statslady

Huh. I guess I'm in the minority here - I liked it. Liked it enough to also watch the second episode. There was a lot of ridiculousness but I was able to overlook most of it. We never actually hear Star sing solo which makes it hard to believe she's as awesome as they want us to think she is. There was a lot of over the top dramatic behavior ("I'm leaving!" "I'm so done!" etc) which I was sort of willing to accept because they are teenage girls. I actually thought the younger sister might be the best singer & actress. I totally bought that they would not talk about their respective ghastly foster experiences. Star just wanted to make like it never existed and sister (Simone?) is obviously self-medicating to forget. But why didn't they have microphones on either in the club or at the house party? The club was a silly place that reminded me of Flashdance - high end talent for what must be a pretty seedy place - and she just walks in and sings? OK. But at least hand the girl a microphone! LIked: Queen Latifah and most of the cast (except for Naomi Campbell), the music, the easy to follow plot (so tired of cryptic mysteries the writers don't even know the answers to), the set-up. Disliked: Over the top drama and some bad acting moments, silliness during the singing scenes. Anyway, I'm in for now hoping for better than 'Smash'

Generally liked the episode. I think one of my favorite moments was the end where they replayed the 'it's time' moment from 'I Love Lucy'. Great shout out to the mother of all sitcoms. At least they didn't all run off to the hospital without Bernadette!

Finally watched this episode. It was fun, but I was disappointed they didn't do any follow-up with past season contestants. I would really like to know how many of them kept up cooking. I recall one young woman from the finale (I think she won) who thought she might actually go to culinary school.

Now that no one is reading this anymore... I just made the fried chicken from the finale. It was good fried chicken but pretty much all there was to it. I think I understand why manbun won even though the judges seemed to prefer Lawrence's food. Chef Ann had him make a real 5-star restaurant meal. Chef Tyler's meal, while good, was more like something a good home cook would make. So while those are the recipes I'm actually trying out, the winning meal looked much more complex and difficult for a 'worst cook' to produce. All in all, great season and a nice reboot to the series after that godawful 'celebrity' season.

So much item #4! I've been wondering the same thing! Also add to it the DEO cell on Supergirl. Let's capture evil supervillians, put them in a cell with no bathroom and nothing to do except contemplate revenge. Good plan.

Just chiming in to say I agree this has been the best season in a while. Liked the 'realer' people, and the back to basics approach. Where else do you see things like knife cuts, mise en place, and how to cook eggs? Like gardencrown said, BTW gardencrown, I had the same story with rice. I love rice and cook it a lot. One of those 1/100 bad times happened when I was cooking for my in-laws and was inspired to finally get a Zojirushi rice cooker. Highly recommend.

I really enjoyed this episode - especially after the trainwreck of the 'celebrity' season which I found almost unwatchable. I liked most of the contestants as well, they feel real to me, not like a bunch of actors and models looking for some way to get on tv. The only possible exception was parkour guy, while his stated occupation was construction worker it wouldn't surprise me to learn he was trying to get into entertainment somehow. The jailhouse burrito was intriguing. Apparently there are several variations.

I think they were getting married in Hawaii because the groom's parents had gotten married there. That coupled with the unsupportive parents probably. I missed that she was only 23 though... Wonder how old she was the first time!

Couldn't figure out why the bride who wanted a hi-lo dress didn't call ahead. That just seemed so ridiculous. I've been going through this with my daughter and when you call the store they always ask what styles you're interested in. Then I had to wonder about the SIL from hell - really how much of that was her and how much was producer manipulation. She was pretty awful and the rest of the group seemed remarkably unsupportive of the bride. I just wonder what we didn't see, and how much of that the SIL was goaded into saying.

Wasn't crazy about the behavior of any of the moms on this episode really, but I gotta say all that tattoo made me think of was the Blood Eagle episode of 'Vikings'. If I was a guest at that wedding it would definitely creep me out. No need for the mom to be so nasty about it though. Was this really the Mother's day weekend episode?