Big Breakfast gets the Big Brother treatment
In a spoof take-off of Channel Four's voyeuristic hit Big Brother, the Big Breakfast experience is set to continue round the clock compliments of a new Web site launched Monday. Viewers of the show's morning mayhem can log on to continue the fun after the TV show ends at 9am in what Channel 4 hopes will set a new trend for Net/TV viewing.
"Channel Four in general is trying to move in a direction that will enable a lot of its TV programmes to have a greater emphasis on the Internet," said Julian Hayles, assistant producer for Web-development company Bomb, responsible for the redesign of the Big Breakfast site. "I think that going forward, TV and the Internet are going to complement each other... one will enhance the other. A lot more broadcasters will be moving their on-air medium to online."
The Big Breakfast Web site is still in its development stage, but in a miniature Big Brother style will launch a sleepover feature where contestants staying in the house will be streamed live across the Web 24 hours a day.
Big Brother gripped the nation in an unexpected frenzy last summer when millions of viewers immersed themselves in the lives of ten contestants who renounced their privacy for nine weeks to live under the scrutiny of high-tech surveillance equipment. Channel Four hopes to replicate the success of this initiative with the redesign of the Big Breakfast site to coincide with the re-launch of the TV breakfast show.
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