I like TV shows that I call gentle competition shows. It started with the OG Great British Baking Show or whatever it was called when Mel and Sue were hosting it. I adored them because they had an obvious synergy (you can’t fake it, and they had been friends for decades), and the format was fresh and new at the time. I really loved that they would cuss or start mentioning brand names whenver a competitor was having a bad moment (melting down, crying, etc.) so that it could not be used in the show. I loved that bit of information when I read it (they were protecting the competitors), and I was so upset when they were fucked over by…the BBC? Is that who owns the show?
I hated the new people and never watched the show again. Luckily for me, the show spawned a spate of imitators, a few that were good, but most of them were middling to utter horseshit. Why? I’ll get to that in a second.
I like the gentle competition shows because they showcase creativity in a way that is competitive, but not cutthroat. I prefer when they highlight the creative art itself and not just throw around tired old jokes and try to make the task outrageous.
One of my favorite of these shows is Blown Away, which is about glass art. In the last season, though, they made a few big changes that made me lift an eyebrow. They got rid of the host who I lked a great deal and replaced him with Hunter March, who used to host Sugar Rush (another one of these shows. This probably means that game isn’t coming back).
Here’s the thing. I love Hunter March. I think he is one of the better hosts of these kind of shows, even though some of the things he says is cringy. I don’t blame him because I’m sure it’s the scriptwriters’ fault.
Side note: That is one of my big criticisms about these shows. The humor is way too forced. I don’t need slapdash and five jokes a second. I would rather they just CTFO and let the contestants do their thing in relative peace. I know that’s not good TV, but it would do more for my nerves and my brain. I also don’t understand why they often have a comedian as the host, but I have accepted that this is just the way it’ll be.
The other thing I didn’t like about the last season of Blown Away was that they placed an emphasis on making everything bigger, grander, and more explosive (metaphorically). They went more for the wow factor and less about the actual art (which I think is why they got rid of the last host). It felt rather shallow and didn’t have the same heft as it did in the previous seasons. It’s not Taylor’s fault as he’s as good as he ever is. Katherine Gray, the head judge is phenomenal. It’s just felt that the powers-that-be were more focused on the numbers rather than the show itself.