A staple of summer distraction programming for much of this century, “Big Brother” (9 p.m., CBS, TV-PG) returns for a 26th season with a two-night premiere event.
This summer’s theme is artificial intelligence (AI). “Big Brother,” a show about a gaggle of exhibitionists stuck inside a house filled with cameras who strive valiantly and often deviously to avoid eviction, will be shaken up this year by the prompts and logic of AI.
Anybody who has played around with popularly accessible AI programs such as Google’s Gemini or Microsoft’s CoPilot already knows that AI is often capable of creating imagery and text at frighteningly fast rate. But the results are also often generic, bland and nonsensical. I’m reminded of the old adage from the early days of computer programming: “garbage in, garbage out” (GIGO).
It says something that CBS has made such a big deal of AI taking over “Big Brother.” It’s almost as if the players (speaking of generic and nonsensical) don’t really matter. Publicity for the new series has revealed the AI prompts behind the look and design of the “Big Brother” house.
For instance, the front bedroom was conceived with the suggestion, “Create a futuristic bedroom for the year 2500, fit for five houseguests.” The side bedroom takes on a whole different vibe after AI gets done with the prompt: “Create a fantasy fairy garden.”
The use of AI as a marketing gimmick follows a long pattern of popular culture embracing every new technical advance as an object of wonder or fear.
It’s no exaggeration to suggest that the arrival of radio had a profound impact on the society of the 1920s. The notion that entertainment, sports or news could be heard in your living room carried over the air on radio waves was considered miraculous and life-changing — but also ominous. Many feared that radio waves were affecting the weather, killing crops and livestock and altering life itself in an unknowable and invisible fashion.
The explosion of an atomic bomb in 1945, a weapon and a technology developed in complete secrecy, had a similar impact on culture and pop culture. In the decades after Hiroshima, radiation was responsible for everything from “The Incredible Shrinking Man” to “Godzilla” and “The Attack of the 50 Foot Woman.”
This trend continued with the Space Race, the advent of television and then computers, the internet and social media. Every new advance offered the power to transform humanity, or destroy it.
Marketers have used this paradoxical sensibility to their advantage. There was a time, around about the fifth season of “Big Brother,” when the word “iPod” seemed to appear in every other article. The trend continued and accelerated with the word “iPhone.”
Now AI is the shiny new toy and/or bogeyman. Just how it will impact the “Big Brother” gang remains to be seen. But I can guess the results will be more artificial than intelligent.
— Former inmates adjust to life at large in season two of “UnPrisoned,” streaming on Hulu.
TONIGHT’S OTHER HIGHLIGHTS
— Jane Austen inspires the 2018 romance “Pride, Prejudice and Mistletoe” (7 p.m., Hallmark, TV-G).
— An infection complicates Marcel’s liver transplant on “Chicago Med” (8 p.m., NBC, r, TV-14).
— Grovel-to-grovel coverage of the Republican National Convention (8 p.m., PBS; 9 p.m., NBC; 10 p.m., CBS, ABC).
CULT CHOICE
Deep in grief after the snakebite death of his girlfriend, Beth (Aubrey Plaza), Zach (Dane DeHann) is shocked to discover that she is still alive, or at least aboveground, and being hidden away by her parents (John C. Reilly and Molly Shannon) in the 2014 zombie comedy “Life After Beth” (9:30 p.m., Cinemax). Released to middling reviews, the film may be worth watching just for its cast. Look for Paul Reiser and Cheryl Hines as Zach’s parents and Garry Marshall (in his final big-screen role) as his grandfather. Anna Kendrick and Alia Shawkat also appear.
SERIES NOTES
“The Price Is Right at Night” (8 p.m., CBS, r, TV-G) … “MasterChef” (8 p.m., Fox, TV-14) … “Who Wants to be a Millionaire” (8 p.m., ABC, TV-PG) … “Gordon Ramsay’s Food Stars” (9 p.m., Fox, TV-14) … “Claim to Fame” (9 p.m., ABC, TV-PG).
LATE NIGHT
Glen Powell and Charlamagne Tha God are booked on “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” (11:35 p.m., CBS) … Jimmy Fallon welcomes Kerry Washington, Anthony Ramos and Clairo on “The Tonight Show” (11:35 p.m., NBC) … Michael Cera, Daisy Edgar-Jones and James Bay visit “Late Night With Seth Meyers” (12:35 a.m., NBC) … Taylor Tomlinson hosts “After Midnight” (12:35 a.m., CBS).
