Oh, and as usual, RealNetworks will be broadcasting live feeds from the house.
CBS.COM: THE ULTIMATE DESTINATION FOR "BIG BROTHER 6"
CBS's Official Website to Offer "Big Brother" Viewers a Wide Array of Bonus Features to Supplement and Enhance CBS's Three Weekly Broadcasts
For the First Time, A Head of Household Blog Will Provide Insight Into Life in the "Big Brother" House
Also New, The Head of Household Will Be Rewarded With a Digital Camera With Pictures Posted On CBS.com
CBS and RealNetworks Bring "Big Brother 6" to the Internet With 24/7 Live Video Channel For the Fifth Consecutive Year
"House Calls: The Big Brother Talk Show" Returns For Its Second Season
Interactive "Big Brother Fantasy League" Offers Fans A Chance to Compete for Prizes
CBS.com, CBS's official website, will offer BIG BROTHER viewers a wide array of programming and bonus features this summer to supplement and enhance the Network's three weekly broadcasts, including for the first time a Head of Household Blog, in which a BIG BROTHER houseguest communicates directly to BIG BROTHER fans through CBS.com. BIG BROTHER 6 premieres on the CBS Television Network on Thursday, July 7 (8:00-9:00PM, ET/PT).
"This summer, CBS.com is going all out to provide BIG BROTHER fans the broadest and most exciting companion experience we've ever offered," said Larry Kramer, President, CBS Digital Media. "From the 24/7 live Internet feed to the new blog to the daily talk show, BIG BROTHER viewers will have unparalleled access to activities in the BIG BROTHER house and a new level of involvement with the show."
New to the BIG BROTHER Internet experience is the Head of Household Blog, where fans will be able to read first hand accounts from each week's Head of Household on life in the BIG BROTHER house and what it's like to be under the constant gaze of dozens of cameras and viewed live on the Internet.
CBS.com will also provide a digital camera to the Head of Household with the pictures to posted on CBS.com along with their Blog.
CBS.com also announced the return of two other popular features: HOUSE CALLS: THE BIG BROTHER TALK SHOW and the interactive BIG BROTHER Fantasy League.
Returning for its second season, HOUSE CALLS: THE BIG BROTHER TALK SHOW is a no-charge, half-hour, streaming video daily talk show about the summer reality series seen every Monday through Friday (1:00 PM/ET, 10:00 AM/PT) on CBS.com.
HOUSE CALLS is hosted by Marcellas Reynolds, a houseguest from "Big Brother 3," and Gretchen Massey, an on-air host of "The Gretchen Massey Show," which is broadcast Sunday nights on Infinity Radio's KLSX-FM Los Angeles. The two hosts interact with viewers through phone calls and e-mails, discuss events that transpire in the BIG BROTHER house, offer prognostications, analyze strategies and interview former BIG BROTHER houseguests as well as current houseguests following their eviction.
Also returning is the "BIG BROTHER Fantasy League" game where fans compete for prizes based on the events that transpire in the house.
The official BIG BROTHER website at CBS.com will also include detailed summaries of all the events that happen during each televised broadcast, a live 24/7 chat room, popularity and opinion polls, a virtual tour of the BIG BROTHER house, descriptions of the week's challenges, voting history pages, photo galleries and a houseguest section with complete profiles.
For the fifth consecutive season, CBS and RealNetworks®, Inc. (Nasdaq: RNWK), a global leader in network-delivered digital media, have joined forces to provide exclusive 24/7 live video channel from inside the BIG BROTHER 6 house. The webcast coverage debuts immediately following the premiere of BIG BROTHER 6 on July 7 (8:00-9:00PM, ET/PT), and will be accessible through the official BIG BROTHER 6 website at CBS.com and through the RealNetworks' Superpass™ subscription service website at www.real.com/bigbrother.
Subscribers to the 24/7 video stream can watch any one of four live camera feeds from inside the BIG BROTHER 6 house or catch all of the action at once with the special quad-cam view which allows fans to see four different video feeds simultaneously. Subscribers will also have access to an exclusive, subscribers-only web chat that will allow fans from across the country to converse about what they are seeing live on the feeds.
The entire three-month live 24/7 internet feed of BIG BROTHER 6 is available through RealNetworks' SuperPass subscription service, or fans may subscribe to receive the three-month broadcast for $29.99 or pay $12.99 per month with a free trial for everyone who signs up.
CBS/Endemol Entertainment will provide the content from the house, while RealNetworks' content delivery division, Real Broadcast Network, will deliver the 24/7 live streaming webcast feed.
To preserve the drama for BIG BROTHER 6 television viewers, CBS may block or delay the webcast for a limited number of real-time events that transpire in the house.
BIG BROTHER 6 will be broadcast three times a week on Tuesday (9:00-10:00 PM, ET/PT), Thursday (8:00-9:00 PM, ET/PT) and Saturday (8:00-9:00 PM, ET/PT).
Arnold Shapiro and Allison Grodner are the executive producers of BIG BROTHER 6 for Shapiro/Grodner Productions, in association with Endemol Entertainment.
About CBS.com
CBS.com, the official website of the CBS Television Network, has become the top web destination among all Network television websites. CBS.com has been the most trafficked website among its Entertainment competitors with more unique visitors every month for the past two years. With its proven success of intersecting traditional television with new media, CBS.com attracted a record high of more than 12 million unique visitors in May 2004 as a result of the "Survivor: All Stars" finale and online voting for America's Tribal Council. Home to the official websites for all CBS television series, CBS.com's notable sites include "Survivor," "CSI" and "CSI: Miami," "Big Brother," "The Amazing Race" and "Late Show with David Letterman."
About RealNetworks
RealNetworks, Inc. is a leading creator of digital media services and software including the award-winning Rhapsody® Internet jukebox service and RealPlayer® 10, the first product to integrate finding, organizing, buying, playing and managing digital audio and video in a single product. Consumers can access and experience audio/video programming and download RealNetworks' consumer software at http://www.real.com. Broadcasters, network operators, media companies and enterprises use RealNetworks' products and services to create and deliver digital media to PCs, mobile phones and consumer electronics devices. RealNetworks' systems and corporate information is located at http://www.realnetworks.com.
CBS AND REALNETWORKS TO OFFER EXCLUSIVE 24/7 LIVE VIDEO CHANNEL OF “BIG BROTHER 6”
LOS ANGELES and SEATTLE, July 6, 2005 – CBS and RealNetworks®, Inc. (NASDAQ: RNWK), the leading creator of digital media services and software, today announced that they will offer an exclusive live video channel from the “Big Brother 6” house 24 hours a day that allows fans to watch houseguest activity in real time, much of which never appears on TV. The webcast, which premieres Thursday, July 7, immediately follows the East Coast broadcast of the show at 8:00-9:00PM, ET/PT and will be accessible through the official “Big Brother 6” website at www.CBS.com and through RealNetworks’ SuperPass™ subscription service website at www.real.com/bigbrother.
Fans can choose either a discounted three month subscription of $29.99 or a monthly subscription of $12.99 per month with a free trial for everyone who signs up. Subscribers to the 24/7 video stream can watch any one of four live camera feeds from inside the “Big Brother 6” house or catch all of the action at once with the special quad-cam view which allows fans to see four different video feeds simultaneously.
“‘The Big Brother 6’ live webcast with RealNetworks has become immensely popular as fans can check-in on the houseguests at anytime and see the action unfold,” said Brinley Turner, Vice President and General Manager, CBS.com. “Whether used as a companion to the prime time series or as live theatre in its own right, it’s a unique Internet experience that further connects the fan to the show.”
“Big Brother 6’ online demonstrates how the Internet and TV industries can work together to create a richer experience for consumers,” said Dan Sheeran, Senior Vice President, Premium Consumer Services, RealNetworks. “Online subscribers will enjoy ‘Big Brother 6’ on TV that much more by following the 24/7 action and connecting online with their fellow fans.”
“Big Brother 6” follows a group of people living together in a new house specially built for this edition and outfitted with 47 cameras and 78 microphones, the most in “Big Brother” history, recording their every move, 24 hours a day. One by one, the houseguests will vote each other out of the house. At the end of three months, the last remaining houseguest will receive the grand prize. In a new twist this year, each houseguest is paired with a secret partner from the outside world and the final houseguest will win $1,000,000, the biggest cash prize in “Big Brother” history, if they complete the game with their teammate. If the twosome does not make it to the final two, the winner will win $500,000.
“Big Brother” 24/7 is a member benefit of SuperPass which also includes news and entertainment video, free music downloads, free game downloads premium online radio with over 70 ad-free music stations, Real® PhotoVideo for sharing personal photos and video clips, and more.
To preserve the drama for “Big Brother 6” television viewers, CBS may block or delay the webcast for a limited number of real-time events that transpire in the house. Other components of the official “Big Brother 6” website will include detailed summaries of all the events that happen during each televised broadcast, a live 24/7 chat room, an interactive “Big Brother Fantasy League” game, popularity polls, opinion polls, a virtual tour of the “Big Brother” house, descriptions of the week’s challenges, voting history pages, photo galleries and a houseguest section with complete profiles.
ABOUT CBS.COM
CBS.com, the official website of the CBS Television Network, has become the top web destination among all Network television websites. CBS.com has been the most trafficked website among its Entertainment competitors with more unique visitors every month for the past two years. With its proven success of intersecting traditional television with new media, CBS.com attracted a record high of more than 12 million unique visitors in May 2004 as a result of the "Survivor: All Stars" finale and online voting for America's Tribal Council. Home to the official websites for all CBS television series, CBS.com's notable sites include "Survivor," "CSI" and "CSI: Miami," "Big Brother," "The Amazing Race" and "Late Show with David Letterman."
ABOUT REALNETWORKS
RealNetworks, Inc. is the leading creator of digital media services and software including the award-winning Rhapsody® Internet jukebox service and RealPlayer®10, the first product to integrate finding, organizing, buying, playing and managing digital audio and video in a single product. Consumers can access and experience audio/video programming and download RealNetworks' consumer software at http://www.real.com. Broadcasters, network operators, media companies and enterprises use RealNetworks' products and services to create and deliver digital media to PCs, mobile phones and consumer electronics devices. RealNetworks' systems and corporate information is located at http://www.realnetworks.com.
So, it starts next week. The Australia and UK versions have been underway this year for a while now (we're at about day 54 in Australia and Day 34 in the UK). These other versions have daily shows, showing recaps of the days activities. The UK has a second show, earlier in the day, that's a live show that also has guests and is sort-of like a "chat show" as they would say. Each has their own live eviction shows, done outdoors in front of large, rabid audiences. The Australia version has a Friday Night Live Games event, lasting a couple of hours, where the houseguests compete for 3 awards: The use of a "Rewards Room" (with food, alcohol, room service, DVD's etc. for the winner and a chosen guest), the assigning of tasks to the houseguests (yes, they have specific roles and tasks that have to be performed daily in house), and the ability to deduct "points" from any of the week's nominees, thus saving a friend or even themselves, but also risk re-shuffling the list and they may wind-up being a nominee themself).
Each show has something else we don't have: major activities for the houseguests to do every single damn day, risking their food budget money. This gives them something else to do - something somewhat interesting to watch - since the US houseguests don't seem to do a frickin' damn thing all damn day except sleep and sunbathe. Both Australia and the UK air their Nominations live, and each still has the main core component from the original Endemol recipe intact: the public votes out the nominees, not the houseguests,
In general, these shows are a hell of a lot better to watch and a hell of a lot more entertaining than what Shapiro & Grodner pulls off in their measly three shows a week.
CBS REVEALS THE IDENTITIES OF THE 14 NEW HOUSEGUESTS COMPETING IN "BIG BROTHER 6"
Sixth Installment of Series Premieres on Thursday, July 7th on the CBS Television Network
All New "Big Brother 6" Twist Revealed
Houseguests Will Move into a Brand-New Home and Location
Julie Chen Returns as Host
CBS announced today the identities of the 14 houseguests who will compete in BIG BROTHER 6, as well as the new creative twist that will play out during the summer broadcasts.
This is the BIG BROTHER 6 Summer of Secrets. There are secrets in the house, secrets in the game, and this summer -- every houseguest has a secret.
For the first time, every houseguest will be entering the house and playing the game with a secret partner -- someone they know from the outside world. Friends, co-workers and significant others will play the Big Brother game as secret duos. The twist is that each secret team believes that they are the only pair in the house (pairings will be revealed to TV viewers during the first live broadcast on July 14). Each twosome knows that if they can keep their secret and end up being the last two people in the house, the winner will win $1,000,000, the biggest cash prize in Big Brother history, with the second place finisher winning $250,000. If a twosome does not make it to the final two, the winner will win $500,000.
"Big Brother" follows a group of people living together in a house outfitted with dozens of cameras and microphones recording their every move 24 hours a day. One by one, the houseguests will vote each other out of the house. At the end of three months, the last remaining houseguest will receive the grand prize.
This season, houseguests will move into a brand-new two-story home, including a built-in pool and Jacuzzi in the backyard. Like the contestants that will inhabit it, the new house is also full of secrets and surprises that will be unveiled throughout the summer.
BIG BROTHER 6 debuts on Thursday, July 7 (8:00-9:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network. Following the premiere, BIG BROTHER 6 will be broadcast each week on Tuesdays (9:00-10:00 PM, ET/PT), Thursdays (8:00-9:00 PM, live ET/delayed PT) and Saturdays (8:00-9:00 PM, ET/PT). The Thursday broadcast, hosted by Julie Chen, will feature the live eviction of one of the houseguests.
Following are the 14 houseguests, listed across in alphabetical order, who will compete in BIG BROTHER 6:
Maggie Ausburn, 26
Las Vegas, NV
Single
Emergency Room Nurse
Beau Beasley, 25
Pembroke Pines, FL
Single
Personal Shopper
Ivette Corredero, 25
Miami Beach, FL
Single
Waitress
Michael Donnellan, 28
Orange County, CA
Single
Artist
Ashlea Evans, 22
Plantation, FL
Single
Fashion Design Student
Howie Gordon, 34
Chicago, IL
Single
Meteorology Student
Sarah Hrejsa, 22
Chicago, IL
Single
Retail Manager
April Lewis, 30
Dallas, TX
Newlywed
Pharmaceutical Sales Rep.
Eric Littmann, 36
Boston, MA
Married Dad
Firefighter
Janelle Pierzina, 25
Miami Beach, FL
Single
VIP Cocktail Waitress
Rachel Plencner, 33
Parker, CO
Single
Horse Breeder
James Rhine, 29
Atlanta, GA
Single
Loss Prevention Manager
Kaysar Ridha, 24
Irvine, CA
Single
Graphic Designer
Jennifer Vasquez, 27
Plano, TX
Single
Arena Football League Dancer
BIG BROTHER 6 is produced by Arnold Shapiro & Allison Grodner Productions, in association with Endemol U.S.A.
Big Brother has been our Guilty Pleasure Of Summer since it started in 2000. What we enjoy so much more than the packaged shows that CBS airs is the live Internet feeds. It allows anyone with a Real Networks player to watch up to 4 different feeds live from the house 24/7... or thereabouts. The voyeur aspect of the feeds is unbelievable. Depending on who is up and what is going on, Carol and I could watch the house for hours. This year's crop of people weren't too bad, though they weren't the best we've seen over the years. We so addicted, we have a computer connected to our Sony 27" TV so we can watch with ease - the audio going out through the stereo system.
Anyway, it's over for the year. The winner this year - Drew Daniel of Urbana, Ohio gets over Michael "Cowboy" Ellis of Durant, Oklahoma.
Then, my favorite multiple-award-winning reality show - The Amazing Race - ended tonight as well. Tonight's show seemed like it was the most physical legs at the end of a race since the show started. Anyway, due to fog and luck, Chip & Kim McAllister wound up as the winners on The Amazing Bathmat in Dallas.
Fortunately, Amazing Race 6 will be starting in just a few weeks!
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After a very stupid "Dumb and Dumber" POV meeting earlier in the week, where Jase won POV and took himself off, the nominees are now Marvin and Scott. In the strategically correct move, Scott is voted out 4-3.
The main event of the show, however, was the Twin Twist. (Wanna see the segment? I have a copy of it here as a DIVX AVI - be warned it's 36Mb)
With all of the houseguests in the living room, Julie Chen asked Diane a question: How many houseguests have played the game this year? Diane answers 13 and Julie tells here that the answer is incorrect - there have been 14. Everybody looks confused and Julie continues to remind the houseguests that the them this year is "Do Not Assume" and that one of the housemates has been playing the game with their identical twin. Drew and Diane, who both have twins, seem to be saying it's not them. Cowboy blurts out "It's Holly." (WTF? As a side note, the houseguests for the next couple of days, continue to talk about Holly and her "twin" and about the numerous times when she changed the way she acted while in the house. I have no freaking idea where this came from...) Even after Julie says that the twins have actually changed places 10 times, Cowboy is still convinced it's Holly. Throughout this, Adria is looking as confused as everyone else. Julie tells the group that the twins' goal was not to be discovered or evicted for 5 weeks. Tonight, they have reached their goal. Now the houseguests are thinking through this. Jase thinks that Scott has a twin (but, of course, that wouldn't fit with what Julie just said).
Natalie walks into the house through the Diary Room door and place goes nuts (It turns out Adria never talked about being an identical twin). What is most priceless is the look on Jase's face - he had just lost Scott, so his alliance was short one key person, and now another person enters the game - and they're not on Jase's side. You could just see how screwed he knew he was.
Anyway, HOH competition nets Jennifer as the winner, just about sealing Jase's fate in the house.
The winner of the reality show's annual you-get-to-leave-the-house-for-a-while challenge will step out of the "Big Brother" set and onto the set of "The Young and The Restless," CBS' long-running daytime serial. The contestant will share a scene in the Genoa City Athletic Club with "Y&R" stars Michelle Stafford and Christian LeBlanc.]]>
Clip show - nothing earth shattering if you watch the live feeds. They are so screwed this week for food. Imagine one whole week of just: Milk, yogurt, sausage, bacon, and seafood. That's it. You're probably better off on PB&J.
Marvin nominated Lori & Holly for eviction. That may change with the POV.
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In a unanimous vote, Mike is the first person evicted from the Big Brother 5 house. After playing a Majority Rules game, Marvin becomes the new HOH.
Well, we now know the new twist: Yes, Adria has a twin Natalie. Since Day Two, they have been trading places inside the house, playing as one person - Adria. Their 4th trade was shown live during tonight's show. The twin outside the house is also sequestered from the outside world, but does not see what's happening in the house. The Twist? If no one finds out by Week 5, both twins can play the game as individuals at the same time, thus earning the twin the right to go after the money.
]]>Nothing really new in the house. Mike and Jennifer are still nominated for eviction. Scott wins Power of Veto (POV) and leaves the nominations as they are.
I've been watching the live feeds on and off lately. I have to say that I'm loving this group of people. They actually talk about things, want to stay active instead of taking afternoon naps.
It sound like there was some twin swapping over the weekend - Adria accidentally referred to herself as Natalie, her sister's name. Then, a diligent live feed capturer over at TV Clubhouse actually got a screen grab of the two of them together in the Diary Room. So I guess it's safe to say that at least one set of twins have been playing in the house... Take a look at the pictures of them at their website, The Fitness Twins!
]]>Normally a Thursday live show, but it's all clips today since the houseguests have actually been in the house since the 30th of June. The houseguests won a Margarita building challenge to get their hottub unlocked. Yea. Project DNA unravels a little bit as Michael figures-out that Jennifer (aka Nokomis) is his half-sister, and proceeds to tell his posse before her tells her. It all goes down in a meeting that they call for the whole house in the living room, after which Big Brother calls the newly-found half siblings to the diary room to receive letters from their biological father, which they read to the house. It's interesting that there are people in the house that, even after the letters, don't believe the event at all.
In the first Nomination Ceremony of the season, HOH Jase nominates Mike and Jennifer.
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A new crop of hamsters are back in the house! I can't talk much about the show, because I haven't formed any opinions yet. Well, that's not true. Lori made a stupid move by taking $10,000 cash and forcing the house to eat peanut butter & jelly in the very first challenge. Bad move. Oh, and Holly? Ditzy! She should go soon so we don't have to listen to her...
Oh, and here's one of the twists: Two people that are in the house are related by blood... but don't know it.
And - for the first time - a daily internet talk show... with Marcellas!
The house was also shown on Entertainment Tonight. The house layout is identical to all of the years prior, just re-vamped. The three bedrooms have themes: The Wood Room has 3 single beds (it's the open area near the Diary Room), The Cloud Room has 2 double beds and windows that open-up into the Wood Room., but the windows are actually liquid crystal and can be "glazed" just by flipping a switch. The last bedroom is the Cement Bedroom. Yes, everything is made of concrete, including the beds which have only a thin camping mattress pad on them! (It sleeps 4). This is the bedroom next to the bathroom, which looks the same.
The dining room looks the same. Between the dining room and living room, where there used to be bar stools and a ledge is now a fish tank. Actually, it's a shark tank as there's a few baby sharks in there. The living room couches are of course different, much squarer, with two green pieces for the nominees to sit in.
The Kitchen is larger, now with an island with chairs, a full size side-by-side refrigerator with ice & water dispenser, and it looks like multiple ovens.
The door to the backyard has been replaced with a sliding patio door. and it's further down as the kitchen is actually a bit bigger due to the new appliances).
The backyard still has the pool but has lost the basketball court. In it's place is a putting green. There's also two hammocks instead of one and a kick boxing station.
Now, the cast:
HOUSE CALLS: THE BIG BROTHER TALK SHOW, a half-hour, streaming video daily talk show, will debut Wednesday, July 7 on CBS.com, one day after the fifth installment of BIG BROTHER premieres on CBS.]]>HOUSE CALLS, hosted by Marcellas Reynolds, a houseguest on "Big Brother 3," and Gretchen Massey, an on-air host on Infinity Radio's KLSX Los Angeles, will interact with viewers though phone calls and e-mails, discuss events that transpire in the Big Brother house, offer prognostications, analyze strategies, interview former "Big Brother" houseguests as well as current houseguests following their eviction.
HOUSE CALLS is believed to be the first live Internet talk show produced exclusively for a television network.
HOUSE CALLS will be broadcast live Monday through Friday (1:00 PM/ET, 10:00 AM/PT). The call in phone number is 323-CBS-1000.
"BIG BROTHER has been the model for convergence between the Internet and television and this innovative programming takes it one step further," said David Katz, Senior Vice President, Strategic Planning and Interactive Ventures, CBS Television. "HOUSE CALLS will be another avenue for 'Big Brother's' loyal fans to offer opinions and dialog. This really puts the chat back into chat rooms."
HOUSE CALLS: THE BIG BROTHER TALK SHOW will be produced by Eye Net Works, a division of CBS.com.
I'm not watching the live feeds - they're not available outside the UK. Instead, I've been watching the broadcast shows. It's so popular there that there are shows every day of the week, the eviction show is live with a huge live audience (actually, it's just outside the house), one of the digital channels over there (E4) actually broadcasts the live feeds. To top this off, there's also a second show (Big Brother's Little Brother) that's aired almost daily. It's ridiculous.
Anyway, speaking of ridiculous, something historic (soft of) happened. It all started when 2 houseguests were removed from the house in what was thought to be an eviction. Instead, they just went into another room inside the house, where they lived for about 4 days, watching live feeds of their housemates. They were put back into the house (it's a long story on how... you could always go to the website and read about it), but a food fight erupted. That escalated into an honest to God fight, where the houseguests trashed the house. The staff had to call security into the house to restore the peace, and viewers called the police to help out. It was tense and intriguing to watch... too bad it was so hard to understand the diverse amount of heavy accents...
]]>Also, in something of a shock if you follow the show, casting is now active for The Amazing Race 6, which is due to shoot in August. Applications are due April 13.
Another article also mentions that CBS will couple Big Brother and the Amazing Race to create a two-hour reality block on Tuesdays from 9-11 (8-10 Central). Both shows will have 90-minute season premieres on Tuesday, July 6, and will remain on Tuesdays. (Big Brother 5 will be Tuesday nights 9-10pm ET, Thursdays 8-9pm (evictions live in the eastern timezone), and Saturdays 9-10pm ET.)
In still another twist and tie-in, Big Brother 4 Runner-up Alison Irwin and her boyfriend Donny are one of the teams on Amazing Race 5.
There is a report that The Amazing Race may have two new twists (other than Alison):
During non-elimination weeks, the team that finishes last will be stripped of all their money -- and not be given any coin at the start of the next leg of the race.
There'll also be a new "yield" component to the game that will let each team slow down someone who's lagging behind them in the race. The "yield" can only be used once by each team.
]]>CBS head Les Moonves is dating Julie Chen.
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