September 14, 2001

12:52 PM

Where are these people's priorities? CBS has done it again. "Many people can't get enough news about the terrorist attacks in the United States, but a few are getting absolutely none: those locked up in ``Big Brother'' houses. " Apologies if this has already been posted, search didn't return anything useful.
posted by zerotype (9 comments total)

zerotype, did you read the article carefully?

"But in the United States, CBS officials decided to share news of the disaster with the three contestants - Monica, Will and Nicole - who remain on that network's ``Big Brother 2'' in a house in Los Angeles.
The reason: A cousin of Monica Bailey was working on the 90th floor of the World Trade Center's south tower. She has not been heard from since Tuesday's attack.
The ``Big Brother 2'' finale will be broadcast as originally scheduled next Thursday, CBS said."
posted by msacheson at 1:07 PM on September 14, 2001

CBS has apparently told them about the attacks, though possibly not until just yesterday. Before that they'd made some vague mention of it but no specifics. The "houseguests" had noted the total absence of any planes in the air and knew it was bigger than what they'd been told.
posted by dnash at 1:31 PM on September 14, 2001

``It's one of the basic themes in 'Big Brother' that they have no contact with what is happening outside of the house,'' she said. ``If you show them these images, you immediately create a panic situation because they won't know how things will evolve.''

The US is a different story. The network would probably be put out of business if they didn't tell the US cast by people refusing to watch them anymore. Maybe your view of this is too centralized around the US, but the rest of the world matters too at this point. We can't combat this by ourselves.

But come on, regardless of whether or not they checked to be sure if the people on the show had family in any of the attacked locations, it's still ridiculous that the rules of a "game show" cannot be altered at a time like this.

``They now know what happened and that's it,'' she said. ``If they really want to know what happens next, they will have to leave the house.'' Ah, the power of the cash prize.
posted by zerotype at 1:33 PM on September 14, 2001

Actually, the hamsters (as fans affectionately call them) were only given the barest amount of facts. Though they seem to be slowly piecing the severity together (due to several schedule changes), at one point they merely thought a plane had clipped the side of one of the WTC towers.

They have no clue about the scope and impact of the devastation. This has sparked quite a debate about whether or not CBS is handling it correctly.

(btw: Monica has been told about her cousin).
posted by RavinDave at 1:34 PM on September 14, 2001

they were told tuesday early afternoon.
posted by phooey at 1:37 PM on September 14, 2001

The show sucks anyway. Just split up all the cash between the people left, send them home and let them get to being Americans. And then get some new programming CBS. They are going to get some serious sh!t for this, I'm sure.
posted by zerotype at 1:38 PM on September 14, 2001

How about Monica wins and donates the prize money to a victims families fund?
posted by msacheson at 1:42 PM on September 14, 2001

I have watched the show from the beginning. it's hard to admit that in a public forum. I think that it all seems very trivial now. CBS should just split the money between them and send them home. no one cares about it anymore.
posted by bas67 at 1:59 PM on September 14, 2001

Personally, I wouldn't mind seeing almost all of these reality shows go away. I think we have enough reality to go around for years to come.
posted by jasonshellen at 3:11 PM on September 14, 2001