S03.E01: Cake and Morning Treats Week

[Rammchick]

15 hours ago, Omeletsmom said:

I agree.  It also seemed like they were taking turns being the "mean" one.  First Paul would be overly critical and Johnny would be kind and then they would switch roles.  They really are too much alike to be a good team.

I was going to say something similar, only allude to a good cop/bad cop metaphor.  What struck me as odd was that Johnny was always the bad cop when he judged with Mary.

Also odd is the fact that ABC decided to air this at all, considering the allegations against Johnny.

[mjc570]

I forgot about the tent moving.  That could be an answer, here, though, to the two problems here  of (1)  finding contestants able to make the time commitment required; and (2) not being bale to practice the bakes during the week, as well as being away from helpful family and friends.  As justmehere above noted, even bringing the tent (or having it in one location) in the US is a problem also, because the country is pretty big.  If they had it in different locations, though, they could do regional shows with perhaps a final bake off.  I don't know if technically, that would work., though I think it would really improve the quality of both the contestants and the bakes. 

[Kohola3]

I do think that the inability to practice during the week has made this look quite like amateur hour.  Even if they got a list ahead, it would still be quite a time gap between practicing and the actual baking day.  For some of the more challenging show stoppers I would think that would really make a difference.

I hope it gets better but I'm only willing to sacrifice one more hour of my time on it.  I  just can't get past how great the British and Canadian versions are.

[Frost]

Canada is also a big country.  How do they get around the same problem the US has?

[chaifan]

Spice and Curry bring nothing to the table.  The show would be better off without hosts than with these two.  Luckily for me, they don't really annoy, they just are so blah I wouldn't notice if they were gone.

On the British version, the contestants go home for a full week and the bakes truly are on the weekends, right?  So what is the schedule for the Americans?  Do they have a week between bakes, and if so, what do they do with that time?  Or do they speed up production and film it all in a shorter time span?  And now that people are mentioning the Canadian version, same question.

I enjoyed the 2nd episode's showstopper - the twisted loaves.  I think they all looked great, and yes, I think the King Cake got cut down because Paul and Johnny don't know what one is.  But I thought it was charming that Paul got the baby!  I could see that being planned, but his response looked like he was genuinely surprised. 

So far, the star bakers have deserved their titles, and those who got sent home also were no surprise.  I think we're going to end up with all women by the final 6.

[dleighg]

31 minutes ago, chaifan said:

I enjoyed the 2nd episode's showstopper - the twisted loaves. 

Yes this seems like something where if you learn how to do it, you can get a LOT of bang for the buck. Really beautiful!

[Jillybean]

I had assumed they filmed in England to accommodate Mary Berry, which is no longer an issue. It's so strange to have The Great American Baking Show filmed in England.

[AZChristian]

1 hour ago, chaifan said:

Spice and Curry bring nothing to the table.  The show would be better off without hosts than with these two. 

But I thought it was charming that Paul got the baby!  I could see that being planned, but his response looked like he was genuinely surprised. 

Point 1:  Totally agree.  I don't tune into Great __________ (fill in the blank) Baking Shows to hear bad rap music.

Point 2:  I thought the whole baby thing was fake.  What are the chances that you cut into a large round cake, and the baby "just happened" to be in the smaller portion of the cake that was cut?  Then someone eats their individual piece with a fork, and they didn't see it going into their mouth?  Even so, I love PH, so it's okay.  

[GaT]

19 hours ago, Kohola3 said:

I do think that the inability to practice during the week has made this look quite like amateur hour.  Even if they got a list ahead, it would still be quite a time gap between practicing and the actual baking day.  For some of the more challenging show stoppers I would think that would really make a difference.

People practicing the signature & showstopper bakes was mentioned at least a couple of times, so they do get to practice. I would imagine they could give them access to ovens during the week to practice, what else are they going to do?

[Frost]

I understand using a tent as the set from a logistical point of view, having to change locations.  And I think it's fun as a viewer to see the weather, but isn't it a nightmare for the bakers?  I'm not an expert baker by any means, but doesn't the humidity and heat changes that would be wildly fluctuating in a tent cause problems?  I don't recall any of the bakers ever mentioning it, but I cringe when it's pouring outside because I imagine it would affect their end product.

[AZChristian]

Just now, Frost said:

I understand using a tent as the set from a logistical point of view, having to change locations.  And I think it's fun as a viewer to see the weather, but isn't it a nightmare for the bakers?  I'm not an expert baker by any means, but doesn't the humidity and heat changes that would be wildly fluctuating in a tent cause problems?  I don't recall any of the bakers ever mentioning it, but I cringe when it's pouring outside because I imagine it would affect their end product.

IIRC, they have mentioned it on the British version.  But they don't "complain" about it.  Wouldn't be British to complain.

[dubbel zout]

The weather can affect baking results, but that's part of the challenge.

[Qoass]

I felt kind of bad for the contestants when they showed them shrouded in blankets huddling around a fire while waiting for judgement. Everything was still green so clearly they produced this way in advance but apparently it was still pretty chilly!

[Athena]

1 hour ago, Qoass said:

I felt kind of bad for the contestants when they showed them shrouded in blankets huddling around a fire while waiting for judgement. Everything was still green so clearly they produced this way in advance but apparently it was still pretty chilly!

In many places in the UK, the grass remains green all year round due to the high moisture climate. It can still be very chilly though because of winds.

[jpgr]

1 hour ago, Qoass said:

I felt kind of bad for the contestants when they showed them shrouded in blankets huddling around a fire while waiting for judgement. Everything was still green so clearly they produced this way in advance but apparently it was still pretty chilly!

I think the blankets were for show, and I believe they filmed it during the summer. But because they are doing all "holiday" themed bakes, and it's airing in December, they wanted it to look like winter.

[JoyousSpring]

Wow! This is so bad even compared with the new season of GBBO. The hosts are awful. No personally and ugly voices. Johnny is creepy. And the judges were actually rude, laughing at the contestants efforts. Plus, do we really need a rap interlude? 

Edited December 12, 2017 by JoyousSpring

[strippedhalo]

I think I'm alone in not really liking Jessie.  I'm not sure why I'm finding her off-putting - maybe she reminds me of someone?  I did like her gentle snark at Paul when he was claiming never to have heard of pepitas.  "You've heard of pumpkin seeds, though, right?"

[AZChristian]

8 hours ago, JoyousSpring said:

Plus, do we really need a rap interlude? 

No, No, and Hell No!!!

[Spunkygal]

3 hours ago, AZChristian said:

No, No, and Hell No!!!

^^^ shouted in a rap beat!

[hula-la]

Johnny was snarky with one contestant, as according to him, their roll cake looked more like a buche de noel, rather than a roll cake.  Coming from Canada, where the Great Canadian Baking Show contestants just made one, and where I try to eat them whenever I can, aren't they basically the same thing, just decorated differently?

[illdoc]

43 minutes ago, hula-la said:

aren't they basically the same thing, just decorated differently?

I think the swiss roll is more ... rolled than the other one (there's more of a spiral of cake when you look at a slice). I think.

[Rammchick]

https://www.eater.com/2017/12/12/16768790/johnny-iuzzini-sexual-harassment-jean-georges

Note near the bottom that so far, ABC hasn't commented.

[theatremouse]

I think Curry is an entirely acceptable host. Spice has a bit too much of the forced-stilted presentation style very common among former-NFL players turned TV hosts. He seems like a nice enough dude, but he's too cue cardy for me. Although actually, Johnny, who has plenty of experience with this, also felt quite a bit more cue cardy than I'm used to on this show.

I thought it was interesting that in the first one, it was basically super obvious that Jessie was tops in all three rounds. I'm used to a certain cluster clearly being at or near the top a lot early on, but it kind of seemed like she wiped the floor the first hour. She clearly backslid the second, but then that one Valerie also was overwhelmingly conspicously tops. It was just kind of a weird pattern to me. Weird editing choice.

[Thumper]

Yeah, I've read the explanations, but if this is the American Baking Show, it should be in the U.S.  

Can't they be housed in places with kitchens so they can practice during the week?

I'm  still enjoying it.

[Nessie]

I think it's entirely feasible to do it in America.  Yes, it's a big country, but it takes less than 7 hours to fly coast to coast.  So make it somewhere in the middle (but somewhere with a major airport, or course), and contestants could even go home during the week like they do on the British version (fly in on Friday evening, fly home Sunday evening).

27 minutes ago, Thumper said:

Yeah, I've read the explanations, but if this is the American Baking Show, it should be in the U.S.  

Can't they be housed in places with kitchens so they can practice during the week?

I'm  still enjoying it.

I'm 99.9% positive they're not filming only on the weekends like the British version.  No way American production companies are paying the judges and hosts to sit around all week twiddling their thumbs, not to mention paying for all those hotel rooms/guest houses/wherever they are staying (for the hosts and contestants).  They're going to want to get in and out as quickly as possible.  The contestants are probably getting a day or two at the most off between "weeks".  

If anyone knows anything different, though, I would love to hear it.  Maybe someone from this season will pop in and give us the scoop, like...was it last year's winner?  Amanda , I think?  They probably can't go on message boards contractually until it's aired, though, and now that the whole thing has been scrapped, we may never know...

[Kaoteek]

Quote

The show filmed in two-day increments, followed by one day off and repeated that for three weeks.

According to this interview.

And i'm guessing the Canadian version follows a similar filming schedule.

(as far as i know, in the french version, it's different, since filming Le Meilleur Patissier takes 6-8 weeks with contestants living together either in an hotel near the castle/manor where the tent is set up, or in said castle if it doubles as a b&b/hotel ; or at least it used to be that way during the earlier seasons, i don't know if it's still the case)

Edited December 14, 2017 by Kaoteek

[Nessie]

Thank you, @Kaoteek.