I look forward to seeing her
Apparently the distaste for Lucas is not confined to a few of us on this board:
Iâm absolutely sure that those who absolutely dislike Lucas will absolutely love his replacement,
But will she insist on singing or baking along with the contestants?
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Itâs interesting that the person who is writing about the departure of Mary Berry, Sue, and Mel and describing the âvibe shiftâ doesnât place that in the context of the move from BBC to Channel 4. I mean, the show did not do as much as we feared in that regard, but I think thatâs also part of the more general âvibe shiftâ.
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The Takeout is part of the GMO Media collection, of what was once the Gawker network. The last 4-5 years, theyâve been owned by vulture capitalists that have systematically alienated and driven off any worthwhile writing talent and aggressively redesigned the sites for maximum clicks. The new staff have apparently zero editorial support, and articles are no more well researched than your average Reddit post.
Takeout and A V Club used to be daily mandatory checks.
They only get skimmed once a week nowadays. And getting less all the time.
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All three, of course, had the option of moving to Channel 4, along with the rest of the production crew, but chose not to. It was difficult to understand that decision then and remains so. My recollection is that it was something to do with wanting to remain true to public service broadcasting - but that was always a flimsy argument as Channel 4 is also publically owned, as the BBC is.
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Yeah, thatâs my assessment of things too. I really think the financial underpinnings of journalism and other publications pose far more of a threat to âtruthâ (sorry, Iâm tired so wonât be precise) than the likes of AI or others. This is what has totally undone factchecking departments, long form (quality) reportage, and other editorial benefits. Now itâs all sloppy hot takes and reposts from Twitter, TikTok, and IG.
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Iâd rather have Paul Hollywood on Bake Off than the rancid Cherish Finden on The Professionals as she comes over as bitchy and deliberately nasty to the competitors. Glad I do not work in her kitchen as her on-screen behaviour borders on workplace bullying.
Have watched every episode of every series of The Great British Bake Off and on the bookshelf beside my desk here I have all the books that accompanied each series.
As to seven series of Bake Off: The Professionals I could have watched all seven series as they were broadcast but during series one found Finden was so obnoxious that I vowed never to watch the programme again.
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A significant reason why I stopped watching during the first series.
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I finally finished series 1 and came more or less to the same conclusion. I disliked the judges so much I stopped.
Since we donât have GBBO at the moment, Iâve been filling the itch with Huluâs âThe Great Chocolate Showdownâ, another Canadian import baking competition. Largely following the âniceâ competition model (i.e. you can win an advantage like extra time but very little in the way of âscrew your competitorâ) it also has a guarantee of showing you just how big a pain in the ass really good chocolate work is.
Iâm watching and loving the Junior Bake off and would love to see the other seasons. Right now there are only 2 seasons on Netflix. I really enjoyed the Canadian bake off version of the show. I watched it on Daily Motion.
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@Lectroid and @Annegrace the Canadian shows have not been broadcast here but the Australian Bake Off has. Channel 4, which broadcasts GBBO in the UK, have shown the last two series of the Aussie version. It makes for an interesting contrast to the original. I hope that C4 picks up the new series as one-time London resident Rachel Khoo is now a judge on that show. It might take some time should it airs as none of the new series have yet been shown in Australia; starts in a couple of weeks from now.
Benoit Blin, the second judge on Bake Off: The Professionals, I found okay. He has appeared on other food programmes because his day job is head pastry chef at Raymond Blancâs hotel Le Manior aux QuatâSaisons in Oxfordshire. His demeanour came across as him being a fair and nice person. Certainly not abrasive.
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I donât know where youâre located but in the US I watched all the Canadian seasons on Daily Motion. Also watched quite a few seasons of Great British Menu.
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London about 80 miles from where the Bake Off tent is pitched which means I get to watch all GBBO seasons as they are first broadcast by Channel 4 or originally BBC. Although I typically wait 20 minutes before watching it so I can skip over the intrusive ad breaks. C4âs catch up/on demand service renumbers the series; their series 1 is actually series 8. The UK version of Food Network(*) repeats the show almost every day from (the true) series 1 through, at least, series 10. I once pitched to be on the show but the production company never responded.
I dip into Great British Menu occasionally but some of their anniversary choices have been a little too far-fetched for me and donât always capture my attention. The return of a few of the competitors from year to year also puts me off; nothing wrong in the chefsâs abilities per se but unlike GBBO there isnât the fun of watching complete unknowns develop their skills week-on-week. Plus Great British Menu runs every week night for upto 10 weeks rather than once-a-week.
(*) Unfortunately Food Network forces any UK web visitor to their UK web site which means viewers cannot get support material for any of their US show even when broadcast in the UK.
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We gave up with that as well, during the third series, IIRC.
For this last season, I basically just watched the final episodes instead of slogging through all those regions and different chefs. Iâm always amazed that they brought on a judge, Tom Kerridge that canât eat shellfish so chefs have to make a separate dish for him. Really like Andi Oliver.
I agree about Mel and Sue but to me its less about the comedy than the lack of support to the contestants which Matt and to a lesser degree Noel gave - In addition to being more weird than funny, I felt they were needling already nervous bakers a lot of the time. With Mel and Sue you knew they were on the bakersâ sides.
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Agreed. I also love that o keep the cameras away Mel and Sue would begin swearing in front of contestants (it would be unusable footage). That said, I think thereâs a teasing sensibility over here that doesnât play with Americans.
While those of us who grew to like him can continue to mourn his absence
