Lois Sandborne

I've been putting off watching this show all year because I've been parceling out Things I Can't Handle (I Hate Suzie is next, on track for maybe next spring, lol). So anyway, I'm incredibly late. But this pilot is amazing. I argue that there's a ton of exposition, but it's done so neatly that no one can mind it. I enjoyed Chewing Gum so much, and this is shaping up to be ten times livelier and sharper. I'm sure I'll be done with it by morning.

Can someone outside of the Broke Bitch Club please give me an idea of how much that stack of cash was that Todd gave Riley? By the time Mr. Sidora got through smugly saying "How does that help you?" for the tenth time, I wanted to post up at his hidey-hole in Tampa and stick that fork in him. I hate people who think they've found a foolproof way to shut down arguments.

But, he did just propose to her this week on Extra Slice. It was very sweet.

I'm in the camp who thinks they plumped for Peter's story of growing up watching the show and decided that would be an excellent victory narrative. I have a lot of thoughts about these last few weeks of Bake Off, but all I can really be bothered to say is congratulations to the finalists. The season, especially the ending, was so lackluster and vaguely irritating that it's hard to put into words. Except that Dave's baby is cute.

It's been a long time since they've made anything as revolting as those pond puddings. Even the model version the judges ate turned my stomach. But, it was definitely super obvious that the bakers hadn't been given enough time to produce the ideal atrocity. Why not just make a whole cheesecake? Can't remember if it was here, but wasn't somebody joking about the show throwing out an aspic challenge? This was close enough. I'm pretty sure I have an over-sensitive stomach, but the though of eating all that gelatin with mousse and cake and all sorts made me queasy too. I will miss Grey Marc. He is so sweet and upbeat; it seems a shame for him to go on such an awful week. At this point I guess I'm all in for Hermine, but I'm not really rooting rooting for anybody, and that is strange.

I'm heartbroken. But at least it's offset by Hermine finally winning star baker. I like the ice cream cake challenge. Hermine's, Marc's, and Peter's were beautiful. And I agree a big unsaid part of the challenge was knowing what would freeze well and how to pull it off. I know from experience it's quite a feat to get frozen ice cream and tender cake to slice up in one smooth form like in Marc's cake. He really did a great job. Also wow, lol haven't thought about Vienetta in 30 years. These finger donut things reminded me a lot of the iced buns bakers had to make a couple of times in the old days. Are they different?

This logic or whatever the logic chopped in order to say nothing was affected, there's still no way the judges could possibly have known what was affected. All they really did is go by what they thought most likely, and what was most convenient for gameplay. It's their game at the end of the day, so sure, they can do that. Most people seem to think it was the right call. I think it was unfair, particularly of the show to frame it like nothing Casey might've done would've mattered, when, again, who knows either way. Deigning to change his prize level would just be admitting in a small way that they screwed up in a material way, so I wouldn't expect the show to do that or to invite Casey back. But if I were him, I know how I'd feel and what I'd want.

😄 I think I've accepted the idea that there will be one or two filler weeks each series, but I think they tend to work a bit better tied to an ingredient or an era rather than a culture. Botanical week I remember being okay, and even though Dairy week wasn't all I dreamed it could be, it turned out interesting. The Victorian challenges they did a while ago were pretty good, and they could probably get a lot of mileage out of a 40s style austerity theme. I can't say I got much of a thrill out of Japanese Week, especially when half of them roamed around Asia for their flavorings. Never gonna quibble with getting to see a Shiba Inu cake though.

You would think. But once I was talking to a guy about music, and when I said I liked CCR, he got all excited and said, "Wow, most people have never even heard of Cross-Canadian Ragweed!" So one guy out there missed it for sure. Agreed. I think in show speak, that meant he didn't set the boards on fire so they weren't going to bother redoing the round for him. But really, anything could've happened; they couldn't possibly know. The ruling that there was "no material effect" seemed not only meaningless but kind of insulting to me. I didn't care for it. I do like Brian. He started out so rough I was sure he was going back to the classroom to be tormented by his high schoolers, but he's managed to string together some respectable wins.

And of course, Ghirardelli, they of the fabulous brownie mix (also a terrific hot chocolate). I don't eat much milk chocolate anymore, apart from the occasional sneaky Kit Kat, but in my schoolkid days I got to tour their factory. The privilege of visiting their gift shop left me significantly poorer in cash but richer in fudge caramel. Chalk me up as another coffee hater who can pick it out in chocolate desserts.

Laura???

Same here. I was definitely an adult before I realized me and Bugs at Co-a-chella were at the same place as everybody watching those music festivals. I'm a 30-something who knew "Roll Out the Barrel," but I wouldn't have automatically expected it of anyone else of any age. Maybe Alex saw someone slapping their forehead or something once he gave the answer.

Exactly, so at least in that he would've been better as host than Reggie Watts. If the question is who would be the best host, I'd have loved to see John Hodgman or John Henson as suggested. As far as people not named John, I think Paula Pell would be awesome.

I've come to the (maybe odd?) conclusion that I mostly watch and love this show for Greg and Alex. When the contestants are super clever or wind up developing a particular character or relationship as they go on, it's total gravy, but my favorite parts are Greg's reactions, and Alex's handling of the tasks themselves. I can already tell they're both going to get a lot mileage out of Mawaan and Daisy May. I didn't know the CW had backed out of airing the show. That's too bad. There's such a universal humor about it; I really wish it would take off here. The US version was so pathetic though. At the time, I thought it might've been better with Funches as the host, but it was probably never going to be good in half an hour.

There were so many TSes in Friday's game I kind of lost track of the ones I got. I actually think I won the game. I am rubbish at all monarchy-related things (I blame my little red soul), but I managed all of the English monarch questions. Either they were really easy, or I've consumed too much UK-based tv. I know of Aaron Copland as a composer (I came to this knowledge via the old "Beef: It's What's for Dinner" commercials, lol), but I didn't know any of his work was for ballets. I'll have to look into that. Fingers crossed we get to root for you soon @Katy M!