Amarsir

My theory is that the bike is not there to be sold, but rather to make the store quirky in a way that's less intrusive than the "jeans bar" was. It's like those restaurants that have art on the wall with price tags. They don't really expect to make money selling art, but they get to pretend they're a gallery and if someone randomly buys something, even better.

So there are 2 products on this show I'm pretty sure I could do better if I wanted to. Sunscreenr: For $5 I'll sell you a filter + an app for your phone that will do the same thing. And truth be told you don't need the app. It's just UV light. Potato Parcel: I can easily think of better quirky items to ship through the mail. Admittedly the nonsense of a potato is why it works, and applying logic is counter-productive. But I'm picturing getting a tiny package in the mail and when you pull the string a balloon inflates with a message. (The USPS does allow compressed air in small quantities.) Higher cost, but better legs imho. Season 1 had much lower standards. Pork Barrel's deal valued their whole company at $125,000. These women were asking for $150,000. Pork Barrel already had a restaurant being built. Lulu Bang sells 2 jars per store on a wildcard deal from Walmart that won't last long (unless this appearance makes them rocket). And their name is terrible. No wonder they didn't have any online sales. You're right, it might work. But so might the other hundreds of small sauces that have been created and weren't lucky enough to appear on ABC Prime Time (which we all know was probably aided by family tragedy). I think if Barbara was there she would have said what Daymond said: "Experience has taught me that this business sucks." Applying yourself takes a long time, but the producers watch kickstarter and other portals for new businesses and do a lot of recruiting themselves. Entrepreneurs who have been on the show say it's a lot easier to get on if they come to you than if you go to them.

I can see why they went with Jeff Dunham as host. The tone of this show is supposed to be casual and fun. The competitors cheer and high-five each other and the level is around "skilled home baker". Really it reminds me of friends hanging out to cook for a bake sale. So adding a comedian who makes cute little jokes adds to the fun. It's meant to be a huge contrast from Halloween Wars where professionals are intense and drama gets you a free pass to the next week. But I agree he's not being fully leveraged. How do you have Jeff Dunham hosting a round of cake pops and not get him to say "On a stiiiick!" I don't care if it's over some people's heads; how about a little fan service?

I didn't think the pitch was that bad. If his valuation wasn't so high he might have gotten a deal. Good eye on Arlene being absent, but I still think we might see her on a solo follow-up. Much of the appeal of a followup is getting more airtime for your business and for that they don't need both Dragons. But for something she invested in alone, maybe. Or you could be right, we'll see.

That was interesting. I think it opened up more doors than it closed, but in a way that didn't simply feel like stalling. I am surprised though that this is the last episode before the election. The angle with releasing emails is a whole new direction to go in, but they aren't going to. Then again I never thought Trump's appeal was nostalgia. I liken it more to the Emperor's New Clothes.

You know, I played The Stick of Truth and while I enjoyed the references and the characters, there was very little of the clever parodic plots and dialog that really make the show work. Some bits like the alien ship were funny but for the most part it was bathroom humor and a little sarcasm. That clip of the new gameplay seems very similar. Wonderful attention to detail, and pausing the combat for a car coming through is really funny. But I need to feel like it's worth going through the whole thing and I'm just not sure I will.

If you really want to go back in time, here's some of the social media that gave her the publicity. https://www.reddit.com/r/pics/comments/35pq9j/my_friend_who_sells_tshirts_through_etsy_found/ Among the replies there are someone calling out the friend who posted the "theft" for working for a social media marketing company, and someone else pointing out that Sandi Lake itself seems to have stolen images (e.g. the Tootsie Pop Indian). As for the specialness of the design, well you can see the image. The similarity is obvious, but with a different font and the Target version using a paint style effect. Coincidence or copy, you decide.

Some of you may know this already but it wasn't officially stated for the thread, so: http://radiotvtalk.blog.ajc.com/2016/10/19/alton-brown-taking-a-break-from-cutthroat-kitchen/ No word yet (that I can find) on what FN plans to do.

I understand your point @bilgistic but I think it's way too much of a gray area to even start nitpicking. For example, suppose I live with family for 6 months instead of renting my own place. That could easily save me $6-10k in many markets, and that's outright, not even a loan. So does that mean someone who did that while starting out isn't self-made? Must they disclose it in all future bios? Also you mention the challenge of a college degree (and congrats for being the first). Well those cost more than $10k. Are you disqualified from "self-made" if your family helps on tuition? And if you say yes, does a government Pell grant mean the same thing? If so, then by extension nobody is "self-made" so we should just throw out the term and denigrate all accomplishments with statements like "you didn't build that." By contrast, @theatremouse makes a fine point about the degree of success. If you want to say that Kevin wasn't a self-made ten-thousandaire, I think you'd be well justified. But to turn that into millions is such a degree of change that I don't really think it needs a disclaimer.

Yup. People will learn. It's what she does. Barbara: Once Lori makes an offer, I'm out. Me: Well then you're probably safe to let her talk for 5 minutes.

Did John make his own barbecue sauce? I don't know which would be more surprising: that Food Network had a bottle of premade barbecue sauce sitting on the shelf, or that one of the Worst Cooks would know how to do that.

Michelle's face when the humidifier ended up with a bidding war. That was hilarious. This was the most Shark Tank episode of DD I think we've seen. Everything was an existing retail product with a (justifiably) higher valuation. We even saw a royalty deal and an "expiry date on my offer". (Both from Wek.) It was good, but one of the things I like about Dragon's Den is that it gets a little more wild at times. Still, as special episodes go I'll take this over another kid-focused one.

Well Randy didn't say TFA was bad. Just that it wasn't as good as everyone thought. That might be true. I loved the Garrison storyline this week. When it didn't come up last week I was afraid they weren't going to get into Grab-Gate. But this made up for it. Everything with him was great. (And a big laugh at Butters saying "bouncy ball?" as he got dragged out.) By contrast, the kids' story didn't offer much. All that really changed is that Heidi and Cartman are intervening rather than sitting it out. But we don't even know what effect that has yet. And then the trolls were somewhere in the middle. I think it's clear at this point that "member berry wine" won't be the out, as they had several opportunities to go that way and didn't. But they have separated Gerald from the others as he's literally just doing it for comedy while they seemed to have personal demons.

The extra footage on the website was less kind. Although I guess that does show a gentler hand in editing than it could have been.

In fact they said as much. It adds up to 8 weeks per year. I haven't taken a vacation in years so it certainly sounds indulgent to me. But I think in Greece they call that "minimum wage".

There was a good show going before it derailed with personal drama. (Again.) I want to hear more about space optimization and product selection. I also think Robyn should be grateful that Howard fit so naturally into the villain role. Because between between the notebook-over-digital records, the love of a one-off Robot Coupe, and the "I don't remember all the vendors but I remember the biggest ones" I'm certain she could have gotten a different edit.

That's worth looking into. Alison Rosen's podcast is the most visible one so I assumet hat's what you meant and I did find a relevant segment. Yes, but she wasn't specific which. If you want to listen yourself they get into it around 54:30 and only talk for about 2 minutes. It's from August so she wouldn't have been asked about anything we've seen. But here are some quotes:

One of the FB replies did get me wondering though. Has there been any business that declined Marcus and didn't get an edit that made them look bad? Some of them were surely as bad or worse than pictured. Skullduggery for example is indefensible. Some may have made bad choices, even if it shouldn't necessarily define them. (Da Lobsta.) But did the Farmgirl Flowers show really need to suggest that she hates men? And ABC Signs - the guy had a profitable family business where everyone was happy. But he admitted his motivation was selling to Marcus's network. And for that the show went out and interviewed a guy who disliked him on Facebook. Maybe they're all legit and the reason everyone has problems is because the show seeks them out for drama. But surely in the grand scheme there must be good people who would feel that partnering isn't a good idea. Will we ever see any?

I can't see the network wanting to end CK when just a few months ago they were making so many episodes that they had to air 2 new ones per week. It's also the only show on FN that I see randomly pop up on social media. I could totally see Alton getting tired of it though. There isn't a lot of room for him to express himself, especially if the challenge creation has expanded past his input. Basically he delivers the same lines, occasionally costumed up, and if he's lucky gets 10 seconds to explain how he'd have approached a challenge. That can't possibly compare to the freedom he enjoyed making Good Eats. The question that leaves is whether Food Network would dare to keep the show going with a replacement host. We know there's no substitute for Alton overall, but as I say his role as game show host was limited enough that others probably could.

I've heard interviews with him where he says it's one of the things he likes doing. (His first appearance on the Shark Tank podcast, IIRC.) I agree that it doesn't do much for me as a viewer, but I think Marcus enjoys being the hero counselor who turns lives around.

Clean Heels. They did get a deal. 50k (pounds) for 25% between 2 Dragons. I agree, but as time went on I started to see Daymond's point. He did seem indecisive and the sharks don't want a partner who's just going to wait for things to figure themselves out. Especially if part of their pitch is about prior business experience. Yeah, this. Never fall into a trap of ranking the sharks because you know it will offend some. If you're going to do that, at least be smart about it. But on top of that, just come back with something to let them know what you're thinking. If you want a lower price, state the lower price. If you want a partner with particular expertise, let them pitch themselves on that expertise. It is a delicate line to avoid saying "I'd take 10% from Robert or 12% from Lori because her TV presence is more valuable". Because odds are Robert will quit and Lori will want 25%. But if you say "I'm looking for a partner for 10% who can get this product on TV" then you've given them something to compete against rather than sitting around being ignored. I think you could overcome that if there's enough force to the air. If it's not really melting the stick but melting off a top layer and propelling, it, that could potentially work. I know someone for whom I would totally buy this product as a gift if they could get it below $100. But I also want to wait for reviews about long-term effectiveness and durability.

When Rachel started cracking up at the thermometers, I found that laughter infectious. That seems like the genuine scenario this show wants and so rarely achieves. I also thought Anne did a good job encouraging Mindy through the butchering, though I'm not clear why since she's on Rachel's team.

Here they are for easy comparison: I assume chocolate is a bit harder to work with than marzipan, and while ideas do occur to multiple people you probably should assume that everyone is familiar with the prior year's winner and avoid that comparison. But I don't know if I'd say Candice's peacock really suffers in comparison. They're both pretty impressive given their respective challenges.

That container house guy certainly had one of the worst pitches ever. I think it's worse than other disasters because the business itself might not be a terrible idea. But he couldn't even answer a direct question. "What does your business do?" "Michelle you're a millennial, and millennials care about the environment." "Can we see that manual?" "Millions of containers exist in the world." I wouldn't have blamed Wek for physically leaving. I really like seeing Michelle's knowledge on any app pitches. $2 for a not-particularly-targeted survey seems high to me though. I always wondered about those kinds of businesses: is someone who's watching an ad for 25 cents really likely to go spend $50 on pizza? Yes, I have apps for coupons. But I generally know what I want and expect the process to be as smooth as possible. Regardless, I think it's funny that she had an excuse to bow out and the others were so anxious about not having to bid against her that they ignored her warning of how saturated the space already is. I'm also loving the Wek and Manjit teamup. 3 times in 1 episode they made a combined offer, even if it didn't win for them like they seemed to expect.

You know, I just assumed that it happened because they want to tell longer stories. But it turns out I'm wrong: That's from just last month, shortly before this season started. So that's a little scary, that it isn't even about a huge arc. It's about setting something up and seeing what happens.