Who Doesn't Like Cake? "Cake Boss: The Next Great Baker"

It's Go Time!   

The Story:

With the success of Cake Boss, TLC brings back Buddy Valastro and his team to host a reality competition to discover "The Next Great Baker".  A dozen bakers vie for the prize, as week by week another contestant is sent packing.  To the winner comes cash, prizes and a chance to work side by side learning from the man at Carlo's Baker.

Pretty good show.

It's not nearly as good as Cake Boss, but thankfully there is enough of Buddy and the Familia to go around to make the episodes lively.

For the most part, the challenges are pretty good and while sometimes the consequences are devastating to the contestants, Buddy is trying to make a point:

In the baking business, bad things happen.

You've got to be resilient and overcome those challenges if you want to be a success.

I couldn't be happier with the winner from Season 1, who deserved the win.

As for Season 2...

I've yet to find the contestant I'm most rooting for, and it's about halfway done.

The contestants are all much less likable than Season One, and the challenges seem much harder, and meaner.

I'm not sure if it was Buddy or TLC that wanted to spice things up this go round, but it just seems to have a rougher edge to it.

Plus, I can't believe how Buddy has not eliminated one contestant that deserved to go but got stays of execution on more than one occasion.  He's slipping I guess.

: )

This batch of contestants is also much whinier than the first season.

And this just in, the winner has been revealed... and Buddy got it wrong.

Tsk tsk.

Available to stream instantly on Netflix as of this writing.

Final Grade:  B ~ Season One // B-/C+ ~ Season Two

Rewatchability/Purchase Factor: Again, if they stream it, I will watch.  No need to purchase. ;)