Hi y’all!
Well, here we are at the start of another season of Big Brother and here I am with my first post for Big Brother 19!  I’m happy to be with all of you once again!
So, let’s get things started.  What did everyone think of tonight’s premiere?  I thought it was actually pretty good, especially compared to some of the past seasons.  The houseguests seem to be pretty well-chosen and, just from the time we spent with them tonight, I’m looking forward to seeing how they end up interacting and competing.  Tonight, I saw a lot of potentially strong players.
Here’s a few thoughts on what happened tonight.
On the one hand, it’s unfortunate that Cameron didn’t even get to spend more than a night in the house before being voted out.  I’m not a big fan of stuff like that.  I thought it was unfair when it happened to Glenn last season and it was a bit unfair to do that to Cameron this season.  At the very least, they could have given him (and Jillian and Christmas) more than a day to campaign for votes.
On the other hand, Cameron was kinda creepy and, even if not for Paul entering the house, he probably would have been voted out early anyway.
When it comes to Paul reentering the house … well, I’m not a huge fan of vets returning.  I’m just not.  Whenever a vet returns, the entire show automatically becomes about them.  All of the other players get pushed to the side and, often, it seems like production goes out of their way to make things a little easier for the vets.  I was hoping this season would feature no returning players but, deep down, I knew that someone would probably return.  That seems to be the new rule as far as Big Brother is concerned.  Every season has a returning player or two.
That said, things could be worse.  Paul is not for everyone but, at the same time, he’s not Frankie Grande.  He’s not Austin or one of the twins.  He’s not Amanda or that poker player, whose name I’ve forgotten.  He’s not Rachel or Bendon.  And, last night, Paul seemed a little bit more in control of himself than he did during his previous season.
As for the summer of temptations twist, we’ll see.  Big twists are often abandoned early in the season.  This could be interesting or it could be a bust.  Part of the fun of the show is being surprised either by how well something works or by how completely and totally it fails.
Here are my initial impressions of the houseguests.  Some of them made a bigger impression than others:
- Paul — Your Boy is back!  Last season, I started out hating Paul and then I came to like Paul and then I ended up disliking him again.  He seemed a little better behaved last night.  In fact, dare I say it, he was actually likable.  All that said, I’d rather have someone like Victor come back.
- Alex — Alex is the gamer and I actually like her attitude but I think she came on a bit too strong in the challenge.  She’s going to get a target on her back if she’s not careful.  Sometimes, it’s better to throw a comp and lay low, especially early on in the season.
- Christmas — I can’t believe that they didn’t vote out Christmas tonight!  Seriously, I think she’s a bigger threat to win than either Cameron or Jillian.  But again, I have a feeling that her social game is going to be her undoing.  You have to do more than win competition to make it to the end of Big Brother.
- Cody — I like Cody.  We’re both from Texas and I like his whole blue collar attitude.  That said, integrity is rarely rewarded in the Big Brother House.
- Jillian — I don’t have much to say about Jillian.  She was just kind of there.  She might make it far just on account of being so forgettable and unthreatening.
- Josh — Josh needs to be quiet down and work harder on keeping the roid rage under control.
- Kevin — Kevin gives off kind of a creepy vibe but the other people in the house seem to like him.  When I first saw him, I thought he was trying to look like Gary Oldman but actually, he looks more like Will Sadler, another actor who specializes in playing crazy villains.
- Mark — Mark is huge and that’s pretty much the only impression he made on me.
- Dominique — Dominique got a lot of time in the diary room but she didn’t make much of an impression.
- Elena — I’ve actually listened to Elena on the radio.  I like her and I hope she does well.  We’re both Texas girls so we got to stick together.
- Jason — The rodeo clown!  Jason certainly is hyper.
- Jessica — This year’s Natalie.  Hopefully, the big spoon won’t show up.
- Matthew — Matthew seems like a likable guy.  He, Cody, Mark, and Jason could form a big, hot guy alliance.
- Megan — Megan seemed a little flaky to me.  I’m not expecting her to be around for too long.
- Ramses — Calm down, Ramses!
- Raven — After Elena, Raven is my second favorite.  We’re both dancers!
- And finally, poor Cameron!  The minute that Cameron said his biggest fear was getting voted out of the house, I knew that he was going to get voted out.  Cameron was kinda creepy, though so I’m not unhappy about seeing him go early.
For the record, here are the 8 players that received bracelets from Paul.  It’ll be interesting to see if this becomes the season’s first big alliance.  Paul gave friendship bracelets to:
Kevin
Raven
Dominique
Mark
Jason
Jessica
Ramses
Elena
Meanwhile, Paul snubbed:
Cody, who intensely dislikes Paul and didn’t make any effort to hide that face
Alex
Matt
Josh, who came way too strong while talking to Paul
Megan
Jillian
Christmas, who also came on too strong
Cameron, who was voted out
That’s where we stand right now!  Tomorrow, we’ll discover the identity of the first HoH!
What did everyone think of the premiere?
Lisa Marie