House Calls: The Big Brother Talk Show
Encyclopedia
House Calls: The Big Brother Talk Show (also known as House Calls) is a spin-off of the American
reality television series Big Brother. The program is a live Internet talk show
hosted by Gretchen Massey
and focuses on events in the Big Brother house as well as taking phone calls from viewers. The show started in 2004 during Big Brother 5 with Marcellas Reynolds
as host/co-host, and became quite popular. House Calls aired during the fifth through tenth seasons of Big Brother.
During Big Brother: All-Stars the format was changed to include special guest hosts. This was due to former regular host Marcellas Reynolds
being a HouseGuest that season. Marcellas didn't return for subsequent seasons, citing budget cuts at CBS Interactive. For Big Brother 8
a new feature called "Time Capsule" was introduced. The "Time Capsule" was where the HouseGuest leaves a message for him/herself prior to start of the season. "Time Capsule" was previously used in the Internet talk show Survivor Live
.
, evicted HouseGuests that were part of the Big Brother Jury could no longer be interviewed by the press or appear on House Calls and The Early Show
while being sequestered. A statement from Big Brother was released and was read by Gretchen on air:
During Big Brother 10, members of the jury in sequester could still appear on the show, but live phone calls were not taken. Instead, questions were sent in, and only appropriate questions were chosen to interview the evicted jury member. This was to ensure that the interview would not influence the jury member's vote.
of Big Brother. Instead the Friday episodes of Inside Dish with Ross Matthews would feature Big Brother discussion and interviews with evicted HouseGuests. This was only was during Big Brother 11, however. From Big Brother 12 onward, there have been no interviews with evicted houseguests.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
reality television series Big Brother. The program is a live Internet talk show
Talk show
A talk show or chat show is a television program or radio program where one person discuss various topics put forth by a talk show host....
hosted by Gretchen Massey
Gretchen Massey
Gretchen Wynnifer Massey Lukas is a Los Angeles-based radio host and performer. Her CBS Radio talk show 'CrackinUp w/ Gretchen & the Lukes' aired weekly on the Los Angeles station KLSX 97.1 Free FM every 'Fraturday'...
and focuses on events in the Big Brother house as well as taking phone calls from viewers. The show started in 2004 during Big Brother 5 with Marcellas Reynolds
Marcellas Reynolds
Marcellas Reynolds is an American actor, fashion stylist, entertainment reporter and TV host. His television appearances include World Report , The Tyra Banks Show, Style Network's How Do I look, E! News, Fox News' Geraldo at Large and Big Brother.-Early life:Marcellas Reynolds was born in Chicago,...
as host/co-host, and became quite popular. House Calls aired during the fifth through tenth seasons of Big Brother.
Format
In each show Gretchen and a guest host talk and answer viewer questions about events in the "Big Brother" household. Viewers are also able to send in emails to the show which are read on air and subscribers of the live Internet feed are able to submit questions to be chosen as the "SuperPass Question of the Week" which is discussed by the hosts. After each eviction, the evicted HouseGuest would join the hosts and answer viewer questions.During Big Brother: All-Stars the format was changed to include special guest hosts. This was due to former regular host Marcellas Reynolds
Marcellas Reynolds
Marcellas Reynolds is an American actor, fashion stylist, entertainment reporter and TV host. His television appearances include World Report , The Tyra Banks Show, Style Network's How Do I look, E! News, Fox News' Geraldo at Large and Big Brother.-Early life:Marcellas Reynolds was born in Chicago,...
being a HouseGuest that season. Marcellas didn't return for subsequent seasons, citing budget cuts at CBS Interactive. For Big Brother 8
Big Brother 8 (U.S.)
Big Brother 8 is the eighth season of the US version of the reality TV-show Big Brother on CBS. The season was announced on February 1, 2007. Julie Chen returned for this season as host. Allison Grodner and Rich Meehan are executive producers. Arnold Shapiro stepped down as producer following last...
a new feature called "Time Capsule" was introduced. The "Time Capsule" was where the HouseGuest leaves a message for him/herself prior to start of the season. "Time Capsule" was previously used in the Internet talk show Survivor Live
Survivor Live
Survivor Live was an internet talk-show about the television series Survivor.The show premiered at the beginning of Survivor: Vanuatu - Islands of Fire as a result of the popularity of House Calls: The Big Brother Talk Show, which began airing the previous summer during Big Brother 5...
.
Big Brother 8 controversy
Due to controversial behavior and remarks expressed by certain HouseGuests during Big Brother 8Big Brother 8 (U.S.)
Big Brother 8 is the eighth season of the US version of the reality TV-show Big Brother on CBS. The season was announced on February 1, 2007. Julie Chen returned for this season as host. Allison Grodner and Rich Meehan are executive producers. Arnold Shapiro stepped down as producer following last...
, evicted HouseGuests that were part of the Big Brother Jury could no longer be interviewed by the press or appear on House Calls and The Early Show
The Early Show
The Early Show is an American television morning news talk show broadcast by CBS from New York City. The program airs live from 7 to 9 a.m. Eastern Time Monday through Friday; most affiliates in the Central, Mountain, and Pacific time zones air the show on tape-delay from 7 to 9 a.m. local time. ...
while being sequestered. A statement from Big Brother was released and was read by Gretchen on air:
We have made jury members of Big Brother available to the press the past few seasons always with the proviso that their questions not inform the ejected HouseGuest of influences outside his or her personal experience in the House. This season several cast members have made either offensive statements or exhibited controversial behavior, we respect journalist interests and rights to pose questions about these statements but believe at the same time doing so could provide information that influences the final vote and potential outcome of this twelve week competition. For that reason the remaining jurors will not be made available to the media for the duration of the program. They will be made available to the press after the Big Brother finale on September 18th.
During Big Brother 10, members of the jury in sequester could still appear on the show, but live phone calls were not taken. Instead, questions were sent in, and only appropriate questions were chosen to interview the evicted jury member. This was to ensure that the interview would not influence the jury member's vote.
Guest hosts
Beginning with Big Brother: All-Stars, House Calls has featured guest hosts alongside Gretchen Massey. During Big Brother: All-Stars and Big Brother 8 guest hosts would host for one episode up to an entire week with few regular guest hosts returning during the season multiple times. Starting with Big Brother 9 there were four main guest hosts with one hosting a different day with the exception of Dick Donato who hosted two days a week.| Big Brother 7: All-Stars | |||||
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| Big Brother 8 Big Brother 8 (U.S.) Big Brother 8 is the eighth season of the US version of the reality TV-show Big Brother on CBS. The season was announced on February 1, 2007. Julie Chen returned for this season as host. Allison Grodner and Rich Meehan are executive producers. Arnold Shapiro stepped down as producer following last... |
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| Big Brother 9 Big Brother 9 (U.S.) Big Brother 9 is the ninth edition of the American reality television series... |
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| Daniele Donato | Kaysar Ridha | Dick Donato Dick Donato Richard Louis Donato, known as "Evel Dick" Donato , a bar manager from Los Angeles, California, is the winner of the reality game show Big Brother 8. He and his daughter, Daniele Donato, are the only family member pair to win the American Big Brother program's top two prizes in the same competition... |
Bunky Miller | ||
| Big Brother 10 Big Brother 10 (U.S.) Big Brother 10 is the tenth season of the American reality television seriesBig Brother The show premiered July 13, 2008 on the CBS television network, airing three times a week; Sundays at 8 p.m. , Tuesdays at 9 p.m. , and Thursdays at 8 p.m... |
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| Daniele Donato | Bunky Miller | Sheila Kennedy | Dick Donato | Kaysar Ridha | Evicted Houseguest |
Cancellation
After six seasons House Calls was canceled after CBS didn't announce the return of House Calls for the eleventh seasonBig Brother 11 (U.S.)
Big Brother 11 is the 11th season of the American reality television series Big Brother. It began on July 9, 2009 and aired on CBS and Showtime 2 for 73 days, concluding on September 15, 2009 when Jordan Lloyd was crowned the winner with four votes from the jury and one vote from the viewing public...
of Big Brother. Instead the Friday episodes of Inside Dish with Ross Matthews would feature Big Brother discussion and interviews with evicted HouseGuests. This was only was during Big Brother 11, however. From Big Brother 12 onward, there have been no interviews with evicted houseguests.