:) No worries Flippy, and I hope no offense was taken. Personally, I still can't stomach sitcoms with laugh tracks or studio audiences. Each to his own!

Also worth noting is that while all of those things are part of reality TV creation, they can still be done with varying degree of skill that help or distract from the suspension of disbelief necessary.

Haven't seen the show in question so no comment, but it is possible they are worse at handling those aspects than other shows.

I'd say it's a shame about Ryan but in the end, he turned out to be the wrong kind of artist for the show. He did prove himself a literalist, which is great for his line of work. I mean, really? Drawings that look like children's drawings?

I was rooting for that chick to go, since she can't possibly create art if it doesn't have a picture of her naked in it. Oh well, one more week, and I'm sure she'll go soon.

Actually, I found the naked chicks art to be the most aesthetically appealing - even if devoid of meaning. I wish I could see the winning pieces in person - on screen they both looked a mess, but as installations I'm sure they were much more engaging in person.

I was hoping Ryan would take what his mom envisioned and create his version of Watch Tower Art, that would have been awesome, and I think something his style could translate into a potentially compelling work.

I agree, Ryan should have gone for broke exploring his Jehovah's Witness background. I know I was rooting for his ouster a few weeks back, but now that he's gone, I'm kinda sorry. I laughed at his comment about how he carefully dishevels his hair. Hey, a poser gains a lot of charm by admitting as much. (I should know)

I was very much hoping for Jaclyn to lose this time. And I still can't stand Miles, but his duct tape squares and rubber band ball piece really did look pretty cool.

Alas, next week is another team challenge.

It was really interesting how so many of them struggled with this particular challenge. In Top Chef they do this challenge a lot - "make a dish inspired by the moment you decided to be a chef" - and it never throws them for a loop, they just take a dish they made with their mom growing up or a dish they learned in college or whatever and make it fancy shmancy.

On this show so many crashed and burned, and I blame it on the distracting nature of the materials they had to work with. If they were allowed to use the studio instead we might have seen better work from everyone.

I don't know, food-wise you can be quite literal for the inspiration whereas here, taking things literally is a strike against as the critics are looking for things more evocative of the feelings of those turning moments.

I guess...though if you turned out food that looked and tasted like it was made by a 5 year old it wouldn't work either.

I'd argue that you could recall a project you did at a young age and redo it as an accomplished adult....but who knows if that would work.

Yeah, the comparison isn't very good. I do think the materials threw them. I was a bit pissed that Miles just shut down, did a repeat piece and flew under the radar. I don't know why such an abstract piece worked for the challenge. Perhaps only because the others had such trouble.

On it's face, "do art regarding your experiences when <blank>" shouldn't be too tall an order, especially on a topic as broad as growing up.

I would have liked to see someone do a childlike drawing side by side with an adult masterpiece version of the same thing.

I also think that guy that did all the drawings laid out in a grid, might have gone over better if he had in some way highlighted the three that meant something to him, perhaps put those three in colorful frames or something?

I'd like to see them do a challenge, get the critique, and then get a second chance at the challenge, and have the choice to either improve what they did, or take a new approach.

That's pretty much what Simon does. I think a bunch of artists changed direction after his comments in this last round.