CBS is optimistic Big Brother and Love Island will still air new seasons this summer despite the television industry's ongoing production shutdown amid coronavirus pandemic.

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CBS Entertainment President Kelly Kahl has revealed the network is confident both Big Brother and Love Island will air in Summer 2020, although possibly later than anticipated.

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"With Love Island and Big Brother, we still hope to have on the air this summer, it could be a little later than usual but we're still optimistic about getting those on," Kahl told Deadline.

"Those shows turn around pretty quickly, Big Brother has live shows every week and Love Island literally airs the night after it shoots, those shows do not have long post processes."

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Big Brother, hosted by Julie Chen, typically premieres in late June each summer and documents a group of strangers living in one house outfitted with cameras as they compete in challenges and face weekly evictions until one houseguests wins $500,000 out of the Final 3 competitors.

Big Brother viewers are hopeful they'll be able to celebrate the show's 20th anniversary this year given Season 1 debuted in July 2000.

Since Big Brother's usual filming location in Los Angeles, CA is still under lockdown and quarantine regulations, Deadline reported it's unlikely Big Brother will begin filming its 22nd season before mid to late summer.

Big Brother is produced by Fly on the Wall Entertainment and Endemol Shine North America, with Allison Grodner and Rich Meehan serving as executive producers.

As for Love Island, Season 2 of the show, hosted by Arielle Vandenberg, was initially set to premiere on CBS with a two-hour episode on May 21.


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The network had originally scheduled five one-hour episodes per week as well as a weekly recap show on Saturdays for the series.

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Love Island features a cast of "Islanders" looking for love and trying to choose partners wisely all the while attempting to win the heart of home viewers, who have the opportunity to shape events that unfold on the show as they watch romances blossom.

The Islanders are required to couple-up every few days, and those who fail to find a partner risk being dumped from the island.

CBS announced it had ordered an American version of the U.K.'s Love Island reality dating series back in August 2018, shortly after British television wrapped its extremely popular fourth season of the show.

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The first season of Love Island in America was filmed in a villa resort in Fiji, and Kahl told Deadline that CBS and producers are currently exploring filming options, including domestic locations.

Once given the greenlight, Love Island can reportedly be up and running quickly.

CBS' Love Island, which is based on the format owned by ITV Studios and Motion Content Group, is executive produced by David George, Adam Sher, David Eilenberg, Simon Thomas, Mandy Morris, Ben Thursby, Richard Foster and Chet Fenster.

ITV America CEO David George told Deadline in March that each episode of the show is created and edited in 48 hours or less.

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"Once the switch is turned on, we can get it to air very quickly," George had said. "We're trying to get it as ready as possible so when [CBS] says 'go,' we're ready, location-wise, build outs, casting."













About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski
Elizabeth Kwiatkowski is Associate Editor of Reality TV World and has been covering the reality TV genre for more than a decade.