halopub

I'm trying to restrain myself from joining the Twitter mob condemning Diana for her (edited to add: "supposed") role in Iain's calamity but bless him for his ability to joke about the incident months later. It will be interesting to see if any details start to come out about selective broadcast editing and what context production may or may not have provided the judges. I've already spotted one seeming inconsistency, with Mel's voiceover talking about the 25 degree weather and Paul on Twitter saying it was over 30. (Maybe they were referring to different challenges?) I realize that there will be a UK bias in the preferred flavor profiles but I was surprised Mary Berry looked so skeptical about the idea of black sesame ice cream. It's such an established ingredient in traditional Japanese confectionary, plus sesame seed candy is popular across the Middle East and Asia. Hopefully I'm just reading too much into her expression and she was just unhappy about the appearance of the ice cream mix but otherwise she could use a trip to a London wagashi shop for some new-to-her sweets. With everything going on with Iain, it was fun to have those lighthearted moments with Luis's tiramisu diagram and later on, his pour into two mixers. Edited to add: Apparently Sue is now saying that Iain's Alaska was only out of the freezer for less than a minute. So...purposely deceptive editing? Or just a wholly unintentional kerfuffle? Because that backlash online against Diana is fierce.

A non-spoilerly pic from the next episode of Extra slice, courtesy of guest panelist Reverend Richard Coles. Since he signed an NDA, the priest doesn't offer any hints to the cut contestant. He did offer a few behind-the-scenes tidbits, however, including how audience members have to taste any displays they bake for the after-show.

This potential deal with Tribune sounds like a full rollout - not a half-hearted, low budget summer test on a handful of Fox stations. Plus, after that many years off - those same old segments like Five Questions just felt so tired. Christine Lakin, though, was a pleasant surprise as his sidekick. Even if he keeps Geoff, Secretariat and Michael, the new talk show would have to change a lot of its tone - if only because we read so much innuendo into everything he says.

Bread! Sad to see Enwezor go but I'm glad he kept his sense of humor on what I thought was a tough aftershow. That fondant must really be pretty bad - guest panelist (and usually so intimidating) Monica Galetti was all smiles and tried to be super supportive but couldn't help but be brutally honest about the awful icing on the redone rocket. And then Jo just tossed his creation away. It was funny, though, that Enwezor explained the reason he didn't use yellow icing for the crispier redo is because he just used whatever he had around the house. Those darn editors - it was helpful to hear Enwezor mention on Extraslice that there were open packets of fondant all over his workstation so he couldn't lie to Mary about making his own. And on Twitter he states he was really dinged for his underbaked cookies during the Showstopper round, not the store-bought icing, which is allowed and was used by three other bakers. I continue to find it a bit jarring that the after-show isn't live and broadcast immediately after GBBO - especially now that I hear it's taped on Sundays before its accompanying episode is shown. Maybe I'm just used to how U.S. cable networks handle their dramas. Edited to add: I can't remember...did they not like his signature bake? The BBC has been promoting the recipe for it.

Ah...good point! That could explain a lot of the aversion. I appreciate the Eleventh Doctor reference. It's too bad that all of you are missing out on an established savory/sweet flavor combination. To be fair, though, you have some terrific flavors that we don't really know stateside, like gooseberry & elderflower. True, true. I'd forgotten about that. I remember her primarily for using fish bait in that pie.

I miss the squirrels too! And yeah, while he comes across as a nice, genial guy, I can understand why you might be concerned with Iain's formidable beard in the kitchen. I was also pretty impressed by the retired naval officer and the contractor. Richard seems to have a calm approach to each challenge and it was entertaining to see the pencil behind his ear. I'm hoping that Enwezor, with his Nigerian and Japanese background, will start offering some unusual flavor combinations. And it's neat that Luis has his own honeybees. I caught part of the companion show for this episode - I'd call it an aftershow but it's broadcast days later- and though most of it was pretty superfluous, it was nice to see what clinically anxious Claire could create without the time pressure and TV cameras. A girly, well sculpted showstopper whose flavors impressed the guest Michelin chef. If we consider the agoraphobia and other psychological conditions she suffers, then it's actually impressive Claire did as well as she did in the tent. And I'm sorry we won't be seeing her british breakfast bread. Something a GBBO fan mentioned during the companion show surprised me though - is it that unusual still for Brits to include bacon in their baked goods? On this side of the pond, bacon desserts have been around a long time. Maple bacon donuts, chocolate-covered bacon, etc.

Blech! I initially thought he was funny enough when he guested on Lily Allen's talk show a couple years back and totally charmed her. Since then, though, I seem to always spot him on panel/award shows where he either repeats his tired pickup lines or reverts to shruggy, drunk bro humor with Jack Whitehall. Plus didn't he just get dinged for a painfully sycophantic job of hosting the Brit Awards? Hopefully being a family man has softened his more annoying shtick but I fear a late night retread of PIers Morgan here when a disliked personality flees for a fresh start stateside. Hopefully he'll be inspired by Craig and Stephen, refuse to really play the Hollywood suck up game and not invite guests with whom he has nothing to say.

Industry folks will often point to the 3 & 7 day DVR viewership for Hannibal and NBC is aware how the show doesn't necessarily inspire live viewing. Their target audience could be out on Friday night or people might avoid viewing it until daytime to avoid getting creeped out right before bed. And its viewership hasn't reached the critical mass of cult shows like Game of Thrones, where people feel like they'll be out of the loop if they don't watch it right away. That said, NBC would probably like the 3 day plus numbers to be better and for live viewership to not continue sliding. Hannibal is relatively cheap for NBC to broadcast and my guess is that the real frustration on the part of network execs is that the show doesn't generate the pop culture buzz and award recognition that it ought. Then they could point to the rabidity of the audience they do have and declare the show a success. There was an interesting analysis by another EW writer a couple weeks ago (sorry, I do tend to read that over other industry sites) about why the show struggles and how he finally got sucked in after two seasons. I think Bryan Fuller has done a good job of being fan friendly and engaging the existing audience. There are the live tweets during the US broadcasts, which help preempt viewer questions during commercial breaks and he shows genuine appreciation of the memes and fan art. Plus there are those extensive episode breakdowns after the West Coast showing on AV Club. Now everyone involved has to work on generating word-of-mouth to non-watchers. Probably in non-traditional methods. I've got to think that those Korean promos from the production company helped. Maybe piggyback on the popularity of other shows with crossover fan fic? I really don't know.

Two recent stories: AV Club: Lawrence Fishburne says that he'll be recurring on both Hannibal and Blackish. EW: NBC expresses frustration that more of us aren't watching the show. I'm looking forward to seeing if Jack Crawford actually survives the bloodbath or if he becomes another voice in Will's head.