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The Cake Boss really hit em with the "you can't catch me, I'm the gingerbread man!"

"You can't arrest me! I'm the Cake Boss™!" is easily the most powerful thing ever exit the lips of a mortal human

I love how TLC made a whole show about straight couples who don't know bisexuals exist

Cake Boss is one of those shows that you enjoy as a kid, because you know, cakes and sugar and stuff. Then as you grow older, the more problematic you notice it to be. Mostly because of Buddy. I lost count how many times I felt sorry for his wife and kids to having to deal with Buddy and his family. They seem like... a lot, and not in a good way.

I said to myself "there is no way this is a real show" nine times during this video only to be absolutely SHOCKED that it was in fact a real show

You forgot the show about adults adopting adults, which had one creep in it looking for adopting young pregnant women because he was attracted to them, and his wife went along with it. It was suddenly canceled a few episodes in and tlc deleted all videos related to it without any anouncement. There were rumours going around that the creep was being investigated for human trafficking, so...

They need a show called "my average addiction" and just follows a guy living his day ripping lines and doing whipits.

I went to buddy’s bakery in New Jersey in 2016. I stepped in. Everything looked both inedible, as well as it physically looked dry. I got a 6 pack of chocolate covered strawberries and had to throw them away because they were dry as sand. How on earth did he make a dry strawberry

I've always hated how blatantly sexist Buddy is. Every time he has to make a cake for a woman, you'd see him have the interview about what they wanted on the cake (non specific, just general example, "My daughter likes dinosaurs, make my kid a cake with dinosaurs"), he'd immediately go "Eh, it's a woman! Woman, they likes the purses and shoes and make up, I go make a cake with a giant purse and glittery make up on it! They'll love it cus that's what woman want!" And then the client would see the cake and be like "wtf? I said dinosaurs?" and be upset and Buddy would be like "not my fault, it's woman, have to make what woman like and woman like purse, shoe, make up! I give you exactly what you want!" and ugh, obnoxious sexist ass.

"i don't feel like i fit the mold of guys that are attracted to other men... other than my deep and abiding love of showtunes. and my attraction to males." how is this not like a self aware joke, i have been wheeze laughing for 3 minutes at this singular line.

Golden Gate funeral home (on Best Funeral Ever) was actually sued by 17 families for desecrating remains. They switched bodies at funerals, returned the wrong ashes, combined ashes into urns, spread ashes without the family's permission, filled an urn with pebbles, disposed of bodies without permission, and just generally taken awful care of the bodies. So, I can confidently say they actually did the WORST funerals ever

that tongue kiss absolutely broke me. I need therapy now.

Someone needs to put TV Channels like *TLC, MTV, Animal Planet* and *The History Channel* in rehab because they are straight up Unrecognizable nowadays.

Having TLC rapidly covered and dissected is stressful.

I honestly didn’t even know until like a year ago that “TLC” meant The Learning Channel. I thought they meant that everyone on the channel needed a little “TLC” (tender loving care) but they don’t.

My mom grew up near Amish Country in Lancaster, PA and one thing she told me was to not take pictures of them when we visited because it went against their religious beliefs. Now this makes me think that no actual Amish person would agree to be on camera if they don’t even want visitors to take pictures

My husband is not gay is particularly evil. As someone who grew up gay in mostly Mormon Utah county and hung out in a lot of queer chatrooms and spaces at the time (late 2000s early 2010s especially) I had to help talk someone down for the edge of completing suicide once or twice a month at least and wasn't always successful. The social pressures to conform and pretend to be straight there have a real human cost and covering people teeing themselves up for total crisis like it's a victorian freak show is so low and despicable I can't describe it.

I'm partially convinced that someone on the executive board was just inserting their own disgusting fetishes into TLC's programming lineup. Especially with the family, dating, and medical shows. Wouldn't be the first time, right Nickelodeon?

My paternal grandmother was late to her own funeral because my maternal uncle (who was also her mortician) drove her old school bus run in honor of her.

As an European,it's crazy that the only show I know and follow, 90 day fiance, is one of the LEAST crazy show they have

You’d be surprised how common it is to not have regular periods. Things like low weight/low body fat, PCOS, and others can cause people to go several months without having a period even if they are not pregnant. That’s just some people’s “normal.”

Watching milf manor with friends and beer was unquestionably the greatest bonding experience I’ve ever experienced. It was hilarious, it was god awful, it changed us.

Jon and Kate Plus 8 was definitely a big show for TLC, but I'm kind of amazed at how brief the Duggars mention was when the entire network really blew up because of all the X Kids and Counting specials and show.

it’s really worth remembering that the guy responsible for making TLC into what it is, David Zaslav, is literally the guy who is destroying HBO/Max/what used to be Viacom right now

Toddlers & Tiaras is honestly just so sad to watch because you see these happy, care free girls, most of whom aren't any older than 4, slowly get beaten down by the world of pageants and their own mothers

As someone whose family was traumatically torn apart because my Mormon mom tried to convince my dad that he’s not gay, “My Husband’s Not Gay” is a fucking heinous concept.

Ok but why did I tear up a bit watching that casket go kart around the track?? It was weirdly beautiful to know that someone was so loved, their loved ones pretty much put on a circus with their rotting corpse just to have one last good memory with them. It was also really funny. I wish America wasn't so afraid of talking about the basic facts of life, like death, so we could have more fun, slightly morbid, but in the end kind of beautiful shows like that.

My mom grew up near Amish country in Pennsylvania and what should’ve immediately tipped people off that it isn’t real is Amish people don’t take photos of each other, let alone go on camera for TV. Like I once saw an actual Amish person interviewed on TV and he had his back to the camera

i always thought TLC stood for "tender loving care" when i was growing up because of how it focused on random families. 'the learning channel' makes even less sense

So the my obsession episode 'I'm a living doll' was full blown fake. She was actually just a Lolita that just wanted to get the fashion on national television to hopefully get more people into it. But they purposely edited her to sound as creepy as possible. Not to mention the what not to wear episode that completely shat on the fashion because their victim didn't have a full coord (coordinated outfit) yet.

I'm old enough to remember when TLC used to actually educate or inform. DIYs, ERs, Birthing Story, Interior Design Renovations, etc. It is so gross now, exploiting poverty, women and children.

i was on a tlc show as a kid! my family had an episode on The Baby Story for my little sisters birth. tbh i dont remember much of the filming, so i couldnt say what the crew was like, but i had fun! my dad was a little annoyed because they selected specific clips and editted in a way that made him look a certain way, but other than that everyone in my family is pretty happy about it.

That one about gay Mormon dudes who won't acknowledge that they're gay isn't actually so weird. In one of my classes for my sociology bachelor's, we read a study from the 70s about men who were doing this same exact thing, telling the person running the study why they weren't gay for x reason even though they all slept with other men. The reasons ranged from "I love my wife and children," to "I am not promiscuous," to "Other people like and respect me," etc. The point of the study was about the power of stereotypes to inform our worldview, really fascinating stuff

"Imagine your job coercing you to make major life decisions like this." Billiam hasn't heard the story of the studio trying to force Adam West's Robin to chemically castrate himself cause his bulge was too big on camera and got the religious angry. And that the only reason it didn't happen was because Adam West raised hell.

About the cake thing, decorative cakes are usually MEANT to be little to no actual cake. Wedding cakes are also usually fake or mostly fake and they have just a small section of real cake. Then guests are served sheet cake

33:49 I just love this. Just today I took part in an emergency operation where the patient unfortunately regained conciousness during the procedure. It happens far more often than people think... and it's far more terrifying than what's shown there. Patients don't wake up, screaming like crazy and pushing up their limbs. Instead their eyes open extremely slowly, while they begin to make extremely unusual and loud moaning sounds. Their eyes usually don't open past 50% but you still see the extreme shock and fear slowly creeping up on the patient, who's heart will then rapidly increase its BPM by about 300% (from a usual 60BPM during unconciousness to 180-200BPM in less than 3 seconds); the monitoring turns crazy with alarms and loud pulse noises while the doctors rapidly communicate about pot. ramifications while simultaniously trying to seal or reopen potential vessels to quickly inject more narcotics - meanwhile many nurses talk to the patient, trying to calm him/her, often by softly touching or patting the patient, which often means that the procedure is no longer sterile but contaminated, while other nurses quickly try to assamble needed material that wasn't prepared before, etc..... It's freaking awfull. But luckily, the patient won't remember any of it (if the doc. isn't a complete asshole that's stuck in the 80's and believes that benzos could 'cause a pot. fatal OD... which is utter horseshit ofc). In such an event the patient will recieve a very high dosage of Midazolam (essentially an intended overdose), so that any memory of the past ~30-60min is completely gone. That's why there are extremely rare cases of people actually reporting that they've woken up during a procedure. It may have happened, but you just can't remember it... and you won't be told either (unless there's incompetent staff) to avoid any traumatization, as being told can actually have the effects of certain neuro-links rebuilding and therefore increasing the chance that some snippets of memory may develop.

The way TLC has facilitated or at least sensationalized and funded SO much CSA is horrifying. I’m shocked that this track record hasn’t lead to any kind of shutdown or at least loss of viewers and complete bankruptcy.

the whole honey booboo thing is heartbreaking that it deserves its own separate ice berg at this point - anna is seriously ill and mama june is using that for sympathy, whilst she’s trying to make her other kids look bad for not wanting to talk to her 😭

My mom used to be a professional cake decorator and Baker and she also used fondant. But she always used it very thinly on her cakes and it tasted amazing! She disliked the rice crispy stuff and was always so annoyed they used super thick fondant because that's really amateur... She still bakes privately for us without the fondant and it's great.

it's really notable to me how much TLC appears to specifically prey on people from religious fundamentalist backgrounds or communities. I wonder how that happened

32:27 these are known as "cryptic pregnancies" and yes, it's possible for a mother to not know she's pregnant due to already existing factors in their physiology. even baby kicks can be interpreted as something else, like an already-existing ulcer.

The funeral show sounds pretty nice tbh, I think people deserve the chance to commemorate their dead however they'd like, even if it seems strange

Robert, the guy who blends all his food, was also a contestant on 60 Days In, volunteering to spend two months in prison because he swears inmate have it too easy, and that it would be like a resort vacation for him. he was the villain of that season, and sent to solitary confinement on his first or second day in for breaking the most basic of rules to try and win the inmates' favor after one of them threatened to beat him

It was only covered briefly, buy I feel the need to point out that Welcome to Plathville is - in my opinion, at least - the clearest depiction of what it is like to come to grips with having a narcissistic parent. Kim plays favorites among her children, takes her own trauma out on everyone around her, and never takes accountability for her own actions. The Plath children are pretty amazing, in that they were kept isolated from the wider world for most of their lives, but continually push at boundaries as soon as they are old enough, when staying in what they know would be the easiest course of action. It gets messy sometimes, yes, but that's what healing looks like for many - one step forward, two steps back.

Was kinda hoping with the 1000lbs sisters, he'd go into their history of being scammers. It'd really drive home how "real and honest" these shows can be

Can confirm TLC is terrible . I have a friend who was on one of the medical shows and not only did the company treat her and her family like shit, cause so much family drama and trap her into doing more episodes, but the doctor she dealt with was one of the worst humans she’s ever met.

i gotta say i was a huge fan of Cake Boss as a kid and i ate at one of the stores in New York and it was very underwhelming, didn't taste like much of anything

The same thing happened to little people big world, the producer had a relationship with the youngest minor of the family and they are still filming that show. All but one of their kids have left the show for good reason

I remember catching this one episode of Toddlers and Tiaras where a girl (might’ve been Honey Boo Boo) runs away crying from the cameras looking for her dad. That was the last time TLC was ever in any TV in my house ngl.

I think there's something to be said about the way Honey Boo Boo was treated back when she was popular. Like I don't what she's doing NOW, but she was just a kid at the height of her popularity. People really went in on her for no reason other than the fact that the show was cringe and weird. But obviously she's not at fault for any of that. I have a feeling that the fact she was fat had a lot to do with it as well.

The “danger scale” very much sounds like “gay panic”.

18:52 "i'm about to demonstrate how to kill my- I'm about to demonstrate how to go to sleep. Forever." that part was the best 😂

untold stories of the ER is a huge guilty pleasure of mine. i prefer when they’re actually talking seriously about the medical topics instead of focusing the cartoonish stuff

I hate the victim blaming conversation that ultimately leads to "they signed up for it"

I loved All-American Muslim. Compared to all the destructive crap they tolerated on that network, it was actually useful in dispelling misconceptions at a very tense time in this nation.

19:00 I have no idea how much of it was real, but she seemed very much like Racist Mommy bc of an ep. where she got angry at the Spanish-speaking contestants for… speaking Spanish. Because she doesn’t speak Spanish. It had massively “you’re in America so speak american” undertones :(

My Big Fat American Gypsy Wedding is an actual show that exists.

I’m so glad someone’s finally speaking the truth about fondant cakes

I'm glad someone else understands why Sonic the Drive In and Sonic the Hedgehog should collaborate. Chili dogs are literally both Sonics' top foods

Thank you for using the superior "Somebody That I Used To Know" remix

man. the way people talk about honey booboo's body has always been so awful. poor little girl got bullied by the world for her weight.

Just wanted to let anyone curious know, that it's absolutely possible to get pregnant without noticing. Some women experience irregularities in their periods for a variety of medical reasons and it can lead to pregnancies being discovered quite late, especially if they did not expect to be fertile because of those irregularities. And even though cases where they do not discover their pregnancy until the day of delivery are indeed quite rare and were most likely faked for the show, even that can happen.

I fully thought the name of the channel being TLC was a joke about being how TLC means Tender Love & Care and because the channel is all about arguing and toxic behaviour they called it that to be ironic

"He pleaded guilty, because he fucking was" LMAO

I worked at TLC right out of college in 2008-2010 and I remember the exact moment I was told by my boss that I had to remove “the learning channel” from everywhere in my presentation because “it’s just TLC now”

I swear I just can’t watch doctor pimple popper. That’s nightmare fuel

I will always remember how everybody supported Rose more than Ed and cheered when she managed to get out of poverty. She definitely is a success story that came out of TLC.

That dude that only drank blended/liquid foods, was on another show years later called 60 days in. Where civilians pretend to be inmates in jail, while he was an absolute nut case he never requested liquid foods 🤨

The medical re-enactment/pregnancy re-enactment shows are honestly the only things of value on TLC. They technically fit the learning channel's old theme. Like sure they're re-enactments, but they are real stories and you do have it explained how these things can happen.

Fundie Fridays is a really good channel that covers a lot of fundamentalist and evangelical Christian stuff that gets aired on TLC and way more, their videos on tlc shows and the plathville videos especially are heartbreaking.

you know tlc wouldn't have my husband's not gay as a show if people understood the concept of bisexuality/pansexuality/omnisexuality

My dad lived in San Diego before he adopted me and he actually went to college with Big Ed. My older sister even had dance classes with his daughter. When the show came out he told me that Ed was a lot more together before his divorce. Makes sense but at a certain point I stop feeling bad for him and more for the people around him.

So for my final project in one of my college classes, we had to write a paper on a subculture, and then we picked a question based on that subculture. I chose reality tv and specifically how does tlc treat their child ‘actors’ and it’s genuinely atrocious. From Kate plus eight (formerly Kate and Jon plus eight) ignoring a court order to not film the children, to the genuinely heart breaking reality of nineteen kids and counting, they do not give a fuck about those children in the slightest. Thanks for filling me in on the other stuff I didn’t have time to look into. Also, as a side note, polyamory and polygamy are different. Polygamy is one person having multiple partners, polyamory is more of a web, or it can be. Also also, Tammy and Amy also started on KZfaq!

One of the producers of return to Amish has also been accused of physical/sexual abuse and misleading cast members by stating they would be given resources they never received. I know some of the former cast members.

You've unlocked countless memories of nights of leaving my tv on TLC... I don't know whether to thank you or curse you.

My dad used to watch Toddlers and Taira’s because it ‘made him feel like a better parent in comparison’ which still makes me feel weird

any kid who grew up around this channel (cause i hope to god they werent actively watching 99% of this and it was just on in the living room) absolutely grew up to have a very particular set of interests as an adult

"Imagine your job coercing you to make major life decisions like this!" They do that every day by making me show up, dude.

I want to say that I’m absolutely positively DEVASTATED that I can’t find any episodes of Mall Cops online 😭 Not even any streaming services! If anyone found any lmk.

Fun fact: the extreme time savers guy at 41:24 is also in season 1 of 60 Days In, the show where they drop 8 "random" people into a jail for 60 days. That show may be worth an entire video on its own

I watched TLC all the time growing up. That and Discovery. They had so many educational programs and the like. This was long before the rebranding, mind you. Now, the channels are a shell of their former selves.

19:38 Imagine this show with Daughters and their Fathers What the hell is wrong with TLC, and their writers? They all have one thing in common, that's for sure.

Not gonna lie, I was flattered when my boys were telling me that I was the “prettiest Mom of all their friends”. But I would never wanna act in a sexual manner in front of them. That’s not only inappropriate but also deranged. We & some of their friends were at a family party & caught me dancing then said “Wow ur Mom got some moves!” Tho they meant it as a compliment, I was mortified.

TLC: “From learning to stupidity”

I used to do a lot of Production Assistant work for the studio that filmed cake boss. They were connected to the actual bakery in Jersey City. I knew so many people that were exhausted with how Buddy Valastro acted on set. I was hired to work on the set of Buddy vs Duff as a PA. I had to meet with Buddy every morning and escort him into the studio. The amount of times he was late was staggering. There was one day where he threw a tantrum on set and the next day didn't arrive until 6 hours after his call time. It was one of the worst shows I've had to work on. Not to mention cleaning up hundreds of pounds of cake that was inedible and all thrown into the dumpster, it was so wasteful and pointless.

At the end of the weight loss series, assuming that part was real, I hope she left him for not being serious or supportive of her journey.

as someone who actively works at the mall of america, the security guards and BPD officers we have right now are absolute gems so i would absolutely love a reboot 😂

I've been trying to remember what turned out to be 'Honey, We're Killing the Kids' for what feels like at least 15 years. Thank you Billiam! I must have seen it when it was on BBC 3.

Sorry to be the one to burst anyone’s bubble who thought the funeral show was wholesome. The idea is super great however the Golden Gate Funeral home in Dallas TX was sued in 2022 by 17 different families for allegedly mishandling their loved one’s remains including cases where families received the wrong cremated remains, receiving a decomposing body during a viewing, and even improper storage of the of the deceased (I recall reading something about bodies being kept in a Uhaul). I haven’t followed up with the case since last year, but the mention of the show brought me back.

TLC has two different phases in my life. The channel that had the not very good kids shows and the occasionally censored/reworked dinosaur documentaries that then had nothing, but boring shows after like 12 pm or something. And current TLC which is a bizarre hell scape of horrible reality shows and worse people.

I could never bring myself to watch more than an episode of those shows. The exploitation was just so palpable. Great video!

Here's to hoping Billiam does a video on the short lived show Adults Adopting Adults and the drama behind the cancellation.

"Is mayonnaise a hair product?" "No, Ed, mayonnaise is not a hair product."

@5:25 I'm friends with a cast member. I can confirm that they do fake story lines

The body builder from the my secret job show may be my middle school health teacher Peter Jablonski, or a dead ringer for him. He was a Venice beach body builder and is notably also featured briefly in the background of the music video for I'm sexy and I know it. He was a weird dude but it is also just as likely he was a paid actor on that specific program. He has sadly passed away though.

Just in case someone else hates fondant cakes as much as Billiam, there's a subreddit for it, r/fondanthate.

For anyone wondering what was bleeped when he was talking about shows like 19 kids and counting, it was sexual assault, cast members sexually assaulted children.

I am so glad that you stated what the FFA stands for in this instance, because I read that quote on screen as if it was the Future Farmers of America and I was incredibly confused

i would absolutely dig more icebergs, but iceberg formats swallow channels so quick so tread lightly if you want to do more of these