The Biscuits Are Underbaked in 'The Great British Baking Show' Season 16

Biscuit week opens with no skit welcoming us to The Great British Baking Show, just a drone flyover of the small river that runs through Welford Park in Berkshire. I think this is the first time the show has used drones for casual filming shots, and for TV geeks like me, that's enough of a cool opening. There have also been episodes (especially since Season 13) where there was no opening sketch. But I have a feeling that many American viewers are going to ask if Netflix cut something for being "too British." (This has happened before, such as when GBBO did an opening in which former host Matt Lucas made fun of then-PM Boris Johnson.)

But no, instead, we dive right into this week's challenges, all of which are about cookies, errr biscuits. In fairness, British biscuits tend to be much crunchier than American cookies, which is why the second week of Baking Show sometimes feels like an exercise in watching people bake things that seem more akin to a cookie's first cousin. (Those weird soft Chewy Chips Ahoy can stay right over here with us, thanks very much.) I am also pretty sure that's partly why neither PBS nor Netflix has ever pushed to Americanize the challenge for the U.S. broadcast.

(Listen, the hosts literally have to tape everything twice anyway, once saying "The Great British Bake Off" and once saying "The Great British Baking Show" because Pillsbury are jerkfaces. It would not take much also to have everyone say "Cookie Week" on Episode 2's second pass.)