Television Tuesday (On a Wednesday): "Big Brother," is Back with Season 26!

I know my, "Television Tuesday," post is late, but I've got a kiddo who just turned a year old  (Gibson) going through an awful sleep regression and a seven-year-old (Clarkson) who ain't the best sleeper either (and he gets upset when his little bro screeches us all awake at 3 AM because he then struggles to doze back off). In other words, my sleep has been iffy and that makes it hard to get a post up sometimes. I still wanted to be sure to talk about how, "Big Brother," is back before tonight's episode, however, because a lot changes day-to-day in this game!

"Big Brother," is a reality competition show that is in its 26th season this year. A bunch of people are locked up in a house with no contact with the outside world (few exceptions aside). Then they compete in challenges until only 2 remain and contestants who got far enough in the game to be in the, "Jury," vote for a winner to get a nice lump sum of cash. The show is a mix of skill in competitions, social strategy, and a dose of trying to simply not go mad from boredom stuck in this house full of cameras and microphones watching your every move for the broadcast show or live internet feeds. It is a fascinating social experiment as some folks do great in isolation and others really crack/get mean/otherwise struggle. It just started last week and is already pretty intense.

Angela is on the bottom-right.

Every season of, "Big Brother," someone comes in and goes hard, too hard. The first week of this show is one where you should do as little as possible to make any waves and let someone act a fool and have the house make them the common enemy. The funny thing is the person doing that this week is the winner of the week's immunity/Head of Household, Angela. She can't be voted out right now, but she is causing so much drama on the feeds and in the episode that will be aired tonight that it reminds me why I love this silly show: It illustrates how we as humans are messy. There is a dumb, "A.I." theme this season where even though it is the humans in production creating twists we pretend it is a poorly rendered lady robot named Ainsley or such. She floats across monitors in the Big Brother house looking like graphics from a PlayStation 1 game, but it is okay as, "Big Brother," always has silly and cheesy elements mixed with the clever stuff.

I am excited that, "Big Brother," is back and will run for about 93 total days. It is bound to be funny at points, sad at others, and packed with chaos. It isn't as physically grueling as some shows or as mentally draining as others, but it is a delightful little monstrosity of reality television. Plus, my friend Tom Nguyen always helps with the production and art we see on the show and it is always fun to see his stuff pop up, so that's fun as well! The season is not even a full seven days old yet, so watch the first few episodes that have aired and buckle-up for a wild ride this Summer/early Fall!