We're getting ever deeper into Big Brother Season 25, and the live feeds are in some ways as good as they've ever been, by way of frequent chaos and attempts to flip the house. I've been enjoying watching Big Brother online, which anyone can stream with a Paramount+ subscription, but have again and again been struggling to navigate the archaic user interface on my computer and my TV app. It's been an ongoing issue for years now, and with such innovations made elsewhere in the streaming space, why is this show still lagging behind with updates?
Relatively few quality-of-life improvements could drastically improve Big Brother's live feeds. In an age where live streaming is no longer a novelty but a norm, here are some simple ways I believe the CBS reality series could and should get its system up to speed.
There Should Be An Ability To Clip Or Bookmark Certain Moments For Others
Watching the live feeds in real-time is relatively easy, but searching for key moments can be an absolute nightmare. Currently, there are three ways for people to do this via computer. Randomly clicking through the bar at the bottom of the screen to try and find the correct time a moment happened, using the time and calendar function, or simply searching for a certain clip on social media that someone already posted, which is by far the easiest route at this point.
Big Brother fans are resourceful, of course, and have found workarounds to many of the live feeds shortcomings, but why should this still be the case this many years in? Why should I have to search another website for a clip that should be readily available for me to find and view on Paramount+? I would love to see a clip-creation feature for dedicated fans save their favorite moments, which could be made available in a scroll-down sidebar that could be shared with others. Specific tags like "funny" or "gameplay" could be used as well, so that viewers could filter clips by what they want to see.
Would this hypothetical clip system need to be moderated so servers aren't innundated by inappropriate and/or NSFW camera shots of Houseguests? Absolutely, but the show already has someone monitoring the feeds nonstop for that content. I think the value would be far greater for those who don't want to spend time endlessly searching timestamps and get some big views on key moments that are left out of episodes.
We Need A Way To Isolate Audio On The Quad View
If you're someone like me who likes to know everything happening in the house, the quad view of all four cameras can be handy. Unfortunately, it comes with a tremendous downside that arguably makes it unusable most of the time. No option exists to isolate audio on one camera feed, which often makes it difficult to understand anything being said on any of the cameras.
Multi-view is not a unique feature on live streaming, and isolated audio is a standard feature on services like NFL Redzone. I'm not sure why Big Brother hasn't already added this to its platform, but I can assure you that it would make a significant difference in my enjoyment of the service. Additionally, it would make watching live feeds on television more viable, as navigating on television apps is definitely more clunky than on a computer.
There Should Be Estimated Down Times For Feeds
Those that frequent live feeds know the struggle that occurs often from Thursday nights all the way until Mondays. The feeds tend to go down for long periods of time so that the Houseguests can compete in the Head of Household and Veto competitions, and so that the nomination and veto ceremonies can take place. The feeds can be down for anywhere from an hour to over half a day, and the only thing viewers really know for sure, timing-wise, is that if the adoptable pet videos are up, we'll be waiting a long time before the feeds return.
I don't think it's too much to ask for Big Brother to supply rough estimations on screen indicating. Sure, I know they will never be able to nail the times down to a science given all that can go wrong, but I think viewers are owed some sort of idea of when feeds will realistically return, even if that time has to be adjusted. That way, they won't be waiting around for over half a day to see the Houseguests again, which has already happened once in Season 25 with no explanation for the feeds dropping for so long.
The Chatroom Text Needs To Be Larger
Big Brother's live feeds allow for some of the Internet's most conversation-worthy chatrooms that still remains, and it's absolutely popping at all hours of the day. The main chatroom moves so fast, in fact, that it can be hard to communicate with anyone, though the other rooms are far easier to navigate. I'm a fan of the freedom to chat with other live feed enthusiasts, but I hate squinting my eyes to read the text.
This may be a personal problem because of my eyesight, but only in part. The chat window for the Big Brother live feeds is far too small. There's so much empty space on the Paramount+ page that it could be bigger, and it should! That way I can accurately see the random snarky comments made during conversations, and reply with a few of my own as well.
Added Stationary Camera Feeds That Stay On Certain Rooms
For anyone watching the Big Brother live feeds these days, there are usually two different conversations playing out across four cameras that can be listened in on. Occasionally, for reasons no fan will ever fully understand, a very important conversation will be happening, and the live feed operator, known to many as "Skippy," will abruptly cut the feed to another conversation. Why does this happen, and why do we have to watch what Skippy tells us?
One fix to that would be stationary camera feeds, where live feed viewers could listen in on any room of their own choosing. With 90+ cameras in the house, one would think it wouldn't be that difficult to offer an option to watch each and every room in the house at will. Of course, it would be much harder to prevent cutting the feeds when Houseguests break the rules which could result in lawsuits from record labels and private citizens, which will likely be why it never happens.
Catch new episodes of Big Brother on CBS on Sundays and Wednesdays at 8:00 p.m. ET, and on Thursdays at 9:00 p.m. ET. Those wishing to watch the live feeds will need a subscription to Paramount+, or they can watch an ad-supported version for free via Pluto TV. With the rumors that the live feeds could be going away in the future, now might be the time to tune in and prove how vital they are to the success of the show.
