When Spain first discovered "Gran Hermano" back in 2000, it was a fairly bog-standard show, the first gala got ok, if not spectacular, ratings. But then the series turned into something quite spectacular. We saw real life play out in front of the cameras, as if they weren't even there. We saw Mercedes Milà calm it all down and go around with a sense of both authority yet amicability too. And most of all - we decided the game: who won, who went out every couple of weeks. It might not have had the same status as Nasty Nick in the UK, for example, but Gran Hermano was a certified hit. The moment Ismael came out of the house as the winner remains the highest rated moment on Telecinco ever.
The 2001 series was fine, but just couldn't recapture the magic. And that's where it went wrong. 2002 dispensed with Mercedes Milá, the one who held it all together; and slowly it descended into the trashy TV we associate GH as causing.
Gran Hermano is a fun show: there's some genuinely lovely moments and we know who we want to win and don't. But soon GH spawned imitators, and it fell far short of the event television it was in 2000. Soon every programme on Telecinco seemed to be this 'reality' style show - "Supervivientes" (Spanish Survivor, which is more 'Gran Hermano on an island'), "La casa de tu vida" (Gran Hermano but the contestants build the house). It was no longer unique, and soon this icon of TV wasn't worth watching any longer.
The first series is on YouTube - that series is worth watching. But any others - if you've got better things to do, don't bother.
