After four seasons on broadcast network television, ABC decided to cancel the primetime music drama, “Nashville.” The reaction was swift and predictable… thousands of broken-hearted fans took to social media in an outpouring of love and support for the show. For a while, it was touch-and-go until the cable network, CMT, announced it would pick up the show for a fifth season, airing twenty-plus new episodes at the start of 2017. And now the bittersweet news for all die-hard “Nashville” fans: the sixth season beginning January 4^th, 2018 will be its last.

Great college football games have always been a staple of ad-supported cable television, and make no mistake about it… ESPN is the “stapler.” Out of something like 40 College Bowl Games last season (2016-17), ESPN carried over three-quarters of them, delivering a solid Live average U.S. household rating of 2.6 (and a 5.8 share.)

“Home for the holidays” conjures many images, and when it comes to watching television during the month of December, that image is probably ad-supported cable television, which accrues over 80% of all gross impressions associated with holiday-themed TV programming.

Has our country gone a little dessert-crazy? I’m not referring to the gradual increase in our collective waist size, but rather the sheer number of current TV shows and specials devoted to a growing array of sweet delectables. According to the fascinating blog site, “Pastry Sampler,” there are dozens of such savory shows across several cable networks, including Food Network’s, “Cake Wars,” the subject of this blog, which is not to be confused by its predecessor show, “Cupcake Wars,” nor “Cake Masters” nor “Cake Boss.”