Big Brother 8

Years ago, CBS debuted a new reality series called Big Brother. Back then, the cast was older, the show was more interactive, high-speed internet access was rare, and the live-feeds were tiny, grainy images of a chicken coop for most of the day.

Since then, the show has evolved into a summer guilty pleasure with eye-candy abound. Though there have been new twists in the game (the Power of Veto), new architecture in the house (the addition of a second story and HoH suite) and new houseguests to compete (hotties like Kaysar from BB6 and BB7), the show remains the most real of reality tv.

Unlike most reality shows, which are completely at the mercy of their editors, Big Brother offers something different: a live internet feed from inside the house. This allows viewers to watch all the plotting, strategizing, and back-stabbing that takes place during an average day in the house as it's happening. These live feeds are what make the show so much better than other "reality" programs like Survivor or The Real World.

Big Brother also has one of the most dedicated fan communities on the web. BB fans are up at all house, watching the feeds, taking screen caps, summarizing any updates, and discussing their favorite alliances. While it may not exactly be Monday Night Football, fans of this show are more into it than any die-hard arm-chair-quarterback.

I've been a fan of Big Brother since the first season and I only missed one episode due to a huge storm that passed through my neighborhood and knocked out the power.

Last year, I started a blog for Big Brother All-Stars, my dream season, featuring some of my favorite players from seasons past. That blog became pretty popular, and I've decided to go for it again this year with Big Brother 8.

This blog will feature updates, commentary, links and even a few screencaps or YouTube videos from this season and maybe even from past seasons too.

Keep checking back here to see what's cookin' in the BB house!

-Alexis

Beyond Jumping the Shark

Those of you who could actually get through an episode of Flavor of Love without puking will be pleased to hear that everyone's favorite Head-Bitch-In-Charge is back with her very own reality dating show. That's right, New York (real name Tiffany Patterson), the psychotic diva from both seasons one and two of Flavor of Love is back on VH1 and looking for love once again. Her new series, I Love New York, puts her in a house with 20 single guys who compete for her affection.

I have to say, you'd think that being totally rejected by Flavor Flav twice on national TV would be enough to make a person realize how repulsive they really were, but apparently New York didn't get that memo. Instead, she and her freakish mother (who, I'm convinced, is actually a man) will go through the whole trashy charade again. Yes, trash fans, even her horrible mother will be back this season. Make sure you keep your vomit buckets ready. New York's self-absorbed chatter and psychotic diva rants will surely make our list of trash TV highlights this year.

Still, I think the real fascinating question here is this... just how many times can VH1 spin off a show? If you recall, the entire Flavor Flav dating show phenomenon started way back in 2004 with The Surreal Life. That show lead to the unholy union of Flavor Flav and Brigitte Nielson. Later, their relationship spawned Strange Love, a reality-romance series about Flav's attempts to woo Nielson. As if that wasn't enough, when Flav and Brigitte split, VH1 introduced a new show, the original Flavor of Love. After the first season of that show yielded no long-term love interest for Flav, VH1 decided to bring it back again in another quest to find Flav a woman. All this might leave you wondering just why VH1 has taken such an interest in the love life of the self-proclaimed "World's Greatest Hype Man". Now VH1 has once again introduced a spin off in the Flavor Flav love saga, bringing us the latest reality abortion, I Love New York.

Seriously, VH1, why are you doing this?! This goes so far over the line of jumping the shark that I think a new term needs to be coined for this scheme of running a concept so far into the ground. Clearly, this network does not know when it's time to let an idea die. All this is made even more hilarious by the fact that infamous "clock ceremony" line from Flavor of Love was "you know what time it is." Please, VH1, just let this whole Flavor Flav thing go and come up with something else. You know it's gotten pretty bad because this is coming from Trashwire.com. We have very strong stomachs for trashy TV, but this is testing even our tolerance. Keeping the cameras rolling as a girl took a shit on the carpet during the second season of Flavor of Love was one thing, but now we're so desparate for crap reality that we need to create and entire series where we find a man for someone who isn't even famous enough to qualify as a d-lister?! When will it end?!

It's so horrible that we just can't resist it and we'll be there watching on January 8th a 9PM EST when I Love New York premieres on VH1.

Click HERE for more information about the show and to watch episodes and extras from VSpot on VH1.com.