Letter: ‘Shameful’ Big Brother
Monday 15th June 2009, 8:12AM BST.
LETTER: It is an accepted fact that Britain has sunk to a new low in the last 10 years but to read that two contestants on Big Brother have agreed to have their names changed by deed poll from Freddie to Halfwit and a female to Dogface is shameful
It is a sad reflection on our society when young people will accept this ritual humiliation for the chance of 10 minutes of “fame” on TV.
I have never seen Big Brother or Britain’s Got Talent and the only soap you will find in my house is in the bathroom.
My affection for television will not allow me to watch it before 9pm and I invariably lapse into a coma within an hour of absorbing the dross on offer.
Is there any wonder that these poor MPs develop strange habits like allowance grazing when they have to watch it on large, flat screens which we insist on providing.
Bob Wydell
Oswestry
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These people are victims of the modern cult of ‘celebrity’. Struggling desperateley to rise and be noticed above the pack as the data-driven information-overloaded modern world increasingly strips and erodes our self esteem and personal worth. We raise these people up on a pedestal and then gleefully rip them down again to satisfy our frustrations.
The obvious answer is not to watch this useless drivel and ‘to get a life’!!
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Some comedian summed it up nicely – About the stupid for the stupid sells. (‘you fool yourself in watching them that your being somehow ironic about it’).
You have an off button – use it and forget them. Though quite how you managed to bring MPs into it I don’t know/care (trolling?). Perhaps you should go into ‘the house’ yourself.
TV is now cheap fairground entertainment – the difference is that a bit of fairground amusement is forgotten but TV stupidy can be dug out years later to bite you when you don’t want it.
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why bother to write about something that you dont even watch??
can you not tell a joke when you see one – obviously they will be changing their names back afterwards!
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This programme is just vile tripe for people with no brain. I can’t understand why Shropshire Star wastes space giving it publicity.
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I don’t doubt that it’d be easy for those two to have their name changes by deed poll made invalid, null and void, thus making their name change for these weeks stupid. But still other than that I agree with others, vote with your feet, don’t watch it.
It’s just a shame the 5100 or so people who make up the UK tv reporting panel still do watch BB. If only they stopped watching, BB would be shut down!
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I think Big Brother is far more interesting than soaps, it’s better watching real people interact and get to know each other, I know we can do that in real life but not in the environment that is the big brother house. There’s definitely more to it than you make out.
Far better than watching the same story-line unfold every week on Eastenders and Corrie. Couple get married-have affair-get pregnant-who’s the daddy-divorce.
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The Victorians used to pay the visit the mental hospitals to see freaks of nature. We get it via TV now, so what?
It’s just human nature and it will never change.
Pity the writer didn’t list his prefered TV Schedule so we could see just what floats his boat.
Mine would include repeats of Minder (original series), a new series of Coast, Julia Bradbury walking somewhere and Have I Got News For You.
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Surely it’s just a bit of entertainment…if you want to watch this sort of thing then thats down to individual choice – if you want to criticise it…again, up to the viewer, but who really cares? If these people want to go on TV in the hope of becoming celebrities then thats their choice. If you dont like it…hold on – i’ve got a great idea…why not just turn it off! The freak shows of Victotian times have never gone away and it’s only while people keep following them that they will keep making these programs. Big Brother, Britains (quite obviously not) Got Talent, Pap Idol…all as bad but we all keep watching so who is really to blame.
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Yes, I haven’t watched TV for years. I’m 56 next month and need to keep my brain cells as active as possible. Even a half hour viewing lapse may just be enough to completely destroy them.
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R Warner: Very interesting, could the rise in dementure be correlated to the rise in TV ownership? hmmmm?
As Groucho Marx said “I find television very educating. Every time somebody turns on the set, I go into the other room and read a book.”
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rw: Even a half hour viewing lapse may just be enough to completely destroy them.
I was going to make a clever remark here but I forgot what it was! Too much TV!
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The easy answer Bob would be not to watch Big Brother. A show that has long run its cause and for anyone wanting to appear on such drivle changing someones name is just deserve in my opinion.
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“it is an accepted fact that Britain has sunk to a new low in the last 10 years”…an accepted view by some maybe, but not necessarily a fact. I’m not sure how you define “Britain has sunk to a new low”, what criteria you refer to, what qualifiers you use and what other factors need to be considered. You could probably go back 1000 years or more and find similar views about the previous decade. Your viewing habits may at last have helped me to understand something. I too do not watch Big Brother or most other “reality TV” programmes. They do not interest me but they entertain many others – a genuine fact I have to accept. I do watch TV for entertainment and information. It removes me from the cloistered existence of my work, my colleagues, my friends, my family and my chosen reading material. And that gives me certain advantages. One of which is I don’t blame it all on Europe…you’ve missed a chance here Bob!
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