NOWHERE NEAR AS DELICIOUS!

One of the many great series on PBS in past seasons was The Great British Bake Off. In this surprisingly entertaining competition, chefs from all over the British Isles were challenged to bake a variety of delicious pastries for the title of top chef.  The show was fantastic and the icing on the cake was that there were no commercials. Now it seems that ABC has copied this highly successful show including its celebrity moderator/chef Mary Berry in the new The Great American Baking Show.  Those of us who were fans of the show on PBS have no reason to rejoice. ABC, like all three major networks seems to insist on cramming at least 12-15 commercials into every program break. How pleasant will it be to ooh and aah at gloriously conceived, mouth-watering pastries followed by sudden and endless interruptions for laxatives, pharmaceuticals, automobiles, toilet paper, toothpaste, laundry detergent, quit-smoking aids, and other boring and oft-repeated pitches? My guess? Not at all. For some reason or other Americans are willing to be subjected to millions of superfluous commercials every year so that networks CEOs can accumulate extra millions of dollars. I'll never understand why. In the meantime I'll happily watch the superior, commercial-free programs, on PBS, Netflix, and Acorn—though I must admit any pastries I enjoy during these show will probably be store bought.