Best in Miniature

Created by Kelsey Espensen for CBC, we have a fairly standard reality competition series bringing 10 contestants across 8 episodes, with one eliminated in each, to eventually crown a winner as Best in Miniature and taking home a $10,000 grand prize. As a miniature competition, the artists must first build their own mini house, and then each subsequent episode we see them flesh out a room within, and often telling a story along with their diorama. Hosted by Aba Amuquandoh and judged by Micheal Lambie and Emma Waddell, the hosting was suitable enough, and the judging was pretty good, although I found myself more increasingly disagreeing with their takes as the series went on, and they got more and more critical each season. High emphasis in the later season on "telling a story"; we shift less from who is the best at making realistic miniatures and more into who can craft a narrative around their house, which is neat but a different concept than what I had originally grown to love across the first season. That said, watching all these talented people create was always so inspiring, its honestly amazing some of the things they can do. If you like crafting or these types of series generally, would recommend, was a pretty good one.

This show simply makes me happy. It's calming, positive, and full of creative inspiration - I want to make a dollhouse now. Each competitor is refreshingly unique and incredibly talented (gosh I love Tina and Susette). It's so refreshing to see such a beautiful craft being celebrated on television. And I love the idea of continuing on one project the entire season, each episode focusing on one room of their miniature house.

The judges are kind and encouraging, yet the competition aspect is still engaging. The support that everyone received on their projects made me so happy. I would love to see a second season!!

Loved every bit of this show. I discovered a word I didn't even know existed. It was really calming to watch these artists make such incredible mini rooms. Their creativity was inspiring. Looking forward to season 2!!

I'm not a fan of reality series but this one grabbed me. Everything about it was fun. The individual contestants were engaging, entertaining, funny and all very good sports. Not one of them tried to backstab any other contestant and they all actively helped each other along the way. The projects and the process of making miniatures and what I learned about how many details there are to think about from the scale to the materials to the finishing was all part of the great fun of this series. Very entertaining - just like the miniature worlds created by these artists.

This show is a nice introduction to miniature making, a world of great fun and creativity. Eleven contestants flew to Canada to build their miniature houses and compete for the championship. What's not to love about that?

1. Format (8/10) It is very clear that Best in Miniature is hugely inspired by The Great British Bake Off. What in format originality, the show makes up for it with great execution. Throughout the competition, we get to see the contestants adding details and flairs to their miniature houses. To see their creative visions realized bit by bit is simply gratifying, which I think is very rare in an episodic reality show.

2. Contestants (10/10) A round of applause to the casting director because they did a fantastic job! This is a very fun and eclectic cast with distinctive skillsets and personalities. There are both amateur and professional miniature artists but they are all very different stylistically. An English gentleman with his deadpan humor and a fully painted theatre, a no-nonsense elderly lady who wants to build a tower for her baby dragon, a flamboyant white gay from NY that excels in being sassy and artistic... What's not to love?

3. Host and Judges (7/10) Aba is a great host and an amazing conversationalist! She has good chemistry with all the contestants but knows not to overshadow them. Both judges are well qualified. Micheal is an interior designer and Emma is a professional dollhouse designer. Though they do provide helpful and constructive criticisms, I can't help but feeling they are somewhat skewed towards judges' favorites. Take Emma for instance, she is very particular about the 1:12 scale, which is totally legitimate on its own, but seems to only hold it harshly against one of the contestants and let others off the hook so easily.

4. Production (7/10) It seems that the show has a relatively lean budget compared to GBBO, but the production value does not suffer much. The editing is quite standard for competition reality TV. There are also a lost of confessionals for each contestant, while most of them do feel authentic, some just seem too scripted and homogenous.

What strikes me the most is the cinematography. It manages to capture and mimic the beauty of miniature building. Some overhead and angled shots on set and the elimination sequences for each episode are very tasteful.

Overall (8/10) The show is clearly a labor of love. I greatly enjoy it and binged the whole season in just two days. Kudos to everyone who poured efforts on it and let's hope there's more coming!