TM and GBBO: Why Good Things Must End (I Guess)

Both Taskmaster (TM) and Great British Bake-Off  (GBBO) had their finals on Friday and I'm over here wondering what I'm going to do with my Fridays for the rest of my life.  

I'm going to try to remain spoiler-free, but who even knows what a spoiler is these days, so be aware.

The contestants on Taskmaster were wonderful this season.  

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1) Victoria Coren Mitchell (VCM) is so smart and was so unable to undo the impression that the Taskmaster had that she was incapable of everyday tasks that she was unfairly underscored throughout the entire season. Highlights of her season include basically solving a puzzle by herself while her teammate patiently allowed her to run roughshod over him and her learning how to ride a bike during a task. 

2) Morgana Robinson was just a bundle of hysterical chaos. From the first task when she called the Taskmaster's assistant a filthy name to the last task when she dressed up as a sex-crazed mermaid, it was impossible to take your eyes off of her.  

3) Guz Khan is absolutely hysterical and his ability to sell anything to the Taskmaster was pure genius - VCM should have learned something from Guz, but she never quite pulled it off.  At one point, Greg asked him if he had ever been in sales and he admitted he had and it was just the best.

4) Desiree Burch is an American woman and absolutely the star of the show as far as I was concerned. She was so very good at prize tasks, from her first prize task of a beautiful chaise lounge to the last one of a air dancer, she got full marks for the prize task in 6/10 episodes.  And let's not forget the time she ate sand or pounded a drink without closing her mouth in seven seconds.  Desiree was not someone I was familiar with before this show, but now I'm a huge fan.

5) Alan Davies just looked like he had so much fun during the whole show. Even when he was failing miserably at a task, he was just laughing and smiling. There was a really sweet moment when he was creating a scene with toys in a bathtub and Desiree offhandedly said "he must be a really good dad" and he just looked so chuffed. I enjoyed his whole vibe. He was VCM's partner in the task when she was solving a riddle and he had half the answer, but he was just so patient with her. I bet he IS a good dad.

But the tasks were a bit lackluster, to be honest. There weren't a lot of tasks in which the contestants could just do whatever they wanted.  Most of them were pretty set (watch Alex do a dance twice and then complete the dance, using these tools pop the balloon, get a chair into the tower room, etc.) and the thing that made them funny was that the contestants were funny.  Whatever. A not-great season of TM is better than most television, I think.

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The Great British Bake Off had many highs and lows. The contestants were absolutely fabulous and so nice and kind and I loved it when they helped each other, particularly when the German guy would teach the young kids things. I have nothing negative to say about the contestants, particularly given that they were away from their families and friends for such an extended period of time.  It couldn't have bene easy to live in a baking bubble like that.

But basically everything else about this season was terrible. I hate that "earning" a Hollywood handshake is equivalent to earning star baker or winning a technical. It seems that performance in the technical challenge is no longer evaluated in terms of who should go home (episode nine, *ahem*).  I'm not sure why they even bother with them if they're just going to ignore them in judging.

And then there is the problem of the hosts. I was recently watching an earlier season with Mel and Sue and those two were such geniuses at doing little gags that were a) funny b) food-related, and c) uplifted the bakers.  Maybe Sue grabs the spatula with something yummy on it and tells Mel how delicious it is as she's keeping it away from Mel, maybe Mel puts the bakes in her pocket because she wants to eat it later, or maybe they just stand and watch the bakers watch the cakes in the oven and ask the bakers what they are watching for.  

Noel and Matt don't seem to give a rat's ass about food. I've never seen either one of them "sample" a bake.  Maybe this is a COVID restriction, but they don't even ask about food, either. They ask the bakers to talk trash about bakers, predict things, and then do these never-ending bits and skits that seem to distract the bakers from what they're doing. They don't ask about technique or what they're doing or what their ideas are.  I have historically liked Noel Fielding (a Taskmaster alum, *natch*), but I found him quite nasty in the last two episodes of the season. I honestly left the season thinking that if they don't get new hosts, I might not watch the next season.  How can this be?! How can it go from appointment television to I can't watch these two fools be mean/distracting to the bakers so quickly?!  

So that's that. I am currently rewatching GBBO episodes of old with Mel, Sue, and Mary, but what will I watch when I'm done with that? Probably nothing, to be honest. I'll just read all the time.  Be prepared for more book reviews!