Amarsir

I do appreciate the advantage a hook can give in creating a memorable brand. Because chocolate is everywhere, including 2 in @cmfran's home town, I have no reason to order from anyone in particular. They aren't going to become a household name for numerous reasons, including their desire to avoid mainstream things like chocolate-covered pretzels. So they have to be memorable for some kind of niche. And Zoe, while a lovely lady, just doesn't stand out in the mind like Sweet Pete does. They had two possible stories: 1) "Our father got fired so we built the business for him." Which they were understandably reluctant to do, despite phrasing it that way every time. I'd have simply said something like "Our father learned chocolate making when he was young and we built our shop 10 years ago to turn his expertise into a family business." Nothing embarrassing about that. 2) "Our family came from Greece and that's part of our inspiration for chocolate." They did have Baklava chocolate and Ouzo chocolate before Marcus showed up. So it was definitely an element. Yes it's a subset not their whole identity. But it's real. So they didn't have a third alternative. Quality chocolate may get repeat orders (if buyers remember who it's from) but it's not going to get that first one.

It wasn't the chicken itself that they were concerned about. It was cross-contamination. If your hands or knife are contaminated from raw chicken, then touch tomatoes that are to be eaten uncooked, it's very comparable to licking the cutting board. And she did flip the cutting board for exactly that reason, but just went blank on her hands and the knife. While in one sense any of us can forget, it's the sort of thing that should be really habitual.

I believe that was Jonathan Mangum trying to wrap himself around Wayne as a sort of Life Jacket. Jonathan is very physical and has a long history of working with Wayne, but I can't imagine how he was expecting to hold himself up by his toes. It was indeed very funny. Brad Sherwood and no guest this week! (I've been liking the guests themselves more lately, but that means no Helping Hands and no Living Scenery full of inappropriate contacts jokes.) I love the weird duets in Compilation Album and Bruce Springsteen / Nikki Minaj certainly qualifies. Noteworthy: Ryan actually did a little bit of weather in Newscasters! And only one winner. (Colin)

Maybe it's just my memory, but it feels like they get a lot less instruction this season than in the past. It used to be that the show would teach them how to present, and they didn't need to start with a polished professional patter if they could learn it. Now they get thrown in blind and maybe learn something from 2 sentences of judging, if they survive?

Marcus's defense of it was "I don't think it's so bad that people are gonna be like 'Oh S---, I'm not buying chocolate.'" So apparently that's the bar. A logo is good as long as it's not so bad it drives people away. By the way, did this need a major storefront? People are going to come in to the candy store and sit around having hot chocolate? (On chairs that didn't look especially comfortable.) I guess if they don't need the space it doesn't hurt, but I don't see a ton of added value there either.

He gets his revenge by controlling the buyers though. "Gosh we'd like to give you a giant order, but we really need a partner with a blue color scheme and Greek clip art."

On that note, what logic was behind that Tarly scene? You're a Tyrell bannerman - an important and loyal one. Cersei just assassinated 3 Tyrells and a bunch of other people. The head of the Tyrells declares war and everyone knows you're a huge asset. Cersei invites you to come to King's Landing and be surrounded by Lannisters. And you say "OK, but let me bring along my next of kin."??? And then the conversation ends with you saying you're still probably going to fight them, and Cersei & Jaime's reaction is "OK have a good trip, see you at the war."?

I really hope Euron isn't the new Ramsay. The guy came out of nowhere, got a Klingon Promotion, built a fleet overnight on an island with no trees, found the enemy on the open sea - at night - and then killed some of the best fighters the show has put forth. SuperEuron!

Completely the same for me. It's not the first time this show has done a friendly cutaway, but it was the most blatant obscuring of something we quite reasonably anticipated. I can only assume it was terrible.

I've never seen that Jimmy Ichihana card trick before. Really really cool effect, and I assume it takes a lot of mental power to pull off, as well as some mechanical skills.

We saw what they did to the guy at ASL signs who just wanted the business connections. He had a profitable business, his employees really liked him, and while he was a little bit of a control freak he readily acknowledged that and was willing to work on it. The show went on Facebook to find a non-paying customer who didn't like him. The guy wasn't perfect, but Precise Graphix had much bigger personality problems and Marcus is leveraging them big. He wants to be needed. The Rolex was 10 years old and the business was 4 years old, so I don't think that's the problem. Which only raises the question - where the hell was $100k going? Without that salary (and who knows what his ex wife was drawing) the business was profitable. Before meeting the wife I wondered if maybe there's a major alimony / child support thing going on. But I don't think that's the case. Also I don't feel super bad for Marcus, because he saw the income statement, and later was shocked to learn that Tony was taking $100k in salary? I get he might not know how good the guy was at running a business, but the money shouldn't have been a surprise. So did I. And I can totally see Marcus loving the make-your-own concept. (And potentially leveraging Sweet Pete's as well as Mr. Green Tea and the Key Lime Pies.) Interestingly enough though, it seems like he stole it: > In short: A franchise called Popbars exists in NYC. In 2011 Tony went through the procedure to become a franchisee for them. Then he backed out and contacted Popbar's suppliers to set up his own deal. They sued him and it was settled out of court. If nothing else, this explains why he couldn't sell his own franchise successfully - there's a better version out there already. Not my usual means of expression, but honestly the word "loser" is what came to mind for me too. He just didn't have the sharpness, the work ethic, or the personal strength to make it work. Addiction is a problem, and I'm sure the divorce weighs on him along with who knows what else. But Marcus was more than generous to him.

Late to the party, but I completely agree that Season 3 hit the Season 1 comedy that I wasn't sure they could recapture. My only gripe about the Sniglet arc is less about the wrap-up and more about how it was completely ignored for several middle episodes. I understand there are reasons for that, but it was weird to go from it being a cliff-hanger one episode to not being mentioned for 3.

I like the aesthetic of selecting the audience via bouncing balls, and then those balls becoming lotto picks. Beyond that I have to agree. If you're going to do mentalism, make it funny or snappy. Or at least predict something more creative than numbers. They really know how to leverage having two personalities, like P&T sometimes (but not always) do. Unfortunately some of the bickering seems over-rehearsed in it's delivery (I'm including their first appearance) and would be just a hair funnier if they sold it better. But the "no prep required" implication of a cardboard box was a great turn on an old trick. Speaking of which: Yeah that was beautiful. We all knew it was torn & restored, and the steal was easy to see even with a generous camera cutaway. But I don't think any of us care about the mechanics because it transcended into art. I did however find myself wondering how well it would work with a non-Teller audience member. @Monty is right that Teller was enhancing the pantomime. But how easy would it have been for someone to miscut the heart, or do the corner tear horribly wrong? Then you're well ahead of me. I'll have to watch 6 more times to even begin to fathom a guess.

Yeah that was a terrible player. The content of the last season starts a little weak too, although IMHO there's some really good episodes in the back half.

My guess for the P&T trick tonight is a new one they created based on counting fingers. IIRC it was developed so Penn had something he could do on the road without any props. Or I could be way off. Just my guess for the teachable trick. Edit afterwards: Nope, I was wrong. I think that trick is from Cruel Tricks for Dear Friends, if someone recalls that better than I.

There's clearly something wrong there. A couple times I almost wanted to defend him: I don't think a salesman necessarily has to have the inventory value memorized, nor is it bad that he was walking through the building and saw something that needed cleaning. But the way he put his foot in his mouth over and over. I wondered if it was Pathological Liar Disorder or something related. BTW the sales call - which I agree was terrible - was rejected very weirdly. "I can't make my mind up because you didn't tell me any of your history." Who says that on a buying decision? I'm not saying it doesn't matter, but it's a fairly subconscious thing.

When Cory said that Amy's assignments showed who she thought the competition was - and she agreed - I couldn't help but realize she'd given Matthew a very easy one. There must be some realization even among the contestants that they don't really plan to let him win. Well... yes, not strictly tied to every dish. But isn't her show all about stories though? "Some friends are coming over. Here's how I know them, and why I think they'll love the food I've chosen for this occasion." I do agree that having a personal connection to every dish will get really phony before long - especially when it's an external theme like "low country boil". But I can appreciate that they want a tie-in better than "here's some random food that fits the assignment".

3 separate thoughts in decreasing relevance: 1) The Fast Times at Cutthroat High episode was indeed a lot of fun. But I think Duff chose the wrong person in round 1. He clearly enjoyed her hush puppies and we know she included a protein component. And he came out saying how flexible a "car pool breakfast" is as long as you can eat it on the go. Then he dumped her in favor of the sloppy sandwich because it wasn't "complete" enough? Duff is great, but I think he was wrong there. 2) Richard Blais and his wife Jazmin just started a podcast called Starving for Attention. On the third episode he had Jet Tila and Antonia Lofaso on. They actually don't talk a huge amount about Cutthroat, just a little in the beginning. But they clearly enjoy talking to each other so if you like them it's a fun listen. Available here or on iTunes. IMHO it's clear that he's still new to podcasting because some of the intros and segment breaks needed work, but overall I'd tune in again if he has guests I'm interested in. 3) Alton Brown put a short video on YouTube featuring Good Eats and simply saying "It's time". There's no other content to it and no indication of schedule, but I consider that a confirmation of what we've been expecting.

I didn't have a clear winner in my mind until @HoboClayton reminded me about "Naggers".

This was rerun last night so I decided to look up the franchisee 18 months later. And there is none. No second location for them and no NJ franchise where the guy was thinking. So either the whole thing was a setup or the guy realized there was no value here.

Yeah, that's why I suggest making it a habit. You can start it while eating what you want and then once it's ingrained, then change your targets. That way you're not trying to learn 2 new habits at once. It may not be the right method for everyone, but I got to the point where it feels uncomfortable to eat without logging immediately. Anyway, just a thought.

It was unintentionally funny when he said "buongiorno" as a French greeting a few weeks ago. Unless he did it on purpose, in which case it was horribly undersold.

They showed the stagehand warning her about it and her not being concerned. Which is of course the clearest sign in all of reality-dom that it would be a problem. It does happen, but she had the opportunity to be be cautious and wasn't. I know she had a lot to think about, but you can't take stuff for granted. That said, I'm sure they wouldn't have docked her for it if she had covered with something better than a "starve your kids" joke. "Today we're making dinner with chicken thighs, broccoli, kidney beans, and brown rice. A well-rounded meal for about 1/3 the price of what Food Network considers 'budget'." I actually get a little annoyed by FN's feints. Their cheap isn't that cheap. Their healthy isn't that healthy. And their concept of what home cooks know is downright insulting. It makes these things easy to check off on their to-do list, but doesn't win any points with me.