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The real "Truman Show" starts tomorrow
Charlotte Gillespie
2 - 0 Lindens
Join date: 19 Nov 2004
Posts: 1,101
02-28-2005 11:32
From: The Guardian
Germany's version of Big Brother will take a giant leap tomorrow with the opening of a small town mimicking the 'Truman Show' concept.
...
In the new Big Brother village the only difference will be that contestants willingly participate in this next-generation leap into voyeurism, and it will run indefinitely.

Fifteen people will move into the set of Big Brother - the village complete with market square and stables.
...
Katja Hofem-Best, the channel's entertainment executive, said the show would be "endless, God and TV viewers willing".

Contestants will, it is hoped, live there for years; falling in love, going to school, even getting married. The producers hope to lure in more businesses to employ them, teachers to teach them and doctors to care for the sick.


It's going to be on RTL2 tomorrow night, I'll be watching simply out of curiosity. They're already running wall-to-wall "buildup" coverage. Isn't all this vaguely sinister, though? I suppose they're free to leave at any time, but I'd hate to be a baby born into this TV show with no choice in the matter.

http://media.guardian.co.uk/broadcast/story/0,7493,1425522,00.html - Media Guardian article (English)
http://bb5.bigbrother.de/ - Big Brother official site (German)
Lo Jacobs
Awesome Possum
Join date: 28 May 2004
Posts: 2,734
02-28-2005 11:36
Wow! I wonder if it's showing on any channels here.
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Charlotte Gillespie
2 - 0 Lindens
Join date: 19 Nov 2004
Posts: 1,101
02-28-2005 11:41
From: Lo Jacobs
Wow! I wonder if it's showing on any channels here.


It's broadcast completely in German. Big Brother has been a popular and harmless enough format in Europe for five years or so, but this is taking it a step too far ...
Chip Midnight
ate my baby!
Join date: 1 May 2003
Posts: 10,231
02-28-2005 11:46
I'll be so happy when "reality TV" fades away into obscurity. If I want to watch random idiots being random idiots why do I need a TV? I watch TV to take me away from those people!
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Charlotte Gillespie
2 - 0 Lindens
Join date: 19 Nov 2004
Posts: 1,101
02-28-2005 12:02
I'm not bothered about that, Chip. This isn't on a channel I regularly watch anyway, and if people don't want to see it, they'll vote with their feet.

I'm more concerned about the effects that knowingly living in a stage-managed world will have on the entrants to this contest. Surely they'll become completely cynical and jaded and leave after a few months of it? One can but hope.
Chip Midnight
ate my baby!
Join date: 1 May 2003
Posts: 10,231
02-28-2005 12:16
If they're there voluntarily I have no sympathy for them. They're obviously quite warped to begin with :p If it's being done to people without their knowledge for the jollies of the viewers then it's completely unethical and disturbing.
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Eggy Lippmann
Wiktator
Join date: 1 May 2003
Posts: 7,939
02-28-2005 12:23
Why would anyone waste their time watching other people live out their meaningless little lives when they could be living THEIR OWN lives, and making them a little more meaningful?
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Chip Midnight
ate my baby!
Join date: 1 May 2003
Posts: 10,231
02-28-2005 12:42
From: Eggy Lippmann
Why would anyone waste their time watching other people live out their meaningless little lives when they could be living THEIR OWN lives, and making them a little more meaningful?


I'd answer that question but I have to get my sim to the bathroom before he pees his pants.
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Zuzi Martinez
goth dachshund
Join date: 4 Sep 2004
Posts: 1,860
02-28-2005 14:49
die reality tv! die die die!

and make sure you film it.