Big Brother 7: All-Stars

I had to re-watch last night's episode because when I originally saw it, I was so excited and shocked that Dr. Will was getting voted out that I pretty much forgot the rest. I wanted to address Howie's behavior in the sequester house and how CBS is making Howie out to be a horrible bully.

First of all, I agree with most of you that Howie picking on Chicken George was uncalled for. George is just a sweet, dimwitted old guy and it's wrong for Howie to lay into him so hard. At the same time, it was George who struck first when he stabbed Howie in the back by nominating him and letting Boogie make sure Howie was evicted. Howie trusted George and I think he has a right to be pissed about what happened. He was betrayed by George and he wanted to let George know that he was angry about it. In that respect, that's why there are cameras at the sequester house: so that all the scorned house guests can continue to battle each other and we can all watch.

Despite Howie's immature behavior, I don't think he should be made out to be some big bully. Howie has been a really cool guy, a loyal friend to Kaysar and Janie, and one of the funniest guys in the house this season and people are so quick to forget about why we all like Howie as soon as he starts getting out of control. CBS and Gretchen Massey from House Calls bash Howie endlessly and it's just not accurate. Howie is a good guy, just look at the tapes from the past two seasons, he's just hurt and he doesn't know how to deal with it so he acts all crazy and aggressive. I think what Jase said on House Calls today was really true about Howie: he feels like his life is over now that he's out of the game. Jase has always said that season 6 was in trouble from the start of the game because they took it way too seriously. They hadn't ben out of the house long enough, so the game was their life for the past few years. Others had time to unwind and think about things in between their seasons and All-Stars. For Howie, the prospect of being out of BB6 and now out of All-Stars might be the most terrifying thing in his life. Now he's mad and he wants to unleash all his rage on the person who he thinks ruined his life, the one that nominated him, George. It's really no surprise. Nearly everyone has had a breakdown of some kind during this season.

So why are people dumping on Howie so much? I admit that he has definitely done some things he'll probably regret, and at times he's behaved like a big overgrown 10 year old, but (incase everyone forgot) that's Howie! That's the guy we loved in season 6, the guy people voted back in the house, the guy we laughed at! I expected this kind of fair-weather fan-ship in American Idol, but people are usually more loyal to their BB favorites. How can you vote Howie back in because he's big and obnoxious and loud and then fault him for being he's big and obnoxious and loud? The only problem is that Howie has carried his "character" too far. Where as before he was big and obnoxious and loud to the people we hated, now he'd just that way to everyone.

So all you former Howie fans that have turned on him, just remember, he's the same Howie you once loved so much, he's just and extreme version of himself right now.

(Thanks to Morty's TV for the screen cap)