Next great baker - are you watching?

I have watched, reluctantly, because there are so few cake shows on in my area.  This is barely a cake show, it's a soap opera.  And I say that sadly because I really WANT it to be good.  I feel for James Brown and pray he gets better too.  But that is not about making a cake!  And who goes on a show like that who has no experience in a tall cake, no idea how to make a cake move, no experience modeling. (Apparently 99.9% of them!) Have they never heard of Buddy?  And Buddy is often mean and that's too bad too because I do like him and he runs a successful operation and is creative and skillful.  But if there was something on opposite this show that was actually about baking or decorating I would watch the other in a heartbeat!

I found the bit about dumping the last-to-arrive contestant's cake into the trash sight unseen offensive.  Knowing the streets of NYC is NOT a prerequisite to be a Great Baker.

But clearly the series is all about Buddy and not about baking at all.

I was watching also. I, too feel badly for James Brown. He seemed like a very nice man.  My prayers are for him and his family.  My brother has just found out he also has a brain tumor in his head which they say is benign. So it kind of hit home with me when he spoke about his brain tumor.  My brother is waiting until the first of the year also to have surgery.  My brother's tumor is pressing against his brain stem and he has a lot of headaches all of the time. 

Buddy should have tried everybody's dessert.  If I recall he had said the very first person who showed up he would taste their desert but it seemed like to me he did not taste the first woman's who made some kind of chocolate bark.  I guess he thought she went the easy route making chocolate bark.  I will be watching again next week for episode three.  I do hate the way they throw the cakes into the garbage. They sure waste a lot of cake but I guess they think it makes the show more exciting.

Want to watch some REALLY GOOD TV? My tax dollars paid for this and I'm proud of it.  

They had to fill the hockey-less season and this is what us Canucks came up with:

http://www.cbc.ca/titanic/episodes/

Please watch them in sequence from #101 through #112.  You can't download but you can stream them all in full screen.  Commercials have been cut down substantially.

After this series, good ol' Buddy V looks like some hack who just likes to throw other peoples cake decorating efforts into trash bins...

Quote:

Originally Posted by remnant3333 

 

Buddy should have tried everybody's dessert.  If I recall he had said the very first person who showed up he would taste their desert but it seemed like to me he did not taste the first woman's who made some kind of chocolate bark.  I guess he thought she went the easy route making chocolate bark.  I will be watching again next week for episode three.  I do hate the way they throw the cakes into the garbage. They sure waste a lot of cake but I guess they think it makes the show more exciting.

In light of the widespread devastation of Hurricane Sandy, Buddy's cake business looks real bad with the new season's first two episodes.  All those flower cakes in episode 2 could have gone onto a "do-over" shelf where the problems would be picked off and the plain covered cakes donated to a soup kitchen or shelter.

You see, in real bakeries, the very first number one lesson is DO NOT FEED THE GARBAGE. You make sure the employees bake by a timer so that they waste as few goods as possible.  You monitor stock rotation, storage temperature, and all those other boring things because that's how you keep the business profitable and therefore how you keep people employed. 

I am not a fan of this show, it is just to scripted. I miss Amazing Wedding Cakes :(

I don't and won't watch it. I liked Amazing Wedding Cakes too, at least you could see some techniques etc.

When they first started advertising for competitors I seem to remember that they were looking for amateurs. I think that they probably had to extend it to professionals because they couldn't get people to agree to stay in New Jersy on their own dime for two months. One of my friends was called by the producers and went through a bunch of questioning before they told her oh, by the way, you need to be in New Jersy for X amount of itme, and you have to pay for it yourself. She passed on the "honor." I'll bet that a lot of business owners would do it because they think it will get them a lot of publicity. Which it won't, but whatever.

I'm not a fan of the show...but I watch it because I'm cake obsessed.   I would watch rather watch amateurs compete.    To watch some of these "owners" of a shop makes me shake their head.    Their skill level, to me, as OWNERS and EXPERIENCED decorators is way below par.    I can't stand the drama....but I guess that's what exists today on reality shows.    I am glad Chad went home because I cannot stand arrogant people.  He loved to toot his horn and that is such a turn off to me.  Ashley is a hot head....but she is young.    I hope she wins.  

Quote:

Originally Posted by Claire138 

I watch it bc i'm cake obsessed too and I always think I can learn something (sometimes yes sometimes no). Thanks costumeczar for the explanation, I still don't really get it even less so now that you've said they have to pay their own way. What is the point? do people really look up these bakeries and go there?

None of my cake friends watch the show, and I don't think any of them would want to go participate. I don't understand how someone can just pack up and stay somewhere for two or three months...Don't they have businesses to run? So they either have left their booked business to someone else, or they didn't have any to begin with, which makes me real confident in how successful they are.

I really think that people are convinced they'll be the next big thing to be "discovered" and they'll end up with a big tv show contract if they go on these shows.

I stopped watching it.  Buddy comes off as a mean know it all.  I saw him on stage recently in Massachusetts - everything that could go wrong with the show, did -  but he remained calm and entertained us with stories.............brilliantly and artfully told so I KNOW he's not mean.  Why does he think he has to act that way to keep the audiences attention.  I want Charm City back...............or any other cake show.  My vote is to sent Buddy to the Box Truck for a little ride. 

All you have to do is see how much money there is in being the 'drama queen', those are the people that get their own shows and apart from the money that brings in, look how many people go to these bakeries and cake shops once they're featured on a show. I don't think Georgetown Cupcakes for example would be so big if they hadn't been on tv, and their show only works because of the drama.