D.C. Cupcakes premiered on Friday while Y&H was busy doing more important things. Like testing my muscle reflexes with a dull pick-ax.

But plenty of others watched the back-to-back episodes on TLC, and the early reviews of the behind-the-scenes series on Georgetown Cupcake aren’t pretty:

• WaPo‘s Hank Stuever wants more, you know, reality from his reality TV: “Ovens simmer and cocoa powder streaks faces, but “D.C. Cupcakes” is marred by the cardinal sin of reality TV: Its subjects are all too aware of the conventions, pantomiming reality in the service of reality.”

• Jezebel sees nothing but lies, lies, lies: “D.C. Cupcakes, on the other hand, is the worst kind of TLC reality: every single aspect of this show seems fake and forced, with the exception of the cupcakes themselves, which actually look pretty good, and would probably look better if they weren’t surrounded by a pile of LIES.”
• Tampa Bay Online wants more blood, less baked goods: “It’s a fun show to watch, especially if you’re hormonal and craving baked goods. But oh, how I long for the simpler days when there were more “Law & Order” episodes on per week than cake and cupcake shows.”
• The Fab Empire wants a few less cue cards: “Although we all know that most reality shows are still based on some sort of script, the sisters, who seem much more interesting than what actually happens inside a bakery, seemed to be actually reading from the script. A friend who watched with me said, “They just seem so out of place inside the kitchen. Do they actually still bake there?”
• The DC Urban Moms and Dads forum wasn’t so nurturing: “I can’t believe TLC actually thought what they aired was entertaining. I was actually looking forward to watching this because of its local draw, but found myself constantly walking off to do things around the house because I was so bored!”