - Exec. Producer Allison Grodner Talks to GlobalTV (Can)

Although Big Brother 8 executive producer Allison Grodner doesn't seem to realize that Canadians technically are also Americans, there are some juicy tidbits coming out of her interview with the GlobalTV folks.

While I suggest reading the entire interview, I want to bring up some excerpts I thought of particular interest.

The first has to do with America's Player:

While two of the weekly polls will be strategic in nature -- asking viewers who the 'America's Player' should target for a nomination and whom they should vote to evict -- the third poll on Sunday's show will be for fun. For that poll, viewers might be asked who 'America's Player' should start a showmance with or who they should have a meaningful conversation with. If the player makes it to the final seven, the viewers will also have a vote on the 'Big Brother 8' jury.

"The viewers will have a vote every week so that's a big deal. It is the most interactive we have ever been," commented Grodner.

For every five tasks the 'America's Player' completes, they will get a cash bonus. While the other HouseGuests won't know about the 'America's Player' twist until that person is voted out or wins the game, their identity will be revealed to the audience on the debut of 'Big Brother 8' this Thursday night.

"We are really happy with whom this is. We think this person will do a terrific job," said Grodner.

Oh, a possible jury vote for the viewers! I think that when the viewers hold the power entirely they tend to remove the most controversial folks first. It's often those very folks who make the show more interesting. One jury vote if the America's Player makes it through to the jury might be just enough to feel involved. After all, America kept Sanjaya on American Idol way too long. The viewers don't always vote wisely.

Onto the "ememies" twist, there's this excerpt:

In speaking to GlobalTV.com, Grodner was quick to clear up another misconception: Not everyone in the house will be a part of the "rival or enemy" twist. The twist of having to deal with a real life foe in the house will only apply to some of the players.

"There are past relationships that will surprise some of them on opening night. Not all of them will have a past relationship but some of them will and nobody knows any of this when they walk into the house. We will see how this plays out as this is like the 'X Factor' from four years ago," she explained. "You know the old saying...Keep your friends close and your enemies closer? Well, let's see how that plays out this summer. "Expect the Unexpected" doesn't just go for the audience, it goes for us, the producers, too."

I've been comparing the concept to the X-Factor season in my mind and hope it's not quite the same. That wasn't my favorite season. I still have Holly and Cowboy night terrors.

Again in this interview, Allison seems very high on Joe. I can't help but thinking that he could very well be America's Player. But, mind you, that's my personal opinion from seeing how enthralled she is with him.