IT only took nine years — but “Big Brother” is finally a hit.
Just as the rest of the world grows tired of the social-experiment TV series — Britain canceled the show last week after 11 seasons — an American audience is discovering the pleasure of watching a group of young people locked away from the outside world for 10 weeks.
“BB” — now in its 11th season — has been the surprise hit of the summer, ranking No. 2 among summer shows, after “America’s Got Talent,” and getting bigger every week as the show approaches its finale next Tuesday.
Tonight, the competition begins its final week with a live elimination — three girls and one guy are left — and all the eye-watering drama that entails.
“Big Brother” has not changed radically since its first few years. So it is hard to say why this season people — especially those in their late 20s and early 30s, the ratings suggest — have been so drawn to the show.
There has been some unusual drama — topped by the middle-of-the-night ejection of an especially ornery contestant, Chima. Her last straw was disdainfully tossing her microphone into the hot tub — a gesture for someone who has had it with reality TV that could not be beat.
Turns out it is one thing to behave badly, as Chima apparently did. (“Big Brother” ejected a house guest only once before, a few years back, for threatening another player with a very unthreatening knife.)
But it’s unforgivable to act badly outside the range of microphones, where it can’t be picked up and broadcast.
And there is one houseguest, Natalie, who has been lying about her age — she says she’s 18 but is listed as 24 in her bio — so that competitors will underestimate her abilities. (So far, it’s worked. She’s in the final four.)
Michele is a PhD in neuroscience who has short-term memory problems (not kidding). She’s the most likely candidate to be sent home tonight because of her reluctance to make deals with fellow contestants.
The other two in the final four are Jordan — a pretty, blonde waitress from North Carolina who fell for another contestant, Jeff (what happens between them after the show is over has been a big subplot this year) — and Kevin, a scheming graphic artist who is the lone guy to survive 66 days of isolation so far this season.
Incidentally, the finalists in the British version of “Big Brother” didn’t learn until Sunday night — when the final winner was chosen and everyone came out of the house — that the show had been canceled.