Baking It - General Discussion

[shantown]

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BAKING IT is a holiday competition series in which eight teams of two talented home bakers join Maya Rudolph and Andy Samberg’s winter cabin for a celebration of culinary holiday traditions. Contestant duos will include spouses, siblings, best friends and more, who will work together to create outstanding savory and sweet creations for themed challenges with the hopes of winning a cash prize. Maya and Andy will lead the festivities, also providing comedic and musical commentary on the action. The bakers’ holiday treats will be judged by tough critics – four opinionated real-life grandmothers, who happen to be fantastic bakers themselves!

Hosts: Maya Rudolph, Andy Samberg
Executive Producers: Maya Rudolph, Andy Samberg, Amy Poehler, Nicolle Yaron, Pip Wells, Kate Arend and Dave Becky

 

Episodes begin airing December 2 on Peacock

[BoffoDaWonderSheep]

Well, episode one was fun and enjoyable. I vaguely recognized some of the grandmothers from Food Network competitions, maybe?

[BusyOctober]

Just discovered this show on Peacock…love it so far!  The contestants are all as sweet and talented as the ones on Making It.  I was very sad to see any team go in the 3 episodes I’ve binged so far.

The one thing about Baking It that beats Making It is the Granny judges.  LOVE these ladies! Knowledgeable, warm, funny and engaging.  Especially love the taller, white haired Southern lady.  She sounds just like Margo Martindale! The Nanas are soooo much better than the female judge on Making It, who I find useless and not helpful in her critiques.

[akg]

I just finished episode 1 and I love how diverse this show is. And that they're not making a big deal out of it. Yes, it's a Christmas themed show but the contestants all celebrate different holidays in different ways and everyone is excited about that. 

3 hours ago, BusyOctober said:

The one thing about Baking It that beats Making It is the Granny judges.  LOVE these ladies! Knowledgeable, warm, funny and engaging.  [...] The Nanas are soooo much better than the female judge on Making It, who I find useless and not helpful in her critiques.

I agree. They're fantastic. And, again, I love how diverse they are. One issue I have with the Great British Bake Off is that both judges come from the same background and don't always understand bakes that are from somewhere else. 

[mertensia]

Stumbled across this and love it.

Those chocolate gingerbread houses were awesome.

[LittleIggy]

Maya and Andy are no Amy and Nick, but I love the grannies! The taller New Orleans granny pronounced “pecans” correctly: puhkahns. 👏🏻 
I’ll keep watching.

[Joan van Snark]

Ugh....wayyyy too much time spent on the really unfunny 'humor' of the hosts.  None of the contestants don't seem like very accomplished bakers, either.  

[LittleIggy]

I thought the bakers seemed quite talented. Some of the decorating skills alone were amazing.

[akg]

1 hour ago, Joan van Snark said:

Ugh....wayyyy too much time spent on the really unfunny 'humor' of the hosts. 

I was enjoying Andy and Maya until the finale when it seemed like they bumped up the time away from the bakers significantly. Which was not the right call. I preferred the balance from the earlier episodes. Something else that annoyed me about the finale: 

Spoiler

the winners! The sisters were very good but the Indian couple (I can not find their names anywhere online) were consistently great and I was disappointed they didn't end up with the prize.

As for the bakers' skills, I thought they were all impressive but I also liked that none of them were amazing. It was nice to watch a room full of excited amateurs sharing something they love to do in their free time.

 

[Cattoy]

This was a real show? When I saw the commercials, I was convinced it was a bad parody of cooking competitions. I came here to see what was said about it, and it's real? Well, after watching part of the first episode, I'm still convinced it's a bad parody of a cooking competition.

I didn't even make it through the first challenge. The hosts just ruined it for me. I don't watch SNL, so I had no idea who they were, and it just reminded me why I don't watch SNL. They are not funny. I feel sorry for the people who signed up for this. They might be talented, but I don't think many people suffered through the show to find out.

[lovinbob]

The tall, white haired granny sounds just like Margo Martindale. 

[lark37]

7 hours ago, Cattoy said:

This was a real show? When I saw the commercials, I was convinced it was a bad parody of cooking competitions. I came here to see what was said about it, and it's real? Well, after watching part of the first episode, I'm still convinced it's a bad parody of a cooking competition.

I didn't even make it through the first challenge. The hosts just ruined it for me. I don't watch SNL, so I had no idea who they were, and it just reminded me why I don't watch SNL. They are not funny. I feel sorry for the people who signed up for this. They might be talented, but I don't think many people suffered through the show to find out.

Just because both hosts spent a little time on SNL doesn't mean they aren't talented and successful. Shoot take a look at the list of former SNL players and their success rates- --spoiler: its a long list with a great deal of success!  I dont watch SNL anymore and haven't since college  which was a long time ago but I know who Maya and Andy are.  Andy spent the last 6 years as the star of the critically acclaimed comedy Brooklyn 99, and Maya has been in everything from from Bridesmaids to The Good Place. That said, I think the eliminations have been pretty random with strong bakers leaving while a couple teams slide by I think more because of their story rather than their baking. And yes, the Maya/Andy shtick got old quickly as they seemed to ramp it up towards the end. Overall I enjoyed this as a.pleasant holiday baking show. 

[HelloooKitty]

Episode 2- when Maya opened the stout and the baker was like- thank you for your help you can leave now!” I laughed snorted!

[grandmabegum]

I was pretty mixed on this show. I agree with the folks who said that it's too much Andy and Maya (and I like them both a lot] and that the eliminations seemed pretty random. But I got a warm, fuzzy feeling every time they showed the Grannies eating with their purses at their feet. Really reminded me of my grandma.

[Cheezwiz]

I've only seen the first episode, and although I love Andy & Maya, I found them extremely awkward as hosts - the humour felt forced and painful, and they were just plain unfunny most of the time. I guess just because people are talented sketch comedy performers, it doesn't automatically make them good competitive baking hosts. I did love the grannies though - they were fun. Will keep watching because I' m a sucker for baking shows.

[Ms Blue Jay]

I've watched all of this.

I really, really recommend this show.  I loved it.  I don't even care about baking - and you can kind of see that Andy doesn't either, at the beginning.  By the end of all of the episodes both of us were incredibly charmed.

Love the hosts, love the judges, love the contestants, love everything.  Maya and Andy were amazing.

On 12/9/2021 at 10:05 PM, lovinbob said:

The tall, white haired granny sounds just like Margo Martindale. 

Her voice is very deep!

On 12/14/2021 at 4:34 AM, grandmabegum said:

I was pretty mixed on this show. I agree with the folks who said that it's too much Andy and Maya (and I like them both a lot] and that the eliminations seemed pretty random. But I got a warm, fuzzy feeling every time they showed the Grannies eating with their purses at their feet. Really reminded me of my grandma.

I actually felt emotional in the finale because I thought of my grandparents.

[TVbitch]

Sorry to be a Grinch, but unfortunately I had to bail out of this one. Just too much scripted faffing about by the hosts. Even a lot of the chit chat with the bakers seemed scripted. And it's like they got all the contestants together before the show and told them to be as happy, positive, and heart-warmingly tearful as they could possibly be, and to react to everything the judges said as though they are the funniest, most personable people they've ever met. Granted, I have a more stoic demeanor, but I just don't need every human interaction to have a punchline or a feel good moment or some teary message. I just want to see baking with a bit of authentic, spontaneous banter. And really, do we need letters from home on episode TWO?! The grannies were okay, but the judging was pretty loose, and the "grannies can never find stuff in their purse" thing ...ugh.

 

[Just Carol]

Ten thumbs up for this show!!   Andy and Maya are hilarious.  The improv, canned lines, and different "song stylings" made it a hit for me.  

Their chitchat with sister-bakers was forced and uncomfortable, but I blame the sisters (esp. the older one) for being unapproachable.  Iinteractions with all the other bakers were fine.

If the Grannie were the Golden Girls, Grandma Anne would be Bea Arthur.  

Re the eliminations, I would have kept the Mexican siblings and their delicious carrot cake + caramel corn and eliminated the dry spice cake + skittles, despite the messy presentation of the former.  But the latter bakers had so many sob stories to reveal, I wonder if it was a producer decision to keep them. All their bakes were disappointing and it was painful to watch them struggle.  I also wish they had not eliminated the talented woman who had previously owned a bakery-- although this was supposed to be a contest for "home bakers" so maybe she shouldn't have been there in the first place.  Breakout stars were Gerard and Shaun, not for baking, but for everything else.

**Chairs are rocking, Grannies are talking.... a-bout youuuuu.**

 

 

[cherrypj]

Ah, this show was awesome. Still laughing at Andy's santa-bodies. I could quibble over the results--and I liked the winners (the chocolate gingerbread houses were the best)--and I could kvetch about the lack of focus on the baking, but the show definitely hit the spot for the holiday season. 

I might even prefer Baking It to Making It because the judges are soooo much better here.

[akg]

We're getting a season 2! Maya Rudolph is returning and Amy Poehler will be her co-host. The judges will still be grandmas but the article doesn't say if it's the same group from season 1.

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All five episodes of Baking It season 2 will be available to stream on Peacock December 12. NBC will also air a special celebrity-baker episode December 12 at 10 pm ET/PT.

Edited October 25, 2022 by akg

[Ms Blue Jay]

Aw, I like Andy. 

[BetterButter]

[akg]

On 11/24/2022 at 6:19 PM, Ms Blue Jay said:

Aw, I like Andy. 

As much as I like Amy, I'm going to miss Andy a lot (including the fact that he helped avoid 100% Christmas). Although I was mostly concerned about the grannies so I'm very excited they're all back.

[ombelico]

I enjoy this show but I find some of the challenges to be uneven and smacking of producer manipulation. For example, in the S2 episode with the old recipes that the bakers had to remake, some sounded not that bad and others sounded revolting. But then what made it worse was that each team was specifically assigned a particular recipe, so it wasn't random. It would have been more fair to have the teams pick the recipes out of a hat, or better yet, have them all remake the same old recipe.

[Ms Blue Jay]

I watched 201 - I enjoyed it a lot.  I'm a huge Samberg fan so I was worried, lol.  No, I'll definitely watch the whole season!

[RealityCheck]

Are you a baker who is interested in becoming a contestant on BAKING IT? If so, here is the application and audition rules.

Good luck!

[MerBearHou]

I didn’t see Season 2 so caught this Episode 2.1 tonight.  Amy Poehler and Maya were great together — their humor fits together like puzzle pieces.  The elimination tonight was BS.

Edited July 16, 2023 by MerBearHou

[tinkerbell]

Amy pohler looked to be in soft focus the entire time.

Even with that, she doesn't look like herself, she's definitely had a lot of work done. My husband thought it was Kristen Bell.

[meep.meep]

I like the show - the teams are great and the grannies are great.  But Amy and Maya are turning me off completely.  And this must have been filmed before the writer's strike!  That song!   Stupid stupid stupid

[JenLily]

On 8/1/2023 at 11:04 AM, meep.meep said:

And this must have been filmed before the writer's strike

The season that's airing right now on NBC on Saturday nights ran on Peacock back in December/January.

[pasdetrois]

On 12/3/2021 at 10:59 AM, BusyOctober said:

Especially love the taller, white haired Southern lady.  She sounds just like Margo Martindale!

I never heard of this show until last night. I thought the same thing about this granny. She is Cajun! I hear south Louisiana in her voice.

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Just too much scripted faffing about by the hosts. Even a lot of the chit chat with the bakers seemed scripted. And it's like they got all the contestants together before the show and told them to be as happy, positive, and heart-warmingly tearful as they could possibly be, and to react to everything the judges said as though they are the funniest, most personable people they've ever met.

I'm sorry to agree - I love Maya in everything else she's done. But she seemed to be phoning this in. And I have come to hate the relentlessly perky and chatty competitor trope. It's like a bad parody.

But I love baking and I will finish this for the grannies!

Edited August 10, 2023 by pasdetrois