aghst

Interesting, the show runners have signed on, after going around saying this season was it, right after the finale aired. I don't necessarily oppose new seasons. I watched the second season of Big Little Lies and maybe one or two other limited series which got additional seasons. Mariko and Yabushige were two of the best characters so without them it maybe be more difficult to keep viewer interest.

Kyle apparently doesn't wear underwear with pants either. So it's mostly a Kyle thing. Yeah and producers probably, assured him they'd blur his bits.

Houston to Christchurch, an 18-year old teen with his mother for his soccer career. She doesn't want him to go out to another country on his own so she will drive him to soccer practice and work on the family business remotely. She wants 2 bedroom and 2 bathrooms, close to soccer practice field and shops for her to buy groceries to cook for him.🙃 At least they didn't mention the need for laundry, though that's probably assumed. Their budget is $1700 but he wants water views, which would make it hard to stick to the budget. So Christchurch is inland. I believe to get to the coastal areas, they'd have to live in a suburb. The soccer practice field is NW of Christchurch center while the water is to the east and south of Christchurch. House 1 was in the city but still a bit of a drive to soccer. It was 2 bedrooms and 1 bath but only $1300. They balked at the one bathroom, because he's a guy and messy so they both want separate bathrooms. She also noted that their bedrooms would be right next to each other, which she didn't seem to like. House 2 is to the east of city center so a much longer drive to soccer. But it has water views at $1700. Still only 2 bedrooms and 1 bath and they are in a duplex. Soccer mom starts noticing the water views herself. House 3 is above Lyttleton, which is south of Christchurch and the last part of it involves driving on narrow winding roads. It's a 3 bedroom 2 bath house at $1900 with stupendous views over Lyttleton Harbour. She's worried about the budget and the drive on what she considers very challenging roads, not to mention she would be driving on the left side of the road for the first time. They eliminate House 1, said it was too slow and while closer, it would still be a long-ish drive through busy city roads. Obviously the son pushed for House 3. She agrees because mom was loving the views herself. Mom and dad are pretty generous. If by 18 the kid doesn't have soccer prospects in the US or Europe, it's unlikely to happen. But great adventure for him and his mom. Lyttleton Harbour is spectacular but they have views with the port, with all the commercial cranes, containers and cargo ships. More the east is the opening to the Pacific Ocean, with unspoiled views. Or more to the west, you don't see cargo ships but instead rolling hills over aqua green water. It's like something out of Lord of the Rings. They can easily drive and hike to these places though. Or from Lyttleton, which they can walk down to, they can take a short boat rid across the harbor to Diamond Harbour, which again doesn't have these commercial shipping things to spoil the views. Of course New Zealand South Island and in general the country are known for spectacular scenery.

Wow, so Rafe Spall says he and Esther Smith have been together for about 18 months. The last season of season 3 was released early SeptemBer 2022. So it’s been 20 months between the end of season 3 and the start of season 4. That implies that they became a couple after the end of season 3 streamed. Not uncommon that actors develop relationships after working together. Not sure what to expect with the time jump. Another UK show, Breeders, had a big time jump. That show was also about parenting, though Trying covers the characters trying to become parents for 2-3 seasons first.

Yeah what’s the deal they cut a deal for exclusives on Paramount +, which is a struggling business? Paramount owns CC as well so they probably wanted to promote streaming with these SP exclusives.

OK, this is the second cooking show I've watched. The other was Ciao House. There's no transparency in the judging process. Even the whole judgement scene is filmed and edited. It's not as presented, which is the judges taste the different dishes and pass judgement right then and there. So they probably want to keep Keely around, she's young and wears low-cut tops often. Plus she's mocking other contestants so she can stir up drama. They can eliminate whomever they want for arbitrary reasons but probably they favor those whom they think will keep viewer interest. Of course other competitive reality shows aren't transparent either, about how they determine winners and how they eliminate losers.

TV show. How many TV chefs wear hats or try to tie up their hair?

Man it has to be an occupational hazard, eat so many desserts. They're really doing well with the scenery interstitials, far better than Ciao House Season 1. I do like that they feature different guest chefs who specialize in something and using that as a theme for the episode. I've never had Petit Fours, something I may have to seek out.

Paris seems like an assertive person, very opinionated and letting you know what she thinks all the time. Chef may be too dismissive and disrespectful, especially regarding Fraser and Paris' opinions on presentation. But at one point, was she telling him to use butter to make crepes? He should have handed her the spatula and told her to make them. I don't know, this clash between the new chef and the interior also seems fabricated. Last 2-3 charters and they want to stir up drama with a guy who just arrived at the tail end? Fraser went in on him on Nick's very first charter. Guests didn't have any complaints about the presentation so why should anyone care? Well they're not real guests and their tips don't really depend on the work they do, it's whatever the producers decide would be dramatic on a given episode. The cast may want to maximize their tips but another goal would be to raise their social media profile so they have incentive to participate in raising the drama. If they just want to make money in yachting, they could spend all their time on real charters but they chose to do a TV show.

Go to the series page on Max app and look for extras.

HGTV and Food Network must be part of the same media conglomerate. In any event, I guess if they want to base the show in some of these historic locations, they're not going to have the optimal facilities, not just to have a dozen people cooking at the same time but to have however many production crew members filming them. It's much easier to do it at a sound stage built for filming these shows. But they want to play up European cuisine and show a lot of scenery. Maybe they will cross-promote with some travel network or show too. Or maybe the FN doing shows like Ciao House and the baking show based in Paris is to get in on some of the travel food shows like Bourdain or Searching for Italy with Stanley Tucci. I think it would have been interesting to see an HHI episode where they chose the Paris venues for Next Bake Master: Paris. That show films the baking scenes at a culinary school. But the contestants are staying at a "penthouse" right in the middle of Paris with million dollar views of the Eiffel Tower and some other Parisian landmarks. Hotels charge over $500 a night and more for rooms with such views.

So Gabe was on HHI again, looking for the new villa for season 2. Here's my post on it from the HHI thread.

They're in Puglia. The male host is Gabe Bertaccini, who was born in Florence. In Ciao House season 1, they leased a villa in Tuscany, near Florence but not in Florence. Gabe appeared on HHI last year to look for a villa where they would film the show. So Gabe again was the "house hunter" for this episode to find a villa in Puglia, which is the heel part of the Italian boot. Gabe wanted to emphasize the farm to table aspect, which he said is big in Puglia. Puglia also has the most coastline in Italy so he wanted the villa to be near the sea as well as have a vegetable garden. In Puglia, the farms are called macellerie (Italian plural of macellaria). Gabe also wanted pool -- I want it all. He didn't cite it initially but he wants something that looks great visually as well. Obviously a big professional kitchen. First house was a 14-th century macellaria with 17 rooms and 17 bathrooms. Gabe said there would be 12 contestants and that they'd need room for crew as well. It was near the coast and outside of Oltranto, a coastal town. Gabe said there would be plenty of room and they could even have a green room. But the kitchen was small and antiquated, only like 4 burners. It would require massive construction to build a kitchen for their needs. I believe this property also had the kitchen underground while the big dining room, where he wanted to film the judging was upstairs and he said that they'd have them cook something in 45 minutes and going up and down the stairs would be difficult. Then they go to commercial and agent Rosa said that she watched Ciao House season -- did they air it in Italy? Said she noticed Gabe's muscles and tattoos. She introduced him to Lecce, the Florence of the South, showed him around the big amphitheater which is the center of town. House 2 was just north of Lecce. It was 16th century with IIRC 12 bedrooms. But compared to House 1, it was very posh, renovated with modern internal lighting to show off the arched tufa walls and ceilings. Tufa used in this home is from Puglia. It had a big long kitchen. Not enough burners but still better than House 1. It had a long island so Gabe envisioned the contestants on one side of the island and the production crew on the other side, filming and directing. The main negatives for House 2 were that it wasn't near the sea and it didn't already have a vegetable garden. Instead it had beautifully manicured lawns and gardens which were lit up at night. House 3 wasn't a real choice for Gabe. It was a villa that the agent Rosa had been renovating for 2.5 years. It didn't have many bedrooms and the kitchen only had 2 burners. In fact, Rosa and her villa was featured in a previous HHI a few years ago when she was looking to return to Puglia and make a home with her husband or husband to be. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11940532/ Link has picture of Rosa from that previous episode. Gabe eliminates House 1, because of the kitchen and the fact that overall it wasn't pretty enough for TV. He rejects House 3, too small, he was polite about it, but Rosa wasn't really offering her home, though the budget was supposedly $25-75k a week so maybe she'd have gone to a hotel for a couple of months. Obvious choice was Home 2 for the kitchen and the beauty.

Canada to Puerto Vallarta. Gay couple decides to buy before prices go higher. Plan is to vacation every year and then retire in 15 years. They want 2 bedrooms, 2 baths, pool, ocean view and in the Romantic Zone, the most popular district, for $450k. First home is $475k, not in the RZ and only one bathroom. Has the view and pool, slightly dated furniture. Home #2 is a new 1.5 bed, 2 bath brand new apt in high rise building with stunning rooftop pool and deck for $550k. Home #3 is 2 bed, 2 Bath, pool and partial ocean view for $389k, well below budget. But it’s 20 minutes away from the RZ and the furniture is old as are the bathrooms. They eliminate House #1 and decide to spend $100k over budget to buy Home #2. Maybe the budget wasn’t really that low or they really did spend way over. They have been going to PV and have been talking to Taniel for years about buying. Makes you wonder if some of these long-time HHI agents are real realtors and they help recruit people to do the show, as opposed to people seeking out becoming house hunters on the show because they’re fans of the show.

I don't know that people are demanding that US intervene or be the world's policeman necessarily. Americans are certainly vocal about what the country should do. We're one of the few to have the economic and military might to project power in almost every corner of the group. If not the only one. In Ukraine, one could argue that it's in our strategic interest to have Russia's military assets be ground down, so they lose a lot of tanks, aircraft, artillery, etc. as well as men who could be drafted. If the US went isolationist and let Russia take over Ukraine, followed by incursions into other former Soviet republics and then eventually Western Europe, that wouldn't be a tenable situation either. Europe under the control of a power hostile to the US was presumably one reason the US entered WWII, even though there was very little popular support for it at the time, until Pearl Harbor. Israel, maybe at one time we wanted an ally there, especially during the Cold War when Syria and Egypt, the main Arab military powers, were Soviet clients. That's less of a reason but there are long historic and cultural ties with Israel now. As for the current situation in Gaza, its a very lopsided fight, with a lot of civilians being killed and objectives like eliminating Hamas or freeing the hostages don't seem to be being met. What Bill seems not to admit is that the casualties may just alienate more and more of the Middle East against Israel and the US. Before October 7, Israel was on the verge of reaching some kind of pact with Saudi Arabia but that seems out the window now.

I haven't watched this show, no longer have Showtime or whatever they're calling it these days. Curious about how Ewan MacGregor and Mary Elizabeth Winstead are doing. This is at least the second time they're in the same work. The first time was apparently in Fargo Season 3 where they met on the set. They then got married and had a child. I vaguely recall that season of Fargo, don't even recall their characters that well.

Three shills for Israel. Bill still hasn't mentioned the huge number of casualties. Instead they emphasize October 7. Casualties on that date were around 1300. Estimated casualties in Gaza are like 30 times that amount. Bill asks Murray about whether Israel is allowing food aid through and Murray claims it is allowing it through. UN has warned more than once about famine conditions in Gaza and there are multiple reports of food aid vehicles being blown up, including the infamous attack on the World Central Kitchen convoy being attacked and aid workers being killed. So they don't discuss any of it. Murray was biting his tongue most of the show as Bill and Bruni talked about how awful Trump is and then said at the end that Democrats also denied Trump won in 2016. No there are people who said Trump is not their president. But there was no denial that he won that election nor did they try to attack the Capitol to stop the certification of election results. In this country, we're allowed not to agree with or like certain politicians. But that's a far cry from election denial, which Trump still promotes to this day, along with millions of his followers. The posh British accent -- "partiZAN" -- does not hide the awful beliefs, which are no better than low-information MAGA. Schlosser pointed out to Bill that Ozempic may be better than remaining morbidly obese, which threatens their health. Some people can't lose weight without some kind of medical intervention.

2016 interview with author of the book on which this mini series is based. https://www.npr.org/2024/05/10/1250438750/author-viet-thanh-nguyen-discusses-the-sympathizer-and-his-escape-from-vietnam He had won a Pulitzer Prize for the book.

I can buy it, she was married a long time, from when she would have dated to now, when she's of a certain age. The marriage ended because her ex-husband cheated on her with a much younger woman. So Molly might not be feeling so confident and maybe looks more at someone she sees everyday, as opposed to that French winery guy. Some wealthy women, including actresses, have gotten together with men who aren't rich or famous. Maybe part of the attraction is that she doesn't think he'd cheat on her, like the Adam Scott character did.

I didn't realize Helen Hunt is playing the network exec. As it turns out, they're promoting a reboot of Twister these days. I guess it's a sign of the impact Ava has had on her that she had to speak up about the homophobic comments -- or anti-trans -- comments of the old school comics whom Deborah idolized. Before she knew Ava, Deborah would have allowed those comments go unchallenged or be indifferent to them. Maybe even partake in riffing some comments on her own. It is a real thing that some of the older comics go all-in on being as anti-PC as they can, many of them specifically disdaining the values of Gen Z -- Ava is suppose to be an older Gen Z? -- how they specifically would groan or boo the kind of comments they made. Also did a good job of showing how much Ava is sacrificing by deciding to work with Ava again. Why wouldn't her gf be more supportive if Ava feels close to Deborah, wants to work with her? Yes they had some arguments but by the end of season 2, their relationship was at a high point -- which makes you wonder why Ava would have told the gf all the issues they had because in totality, the relationship was a positive thing or else she wouldn't even entertain going back to collaborate with Deborah again. So that awkwardness when they ran into the elevator is because they matter so much to each other -- though that's not necessarily indicative of a healthy relationship -- but their previous relationship did lead to some of the most professionally and personally gratifying results for both. I didn't realize that the show runners are still doing Inside the Episode. The Max app tries to get you to watch something else when the credits run. But after about 2-3 minutes of credits, they show the previews for the next episode and then the 3 show runners discussing the episode. You can access the Inside the Episodes in the Extras section of the Series page. Really good discussions of what they were trying to do and some behind the scenes dish like when Jimmy and Kayla slap each other on the butt during the pickle ball match, Paul Downs say that was not improvised, they did write it in.

I guess they couldn't get Jeff Ross. As it turns out, Netflix just released the Tom Brady roast. I haven't seen it but it's generating a lot of word of mouth and the jokes on this episode were tepid. Yeah Ava setting boundaries was important. She doesn't need to work for Deborah this time, unlike the first time she was in greater need of a job. DJ does show some real reasons for having grievance against her mother and her jokes sounded mean on paper but she pulled it off including the line, which might have caused some backlash these days.

We can see that drama is the top priority. Deena and others were complaining that they were stuck in the hotel room while they waited for Angelina and Sammi to have their convo, which obviously the producers wanted to occur. They were allowed to go downstairs and have lunch and both boyfriends were given takeaway food to take up to them. But the whole cast were not going to be allowed to go out and do something else, other than to wait for the two cast members to have their little confrontation. This is what happened in San Diego last season. They were stuck in that hotel for hours before they could do something else. Because they want the rest of the cast to react and take sides and stuff, not just leave it to the two of them to sort out on their own. That may be why some of the cast like Vinnie, Ronnie and Snooki are making a late appearance, to avoid a lot of the BS. I don't know why Sammi doesn't shut down the "I brought you back" BS. No doubt she negotiated with the producers not just for the money she'd be paid but what the producers expected her to do as well as any requests she may have had. Angelina isn't going to be involved in the individual negotiations of other cast to appear on the show. Maybe she was told not to go there, too much behind the scenes business to put on camera. These little individual beefs are exhausting but alternatives are the cast getting drunk -- more Drehn or whatever Snooki's drunken persona is called. Or having the cast do some physical activity that's kind of Jackass-light. But the cast may be wary of doing things in which there's injury risk, like last season, some of them declined to go down the slope in these funny looking sledges.

Or maybe they go Big Little Lies and come up with stuff beyond the book. Or they have a prequel to bring back Anna Sawai. But Justin Marks and Rachel Kondo were going around just a couple of weeks ago saying it was done -- or maybe they were done with it.

The kitchen they're in seems well-equipped. If it feels cramped and hot, it's probably because they cast a lot of contestants, so that they could fill whatever number of episodes they wanted and the kitchen is also full of production crew and TV lights. It's not a TV studio, it seems to be an actual culinary school. Presumably in a couple of episodes, fewer contestants will lead to fewer complaints about being cramped and hot.

So it seems like most of the contestants are professional pastry chefs already. Why are they doing this show, probably for exposure, increase the number of their social media followers? Because $25k in equipment doesn't seem like a huge incentive. In any event, I liked this first episode. They show a lot more of Paris than Ciao House did of Florence/Tuscany. That "penthouse" is great. Paris hotels charge a lot for views of the Eiffel Tour. This place had views of the Invalides dome and the gold statues on the Pont Alexandre III. The rooms looked tiny and they were doubled up so it may be some hotel floor they rented out or something. Le Royal Monceau is a 5-star hotel, so they either paid for that tie-in or maybe the hotel thinks FN viewers would stay in a place which is well over $1000 a night. I don't know anything about baking but like I said, these are professional bakers and they know all the French words or jargon for pastries. Looks like they probably got some time to plan their creations. It's not like they came back from the hotel and whipped something up, over 3 hours, as the editing showed. They sat down with the artists to make renderings of what they were planning. The drawings looked better than some of the actual products. The gold leaf just looked splotchy on some of the cakes. Also, has to be an occupational hazard to taste a lot of sweets, creams, etc? A few of them don't seem to mind but some of the women are petite. Some of the reactions were funny. The two French guys seemed highly offended when they found out that one cake had mayo in it.