53 replies to this topic

[MethodActor05]

Ah, season 2. Freakin' loved this. I think I knew this would be a great season when Mike Boogie got his ass booted out and Hardy won HOH.

Fave early storyline of the season? When Shannon made digs at the (not) fat Autumn. Then she says, "Why don't you go off and eat some potato chips?" When Autumn finds a bag of potato chips in her bed, she cries hysterically in Hardy's arms. I mean, it's not a nice moment or anything, but it was the begining of the complete melodrama this psychotic cast had.

I think Sharon and Kent were the only sane people there.

[FlippinChipmunk]

I think Sharon and Kent were the only sane people there.

Do you mean Sheryl?

There is someone at my church who is connected to Sheryl in some way. I can't remember who it is, but their wife knows her somehow.

[miiiike]

I think Sharon and Kent were the only sane people there.

Do you mean Sheryl?

Shannon also sounds quite a bit like Sharon, so he could have meant her...

Totally kidding.

[MethodActor05]

Yeah, I meant Sheryl...cause Shannon? Geez.

I loved when Shannon decided to clean the toliet with Hardy's toothbrush and was giggling like mad. My other favorite Shannon moment is when she has this totally fake breakdown in the diary room because everyone thinks she's mean.

[blackwing]

I disagree that Kent was sane. I couldn't stand the guy. I hated how he always went around stirring the pot and grumbling and generally acting like a grumpy old man. He was intolerable after he was forced to quit smoking because he ran out of cigarettes.

Hated him ever since he pulled the stunt with that stupid car that he claimed he needed so badly and that "my wife told me that if there was a car that I had to win the car". And then he went and sold it immediately after the show.

Season 2 was great, probably my all-time favorite.

I loved the potato chip drama. So deliciously bitchy. Not sure why it brought about such histrionics from Autumn. So someone says you're fat. Yeah, it hurts, but to have a meltdown? Couldn't understand that one.

[MethodActor05]

Well, Autumn definitely had body image issues. She had put on a little more weight than she was used to, and she was used to being the 'pretty girl'. I think Shannon knew that, and used it to break her down.

I remember how happy I was when Hardy won HOH, wearing that white outfit looking like an angel. How wrong I was.

[popcorn]

The strangest thing about the potato chip incident was that Hardy did a diary room interview afterwards where he was practically crying and said he just wanted Autumn to know that they weren't all bad like that. Get a grip, dude.

[False Dmitri]

Hardy was an interesting hamster. You never knew whether he was going to try to come off as the sword hand of God's justice here to deliver the good from the evil, the savvy Machiavellian schemer only looking to come out on top whatever it takes, the sensitive guy in over his head because the assholes were so assholy, or the laid back dude above all this nonsense and just counting down the days until it was over. The only consistant theme was he was the center of the universe and the key to the game.

I wish he were in it, a kind of twice-sized emo Cappy who would make a satisfying early eviction.

[hoppers13]

I don't think I ever changed my opinion of a houseguest as quickly as I did Hardy. One minute he was a hero, the next he was a total dick, and we were calling him Hardly. It's been five years and my memory of that season is pretty dim, but I do remember one day (maybe the day of the clothes comp) when Hardy was prancing around the back yard in a cowboy hat and, like, a pair of Speedos. Fucking hilarious. That was a great day on the feeds, and I was so disappointed when it didn't make the show.

[HellfireClubGuy]

It was kind of fascinating how Hardy the blond model stud slowly but surely transformed into Hardly a black hair, smoking, bags under his eyes dud.

[bear88]

I was trying to figure out what made Season Two work so well for me. Here's my list:

-- Low expectations. Season One failed to entertain, with the few amusing people kicked out immediately. Season Two was a pleasant surprise.

-- The undoing of "Chill Town" -- That group was, collectively, about as obnoxious as any in the show's history. Watching them get picked off, as the majority realized that they were the majority, was as satisfying as reality television gets. Mike Boogie's protests that the extras were taking over, his best line on the show, made it all the sweeter.

-- Bunky and Kent. Yeah, it was all a bit cliched, but the relationship with the hardened bigot and the weepy gay man was still charming.

-- Monica. "It's AWWWN!" is still the show's greatest catchphrase, and her rants were terribly funny.

-- The undoing of Hardy. He was the hero of the early season, as he took on Shannon and the rest of Chill Town. But then his halo was badly tarnished, and he lost control that was far more tenuous than he seemed to realize.

-- Will. The ultimate irony is that a member of Chill Town would win the prize, AND that most viewers would be pleased about that outcome. But Will, in a bit of jujitsu unique in the history of the game, transformed his weakness into strength while turning himself into the funniest and most wicked player in the history of the game.

-- Nicole. Oh, she wasn't popular at the time, including with most of her fellow House guests. But she was central to everything that happened, from the dismantling of Chill Town to the emergence of Will as a star. She was the foil he needed. The combination of her intelligence and shaky emotional state puts her in a very different realm than any other contestant. She wasn't a Hollywood wannabe or a famewhore. She was just a woman having a nervous breakdown. It was a bit uncomfortable to watch at times, but hey, these people sign up for this.

-- Complex characters and plot twists. Nobody was simply good or evil (except for Shannon and Mike Boogie, and even they were entertaining at times). We saw different sides of a charismatic group of players, and I changed my opinion of them along the way. The show, and the live feeds, became very addictive along the way. Never has excessive alcohol consumption, odd sexual encounters, violent men, and mental illness been so entertaining.

The only big negative about Season Two was the show's reaction to the Sept. 11th terrorist attacks that year. Monica's cousin was killed in the attacks, and she was kept in the dark for an unforgivably long time while the producers debated how to handle the situation. Obviously, at the time, it made the final outcome of the show seem pointless. But the journey, until then, was a wild ride.

Edited by bear88, Jul 2, 2006 @ 2:54 AM.

[vanden]

bear88, you've captured most of what made Season 2 my favorite. I remember being really surprised as my feelings started to shift from rooting for Hardy to rooting for Will. But Will was fun while Hardy, while easy on the eyes, was too caught up in his image of himself as heroic savior. I vaguely remember something about him playing early on so that Krista would win -- or at least saying that -- and that affecting my view of him.

The other thing I miss from Season 2 is the banners. After 9/11, we haven't seen them again, and they did mess with the isolation concept. But I loved the banner from willshorts.com and watching Nicole trying to interpret from a banner whether her husband was furious with her or not. The banners added unpredictability as they never seemed to quite accomplish what those sending the banners hoped they would. Instead, they did a great job of confusing the houseguests.

[vallegirl]

I think it's the nature of competitive reality TV to put together the best season second, though. BB, Survivor, ANTM, AI, Project Runway all had their best seasons to date in their second season. I think it's a matter of the producers ironing out the production kinks but still being able to find contestants who aren't playing to a type.

Of course, BB2 didn't help matters much in establishing "types" since each person that season was just wacked out enough to be too unique to duplicate and that may be why BB3 was still pretty entertaining.

[NightBaron]

I'm just rewatching Season 2 right now in anticipation of All-Stars, and boy was it ever a good season.

I don't know why everyone is so down on Bunky crying all the time considering Hardy weeps just as much. And he's just as needy as either Bunky or Autumn, but as opposed to them, is used to get the attention since he's so good-looking.

Just got to when Kent was evicted, and can't wait to watch it all before thursday.

[HAB]

The other thing I miss from Season 2 is the banners. After 9/11, we haven't seen them again, and they did mess with the isolation concept.

I think there are still attempts to fly banners over the house but now they (production) have someone looking out for them and call them in for a lockdown if one is approaching. Therefore, the banners don't affect the game anymore. It was a hoot though, especially when Nicole's husband sent one and she went insane (well, more insane than usual.)

[MethodActor05]

"What would you do if I killed you?" lol

I felt so bad for Lanken(?), having a mom like that. That has to suck.

I will never forget Mike B dressing up like a vampire because he thought Krista would get turned on. HILARIOUS. (Though...judging by the fact she's KRISTA, it's entirely possible.)

I have to admit, watching their reaction to 9/11 was pretty moving to me. I kinda held hope that Monica's cousin survived, but eh.

Monica's exit speech was awesome...it was all just jibberish, but Nicole was able to discern it enough to realize that she'd been skewered.

[vallegirl]

I think there are still attempts to fly banners over the house but now they (production) have someone looking out for them and call them in for a lockdown if one is approaching. Therefore, the banners don't affect the game anymore.

Banners started in season one. Lockdowns were in effect starting with the second season.

It was 9/11 and the subsequent restrictions on private individuals hiring planes to hover over a major studio lot that ended the banners.

Edited by vallegirl, Jul 3, 2006 @ 8:00 AM.

[SiSKGuy]

Monica's exit speech was awesome...it was all just jibberish, but Nicole was able to discern it enough to realize that she'd been skewered.

I just finished watching my BB2 DVDs and Monica's eviction speech yesterday, and it was awesome! My favorite part was when Monica said, "You got some stuff, baby" to Nicole. It said nothing and everything at the same time.

"What would you do if I killed you?" lol

I think it was, "Would you be mad if I killed you?" which is equally crazy, but hilarious.

[NightBaron]

After having rewatched S2, my opinion is that Nicole's game was greatly underrated. She went from a sure eviction in week 1 to dominating the game, being the power behind Hardy's brawns, who ended up losing because of bitter houseguest, in a similar way as Danielle. Had Monica and Krista not been so bitter, had Sharon and Kent not picked Will for whatever reason, she would have won.

I understand Will was the more charismatic houseguest, let's be honest, he was awesome, and I'm glad he won, but I think he ended up overshadowing the awesome game Nicole played, and she would have gotten greater props had she lost to anyone but Will.

[NightBaron]

My very first double-post, I feel special.

Edited by NightBaron, Jul 4, 2006 @ 1:16 PM.

[blackwing]

I kinda held hope that Monica's cousin survived

I felt really bad for Monica because the three of them had absolutely no idea how bad it was. I can't remember the exact details, but I don't think they were told just exactly how bad it was. Were they were told that both towers of the World Trade Center collapsed? I felt bad for Monica who kept saying things about her cousin like "she's gonna be OK", "it's not her time to go", "I know they're gonna find her", etc.

my opinion is that Nicole's game was greatly underrated. She went from a sure eviction in week 1 to dominating the game, being the power behind Hardy's brawns, who ended up losing because of bitter houseguest, in a similar way as Danielle.

I don't think Nicole's game was that great. She got into a power alliance with Hardy, and made absolutely no qualms about it. She was ruthless. She needed more people in her alliance to be so carelessly vicious about everything. I don't think she lost because of bitter houseguests. She lost because she underestimated how much people liked Will. She probably would have stood a better chance against Monica. Would probably still have lost, but at least she could have made the argument that Monica didn't make any strategic moves in the game and didn't deserve the money as much as she did.

One other thing that bugged me about Nicole was her fake tears in every goodbye video. "Oh Kent, I'm soooooo sorry, I really respect you and love you...." Yeah right. So fake.

[vanden]

NightBaron, I agree that Nicole was done in by a lot of the same things that did in Danielle. The difference I remember is that Nicole avoided eviction Week 1 by promising TOP that she just wanted to outlast Will. My recollection is that she promised Sheryl that specifically. When instead she and Hardy didn't take any of the myriad opportunities to nominate and vote Will out in the weeks that followed, the people kicked out instead -- Kent, Monica, and Krista specifically -- held that against her. They all expected that Will would leave right after Mike Boogie. When Nicole and Hardy chose to play a different game, it came back to bite them both. Will didn't have to do much to take advantage of that.

I don't think Nicole could have beaten Monica because of that bitterness -- but it wouldn't have surprised me at all if Will would have voted for her in that matchup.

[NightBaron]

It's true that in that match, Nicole vs. Monica, Nicole might have had the Chilltown vote, and Autumn's, and Hardy's and won. I know Boogie was really impressed with her game (as was I), and Shannon had some sort of relationship with Nicole (working out or something).

[setsuna]

After having rewatched S2, my opinion is that Nicole's game was greatly underrated. She went from a sure eviction in week 1 to dominating the game, being the power behind Hardy's brawns, who ended up losing because of bitter houseguest, in a similar way as Danielle. Had Monica and Krista not been so bitter, had Sharon and Kent not picked Will for whatever reason, she would have won.

Nicole played an AMAZING game if the game was only five weeks long. But as Will told her, the game is a marathon, not a sprint. Her gameplay fell apart eventually as she personally crumbled under the pressure of the game and her various alliance members realized how she was manipulating and betraying them. However, it doesn't take away from the fact that the first half of her game was practically picture perfect. She came from being the most hated houseguest on the first day to being in an extremely strong position to win.

Even though she couldn't maintain for the entire period, she still played a great game overall. However, I do think that Will was overally the better player given the timeframe of the game. At the end he was the one nursing her along to the final two as his desired person to go against. (He could have convinced her to leave the game EXTREMELY easily.) This was all the more impressive given that he was never in any official position of power.

[bear88]

Nicole played an AMAZING game if the game was only five weeks long. But as Will told her, the game is a marathon, not a sprint. Her gameplay fell apart eventually as she personally crumbled under the pressure of the game and her various alliance members realized how she was manipulating and betraying them. However, it doesn't take away from the fact that the first half of her game was practically picture perfect. She came from being the most hated houseguest on the first day to being in an extremely strong position to win.

Nicole's smart moves early in the game won me over, so I tended to forgive her craziness later.

But I agree with the above analysis. Nicole is a unique player in the game's history, in that she pulled the strings, a la Danielle, but couldn't control her emotions or her increasingly shaky emotional state. If Danielle had gone mad in Season Three, that's what it would have looked like (minus the weird sexual dynamic that Nicole had with Will). Danielle made a few mistakes along the way, but was in control until the end. Nicole was barely in control of herself.

Still, Nicole's early recovery shouldn't be lost in the odes to Will. She went from a nearly hopeless position as a hated player early in the game to the dominant position. Season Two can fairly be described as the year Nicole blew it. Besides, without Nicole, there is no Evil Doctor Will. He couldn't have existed, in the way we remember him, without her.

[noirish]

Does anyone know how Sheryl did with her battle with breast cancer?

Although I will always love Season 3 because of the Danielle and Jason-the-Virgin's secret Alliance, Season 2 is what got me hooked (and then Season 4 is what made me quit watching).

[Jessie29]

Does anyone know where I can find this season on DVD? I started watching during Season 3 and can't find Season 2 anywhere. Will on All Stars is making me want to see his season now.

[albmo]

I never watched big brother until before the all stars season, and I only started watching it because of the notorious doctor. And I totally loved it. (And him, of course.) The dynamics between Nicole, Hardy and Will is tremendous - Nicole pulls strings on her Hardy doll, while Will pulls strings on his Nicole doll. Meanwhile she's like this weird mom with loads of sexual tension with her two sons. The season wouldn't have been the same if the three weren't in the house. And to this day no one speaks as eloquent as dear It'sonica. That final four was way more fun to watch than these final four this year ...
Ah, the memory of Will holding Nicole's nicely decorated styrofoam doll in the DR and playing with it. For some reason, Nicole's annoyance at anything Will did made it so much funnier, especially in this case, where she gets crazy mad over this stupid arts and crafts project. Hee! I kind of wished Nicole would have been in this season, and whether or not she'd be with Will again.

Edited by albmo, Sep 2, 2006 @ 2:44 PM.

[village]

This might be an out of place question but does anyone know where I can get the BB2 dvds? I want to see it again. I loathed Will for so much of that season that I was too busy seething for the first half of it to truly enjoy his machinations.