RealityCheck

Rose Schmits Leaves Great Pottery Throw Down on Her Own Terms

The new season of LANDSCAPE ARTIST OF THE YEAR will begin Wednesday January 22, 2025.

Series 2024: Review of Final I agree with what the author of the blog post stated but here are my observations. Interestingly, the curator of the Portrait Gallery of Edinborough, where the commission portrait will be housed, was one of the judges instead of Kate. In my opinion, the winner was Jennifer Anderson, second place was Paul Lee, and Brogan Bertie was a poor third. Jennifer captured their likeness and her work was selected by the sitters. Brogan's rendering of Lorraine was poor, which Tai specifically mentioned. And, during one of the talking heads, Brogan said capturing likeness was nice if it happened but it was more important to him that he captured the attitude. All three of the commission paintings demonstrated the artists' capabilities but, Jennifer's painting was the one that spoke to me. When one of the judges (I think it was Kathleen) during deliberations, said they were looking for something they had never seen before, I knew the judges chose Brogan to do the commission. The decision was unanimous and the curator lobbied for Brogan. The Commission and the Reveal Commission Sitter: Lorraine Kelly Again, I agree with the author of the blog post observations. The finished commission was OK but didn't speak to me. Because Brogan did a full figure painting, I thought the body dominated to the detriment of face - poor compisition, again. The face lacked detail for a portrait. However, Lorraine liked it, so there's that. From this blog post, they are preparing for the next season of the series <yah!>

Olympic champion diver and knitting enthusiast Tom Daley will host a new competition series, Game of Wool (w/t), on Channel 4 UK. I use to knit and I can't imagine how this is going to work. How interesting will it be to watch a group of people knitting under a time limit? I'm curious enough to watch, at least the first few episodes.

Ali Vitali is replacing Jonathan Lemire as host of Way Too Early starting January 6, 2025. I gather J. Lemire is relieved to be able to sleep an extra hour. I assume he will still be called upon for Morning Joe.

I agree TVBitch. Review: Semi Finals of Portrait Artist of the Year 2024 Sitter: Joely Richardson Of the three chosen finalists, I much preferred Jennifer Anderson's painting. I didn't like Paul Lee's painting because of the eyes. Paul depicted the sitter facing to the right but her eyes were angled to the left, away from the viewer. I found that distracting. Brogan Bertie's painting came in a very distant third. The grandmother's face overpowered Joely's face. In my opinion, that was poor composition since the painting was suppose to be a portrait of Joely. Based on the semi-final paintings, I hope Jennifer Anderson is awarded the commission.

I thought Jessie wore a pretty ugly sweater. For me, Nancy conducting when she likes the dessert is way past its expiration date. I do not remember her using that gesture when Lorraine was the third judge. I'm wondering if Carla's "duude" caused Nancy to stay up nights in the off season trying to come up with an equivalent signature mannerism.

Ina Garten gives a masterclass on the art of hosting Thanksgiving dinner. This audio-only. Ina sounded pretty relaxed.

THE GREAT AMERICAN BAKING SHOW 2024: CELEBRITY HOLIDAY is now streaming on the ROKU CHANNEL with judges Paul Hollywood and Prue Leith and hosts Casey Wilson and Zach Cherry.

Comcast Says It May Spin Off Cable Networks

HANDMADE: Britain's Best Woodworker will not be returning for a third series, with the door open for Channel 4 to return to the show in the future. Although I enjoyed the show, I wondered what they did with the finished products. Trees gave their life for the show and many of the creations were unstable or poorly finished.

I would categorize this as a minor peeve but an irritating one. Verizon is my cable TV provider. Last month, Verizon informed me of a mandatory cable box upgrade so I dutitfully upgraded. The cable box footprint is considerably smaller (yah!) but the old box had a digital clock that is missing from the new box, which is highly inconvenient. It's especially annoying because the clock was positioned perfectly, in sightline, when I entered the room. Now I'm going to have to buy a clock to replace it.

Andrea Mitchell announced this afternoon that she will be stepping away from anchoring her Noon news show after the inauguration to concentrate on a reporting-focus role. To be honest, there were times I cringed during her show. Andrea had a habit of inserting awkward pauses during a question so that the guest would begin answering before she finished the question. Andrea was not a good fit as an anchor. However, when Andrea was present during a press conference, her questioning was very confident and smooth so I got the impression she wasn't comfortable in the anchor chair.

A new season of HOLIDAY BAKING CHAMPIONSHIP premieres Monday, November 4th at 8PM ET/PT with judges Carla Hall, Duff Goldman, Nancy Fuller and host Jesse Palmer.

A new season of CHRISTMAS COOKIE CHALLENGE premieres Thursday, November 7th at 9PM ET/PT with hosts Eddie Jackson and Ree Drummond.