I was wondering the same thing. Not a huge fan of the daughter, but its probably because I got used to Maryann and Liz together.
As for the sponser ... nice to see someone other than Bernina. Baby Lock makes a good machine. A few of their shows were geared toward attachements that were Bernina attachments, and they failed to show alternate methods. If bernina wants a show ...call if the Bernina show .
Maybe the change could be a good thing. There was still good information but I sometimes found their methods to be lacking in newer techinique(s).