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4. Big Brother 6 (US)

This is one of the most epic seasons of any reality show ever. Most of the time reality shows are pleasent diversions, and I'm willing to admit that most of them are disposable entertainment despite me being a fan. This is different. This is the season that makes you stand up and shout, in rage and disgust, or in cheer and joy. It is compusably watchable and if you were there when the season was airing, one of the most intense and time consuming three monthes a live feed viewer could witness.

First of all, and I amnot going off on a limb here, but the casting was a stroke of genius. It is a season of literal good vs evil, though which sideis which is a little tenuous. Probably 9/10 of the people watching see the vile "Friendship" as disgusting, self righteous bitches who couldn't be any more hypocritical or contradictory in their words and actions. Despite their constant proclomations of being the side that has "morals", they had anything but. Eric(Cappy) was a control freak who promised to protect Michael until that became not politically managable, so he becomes a quasi fascist/cult leader, bossing everyone around and almost imposing physical violence had there not been someone to stop him. April was a freak and probably a sexual devient and essentially lied about getting raped. Maggie created a mob mentality among everyone in this vile little group and there was more than enough disgusting activity to go around after her partner in slime left. Ivette was a loudmouth and a bitch, and I do find her charming and likeable for some reason, but she was unbearable at times.

Such is life. Such is everyone else in the cast. The Sovereign 6(or the Sovereign 4, some discounting James and Sarah as not really part of the alliance. Sometimes even including Ashlea and Michael, just in the spirit of anti Nerd Herd hatred) are all normal people with personality flaws that would(and did, on All Stars) usually gather them scorn but did not this season because people were looking for someone to root for, anyone. Kaysar is a bit arrogant and full of himself, Janie is no angel, Rachael is as dull as cardboard, Howie can be irritating and offensive, and James can be a real asshole sometimes. Maybe the only one who doesn't go unscathed is Sarah, who was cute as a button and should only get a little slap on the wrist for being naive. Despite all this, these people, all of them, are fascinating. Seriously, they are pretty endearing and interesting people not just in a reality show trainwreak kind of way, but people who might be in your favorite book or movie or might be your friends in real life. Case in point: season eight. That might be looked at as being similar to season six, but was there really anyone to root for among those boring scumbags? The "war" in the BB6 household(and believe me, it was a civil war) elevated all of their actions to an almost unreal and fantastical nature, as if they were the Rebel Alliance or the Fellowship or something. Kaysars brilliant removal of Eric catapulted him into unabashed love from both message boards and casual fans alike. He even made MSNs frivolous little list of "important persons", which is of course astounding because even vapid celeb voyeurs think they have standards and people on reality shows usually aren't recognized for being no less talented then the usual so called actor.

After his controversial exit(which really brought to the forefront the question: Who exactly are the bad guys?), insane fanatic love for Janelle began to bloom. I like Janie, I like her a lot, but as I brought up, she is no angel. She was quite vile herself on the show, and while I would say it was just self defense on her part, the footage is there for you to decide. Actually this season is a great lesson to everyone and proof that even in times where everything seems pitch black and stark white, there are always different hues of morality that are worthy to rack your brain over. Why do I defend Howie and Janelle but abhor people like Maggot or Dick Donato? At one point I was just as disgusted with the Sovereigns as I was with the Friendship, but my view on things let me lean in favor of them. Look at your moral compass and see what comes up.

None of this would matter if the show wasn't entertaining, after all, there are better ways of discerning humanity and moral dilemmas. Big Brother 6 was VERY entertaining. Everyone was c.olorful and funny and smart and inspiring. The gameplay was boring but most of the events that happened were amazing in how large they seemed. Jennifers betrayal and the actions that followed seemed huge to me, huge. It was totally epic, and the cherry on top of the sundae was not only a tiebreaker at final 3 between Ivette and Janelle(If Janelle won the last HOH,I'm convinced she would have won the game), but a DOUBLE tiebreaker. Yowza. Finally, while the Friendship won the game, the Sovereigns won the moral victory, and all the spoils of being part of such an amazing season. Many of them reaped the limited fame and fun one can get from being a well liked BB contestent, and four of them would return for All Stars, which is a great season in itself(which probably wouldn't have aired had it not been for the popularity of season 6, and season 6 was the driving force for most of All Stars, so yeah, they have a lot of milage).