Are You Ready for Big Brother 9?

CBS' reality show Big Brother has been airing each summer since 2000. But now surprisingly, and perhaps due to the writer's strike, CBS is planning a winter version.

Set to begin on February 12th, the voyeuristic show will be hosted as usual by the Early Show's Julie Chen. The show features a collection of houseguests who live in a house together for 3 months. The house has cameras in every room-even the bathroom, unfortunately-and the houseguests are filmed 24/7. With no television, phones or connection to the outside world, the houseguests are like hamsters in a cage, with their every move being taped-there are even night cams in the bedrooms! Each week the housemates vote one of their own out of the house. The last man standing takes home a grand prize of $500,000.

There are silly challenges along the way-nothing within the Survivor league, but challenges nonetheless. And the houseguests have to earn their weekly food allowance or they may be stuck eating slop all week (not sure what that is, but it has replaced the previous BB peanut butter and jelly diet).

Over the years, Big Brother has had many "themes". A few years ago it was dubbed "The Ex Factor", because a few ex-boyfriends/girlfriends/husbands/wives were sequestered in the house together. Another year it was labeled "Project DNA" (don't ask). This year, based on the promos at least, it seems that everyone has a "secret". Not sure what that means but we'll find out soon enough.

CBS is genius to sneak in a winter season of Big Brother right now. Viewers are getting frustrated at having nothing to watch, and since Big Brother is filmed up to date and features one live episode a week, it's always current. CBS will likely nab some new viewers this time around, as people are looking for fresh programming to get them through the winter doldrums.

In addition to three primetime airings a week, Big Brother viewers can tune into Showtime's Big Brother: After Dark to see even more of the Big Brother cast. The Showtime tie-in debuted last summer and it was wildly successful.