BensBritches

Silly question/observation. Most of those fault line cakes seemed to have two large cakes with a smaller one in the middle and then mostly filled in with frosting, decorations or sprinkles... but when they cut into the cakes, I didn't notice any difference is the size of the cake layers. They all looked perfectly even to me... At first I thought the bakers were only cutting into one of their cakes, but that would mean they all layered their layers (if that makes sense) which I don't think they did. Was the evenness of the layers and frosting just a figment of my imagination?

I was beyond underwhelmed by all the girls, other than Nazz. So of course she gets axed in favor of the "inspirational" dancer. I personally find Madison to be clunky and heavy as a dancer and I just don't see anything that makes her so special (other than her alopecia). It seemed like she got the longest intro (again with the boyfriend!), the longest dance (but this was probably just a misperception as I wasn't enjoying it) and she seems to be featured in every shot or backstage footage there is. Ugh. There is just nothing catching me this year with this group. I'm really hoping the guys do better, because I was bored to death with the girls. Maybe it was the lack of audience, but I also hated listening to the judges reactions during the dances- as if they've never seen the moves presented last night before. The dances themselves, again other than the Fik Shun/Nazz one were just a load of blah. Nothing to see, nothing to "oooh" and "ahhhh" over. And I just can't with Lori Ann's (no clue how she spells her name) nails...

Donning my tinfoil hat regrading Ryan's ouster... Both he and Jeremiah are gay men- but Jeremiah/the producers made this his full background story while Ryan did not. The show wants to milk the "sob story" behind Jeremiah's sexuality making him an outcast within his family, which does not seem to be the case for Ryan. To the show, this made Ryan kind of superfluous. It's like the producers think Americans can only handle one gay guy at a time. Win for Jeremiah, loss for Ryan. Ryan's "thing" was that he was overweight and "didn't know how long he'd live". He took the drastic step of getting bypass surgery and looks great. But, the producers also love Wade, with his abused background story and who just may be the heaviest contestant ever. So, with Ryan always talking about his weight loss, it jarred with Wade's presentation. Producers like Wade better, win for Wade, loss to Ryan. I'm probably totally off here, but I clearly bought a one-way ticket down conspiracy alley! I kept thinking "will this show actually feature 2 gay men?" I was excited at the prospect but never believed they would. And sure enough... Otherwise, I am, for the first time in a long time, totally fine with the folks who were let go. Hoping to see Riley, Eddie and Evelyn as some of the first ones out.

Oh, I thought it was this season's Ben whose parents died in a murder-suicide. Glad to know it wasn't this boy. I can watch him with less anxiety now. What season was the Ben whose parents died on?

I'm beginning to think this show is fully scripted more and more. Last night, it seemed like several of the kids couldn't pronounce or explain their dishes. They rattled off what they had made as if reading from a cue card in a robotic voice. Made me wonder just how much "help" they get. Also, it seems like all the kids glaze over when the judges babble on and on like, "the floral notes of the sauce balance the tartness of the hint of citrus that I'm getting but if the rendered fat was a bit more in the background..." It's clear ALL the kids are told to state where they are from in every single interaction as in "back home in Georgia... back home in New Jersey... back home in Texas." It was driving me batty last night because, as someone who works with kids, I know no child who speaks like that or continually references where they are from. Let it go, script-writers, let it go! Was I the only one bothered by the contradictory nature of the kids (fake) whining about chopping up the goldfish, but then jumping with (excessive) glee at butchering a bigger (less cute?) fish? And did I miss it- were we shown the kids actually cutting up the fish or deboning it? Because apparently every one of their fillets were perfect. As for the kids themselves, I was happy to see so little of Sadie this week. I can't hate on Kyle for being rich, but I really don't need to see these kid's mansions. I still don't know most of the kid's names, but I like the little girl who wears a bandanna tied in a bow and Ben (but that's more to do with what we know ultimately happened to him. I just want to pull him from the screen and protect him from his future!). I have no idea how Matthew went about picking the kids he wanted to keep safe and thus I assume it was producer manipulation (he seemed to have a good relationship with the girl who was cooking at the front station, but he didn't chose her). And why do they do this? It prevents us from really getting to know the kids and seeing their skills in various challenges. I want all kids cooking all the time.

I found this to be painful and came so close to turning it off... but I'm a sucker for torture. I agree with those above who have pointed out the judges "antics" as being ridiculous and taking up way too much time. It feels more like "The Katy Perry Hour" with guests Lionel Ritchie and some mumbling country guy than it does AI. What was with the idiotic reaction to the Screamo guy? Why did 2/3 of the judges feel like they had to hide? Why did they act like he was trying to poison them with his gift? That guy was way less scary to me than that fake, overly excited, burping girl. Yes, he was Screamo, but he actually had a sense of humor about it and he was pretty good (if that's your kind of thing). I hate this focus on the judges. As for the "singers"... well other than Myra, the Vietnamese girl, I found them all to be mediocre to boring to bad. I felt horrible for the last guy, but his backstory took up so much time and then he didn't even have a particularly compelling voice and had (to me) no stage presence. Sorry for what happen to your brothers, but you may leave my screen anytime now. I don't pick my top 10 based on sob stories. I really wanted to like the Preacher (or whatever he was) who wanted to open the church up to bi/gay kids, but his voice was just OK. Maybe he'll get better. All in all, I may have to ditch this show if the focus continues to be on the judges AND they offer not a drop of constructive criticism AND they seem to always agree with each other (any disagreement last night seemed to be in "fun"), leading to what used to be interesting/informative discussions among the judges. If this is just run-of-the-mill singers with sob stories.. well, I guess that is what AI has been for a while now, right?

I stumbled across this show over the weekend and became obsessed. Watched every episode two times and watched the after show... I have had a few laugh out loud moments over the first 3 episodes, but I just love the snarky tone of the whole show. The idea of the 11 year old make-up artist being played by a 30/40-something was wonderful. I'd given up on most scripted TV shows (live action at least), but this is bringing me back in the fold.

It pains me to say I might be done with this show. I don't read spoilers or the media thread, so I really, really, really thought they had gone back to (semi) Original Recipe SYTYCD- 20 dancers, "randomly" paired and being whittled down to 10 when the all stars joined in. So, imagine my utter fury when they announced at the end of last nights show that the whole "Top 20" was a farce. What was the ever-loving point of all this if we're just going back to "So You Think You Can Outshine an Allstar"? I guess I shouldn't be too upset because I really have no clue who any of these dancers are or what they are capable of. It's clear who the fodder is because we haven't seen about 1/2 the "top 20" for more than 5 seconds. In fact, I don't think we've seen more than 60 seconds of dance from any single dancer, have we? Of the ones I do remember, I don't care for Arnold Jr. I really hope Alan NoShirt gets his silly tatted-up torso sent packing in spectacular fashion. I hope Jay Jay turns out to be as inspiring as Brandon was (that's who he reminds me of). I pray I will actually recognize some of the others and learn their names.. Finally, why does this show tend to ignore the "loss" of some dancers between auditions and The Academy? If it weren't for you guys, I wouldn't know that contortion-girl had visa issues or that Arcadian couldn't get out of his OB contract (or whatever). Why does this show highlight these folks and then never mention them again? Why spend so much time on these two when you have no plan to follow up on what happened to them? Ugh. Breathe in, breathe out... it's only TV. But I miss my favorite show and despise what it has become.

And I don't think I'll ever stop laughing at the LV husband, who, while trying to start a "web-based tourist company" (what the heck is that?) asked his wife... "What's another word for tasty? I don't know how to describe the food at that restaurant." Yea, that company is gonna go far... Could not agree more about how horrid the wife's voice was, that may have been one of the all-time worst voices on HH. And, yes, "let's find a craftsman or colonial in Vegas. One with lots of grass. And right on the strip." Some people!

If the accounting from PhD-Purgatory15 above is correct, there are currently 10 combined contemporary/jazz/ballroom and 10 hip hop dancers (plus one extraordinary tapper!). So I don't see this as being weighted in favor of either ballroom or contemporary. I am not enjoying Vanessa much yet, but I am giving her the benefit of the doubt until the actual competition starts. If she can add nothing more than "that was amazing" during her critiques, I will start the "get rid of her" chant. I don't like platitudes. I want solid, fair, constructive feedback... oh wait... what show am I watching again??

Yeah, I couldn't get behind the Lei Ladies when one of them said it was too hot to eat chocolate and folks would only want fruit! What the what? This is a concept that has never crossed my mind and I live in Southern California (103 degrees yesterday!!). Is this some prevailing chef ideology? That no one wants a chocolate dessert in hot climates? I don't think I have ever heard someone say, "It's too hot for chocolate ice cream, let's get watermelon." The selfie contest seemed a bit rigged in Vinny's favor, since he is a D-List celebrity... I can assure you I wouldn't want to eat a big bowl of pasta in marinara sauce with meatballs in 108 degree weather, but clearly many Palm Springers felt it worth it for the chance to meet Vinny. And what was with their dessert? It was like two ingredients mixed sloppily in a bowl with some nuts sprinkled on top, yet the customers kept saying how much it tasted like cheese cake. I doubt that... By default, I am rooting for the Cheese Twins and Friend. They seem funny and get along well and aren't obnoxious or entitled like Vinny. So, Go Cheese Twins!

I was coming on here to say something similar. I think this thread/board isn't very active because a lot of folks defected and others just don't find that its fun to snark on little kids. Plus, the dancing is better than I expected it to be and the kids aren't overly obnoxious at this point... but... I'm still bored with this show. First, I believe all the kids are crossed trained, so there really isn't too much "out of their genre". I'm not at all surprised when one of the kids does well in a style that isn't their main focus, so that takes something out of the whole point of the show for me. The notion of dancing out of their genre has always been greatly exaggerated on the "real" SYTYCD, but it seems silly to even go there with these kids. SYTYCD-adult version has always been filled with eye candy, both male and female- there was always someone to lust after for me... so taking that aspect of the show away has really reduced my interest, no matter how good the kids are. But what I'm bothered most by is the fact that all the pairs of all-star/kid had to be along racial or ethnic lines. It's really offends me. Like a white contemporary dancer couldn't mentor a black one, or a Latino ballroom dancer couldn't mentor a Russian/Eastern European one... If this was designed all along to be a "mini me" contest, then I guess that would be different, but I am just bugged by the whole process of how the kids were "picked" by the all-stars. Even if they aren't going to be dancing with their all-stars much anymore, I can't move beyond it. That's just my own bugaboo, but it's taken a lot of my enjoyment out of the show. And Nigel, I am pretty sure it's "Key-dah" and not "Kid-dah", but you know, go on with your bad self mispronouncing people's names! Everyone else on the panel called him "Key-dah" didn't they? That's enough negativity from me for one day!

This was a lot of drivel to me. I have hated almost everything about the show... and yet I keep watching. I hated the parents on the stage at the auditions and the highlighting of several parents. I hated the way the judges gave standing ovations to so many kids- it became meaningless with each successive SO. I hated the way the all stars choose their teams and I did not like the kids picking between two judges ala The Voice. Got really bothered when Quinn's mom told her to "try harder." How about saying, "Look honey, this is all about personality and a predetermined set of kids. It in no way reflects your talent. It only reflects Uncle Nigel's ideas of who fits into the boxes he wants ticked off." Like many others have mentioned, the all stars weeping and outright crying drove me batty. Seriously, when they cut to Joshua all teary-eyed, I thought I'd lose it completely. In reality, how much time did the all stars even spend with their team? Sure its always hard to let a little kid down, but the adults crying doesn't exactly help the kids to keep it together. And those kids who did keep it together came across as more mature than the all starts! I can not stand the way the all stars jump up and scream and punch the air and act like they've never seen a kid do anything as amazing as whatever move they'd just done. Seriously!?! Maybe I'm cold-hearted, but none of these kids have done anything that I haven't seen other kids do before. The only one who actually impresses me is Tate, but I can't say I even remember most of these kids. The JT thing was obvious and so idiotic. I will admit I was shocked that Phoenix didn't make it, since she was the inspiration for the show... but she never impressed me at all during the academy, so I can't say I'm sorry she's gone. I miss my show, even though I did not enjoy last season at all. Does anyone know if the "adult" version is coming back?

And the girl winners continue... its overly predictable now.

Word to your whole post, Alannaofdoom, but this... I can't stop laughing! Another clue the security guard was fake... he was supposedly just standing there while Chad slept. What was the purpose of that? Wouldn't he just be stationed outside the door? Did the roommate really say he feared for his life while "he was unconscious" (per Wells), so security was needed through the entire night? Nope, not buying that. Did Evan actually say at some point that he thought his kids would be really proud of him if he got the rose from the group date? Because I don't know how old they are, but somehow I don't think this is what impresses children... And do any of us see JoJo ending up with a guy with 3 kids already? Too many of these guys still look a like to me. Half the time they flash to someone I think, "who the hell is that?" Upthread someone thought St. Nick may be on his way out and I thought, "There's still a Nick? Which one is he?" He shoulda kept his Santa suit on. I hated the sex stories part. Nothing funny, didn't really give insight into who these guys are (well, other than that Daniel apparently cut off a girl's hair while he had her handcuffed) and JoJo's fake, hysterical laughter whenever they cut to her drove me crazy. I still kind of like Luke, but my favorite is Wells (he lost me a bit with his story about a 3 way that seemed to end in him loudly farting). To me, Wells is one of the few guys who has a unique look and may be a normal guy.

Well, that was... uninspiring to say the least. I fast-forwarded through a lot of it. Can't take the parents or sob stories from these youngsters. I also missed the beginning, so I'm not exactly clear on how the show works this season. What's "the academy?" Is this taking the place of Vegas? These kids are going to be dancing with All stars every week? They're on a team? So, like, can we predict that one member from a different team will be "voted off" each week to keep the all stars in? I'm confused. The thing is, for me, these kids are likely very good for their age, but they aren't anywhere near as compelling to watch (imo) as the adult dancers are. I am not a Dance Moms watcher, so I did not recognize any of the kids, but they seemed like "competition" kids to me. Nothing touched me, the way I've been touched by dancers from this show before. And I don't expect it will. I did enjoy Kida's routine, but that's about all. But I'll keep watching, if for no other reason that in hopes that my viewership will keep the show on the air and they will return to their original format. Kind of a double-edged sword, no? Like, if I watch, will the network think, "Oh look, people love the little kiddies, lets do this every season!" Or will it be "Oh, people are still interested in this show, let's give it another season of good old-fashioned adult dancing. No teams, no battles, just SYTYCD as it was in the beginning." And I've never cared for Jason on this show, but when he kept calling that one boy a "little person" as if he could not say child or he thought it really was a dwarf... no, just no, not now, not ever... even the boy looked like, "Um, I'm a kid, you ass, not a little person!" I wonder if we'll actually see any contemporary boys (for more than a passing second) this year.

Oh my, Diebartdie... I was going to post the exact same thing. For a second, I didn't even recognize him with his hair down, but he's got great hair! He looked very cute, although I don't otherwise find him attractive (too short & stocky for me). My thought when Rob produced such an unfinished piece (and refusing to accept he was going to be offed), was the judges/show would reward him for his excellent work up to this point and not eliminate anyone- they'd say Mel was the 3rd person to make it in and then say, "Rob, we're sorry you had time management issues this week and could not produce a completed work. However, you have been outstanding this season, so you will join the other 3 in the finale." It just seemed a little unfair to eliminate Mel over Rob based on this particular challenge, so I was extremely happy when they called Rob's name and clearly based their finale decisions on overall body of work. I wonder if there were a lot of negative judges' comments to the other 3 that were edited out for suspense (Oh no! Rob's gonna go 'cause he's the only one who really got criticized!). I would think they would have had to have commented on Melissa's clear "mask," but then again, she won, so maybe not. Anyway, I hope Rob can get back on his game and pulls out an amazing finale look.

Yes, the kids do bring recipes with them, so they have the basics available to them at all times while cooking. I too was a bit confused about Peggy's desserts and the challenge parameters of "make 1 dessert with 3 candies." Was it considered 1 dessert because the individual components were all placed on one plate? I thought she would at least be in the bottom, but she was called safe. I thought Jane was going to pull a Holiday Baking Championship challenge idea on us and use the baked edges of her second tier and fill the hole with her candies and then frost the whole thing. Anyone remember that challenge on HBC where they had to bake candies into a dessert? She so could have done that! Am I the only one who keeps forgetting there is a Rebecca in the competition? She seems quite competent, but I forget about her immediately after every show. What I do like about this show is that the end products are clearly made the kids, as opposed to Masterchef Jr., where everything looks so perfect I find it hard to believe the kids don't have adult help. Tee hee! I will not miss Jane's stuffy nose at all.

This? Cracked my a$$ up! Between her huge hat and that superfluous fringed bag around her waist, I couldn't focus on her singing at all. Which may have been a good thing. I can see that in a bizarro world kind of way. I think it's Avalon (?) the girl with the really long black hair who wears over-sized men's t-shirts and jeans who is a ringer for Lea Michele for me. If I hear "bookend for Kelly Clarkson" one more time I may explode. It's funny that, if my knowledge of AI post-show success is at all accurate, that the two most successful and "lasting" males have been Clay and Adam. Yet AI seems to still run far and fast away from "theatrical" males. I'm so sick of the Jason Mraz,"sing like you're taking a constipated dump" type male singer this show loves. And while I don't want to start an Academy Awards type argument here, if this goes as we all suspect it will with a likely guaranteed female winner (a "bookend" for Kelly! A "bookend" for Kelly! A "bookend" for Kelly...), that means there was only ever one male winner of color and if I recall correctly no other non-white male to even make it to the final two (not sure Justin G counts). Kind of sad. I want to like Dalton because he's cute and looks like Billie Joe Armstrong, but his voice isn't doing anything for me. I like Mono Boy's voice. I cannot stand Jordan and his man bun. Sonika did not impress me in the group round. Tristan disappointed. Jenn B I may wind up liking. La'Porscha is great, but that hair...

Yes. Little Britches' friend was on last season, and the kids are allowed to bring any and all recipes with them. They do know what they will be baking (though not when)- so the added surprise of making ice cream was a true surprise. I really enjoyed this second episode because the kids just act like real kids and they all made some pretty errors and/or served sloppy stuff. I loved the one boy who tried to make the panda éclairs and then laughed at himself in a talking head after Duff called him out on it. I still don't know most of the kid's names, but I pretty much like them all. Well, except for the one, blondish boy who seems to be whiny and kept making excuses for his mistakes during judging (in essence saying, "but I meant to do that... that's how I like it"). None of the kids seem drawn from central casting the way the MCJ kids are, and I find that refreshing.

I am now convinced Cat was cast this season just so we could get that fabulous screen cap of her reaction to HB winning... a meme for all occasions!! I know naught about fashion, but do or would HB's "peers" really wear DVF? I thought HB often looked silly in the outfits because in no way did they go with her "persona" and DVF's patterns clash with her tattoos! Speaking of which, her tats drove me crazy. There were like 25 little (tho not as little as her mom's!) individual tattoos on her arms, legs, back, but they just seemed random and jarring. To my eye, at least. No idea if HB and her pals come from money, but DVF clothes are quite expensive for the "average person" so again, I can't see her bringing these clothes to the edgy, gothic, crowd. Am I crazy for thinking that? And I can't image DVF really enjoying the graffiti-like painting HB's friend did during the party. Just doesn't seem like her style or anything she'd want representing her brand. Still laughing over Cat not winning. Still thinking Allie should have been the winner. Still wondering why I watched this show all the way to the end...

Raises an enthusiastic hand! Of course, my mind went from Hellraiser to how the hell is there no blood on his face... I am enjoying this show more that I want to, but have found I just have to suspend my disbelief to like it as much as I do. I still not exactly sure what RM is going for with all of this, but I'm along for the ride since I do laugh each week. Sometimes, however, I laugh at things that I'm not sure are intended. Example- throughout most of this episode, they talked about how they were secure in the house with all the doors and windows being locked and continued saying so AFTER Chad broke the window and left the ladder right next to the Red Devil. Once he broke the window (and why did the security alarm not go off when that happened?), the Red Devil had easy access to the house. No need for hidden tunnels, etc. I thought it was hysterical that the cast kept saying the house was "secure." But I don't think that was supposed to be funny, I think it as a stupid continuity error. So yeah, I'm not sure why I like this show or why I find it funny but I do. I wish they would speed things along, but I'll stick with it till the end.

I might be wrong and I don't have the energy to look it up right now (killer work fatigue!), but isn't Nora 26 and Evan 29? That's hardly enough of an age difference to make youth a factor in favor of Nora. I think it's more that Nora has more talent and creativity than Evan in general, but she also got lost in the middle of her facial sculpt and has done a bit of whining. Still, anyone but Evan for the win!

HATED IT! Sorry, but for me this was the worst episode yet. As I said in last week's thread, watching "Tandy the Outcast" is not of interest or enjoyable to me. I don't get why he wants to get in with these people. None of the outside group have shown any redeeming qualities. What was the point of the blonde (hate her character so much I already forgot her name) putting the beer just out of reach? Why did they add punishment on top of punishment on top of punishment? If they all care for Carol, why not accept she loves him and accept him for who he is? And other than the fact they are other people to talk to, why oh why does Carol continue to want to be around these folks? I get Tandy asked for the punishments he got (some of them), but seriously, did they have no intention of letting Phil eat or drink when he was in the stockade? What about in the shock collar? Plus, they left him for days outside with no shelter and in a small area with a cow (so, you know, cow poop everywhere)... Funny that a lot of us thought Tandy set the fire just so he could save everyone by putting it out. I'm glad the writers didn't go there... And I know this is a work of fiction, but I don't get why Carol and Tandy want to stick with this group. They were having fun up until they met back up with them. The others in the group are so mean and have so little depth I don't see how Carol can enjoy them. I want Carol and the Real Phil to up and leave and go on the road in search of other living beings... and to take the cow with them! What happened to Jason Sudeikis' character? Now he was interesting. I'm not buying the whole "now we're going to make Todd an interesting character by giving him a secret" thing. I don't care about him and he's not going to suddenly become likeable to me. I suppose it's an attempt to give some depth to another character, but too late, show, too late...

Like many of you, I haven't really had a horse in this race, since none of the contestants seemed to consistently produce high-quality work. I have loved Nora all along, but it is definitely more for her, and less for her work, that I find appealing. I also really liked Jordon because I think he's cute (I'm shallow, sue me), but he also seemed to think outside the box and created some very nice pieces. Ben and Scott were fine. Evan bugged me because he was sort of a whiner and always seemed to TH about how bad his makeup was and how he was going home or he was lost... to my untrained eye he has been the most inconsistent of the remaining 5. But then again, none of these guys really produced a "wow" piece this year, did they? So I guess I would have been happy with any of them making the final three, other than Evan. So who makes it? And with a literal bull for a bully? Ugh! Again, Evan is a nice guy. They are all nice people, but I think he's the least talented. Therefore, Nora or Ben for the win (she said with little enthusiasm). Here's hoping next year's crop of contestants is better.