Wasn’t it just under two months ago that Big Brother closed out its eighth season?  Big Brother faithful were just hunkering down to about nine months of waiting for the next serving of the social experiment cum reality program.  Don’t look now though, but the wait may be much, much shorter.

Thanks to the ongoing Writers Guild of America (WGA) strike, which commenced Monday, we may be sinking our teeth into the ninth Big Brother by February 2008.

Your Take

Anonymous said: IF JULIE HATES THE SHOW THEN WHY DOS SHE HOST SHE IS SO BORING ANYWAY

eric4bb9 said: Would you like to see Big Brother 8’s Jessica and Eric compete on The Amazing Race? Join the fan campaign …

ladytex01 said: Robyn Kass, BB Casting Director has posted this as a blog on her myspace page: Thursday, November 08, 2007…

The buzz around town is that CBS had discreetly begun casting for Big Brother 9 a few weeks back, bracing itself before the start of the writers’ walkout.  There’s an interesting little twist though.  There have been rumors and speculations that the next Big Brother offering will be a celebrity edition.

Executive producer Allison Grodner is reportedly tweaking the reality show format a bit with the intention of having celebrity houseguests instead of the usual civilian ones.  Should there be any truth to this, it could prove mutually beneficial to the network and the celebrities.  CBS gets its typical summer show back on the air ahead of schedule to fill in the void of shows that will cease to broadcast as a result of the strike.  At the same time, celebrities who would normally be engaged in the rigors of sitcom work would have something to occupy them and keep them visible.

As things currently stand, E! Online reports that as early as now, seven sitcoms have already fallen victim to the WGA boycott.  Four of them come from CBS, namely, The New Adventures of Old Christine, Rules of Engagement, Two and a Half Men and The Big Bang Theory, which have all reportedly halted production according to network reps.

The possibility of a preempted Big Brother 9 start even came up on Tuesday’s edition of CBS’ The Early Show, when anchor Hanna Storm jested that the reality series may be back before the summer.  The reference drew a roll of the eyes from fellow anchor, Julie Chen, who also hosts Big Brother.  Chen merely stated her hope that the impasse is resolved soon.

-Rosario Santiago, BuddyTV Staff Columnist
Source: Variety, E! Online
(Image Courtesy of City News)

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Staff Columnist, BuddyTV