Why CBS’ Big Brother should be spared Big Brother Canada’s hiatus fate

Is it fair to worry about the future of Big Brother following the recent news that Big Brother Canada is on “hiatus” after this past season? Certainly. This is show beloved by many people, and it’d be wrong if there was no worry since nobody wants to see it go anywhere.

Now that this is thrown out there into the universe, let’s also make the following clear: It’s obviously not going anywhere for some time. CBS’ Big Brother is already renewed for two seasons, and it has a far better architecture to support itself than Big Brother Canada ever did.

For one, consider the timeframe. Summer is the perfect period in which the show should air, largely due to the fact that there isn’t much competition out there! You can more easily devote three hours of your life to this show, and the show itself contains a lot more content per episode that is worth watching.

One of the big advantages for the U.S. version of the show is strictly the fact that they have population on their side. It’s so much easier to fund a show when you have a much bigger reach, and you also have a Canadian network broadcasting your show. If Global had ever been able to find a U.S. broadcaster or had at least made it easier for Americans to watch the feeds and the episodes online, they may have been in a better spot.

Because of this larger population — not to mention people shelling out the cash for CBS All Access, you also have less of a concern when it comes to having to integrate ads into the show itself. While Big Brother occasionally does promo for movies or new CBS TV shows, it’s nothing compared to the almost-weekly ads that Big Brother Canada puts into the show. That stuff was necessarily north of the border because of the way in which it was set up. American Big Brother has the ratings it needs, fantastic funding online, and enough distribution that its costs are minimal and its profits are high. They were even able to make a season of Big Brother: Over the Top without a broadcast arm at all thanks solely to everyone willing to buy the show online.

One piece of advice, though…

Don’t be complacent if you love CBS’ Big Brother just because it’s already got a season 20. Continue to watch the episodes live and keep the conversation going. The one fear we have when it comes to viewership is that the fan base, which has become increasingly negative over the years, could put off people looking more for a fun summertime escape.

For more news related to Big Brother all summer long, be sure to head over to the link here. (Photo: CBS.)