Good news for fans of The Bear! Variety is reporting that as Season 3 of The Bear is ramping up production, Hulu is actually quietly ordering Season 4 so it can be filmed back-to-back. My guess, is the cast is getting popular now, and they have them for this window, so they are trying to film two seasons so they have another to follow even if their top talent are off shooting movies like Fantastic Four.
I started a new show today, the MAX original The Girls On The Bus. As far as pilots go, it was really disappointing. I’m not sure what this show is trying to say, or wants to say, but it lacks the punch of a good political comedy/drama. veep works because it is satirical, and while the characters seem to run into buffoonery as Republicans, the show never presents the other side as being necessarily more competent. The West Wing also pulled off having something to say, while picking a lane, also with a Republican President. Even lighter fare, like The American President, Longshot, Man Of The Year, or high school set Election all have a clear voice, point of view, and reason for existing. All are varying qualities in the end, but I couldn’t tell what this show wanted to be, as it describes itself almost as a political Sex and the City, being this empowering female led show where these girls take the lead. Other shows have done the political angle better, and MAX has had much stronger female led shows before, in Julia and Minx, both of which they abandoned. the audio description was light as it should be for a show that is fluffy with nothing to say, and I don’t have a problem with it. It did let us know about the existence of other races, which does become a plot point, so that’s something. So many shows nowadays are told to avoid narrating or describing race, but this show has a black female Republican journalist who has to make a comment about being a black Republican. It feels like it’s pandering to someone, but again… who? Who is this show made for? Whether you like something like Our Cartoon President, it may have limited its audience, but at least it has a point of view and something to say. This says nothing, and isn’t even female centric enough to have the politics in the background and just make it about these women, their friendship, their sex lives, or whatever, like a political Sex and the City. It just does nothing.
Luckily, Halo (Paramount Plus) does a lot. I gotta say, I don’t know where we are going with this villain, but the only satisfaction we can now get is when Master Chief finally catches up to him and Spartans him to death with an Energy Sword. This episode did some great work once again in its alien descriptions, which are always impressive. I love how it takes them and describes their movements as humanistic as possible. I got a shoutout last week for saying this is the best audio description for a series that I’m currently watching, and based on the new shows I started to watch, I don’t think it has been surpassed. I don’t need a shoutout every week, but my opinion is the same and unchanged. Halo has great audio description, but more importantly I actually think the whole second season is better.
Shogun (Hulu/FX) on the other hand, is struggling. The problem is, there is really good written audio description. But, as a friend described this experience to me, it’s like heading to the theater to see a great play or musical, and finding out only one person is doing all the roles. Hamilton is great, but could you imagine Lin Manuel trying to do all those roles, including the Schuyler Sisters? Angelica, work? In the third episode, the written parts for what is happening on screen is really solid. There’s a body swap done well, and one of the characters fights valiantly against an army in a stunning sequence that has really well written description. but then that one guy, he’s doing all the voices for every character. And, unlike the narrator of Tokyo Vice, he’s not even changing the inflection in his voice. I want so much more for this show.
I’m still watching Choir (Disney Plus), and I know it’s a Disney show, and they have dumb rules, and by Episode 5, I have to accept the fact that the choices made to narrate this show were made at the beginning, and by episode 5, it is what it is. It’s still a fun show, inspirational, and a nice watch for people who like music but aren’t musicians.
And finally, I’m still trying to make The Second Best Hospital In The galaxy (Amazon) happen. It just doesn’t have the wit. i mentioned last time it is similar to an Apple Plus show I hope got renewed, but that show is far more clever. Then again, that show had Dan Harmon. So, maybe that’s why.
