snarktini

Wow! Being in withdrawal from the season's end, I am starting with the beginning. I just watched S1E1, and while I already liked Sue and Mel, they were indeed different. The show is different! Much more history, much lower-key & more natural hosting, more homemade-looking output. I want to curl up in the land of GBBO tents and bakes. It's so lovely there! Beats the real world for sure.

They are both lovely. He's a very good looking man! (I must be the only one who would have pegged her age correctly.) I appreciate this answer: "We did get to try each others bakes and it was really interesting. Basically every time I agreed with Mary and Paul. Tamal did some great stuff and Nadiyas Black Forest Gateau in week 1 was a good show of what was to come." He's a very, very gracious non-winner. That's a great quality. Also this one: "I always thought Paul was firm but fair - you do a bad job and he'll tell you that. Mary, bless her, would always try and say something nice. He would play mind games with you... that stare! Never did get to try their bakes though." I hate Paul's mind games. I have a hard time liking him because of it.

The tiniest of nits: In Recipes and Raincoats, just as guests are arriving for the Dragonfly trial run, the guest room doors arrive fully outfitted with hardware and they're expected to be installed in a matter of minutes. It was a cute bit ("just follow your door"), but doors are actually a PITA to hang! They don't come all ready to pop in. And they especially don't come with door numbers and knobs attached.

It's for the best all that Lewis ending. Whately seems checked out, Hathaway is more morose than ever. While I find tortured compelling, it gets depressing after a while no matter the reason. IIRC Wikipedia says they had two boys. I don't read much about celebrities, it's safer that way. (Ever since I saw an interview with Gillian Anderson that ruined my adoration of Scully, I've been wary!)

Just read this and looked it up because it was a surprise, and it turns out they got divorced in May. No idea what the actors are like IRL, but the mental picture of Rose + Hathaway is all sorts of wrong. I like Hathaway a lot. Moody and distant, but also clever and gentle and at times witty, which is my type for better or worse. More like Endeavour than Morse, which works for me. I enjoy the prequel and sequel, but not the original.

What I like the least is that it seems likely he's going to impact the storyline. I just want to see our team solve mysteries in crime-riddled Oxford. I don't care about bureaucracy or annoying bosses. Especially not in the final season! With just 3 episodes, why bother to set up new obstacles? I assume they will use his character as a catalyst to end the stories of Lewis and Hathaway. His presence will cause them to retire / get promoted / depart on a journey of self-discovery. Which I don't think is necessary, but writers seem to think we want our characters to end when shows do.

Haha, I'm up to S2E4, and they did it again, the banner reads: Happy Birthday Diane and Use a Pretty Font. I'll be on the lookout for more of these. :)

I'm watching S1, and at Diane and Mr PB's rehearsal dinner (that was not a rehearsal nor a dinner) and there was a good sight gag in an overhead banner (paraphrasing): Congratulations Diane and Mr Peanut Butter // Peanut Butter is one word It caught my eye but I didn't quite get it. Who were they telling that Peanutbutter is one word? (While still failing to spell it as one word?) And why? Last night as I was falling asleep I got it. That's what they dictated to the sign people. I like the occasional animal elements, like the tennis balls and mail truck. So far it's a nice balance, just enough to remind you that yes, he's part dog. Not enough to get annoying. Why animals? My guess is that it adds the right amount of absurdity to take the edge off of a very depressing show. I couldn't watch a human Bojack, I don't think. Definitely not a live-action one.

Me too, every week. Not a showstopper, but the tennis cake stuck out as an example: It needed to bake 2 out of the 3 hours. Figure at best 15-20 minutes to read, prep, preheat. 2 hours to bake. Leaving 40 minutes to cool and decorate. And they wonder why it's underbaked and poorly piped? It's so much better than other reality competitions, but it's still stupid.

What I saw as "wonky" was that a lot of the details were crooked and uneven. For example, the little white half-circle biscuits around the base were rather haphazard. In her voiceover, Flora said it was the messiest piping she'd done in her life. It was a beautiful and fun concept, but the execution was rushed (duh). Yes, Tamal's was the Monet.

As an American and a Boilermaker, I was feeling slightly bad that I was rooting for the totally adorable GB guys over Johnson/Boudia. Then Johnson name-checked God like 3 times in a minute interview so now I figure I'm off the hook. He's got enough higher power on his side that he really doesn't need me rooting for him. ;) Seriously, Steele Johnson. How did his dad survive boyhood with the last name Johnson and retain that much naivete? That's a feat even in bible belt Indiana, geez.

I'm always a little bothered by assertions of favoritism (on any show) -- how can we insist someone was robbed when we didn't taste any of it? Sure, bias is possible, consciously or unconsciously. Judging is by its very nature subjective. But it's equally possible there is no significant bias, the kind that changes outcomes. They have so much more information than we do: They know all the rules & instructions. They know their grading rubric. They are experts in their field. They are privy to all the moments and comments, not only the edited 10% we are shown. They get to taste, touch, and see the food up close. I can disagree with them, but I can't honestly assert I'm right and they're wrong. In the end I choose to believe they are fair to the best of their ability, and that they know more than I do about who did well. Both Ian and Flora were clearly at risk. From the comments, I assumed Flora would go, and that was correct. I figured the Technical win was the only thing that could save her.

Don't lose your rag. Context implied don't panic, keep it together. However, research shows the phrase means don't lose your temper, which doesn't seem quite accurate for the situation. And the mocker thingies are spelled Mochatines. I love how they say bana-ner. :)

Since you asked... https://www.pinterest.com/pin/301459768788740462/ Still, I'd rather just have a plate of éclairs. Fancy centerpieces don't impress me so much as make me assume they are more decorative than tasty.

Thanks! I checked maybe 6 months ago and only found a few episodes. Sounds like some new stuff has gone up! (Or perhaps my search skills were defective that day. Maybe I did use the wrong name.)

Ian is an example of how someone who keeps his own counsel can be perceived as arrogant or aloof by people who don't know them well. Internal people often get a bum rap IMO. I see him as the proverbial duck -- calm on the surface, paddling like mad underneath. He doesn't apologize or panic, he just gets to work and powers through. Calmness doesn't necessarily equate to confidence or complacence. ETA: On a personal note, reading conversations on boards like this has helped me in the real world. I've always cared too much if people like me, and reading how widely mileage varies has proven there is no such thing as a universally liked (or disliked) person. So, thanks!

If you ever find the first 3 (the ones that aired only on BBC and CBS has the rights to), please let us know! I've looked a little and didn't have any luck. The first PBS season is on Netflix. And I have access to all three PBS seasons on their site via their "Passport" which is a gift above a certain donation level. This season I've been rewatching episodes, too. I usually don't rewatch -- my TV time is astronomical and if feels silly to expand it to watch the same thing twice -- but it's really helped me better track the bakers' progress. I've been watching with a friend and didn't realize how much I was missing! Besides, summer TV is such a wasteland I certainly have the time.

That's really harsh. I do not for a second think he believes he's so above the competition the rules don't apply -- that's an arrogance I simply don't see in Ian or anyone else in the tent. Not to mention it seems unlikely he would risk the competition by deliberately ignoring rules. He got it wrong and missed the target. Keep in mind they loved his flowers, which had a similar minimal cuteness, and that won a sculptural challenge. To me it's far more logical to believe he thought his bird would therefore also please the judges, or that he just misjudged the task.

There was a prior contestant who had a similar problem, told over and over (and over) again that she was focusing too much on style and not enough on substance. In Flora's case, her voiceovers indicate she goes overboard to push herself. This compulsion is really kind of fascinating. Is it a straight up need to overachieve or be super inventive, or is that a smokescreen masking a lack of confidence in her basic skills? (Like the useless amaretti cookies she thought would distract from the uneven bake.) Or perhaps they are already so far into planning before they begin filming that it's hard to rethink everything when you're in the thick of it. I shake my head at it, but I rather admire the drive to take on the biggest challenge even if it means sacrificing the win.

Yes, they've done the this early check-in a number of times in this and prior seasons. I find the judging quite transparent -- while I don't always know the outcome, I'm never surprised by it. ("Miracle" is a tremendous thing to need. Mary is precise in her language, that said a lot.) Alvin was lovely, he'll be missed.

Young Jennifer didn't. But old Jennifer warned that Titan brought only death, and Cole should never go there.

You just described why it won't work in the U.S. Forget the logistics, they just don't make reality shows here that don't cast assholes or play up the drama.

Agreed. He does a solid job, but he's replaceable. Fair to note that I'm biased, he's my least favorite on the show -- after basking in the glow of the ladies' warmth, he feels cold and stiff. A friend of mine loves how he screws with contestants and revels in making them uncomfortable: "Oh, you're doing it that way? Good luck." Unlike her, I find this off-putting and affected. It's the one American element of the show, his version of the Colicchio Sniff and Sneer.

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Madeline Stowe said: "Death can be undone, James. Love cannot." That's probably the key to Cassie remembering and still being pregnant, somehow. Her timelines merged or something. (Reminds me of Fringe, where the Power of Love overcomes timelines. Blech.)