<\/p>\n
The glorious return of The Great British Baking Show<\/i>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n The best part of The Office <\/i>spinoff.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n Actually liking Meghan Markle\u2019s show.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n The best casting news ever.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n All roads lead to Sex and the City<\/i>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n There is a viral video trend that keeps surfacing on my social media timelines, where people are dared to try to evade employees and security and spend the night in places like Wal-Mart, IKEA, and movie theaters.<\/p>\n I have no idea why these keep being served to me, except for maybe the algorithm somehow senses my deep desire to escape from the horror that is \u201creal life\u201d right now. Except, if it was up to me, I wouldn\u2019t be trying to sneak my way into an IKEA, as much of an affinity as I have for modular furniture and Swedish meatballs. I would be conning my way in to The<\/i> Great British Baking Show<\/i><\/a>\u2019s tent.<\/p>\n That is my bunker from the storm. My refuge from the terror of today. My safe space.<\/p>\n Every new season, we\u2019re reminded how nice it is to have a TV show that is, just, nice. Yet it still comes as a surprise.<\/p>\n I watched the new season\u2019s premiere on Netflix<\/a> Friday morning, and, as the credits rolled, felt as if 20 pounds had been lifted off my shoulders. A sort of ever-present headache that I\u2019ve had for the last year remarkably, if only briefly, subsided. For one hour, I didn\u2019t check my phone and, as is usually the case, sigh or scream in reaction to some news alert. I was merely just enjoying myself, stress-free, watching charming Brits bake Swiss rolls.<\/p>\n Since becoming a reality TV phenomenon over a decade ago, when the then-BBC series made its way to PBS in the States, before switching over to Channel Four and Netflix, the series has made \u201cisn\u2019t this nice?\u201d its entire brand.<\/p>\n Sure, there have been controversies over the years, as happens to any show that becomes popular\u2014even one as bucolic as The Great British Baking Show<\/i>.<\/p>\n There was the cast turnover, via protest, when the series left the BBC. There were the Matt Lucas years<\/a> (shudder). Let\u2019s not forget the not-so-vague racism on display during the Mexico-themed challenge<\/a>, or the uproar over whether the show was favoring hot, telegenic contestants.<\/p>\n But the episode that arrived Friday is the show at its best version of itself.<\/p>\nNo Soggy Bottoms Allowed! <\/b><\/h2>\n