Ok. I like watching the Food Network. Some shows are entertaining. Some are informational. But this one? WTH?
I get it. It's a competition style show, but instead of competent chefs being forced to create tasty and attractive food while under a clock and with variable restrictions/requirements/whatever, we have people making cupcakes. With a theme. And ridiculous amounts of time. That's it. Now, starting out with the fact that I'm not a huge cupcake fan (they rank well below bagels and doughnuts in terms of yummy baked(ish) snacks I might eat), my biggest complaint with the show isn't the content, but the fact that it appears that people who make cupcakes are relatively incompetent at actually making cupcakes.
It seems like every single episode I watch, there's at least one team in each round that makes some kind of monumental mistake. I'm not talking about putting together an experimental mix of flavors that doesn't work well or that results in an unintended texture or what have you. No. I'm talking about forgetting basic things required to make a cupcake. Like putting flour, or eggs, or water, or sugar in the damn things. Every. Single. Time. Maybe this is the normal level of competence among bakers and this explains the high prices (how many batches do you suppose they toss out before getting your cake right?). Maybe this is just something about those who go on the show? Dunno.
Seriously drives me crazy though. It's not like I go out of my way to watch it, but every once in awhile, it'll be on, and I'll say "Maybe this time it wont be chock full of incompetent people"? Nope. Hasn't happened yet. I'm actually starting to suspect that they intentionally have a ringer team or two in there, who's whole job is to up the "drama" of the show by giving us a scene where they look at their dough and frantically state "it's not right! Something's wrong with this dough. Did we forget <insert basic cupcake ingredient here>?". To be fair, if they didn't have that drama, it would be an even more monumentally boring show than it already is. I mean, it's baking. Which basically involves mixing things in a bowl and putting it in an oven and then standing around waiting. I suppose that's going to automatically rank lower on the excitement scale compared to shows where people actually actively cook things.
Whew! Got that off my chest. You can now return to your regularly scheduled Asylum.