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The Great British Bake Off 2016


Veltigar
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On 22-9-2016 at 8:33 PM, polishgenius said:

 

Ehh. I don't know much about him but realistically you're looking at loyalty to the show crew versus loyalty to the Beeb here. Presumably money helped but as much as I like the BBC and as much I'd have liked them all to leave for the BBC's inevitable successor attempt I'm not sure why one is more worthy than the other (apart from you being able to watch one, of course).

Apart from the fact that me being able to watch it should be everyone's criterium for judging this whole affair :P I do think there is a big difference.

First, purely on a comparative level, everyone residing in the UK should realize what a great privilige it is to have the BBC as your national broadcaster. I don't watch as much (live-)tv as I used to, but when you compare the BBC's output to French, Belgian and Dutch public broadcasters (and commercial ones as well actually) you would understand that the rest of us can only dream of a station that brings so much accessible quality content  to its viewers (the best we have to compete is Arte). Any action that limits the possibilities of this great national gem, like the hostile take-over of one of its big moneymakers, should be frowned upon by any and all interested in the common good. 

Secondly, I don't really get the dichotomy you create between loyalty to the "show crew" and loyalty to the BBC. The BBC gave this show a shot when everyone else was thinking that a baking show could never amount to anything. They nurtured the format, the attracted a bunch of incredible presenters and they probably had as much creative input in its development as the indepent production company. The people shooting the show, if they weren't working freelance, would more likely than not be in the BBC's employ than not. The show crew and the BBC are pretty much indistinguishable. That's why Mary Berry, Sue Perkins Mel Giedroyc decided to remain while the suits sold this show's soul from underneath them.

1 hour ago, polishgenius said:



She's a lot closer to being an actual chef than Gregg Wallace.

Gregg doesn't pretend to be 'an actual chef' though. I think that's what bothers @Isis about Nigela. Personally, I'm not really familiar with la Lawson, so I refrain from further comment.

EDIT: Okay, one more thing. Gregg Wallace is a national treasure :P 

Edited by Veltigar
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15 minutes ago, Veltigar said:

Apart from the fact that me being able to watch it should be everyone's criterium for judging this whole affair :P I do think there is a big difference.

First, purely on a comparative level, everyone residing in the UK should realize what a great privilige it is to have the BBC as your national broadcaster. I don't watch as much (live-)tv as I used to, but when you compare the BBC's output to French, Belgian and Dutch public broadcasters (and commercial ones as well actually) you would understand that the rest of us can only dream of a station that brings so much accessible quality content  to its viewers (the best we have to compete is Arte). Any action that limits the possibilities of this great national gem, like the hostile take-over of one of its big moneymakers, should be frowned upon by any and all interested in the common good. 

Secondly, I don't really get the dichotomy you create between loyalty to the "show crew" and loyalty to the BBC. The BBC gave this show a shot when everyone else was thinking that a baking show could never amount to anything. They nurtured the format, the attracted a bunch of incredible presenters and they probably had as much creative input in its development as the indepent production company. The people shooting the show, if they weren't working freelance, would more likely than not be in the BBC's employ than not. The show crew and the BBC are pretty much indistinguishable. That's why Mary Berry, Sue Perkins Mel Giedroyc decided to remain while the suits sold this show's soul from underneath them.

Gregg doesn't pretend to be 'an actual chef' though. I think that's what bothers @Isis about Nigela. Personally, I'm not really familiar with la Lawson, so I refrain from further comment.

EDIT: Okay, one more thing. Gregg Wallace is a national treasure :P 

Pretty sure that of the two Nigella is more likely to be considered a "National Treasure" than Greg Wallace. Not that either of them are, but she is the more well known of the two. 

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30 minutes ago, Veltigar said:

Any action that limits the possibilities of this great national gem, like the hostile take-over of one of its big moneymakers, should be frowned upon by any and all interested in the common good. 


I love the BBC and really appreciate having it, and it absolutely needs to be protected in terms of freedom of programming and having a decent budget. But it shouldn't get to play by different rules in regards to show ownership. If they'd come up with, or bought outright the rights to (like they did with Top Gear), GBBO then sure, but they don't and forcing Love productions and/or all the presenters to stay with the BBC would be a bad thing. It wasn't a hostile takeover, it was a company that owns a product taking said product elsewhere. The idea that they shouldn't be allowed to do this is a pretty dangerous one imo.
It's not as if they invested in it out of their goodness of their hearts, either. They thought it could be successful. Now they don't think it's successful enough to meet Love's valuation. It's a business decision from both sides. It's sad, for people who have grown to like the show, and I'm all for meeting the apparent disastrous failure of the move with smirks especially if the BBC come up with a credible alternative, but treating it as some villainy... well, I just don't see it.

But my point about loyalty in this instance was specifically referring to Paul and the other presenters. (Crew might have been the wrong word, I didn't mean specifically the people working the cameras etc but, well, Love Productions as a group essentially). You say 'the BBC attracted the presenters' and all of that, but that's pure speculation and it's not as if the others are uniquely BBC (well, Mary to an extent but Mel and Sue have just as much history with Channel 4 as the BBC, looking at their past, if not more before GBBO came along).

Edited by polishgenius
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59 minutes ago, Ser Scot A Ellison said:

It's still done.  It will be far too different to work as it has.

The simple concept: If it is not broken, don't fix it... :D

Now, finished Season 2. This one was all over the place for me regarding contestants. I swear to God, I couldn't choose a winner, unlike in the first season when it was obvious that Ed was gonna win. I feel as everyone had a disastrous day at some point. Halfway through it, I thought Rob might do something amazing and he was just becoming worse and worse. Liked the last episode and its family spirit. And I like the messiness. Nothing is perfect, nothing is surgically precise. As @HelenaExMachina and I spoke, these are amateurs and there is something beautiful in their homey imperfect baking. The snippets from history were amazing. I really enjoyed them as they rather nicely make a step back from the competition and celebrate baking. 

After two seasons, I also enjoy the hosting duo... They are hilarious and there is something so organic to their approach to contestants. Also, no personal drama. They are all there to cook, make audience drool and if possible, win the prize. Overall, great concept. 

Off to season 3 :D 

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5 hours ago, polishgenius said:



She's a lot closer to being an actual chef than Gregg Wallace.

He's just a presenter, who likes food and fights. They have Marcus Wareing as the chef who judges the dishes. 

ETA: I have nothing against Nigella btw. She's a great cook. But she has never been head chef at a Michelin starred restaurant, so you cannot compare her to the likes of Michel Roux Jnr or Marcus Wareing. 

Edited by Isis
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All right, finished Series 3. This one was the best so far... The last season was all over the place, with no clear winner on sight, but this one rather clearly separated finalists from the rest of the pack. I was hoping so much that James can win this. With Brendon, it was always "been there, done that". He was rather traditional. Everything was perfectly presented, nicely, but it was also on the boring side. James always tried something crazy, and that gingerhouse was hilariously perfect for Halloween. He won the last 4 technical and was named Star Baker 3 times and sadly he didn't win. Well, it seems that his idea of union of UK didn't quite work. Sadly... I will miss those cardigans and jumpers.

And I finally realized WHY this is so beautifully tame (in comparison to US cooking shows). And just to be clear, it is not because British are the bestest :D It seems that there is no money prize. I googled that tonight at 3 am and apparently they get nothing. Except our admiration :D

Off to Masterclass special, and then to Series 4. I hope it will be as good as this one. 

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How soon before the series that is currently showing in the UK (GBBO 7) is shown on TV here in the US?  I think I found GBBO 6 earlier in the year on PBS, showing on a Friday night, which is fine with me - good end-of-week relaxing TV.  

Got sucked into GBB0 7 when I was in the UK in September, catching a couple episodes.  Rooting for Selasi, Benjamina and Rav (Rav since eliminated).  Now that I cannot watch the episodes as they happen, I am reduced to reading the summaries by the excellent Rhik Sammader on the Guardian website.

https://www.theguardian.com/profile/rhik-samadder

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Ok so I caught up at last, fell way behind this season. I was sad to see Selasi go this week, although he was the weakest of the four remaining (but how could you not love chilled out Selasi?) 

Benjamina had been one of my favourites and I was very sad when she was eliminated, I'm currently rooting for Candice, although if Jane wins I won't be too sad.

I'm really going to miss this next year

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Finished Season 4... God, this batch was boring... Not even boring, a bit neurotic... But, not in a fun, make me laugh kind of way, more like "Someone please give something to calm these people" 

Season 3 is still my favorite... Season 4 was on the boring side, and the best episode was the 10th when the 2012 class came in and talked about their post-Bake off life. They were great...

Frances as the winner? Half of the series she has been singled out as person without taste buds and suddenly she is a winner? Not impressed. Ruby with her tears was a good imitation of weather in UK. God save the soul which will go to HER for psychological advice. "So, Ruby, how to deal with stress in my life?" That would be one great conversation :D

Still, James' gingerbread cottage (Season 3) is the best thing anyone baked to this point... That ginger-house was AWESOME.

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^I feel like the Showstoppers improved each year actually, and certainly feel like James' gingerbread house has been beaten in later seasons. My favourite has probably been Nadiya's in last year's show. I do have to admit I'm pretty clueless as to which batch of bakers comes from which season though. I remember the season with Mary-Ann, I had really liked her and the bakers in her season.

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