The host thought she was going to get fired from Big Brother in front of… Mikhail Gorbachev?
On Aug. 2,Big Brotherwill begin its landmark 25th season on CBS.
“Honey, I would’ve said, ‘What the F are you talking about?'”
Julie Chen Moonves of ‘Big Brother’.CBS
Critics and viewers alike savagely attacked the program pretty much immediately upon its July 5, 2000, launch.
“I originally turned down the job,” Chen Moonves says.
“I was forced to take it, so I took it.
Julie Chen Moonves on season 1 of ‘Big Brother’.cbs
I didn’t know what I was in for.”
That didn’t happen.
And this was all happening up tosix nights a weekfor 70 episodes.
Julie Chen Moonves on season 1 of ‘Big Brother’.cbs
Instead of busting out,Big Brotherwas a bust.
TV critics hated the concept of the show.
They hated the lighting.
Julie Chen.Bill Inoshita/CBS
They hated the IKEA-looking furniture.
They hated the house, they hated everything."
And that list included the host.
“Externally, people hated me.
Critics internally people at CBS News wanted me fired from the news division.”
“He was like, ‘How dare she blur the lines between news and entertainment?
I was like, ‘Oh my God, Andy Rooney’s going to have me fired!'”
“I didn’t know how the entertainment industry worked.
And I’m like, ‘How does that work?
Do we just launch the door and let the remaining seven people go home?'”
“I thought, number one, we’re not going to finish season 1.
Number two, I’m probably going to get fired completely from the online grid.
That’s it for my career.
“I go back to, ‘Hey, good morning, Bryant Gumbel.
Can I get you your coffee?’
I’m the news reader.
I’m like the fourth banana.
I’m the fourth person on the call sheet and my tail’s between my legs.
And Bryant lovesSurvivor, but he never said anything aboutBig Brother.
I thought, ‘Great.He’snow going to get me fired.
He didn’t want me on his show either!”
Do you want to meet me at the event?”
“I really thought that!”
“I remember calling my best friend.
I was like, ‘Is that how this works, so it is a softer blow?
I can’t make a scene in front of Gorbachev.”
“I remember saying to him, ‘Are you here to fire me?’
And he was like, ‘What?
Executives don’t take out their talent to fire them.'”
But I barely talked to Les Moonves.
I was waiting for signs of him being like, ‘Get her away from me.
She’s getting fired after the new year,’ but again, I skated by."
“I get this call from Ghen, who says, ‘Julie, they want you back.
They’re going to do season 2 and they want you to meet with the new producers.
I’m like, ‘What?’
And I meet with Arnold Shapiro.
Arnold turned the whole thing upside down.”
“They told the creators, you want this show renewed?
We gave you your shot.
We did exactly what you wanted.
Even though we told you that what works in Amsterdam doesn’t work in America.
And the rest is reality television history.
Nor would we be talking about it if Mikhail Gorbachev had helped fire its host 23 years ago.
