But not this year. Bigg Boss Season 9, so far, has been nothing but a waste of airtime and our time.
And now that the show has completed more than half its journey, expecting a revival would mean being ridiculously optimistic.
With the trailer turning out to be more interesting than the actual show, SpotboyE analyses what's going wrong with Indian television's most popular reality programme. And the answer is, just about EVERYTHING. Read on...
BLAND RECIPE OF CONTESTANTS
When the tagline 'Double Trouble' was announced, we expected major masala. But what was served hot was the same (c)old recipe.
Some couples (Kishwar Merchant-Suyyash Rai, Rochelle Rao-Keith Sequeira, Roopal Tyagi-Ankit Gera), some whose careers failed to reach the expected heights (Aman Verma, Rimi Sen, Vikas Bhalla and Yuvika Chaudhary), some popular names on television (Kishwar, Digangana Suryavanshi and Risabh Sinha), a couple of reality-show discoveries (Prince Narula and Priya Malik) a member from the gay community (Kanwaljeet Singh) and some sizzling hot Bollywood newbies/models (Mandana Karimi, Nora Fatehi and Gizele Thakral).
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More or less, this has been Bigg Boss formula every single season. To top it, the contestants themselves are too boring and politically correct this time around. The curiosity value, on a scale of zero to 10, is ZERO.
Don't you think it's time for something new? If the basics are so bland, there's only so much spice that even a host like Salman Khan can add.
NO PRIME TIME
The biggest drawback of BB9 is its timing -- from the prime time slot of 9 pm-10 pm during the previous seasons, it is now being aired at 10.30 pm. And with the contestants adding no masla, there's no reason why anyone would stay up till late. Also, with Chakravartin Ashok Samrat and Naagin, the two shows aired before and after BB respectively, turning out to be more interesting (both are high on TRPs), the reality show is looking even more bleak.
DOUBLE TROUBLE FOR THE AUDIENCE
BB9's theme - Double Trouble - was loosely based on the 9th season of Big Brother US (Till Death Do You Part). Sorry to say, it has failed to create any impact. No game plans, no major differences in opinion, no unpredictability in tasks, not even romance between the couples -- after the first week when participants were tied to each other, it's the viewers who are facing 'Double Trouble'.
RIMI SEN: THE BIGG MISTAKE
The makers and the audience were expecting Rimi Sen to create some 'Dhoom' inside the house. But who knew that the Bollywood actress' agenda was "baithe baithe bank balance badhaungi"? Reportedly, she was paid Rs 2 crore for doing NOTHING. If only that amount had been used to rope in a few interesting contestants. Well....
ONLY RUMOURS
This year, rumours have been abundant about wild-card entrants -- porn star Mia Khalifa, Sahil Khan (of the Ayesha Shroff case fame) and Samyukta Singh (Keith's ex-wife). Viewers were waiting to see Sahil open up about his huge row with Mrs Jackie Shroff and Samyukta creating tension in the Keith-Rochelle relationship, but they did not even appear on the show. At least, not so far.
Aren't the makers deliberately spreading fancy names to grab a few more eyeballs?
TAME WILD-CARD ENTRIES
BB9 has already see a record number of wild-card entrants - six. And, with the exception of Gizele (too early to pin our hopes high), nobody has upped the show's entertainment value.
Do you agree with us? Tell us in the 'Comments' section below. You can also write to us on facebook.com/SpotboyE and twitter.com/SpotboyE with #BiggBoss9.
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