I love this show (in part b/c it is indeed so British – and un-American…):
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I"m watching the current BBC season online every week, and watching the PBS airing on Sundays, too. Great article - thank you.
I suppose it’s entirely too much to ask that American producers get a clue about how a talent-based reality show should work…
I LOVE GBBS-- because it’s real – I’m sure it’s edited after the fact, but these are real people with amazing talent – and I love the fact that they’re not out to slit each other’s throats.
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Well, you can’t fault American producers for giving Americans what they seem to be asking for. I blame us as a country for wanting manufactured drama over talent… 
Yes, I love the show b/c it’s got fantastic production values, the hosts are phenomenal, and b/c, as you say, the talent is undeniable. The producers realize the drama is in making the goods themselves, not in pitting people against each other.
@nikkih1: I didn’t realize you can watch the current season on-line! Thanks for the info.
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I adore this show! I’ve already seen the season currently being shown on PBS (had a bit of youtube binge last winter… 
). As I’m blessed with a particularly bad memory, I have no idea who wins. Not that it really matters to me; I just love the interactions between the bakers, and watching how they do things I’m never likely to try.
Last season, when Martha got sent home, I cried. Over a cooking show.
Love this show too, but it’s curious that it’s been renamed as “The Great British Baking Show.” It’s known as “The Great British Bake Off” in the UK. I’ve been catching the current season on YouTube. You can usually find episodes for the current season on Wednesday or Thursday, but they do get taken down pretty quickly though. The final is coming up this week.
I love that they feature real home bakers without the drama malarkey of American reality shows - I’m looking at you American MasterChef. Although there was the unfortunate “bingate” incident last season of the GBBO. Luckily, this season has been free of the drama and has just focused on food, glorious food.
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actually, not curious at all – Pillsbury has owned the Bake-Off rights for a long time now, so BBO has to change its name for the US market to avoid intellectual property issues.
Same thing happened with the excellent series “Spooks” – was renamed as MI5 in the US because the original title is considered a racial slur in the US.
Huh, I had no idea there’s a Pillsbury Bake-Off. Thanks for the info.
Interesting info about Spooks. I used to watch it periodically on YouTube.
@Sunshine842, it’s nice to meet a fellow British TV aficionado.
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For 47 years, no less! But with a top purse of $100,000 – yes, I’ve thought about entering a few times! 
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@Sunshine842, you definitely should enter the Pillsbury Bake-Off!
Alas, baking is not my forte, but I’ve considered entering KCRW’s Good Food Pie Contest - not in hopes of winning, mind you, but just to up my baking skills. http://events.kcrw.com/events/2015/10/4/7th-annual-good-food-pie-contest
I’m an avid home cook, so in my “fantasy world,” I’d enter the UK version MasterChef.
It’s a fantastic show, this is our (wife and I) second season of watching - we just love it.
It’s currently (as of this Sunday on SoCal PBS) down to the final four bakers, and they’re all so good.
I think either Ruby or Kim is going to take the prize! Although I found all of the 3-D cakes that they made to be amazing…
I can’t help but compare Ruby to Martha. Their natures (and constant surprise at their successes) are so similar.
Partner and I were watchind an old episode and realized that there might be some archetypes on the show (including Martha/Ruby)… 
Did anybody catch the first episode of the “Great Holiday Baking Show” (or whatever it’s called)? The show didn’t suffer quite as much as I had anticipated in the trans-Atlantic presentation, although it doesn’t have the heart or charm (or the soft-focus lenses!) of the original.
Fun listicle with factoids about the show.