One of the new features planned for CBS's Big Brother 5 doesn't have anything to do with the game.
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On Wednesday, July 7, the day after the show's premiere airs, CBS will launch a daily half-hour Internet streaming video talk show focused on Big Brother 5. The Web show, entitled House Calls: The Big Brother Talk Show, will be broadcast (or should that be "narrowcast"?) through CBS.com and appears to be the first daily live Web talk show produced exclusively for a TV network.
Co-hosts of House Calls: The Big Brother Talk Show will be Gretchen Massey, an on-air host of Infinity Radio's KLSX Los Angeles, and popular former Big Brother 3 houseguest Marcellas Reynolds. The show will be broadcast live Monday through Friday (1 PM EDT, 10 AM PDT). The call-in phone number is (323) CBS-1000; note that calls are not toll-free.
CBS plans that House Calls will (1) interact with viewers though phone calls and e-mails, (2) discuss events that transpire in the Big Brother house, (3) offer prognostications, (4) analyze strategies, and (5) interview former "Big Brother" houseguests as well as current houseguests following their eviction. We hope that Marcellus remembers that he wouldn't have enjoyed too much analysis of his strategy when BB3 master strategist Danielle Reyes conned him into not using the "golden power of veto," leading to his immediate eviction.
The show is an example of the Web-TV synergy originally envisioned by Big Brother creator Endemol. Said CBS VP David Katz, "Big Brother has been the model for convergence between the Internet and television and this innovative programming takes it one step further. House Calls will be another avenue for Big Brother's loyal fans to offer opinions and dialog. This really puts the chat back into chat rooms."
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Too bad that this convergence comes after the departure of John de Mol, the real visionary of this concept, from Endemol. ...