Something about Big Brother 9 seems familiar, and I'm not talking about its resemblance to other iterations of the show itself.

Thus far--and of course there is still plenty of time for change--this season boasts (??) the biggest collection of lunkheads and egomaniacs yet. When the most likeable person in the house is a papparazzo, something seems amiss.

At this point, the players are still interchangeable, so forgive me if I can't remember who's who.  I do know Jen (right? right?), the aggressive, intense blonde with the huge tongue-piercing and the grating voice. She really needs to relax. And her boyfriend Ryan, also known as Mr. Sweaty-Head, seems sweet enough, but he's stuck with a self-destructive, jealous partner.

One contestant, who seems to have very real emotional issues due to her father's unfairly blaming her for his suicide and who should therefore be nowhere near this house, appears to be in love with her own butt.

The older woman--a relative term, considering that she's only in her forties--can't stop loathing her partner long enough to see that she's paving her own road out the door. Not that I blame her for not wanting to be called "Ma," a patronizing nickname that sets fortysomethings and feminism back a few decades. Her often-maligned partner Adam may not deserve all the tongue-lashings she's given him, but my Lord he's creepy. Whenever he's on screen, I'm afraid he's going to attack someone, or that his eyeballs will explode.

The full-of-themselves New Yorkers and Bostonians might as well have been stamped out with a cookie cutter. Maybe they'll distinguish themselves later, but right now, I don't even remember which ones they are. (I do sympathize with Mr. New York's own father issues, though, and I wish him and his 9/11 cross well in life.)

To be fair, I think my failure to remember these players can be partially blamed on the couples arrangement. I have the same trouble with the opening legs of The Amazing Race.

But this set of contestants seems all too eager to share their innermost hopes and fears, to bawl on camera, to pass judgment on their fellow HGs, and to show their uncut body parts on demand.

That's when it clicked for me; I knew where I had seen these people before. Weren't they all on The Real World: Las Vegas?

I'll keep watching because I like BB, and because the new scripted shows haven't started. But I'm worried.