April 27, 2014

On Air: PBB Scripted Edition

Inspired from the classic novel 1984, the Big Brother franchise had made its rounds around the globe, garnering millions of viewers and ratings. There are different "editions" over the years but the main strategy is the same: Gather different personalities in one house and observe their behavior 24/7. The audiences love it.


I was still in fifth grade when the Pinoy Big Brother first came to Philippine shores. It was an instant success and is followed by nine more editions of the franchise. Just yesterday, the Big Brother house opened its doors once again for another season. It's been hyped for a few months now so whenever the show would either satisfy or infuriate the viewers, the results are immediately posted online:

#PBBScripted

These hashtags were not only trending in Twitter last night but also found their way in Facebook. The netizens are obviously not happy with the new set of housemates. 

The reality show's famous motto “Teleserye ng totoong buhay.” had been a testament to their past seasons where people from all walks of life compete for the prize while at the same time try to live harmoniously with different personalities. Diversity is important because we never truly know who to root for unless he/she have succeded in becoming a good guy despite the variety of strangers he/she is made to interact with. However in this new season, everybody was disappointed to see pretty faces, online-famous and well-to-do elite contestants. Even schoolmates made their way inside the house. I stopped living long ago in a delusional fantasy land where corporations like ABS-CBN actually cares for what viewers feel (Pro tip: they dont), but this is still surprising. PBB Unlimited and Double Up, the most recent ones, were great. They had a variety set of housemates making their editions interesting.

How does that affect anything? You ask. There's nothing wrong with being beautiful, famous or wealthy, but Pinoy Big Brother is supposed to be acquiring housemates through auditions that spanned the whole fucking country, we should have a more random set of housemates right? But alas! This is not the case! So ABS-CBN should not be surprised with the hatred the online community is presenting. Some of them actually went to the auditions to try their luck and went through the long queues and the heat for the "opportunity". 
PBB REQUIREMENTS
para makapasok sa bahay ni kuya..
✔Kung taga star magic ka , check ! Makakapasok ka!
✔kung may backer ka , check ! Makakapasok ka!
✔kung famous ka , Check ! Makakapasok ka !
✘Kung pumila ka ! Aun ! NGANGA ka..
One guy, Marion Repulda Agner shared his experience on Facebook:

Hope that you can help me to spread this one. First of all, ganito na kahaba yung pila ng PBB Audition kaninang hapon sa Araneta Coliseum nung napadaan kami. Dapat mag au-audition ako with my friend pero hindi na natuloy dahil sa nalaman ko. Medyo mahaba tong sasabihin ko pero sana mabasa nyo kahit papaano. 
Oo, nag audition ako last January 18, 2014 sa PBB Manila Audition. Hindi naman sa naninira ako or what, my concern is, bakit pa sila mag papa-audition eh kung may napili na palang mga housemates?  
I have this friend na model at may na kontak kami na handler ng former PBB housemate na nasa top 4. Meron din siyang backer (mga natulong sa mga nag au-audition na may kaya or connection bago makapasok sa PBB) hindi na siya nag audition kasi nga, tinulungan siya at yung half nung napalalunan nya ay napunta dun sa backer. At ang sabi daw, meron ng set of housemates, wag na daw kami mag audition kasi nga, mapapagod lang kami at mahihirapan sa gagawin namin. And the reasons why bakit daw nagpapa-audition una, for the sake of trending. para daw pag-usapan ng mga tao at tangkilin talaga na masabi lang nila na maraming nag au-audition sa kanila. Kung baga, for Promotional Purposes lang sabi nung nakontak namin na handler. Ikalawa, may isa pa silang way para makapag audition ka bukod sa regular and online audition, ito yung pag subscribe mo gamit ang ABS-CBN Mobile Subscribers. bibili ka ng simcard para maging subscriber ka nito at mag tetext ka na may format para hindi ka na pipila at mahihirapan sa pag audition. Napansin ko lang, pang parami lang ito ng subscribers and it talks about MONEY.  
Balak pa naman sana namin mag audition, dapat nga pipila na kami mamayang madaling araw kasi baka mag iba ang ihip ng hangin kapag pumila kami pero buti nalang na-contact nya agad yung kakilala nya na part ng star magic. Meron na daw sets of housemates, at kakatapos lang daw ng pictorial nila. The PRIORITY of PBB are the talents of ABS-CBN at sila yung may special castings and interview talaga. At dun ko na pagtanto na, parang hindi naman na to tama.
Sana, hindi nalang kayo nagpa- audition ulit kung meron na palang sets of housemates, kasi NAAWA AKO dun sa 10,000 magau-audition, yung iba nga, nakapila na kanina pang hapon, tapos bukas pa sila ng 7am makakapasok sa loob ng Araneta Coliseum, At mas naawa ako dun sa iba nagaling pang malayong lugar para lang dayuhin ang audition sa Araneta. Sa 10 000 na mga mag au-audition na yan, may makukuhang top 200 katulad nung dating audition, pero na uwi lang sa wala. It's so unfair. marami kayong nalolokong tao na nangangarap na ni isang pag asa, hindi sila makukuha o makakapasok kasi nga, meron na. 
Nung nag audition ako, sinacrifice ko talaga ang sarili ko kahit may kapansanan ako. Bawal akong mapagod at mainitan pero tiniis ko yun kasi nangangarap din akong makapasok ng bahay, Gusto kong ipakita sa iba kahit may kapansan ka, hindi ito hadlang para makamtam mo ang iyong mga pangarap sa buhay. Kahit ganito ako, alam kong mabait akong tao at ang kaalaman ko ay punong puno ng kaalaman, respeto at ng mga pinagdaan ko sa buhay. 
Sobrang nakakapagod talaga yung audition the last time, WALANG KAIN, WALANG TULOG, WALANG INOM kasi maiihi ka naman kapag uminom ka. Pumila ako kasama ang schoolmate ko from 1am hanggang sa makapasok kami ng mga tents nung 4pm na at dun na din nag start ang casting. May mga mas deserving pang makapasok at maging housemate. Mas magandang mapakinggan ang buhay nila at magpupulot ito ng inspirasyon sa karamihan.  
Akala ko "MAGPAKA TOTOO" ang layunin ng PBB pero ngunit parang ang dami nyo namang naloloko? I'm just saying what I feel about dun sa mga nalaman ko, maraming nagsasabi na totoo nga din tong palakad na to. Sana, wag naman yung ganito, marami kayong naapektuhan at pinaapaasang tao. Wala na din kaming magagawa kasi its all about "business" and "money".
Goodness!
I am still certain the show will be having good ratings despite these. PBB will become more of a talent search rather than just a reality show. They're hitting two birds with one stone this season. Count me out this time, they used innocent people for their marketing strategies and not even paying anyone a single cent. I wont help them look good to advertisers either.

There are rumors going around that there would still be another batch of housemates coming in, I hope this is true for the sake of ABS-CBN. They're under fire right now and even released some of the audition photos of the contestants as some sort of belated attempt of defending themselves. Guess what? Look dimwits, that's not the fucking case.

The problem was you could have saved a lot of people's time if you have just said "Guys we're not going to to accept browned-skinned dudes, fat guys and people with non-existent reputations. Sareh"

4 comments:

  1. So fcking true! Went there yesterday, waited for 12hrs just to be asked if I do believe in tadhana, just one question and just like that u can now leave araneta. It was really disappointing!

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  2. Ofcourse.....pipiliin nila yung pwedeng maging future artists!!! They want to recreate the success of Ejay Falcon, Kim Chui, Gerald Anderson etc. They chose Bailey to be part of the housemates hoping that he can be the next James Reid. They also have games and challenges in the house to have something for the viewers to watch. In that sense, they try their best to make their plan happen. Ofcourse, the producers want drama in the house. But once the housemates are in, they can no longer control them. But to say that PBB is entirely scripted, COME ON!!! Have you seen Manolo's acting skills? Don't you think that if PBB is scripted Manolo's "acting" would have been very obvious?

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  3. It is true until this moment. Went for auditio not because I am interested to get in but to experience it and observe(yes, I got nothing to do anyways..hehe) so saw it firsthand how they made way to blend in their very own prospect talents pretending to be in queue in Araneta with ordinary people who are just dreamers. But this show is already staged. The audition is one of their marketing strategies so ordinary people will continue to patronize it not knowingly that they got fooled and used. Just feel sad how they gave false hopes to those ordinary auditionees.

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  4. It is true until this moment. Not only scripted but staged from audition until airing. We went for audition not because I am interested to get in but only to experience it and observe(yes, I got nothing to do anyways..hehe) so saw it firsthand how they made way to blend in their very own prospect talents pretending to be in queue in Araneta with ordinary people who are just dreamers. The audition is one of their marketing strategies so ordinary people will continue to patronize it not knowingly that they got fooled and used. Just feel sad how they gave false hopes to those ordinary auditionees. Filipino people should look after their own life and better themselves than patronizing the crappy stuffs.

    ReplyDelete