This "Patisserie" SemiFinal is Not-So-Sweet in 'The Great British Baking Show' Season 14

In the before times, when The Great British Baking Show's producers were not quite aware of just how much its American audience was into the series, the show hewed to the British fall TV schedule, which kicks off over the final week of August, as the British do not observe Labor Day Weekend, and concludes in the last week of October, just ahead of the double whammy of November's Guy Fawkes (November 5) and Remembrance Day (November 11). I bring this up because it is only a very recent phenomenon for the series to still be running post-Thanksgiving in the first place (another holiday that Brits do not observe), and this is the first time the competition still has another week to go post-holiday.

I'm not sure this creep down the calendar is actually a good thing for the series. It certainly works for Netflix in terms of marketing; the season finale and The Great British Baking Show: Holidays debut in back-to-back weeks, effectively making last year's Christmas and New Year's Specials a grand finale of sorts for the American public. However, it is one thing for the series to present the Grand Final post-Turkey Day to Americans when they're happily lying around the house looking for something (anything) to watch that will not accidentally cause politics to get raised in conversation. It is quite another to still be in the process of sending people home.

Especially in a season like this one, where Paul continues to force through Dan at the expense of anyone and everyone else, and for whatever reason, the show's editors cannot (or will not) hide that from viewers.