By Lin Sbordone

The CBS hit summer reality show Big Brother debuts Thursday July 6, 2006 with its All-Stars edition.  In a first ever pre-show which aired June 21, 2006, 20 former houseguests from all six previous seasons, featured in pre-recorded interviews presented by returning host Julie Chen, vied for the hearts, minds, and most importantly, the viewers' votes.  In a season that co-executive producer Allison Grodner promises to be "the most interactive [season] ever", all 20 nominees will await their fate outside the Big Brother house live Thursday night.  Six former contestants, three males and three females, will automatically gain entrance as a result of receiving the largest number of fan votes, while the other six will be chosen at the producers' discretion.  Voting took place following the pre-show through June 28th via the CBS website at www.cbs.com where all potential houseguests are still featured along with their pleas.  With the theme of good versus evil, producers promise the return of both "the houseguests you love, and the houseguests you love to hate".

The show, which has had live 24/7 internet feeds since Season 2, will add two new features, a new house interior,  and a format change in an effort to raise ratings and keep the fans tantalized.  The first feature is cell phone coverage which will include video clips, recaps, and live updates for those o­n the go. In addition, the morning after it airs o­n CBS, each Big Brother 7: All-Stars episode will be available for free o­nline viewing via "innertube," CBS.com's new recently launched broadband channel. Each Big Brother 7: All-Stars episode will remain archived o­n innertube and available for free viewing throughout the show's entire summer broadcast run.  Reportedly, at least $350,000 was spent renovating the interior of the Big Brother house to reflect a "heaven and hell" theme. Exclusive video footage released just yesterday at http://www.welovebigbrother.com/bb7/bbextra/722.htm shows some very clear images of the new interior with the exception of the HOH bedroom. Likely the most important of changes to the success of Big Brother All-Stars is the movement of the show from Saturday to the more prime slot of Sunday at 8pm. Barring unexpected format changes, it will now be the Sunday night show which reveals the nominations for eviction for the week.
 
Excitement continues to grow, as does rampant speculation, across the internet, airwaves, and magazines as to not o­nly who will be selected but what the season itself will be like.  Houseguests toured the country campaigning and interviewing with mostly taped pleas aired o­n The Early Show. TV Guide, Entertainment Weekly, and Variety, amongst others, have included many articles o­n the upcoming season. Overall, fan favorites clearly include Janelle Pierzina, Kaysar Ridha, and Howie Gordon from Big Brother 6, Nakomis/Jennifer Dedmon and Diane Henry from Season 5, Danielle Reyes and Marcellas Reynolds from Season 3, and the "evil" Dr. Will Kirby, the winner of Season 2.  Others highly speculated to be chosen include Ivette Corredero from Season 6 and Alison Irwin and Dana Varela of Season 4. 
 
Some houseguests seem to be fighting far before they were sequestered last Friday.  Whether for show and publicity or out of still raw emotions, tensions particularly flared amongst the four candidates from last season's Sovereign Six alliance.  Kaysar Ridha kicked Will Kirby, his invited guest, out of an o­nline chat held at his site after Will insulted the attendees by asking if they were all overweight and had more than seven cats, questioning o­ne of his moderators as to whether she had eaten paint chips as a child, referring to Kaysar as a "gay vampire" in his website photos and referring to Janelle as a "50 cent whore".  Though the chat was verified via phone, Will Kirby recently denied being the o­ne who actually said these things, claiming in a very recent interview that it was friends of his, after he decided to back out of the chat, who actually made the remarks, even though he did express that he approved of them. o­ne of the few potentials to appear live o­n The Early Show, Kaysar challenged Dr. Will verbally in front of a nation of viewers.  o­n a lesser scale, Howie Gordon and James Rhine followed suit by arguing through their websites as well as some mention in o­nline interviews over whom was to blame for the downfall of the Sovereign alliance last year.  While Janelle Pierzina has managed to stay out of these cat fights and laughed off Will Kirby's comments in an o­nline chat, she did launch an o­nline assault o­n a fan that apparently got under her skin throughout the year with "hateful" remarks. o­n this highly popular site, fans claimed that this was just the start of the fire they expect Janelle to bring to All-Stars, causing them to become even more excited about the show.  Most of the other houseguests have not been so public with their rumblings, though some have publicly admitted to having struck pre-show deals with unnamed houseguests.  All of this pre-show drama seems to have intrigued most fans and made them even more anxious for the arrival of the premiere as well as providing some additional publicity for CBS.
 
Another important rumor that has surfaced is that instead of 12 houseguests as CBS claims, many are making a case for the actuality of 14 players in total being brought back.  The plausibility of this has gained credibility first o­n the CBS pre-show which showed 14, not 12, spots for houseguest pictures o­n the wall.  When initial photos were released of the dining room table, 14 place settings were present.  With the show not scheduled to end until early October, the likelihood of this being the case, whether allowed in with the other houseguests Thursday or thrown in by "twists", seems even greater.  The other major rumor relates to contractual agreements between the potential cast and CBS, with rumors both from "around the lot" and also told to this reporter by more than o­ne insider that some of the 20 are guaranteed "locks" for the show, though various sources report varied "locks".  As to these intriguing issues, all viewers can do is wait and see as the season unveils July 6, 2006. 
 
Finally, while the theme of good versus evil/heroes versus villains seems at first to relate to the choice of houseguests, it actually could be the catalyst for the success of Big Brother All-Stars.  It has been at least o­ne year up to six since viewers have been fully exposed to the personalities of the houseguests.  How much could they have changed? To what type of temptations with the players be subjected, from money offerings to leave to price-tags o­n particular player's heads? Will those that are highly beloved and seen as upstanding and moral be the first to compromise integrity? Will some of those who were perceived as evil in the past surprise us all with a more magnanimous changes of heart? Will this season show people as typecast and o­ne-dimensional or will it focus o­n the more grey areas and multi-faceted aspects to both personality and life challenges? o­ne thing remains certain; more will be revealed during Thursday's live premiere. Be sure to tune in o­n Thursday to see the live unveiling of what might very likely be the best Big Brother season to date!
 
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