| Big Brother: After Dark | |
|---|---|
| |
| Also Known As | Celebrity Big Brother: After Dark |
| Country | United States |
| No. of Seasons | Civilian: 14 Celebrity: 2 |
| No. of Episodes | Civilian: 1100 Celebrity: 40 |
| Production | |
| Television Network(s) | Showtime 2 (2007–12) TVGN/Pop (2013–2019) |
| Original Release | July 6, 2007 – September 23, 2019 |
| Series Chronology | |
Big Brother: After Dark is a spin-off of the Big Brother U.S. franchise since Big Brother 8. It shows live feeds from the Big Brother House. Unfortunately, it did not return in Big Brother 22 nor any season after, celebrity or civilian editions.
Broadcast and features[]
The show covered events happening in the House during 9:00 p.m.–12:00 a.m. PT.[1][2] According to executive producer Allison Grodner, these three hours would be entertaining as "That's prime time for the Big Brother house. It's when our HouseGuests are most wide awake and having fun, talking about strategy and playing the game. People are going to see quite a bit."[3]
When the program debuted on Showtime 2, Big Brother: After Dark aired live seven nights a week from midnight to 3:00 a.m. Eastern (11:00 p.m.–2:00 a.m. Central) while a season of Big Brother is in progress. (Although it was tape delay on Showtime 2's West Coast feed, this was of little consequence as some major providers offered both coastal feeds of Showtime 2 as part of the service's multiplex tier.)[4] The show uses the same live feed footage available to Internet subscribers 24 hours a day throughout the season, though the show's producers choose the camera angles and scenes within the program. Every twenty minutes during the show, after a short promotional break showcasing Showtime's original series, a "scroll" was featured on the bottom of the screen to explain to viewers what events occurred that day prior to the start of the show. Due to the uncensored nature of the show, it was rated TV-MA-LS (for adult language and sexual situations) on Showtime 2. For the show's five-season run on Showtime 2, Big Brother: After Dark was the only first-run original program that was produced specifically for any of Showtime's seven multiplex channels (the bulk of the network's first-run original programming airs on the main Showtime channel, and is replayed on its various multiplex channels and on certain sister channels like Pop).
The majority of the shows on Big Brother: After Dark are live with certain exceptions. During the ninth season of Big Brother the April 21, 2008, an episode was pre-recorded from earlier in the day due to an eviction and endurance competition still in progress at 9:00 p.m. PT/12:00 a.m. ET.[5] A similar situation occurred during the twelfth season on September 7, 2010, when the remaining HouseGuests were woken up early specifically to pre-record that night's show. This was to avoid spoiling which HouseGuest had been evicted earlier in the day during a taped eviction episode.[6] There have also been cases where a still scene and the program's theme music, "Best Of Big Brother: After Dark", or reruns of recent episodes are played instead during portions of the series (such as competitions and tense situations between HouseGuests) the producers might rather show exclusively within the CBS broadcast, along with removing segments of HouseGuests humming or whistling copyrighted music, which is still a chargeable "performance" of a work under ASCAP/BMI guidelines. HouseGuests are also forbidden from talking about the audition and casting process or the more internal and proprietary components of the show, or some diary room confessions, along with promoting business interests. In this case, Big Brother will tell the HouseGuests over the house's loudspeaker system "You're not allowed to talk about production". Further violations of the singing and production talk rules earn the HouseGuest a call to the diary room for a producer talk, along with other rules violations.
On May 29, 2013, it was announced that Big Brother: After Dark would move to TVGN (now Pop) beginning on June 26, 2013. While it was promoted by TVGN as continuing to be shown uncensored as it was on Showtime 2, because of the content standards it voluntarily maintains due to the basic cable channel's advertiser-supported format, the TVGN/Pop airings of Big Brother: After Dark are censored for profane language (by muting of the audio) and nudity.[7] (TVGN/Pop is, in most cases, carried on the "lifeline tier" of most cable providers that all subscribers receive, though it is carried on expanded basic or digital add-on packages in some areas; Showtime, by contrast, is not bound to any content standards as it operates as a subscription-based pay television).[8] The TVGN/Pop version – which carries regular commercial breaks, but without the scroll out of break – airs live most nights from midnight to 3:00 a.m. ET (11:00 p.m.-2:00 a.m. Central) and on Thursdays from 1:00 to 3:00 a.m. ET (12:00-2:00 a.m. Central)[9] on the channel's Eastern Time Zone feed, but continues to be shown on tape delay for audiences on the West Coast.[8] The broadcast continues to air uncensored in Canada.
Orwell Games[]
The Orwell Games occur every Wednesday and Friday during the live broadcast.[9] During the Orwell Games fans of the show are able to participate in opinion polls, hashtag battles and insider trivia. Tweets from fans are also shown live at the bottom of the screen during certain portions of the broadcast. Fans also have the opportunity to win tickets to the live finale of the current season.[10]
Orwell is the name of the mascot, an owl. His name is based off of George Orwell, author of the book 1984, where the concept of Big Brother surveillance came from. Orwell then coined the term "Orwellian," which by definition describes the game of Big Brother.
Celebrity Edition[]
Celebrity Big Brother: After Dark[11] is a spinoff of the American reality series Celebrity Big Brother, and is the Celebrity version of Big Brother: After Dark. It premiered on the U.S. cable channel Pop. The series began on February 7, 2018.[12] Celebrity Big Brother: After Dark was announced on January 26, 2018 and has received its own title card and promotional videos.[13][14] Throughout its first season a total of 18 episodes aired. The first season concluded on February 24, 2018.[15]
Broadcast and features[]
New episodes began airing 12:00 AM Eastern Time with the exceptions of Tuesdays when it started at 11:00 PM and Fridays when it began at 1:00 AM.[16] The episodes aired nightly in the United States on Pop and on Slice in Canada until 3:00 AM EST.[17][18] The series follows the same format as Big Brother: After Dark which features live footage from inside the house. The show uses the same live feed footage available to 24/7 Internet subscribers, though the show's producers choose the camera angles and scenes within the program.[19]
Big Brother After Dark
Video link.
References[]
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