After a long wait, fans finally know when Big Brother season 25 is arriving. The long-running reality show is set to premiere on August 2, almost a full month after its usual start time. That's leading many fans to wonder why Big Brother season 25 is starting late?
Traditionally, Big Brother premieres in early July. This has to do with the show’s format, as it requires about three solid months to go from a large cast of houseguests to the final two. It takes up a fair amount of primetime summer TV real estate, too, with three shows per week. (Avid fans can tune into the Big Brother House's 24/7 live feeds on Paramount Plus for even more action.)
The show's finale is usually in September, just before the fall TV season kicks off. After 25 seasons this has become a time-honored tradition, the handoff from summer programming to fall programming.
However, this year's fall TV lineup faces some uncertainty as the writers' strike is likely to delay the start of new and returning shows. Some shows were in production when the strike began in early May while others were in development. At this point, most production has slowed to a standstill. Even if the strike was to be resolved soon, the fall TV season would very likely be delayed regardless.
When CBS announced its 2023 fall TV lineup, all of the big shows fans expected to see were listed — Young Sheldon, Ghosts, NCIS, The Equalizer and more. Only one thing was missing: premiere dates. Thanks to the uncertainty of the writers' strike, scheduling is in a state of upheaval and that's part of the reason why the network pushed the premiere of Big Brother season 25 to a late start date.
NBC and ABC created fall TV schedules that take the writers' strike into account. In ABC's case, all scripted TV series have been pushed to mid-season with game shows and reality competitions taking their place.
CBS hopes to still have its full lineup of scripted series debut this fall, but there is no premiere date listed because there's no telling when they might debut.
By starting Big Brother later in the summer, CBS has three hours of primetime programming filling up its weekly schedule that will likely carry the network through the end of October. The hope is likely that the new and returning shows will be ready to premiere at that point.
This move isn't without precedent. In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic pushed the Big Brother premiere to August, with the final episode airing only days before Halloween. This helped CBS balance the schedule as TV shows struggled to get back to work amid pandemic shutdowns.
While we await the premiere of Big Brother season 25, you can catch up on previous seasons with a subscription to Paramount Plus.
