Big Brother 22: Why After Dark Did Not Return in August 2020
Big Brother 22: All-Stars is well underway, but fans are still wondering why the companion series Big Brother: After Dark didn't return this August 2020. After Dark premiered in 2007 to accompany the Big Brother 8 season. The show is essentially a two- to three-hour-long sneak peek of the Big Brother live feeds through cable networks. Originally, After Dark aired on Showtime 2. In 2013, the show briefly moved to TVGN. Since BB17, however, this companion series moved to Pop TV.
It seemed like a given that Big Brother: After Dark would come back for this All-Stars season. It took a lot of money for CBS to cast the returning players of Big Brother 22. Moreover, the network held them in sequester for an extended period of time in order to guarantee their negative COVID-19 status. With those factors in mind, it was likely that the ViacomCBS media conglomerate would try to get as much return on that investment. However, After Dark indeed did not return this year.
There likeliest explanation as to why Big Brother: After Dark didn't return this August 2020 has to do with the Viacom and CBS merger that took place in 2019. Pop TV - the network that aired After Dark - was solely owned by CBS. However, under the merged ViacomCBS, the channel was moved to a new corporate division. Consequently, most of the Pop TV team was fired or moved to other departments. At the end of July, CBS launched a massive marketing campaign promoting the expanded CBS All Access catalog that now includes shows from MTV, VH1, and Nickelodeon. All in all, the lack of After Dark on cable TV this year is likely due to the combination of corporate restructuring and the new conglomerate's desire to promote its streaming service. After all, the only way to watch Big Brother live feeds is through CBS All Access now... which will certainly bring in new subscribers.
Another possible explanation is that production on Big Brother 22 was very rushed, leaving producers with little-to-no time to worry about a companion show. With that said, Big Brother: After Dark is just a transmission of live feeds that airs on TV. Thus, it is unlikely that getting After Dark on the air would require that much involvement from the production team.
If it is true that the push for CBS All Access is the reason why fans didn't get Big Brother: After Dark in 2020, there is a high chance that this might become the new normal. All media conglomerates are consolidating their efforts through streaming services, making CBS All Access much more valuable to ViacomCBS than Pop TV is.
Big Brother 22: All-Stars airs Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays at 8pm EST on CBS.