Not surprising at all, but CBS will continue to air its Australian import, NCIS: Sydney for its second season, despite already having two NCIS shows, and currently in development on two more. Fun fact, this entire franchise only exists thanks to a series being rescued from cancellation. Possibly the smartest “save our show” ever has turned out to be CBS picking up JAG after it was cancelled at NBC after one season. Without that, they wouldn’t have had the long and successful run of the original show, nor would they have NCIS, NCIS Los Angeles, NCIS New Orleans, NCIS Hawaii, NCIS Sydney, and the future NCIS Origins, and the spinoff centered around Tony and Ziva. Hopefully someone at NBC gets shamed on a regular basis.
The Gentleman (Netflix) continued offering its own brand of tv Guy Ritchie, with some quirky crime characters, and it is mostly working for me. This episode featured the need to steal a car from someone a little too dangerous to be stealing from. the audio description is good, and I love hearing “spliff” being used a lot because this is UK audio description. It makes pot smoking feel somehow more exotic.
The Completely Made Up Adventures Of Dick Turpin (Apple plus) is still a show I cannot recommend enough. With some terrific audio description from Tansy Alexander, this is one of the funniest shows I’ve seen in a long time. And with a cast of lesser known actors, it is a show where the strength comes out in the writing, since this wasn’t built around a specific comedic talent. It’s a delightful show, and the second episode featuring a coach that is unrobbable was well narrated to boot.
Tracker (Paramount Plus) returned after having a week off, and Justin Hartley was immediately on the case again. Since this is slipping into the territory of procedural, each episode is going to work a different way. He’s not always looking for a missing person, or rescuing a kid. They are showing how the series would last in terms of longevity, and it isn’t that far removed from the Quantum Leap reboot. It does have some really solid description from the Media Access Group, though I hate that the narration is constantly reminding me of how I can turn it off (assuming I got there by mistake). Only CBS does this.
Mr and Mrs Smith (Amazon) wraps its first season with a totally ambiguous ending, so there’s no hint at what Season 2 might look like. Not to be too dramatic, but this show could actually have new leads in the next season. That’s how much of a cliffhanger we get. Ingir Tudor does some nice work on the audio description for this show, as it is easily one of the better described shows. Lots of attention to detail in the series finale, including a really well described home office in the neighbor’s house, the importance of putting down your toilet seat, that poor cat, and an excellent chase sequence, as well as another extended fight sequence inside a home. From pointing out that John selects a specially titled playlist, to what is playing on the television in the living room, there’s so much detail here. Really great work this season.
Ingir Tudor also does the narration for The Equalizer (Paramount Plus), which invited Mike Epps to guest star this week, in a role that I really could see become recurring. He’s a big enough name, he could stick around to help draw eyes to the show, or maybe this was just a one off for him. Either way, this show has solid audio description, and it has a fair share of hand to hand combat as well. I think of the shows Ms. Tudor described that I watched today, Mr and Mrs Smith has more dynamic audio description, but this is sufficient. It just happens to also be a CBS show, so it has to waste time telling me how I can turn it off.
In “catch up” world, I did another episode of Mr Robot (Amazon), which does have audio description. I’m at a point where the cliffhanger might reveal a secret about Mr Robot himself, but if he turns out to be Rami Malek’s father, I’m out. Malek and Slater are only 12 years apart in age. So whatever that picture inferred… it better not be that.
And I don’t usually mention the non-audio described content, but I am rewatching 8 Simple Rules on Disney Plus, and I just reached “that episode”. It is really well done for a sitcom, and Katey Sagal does some heavy lifting. I’ve long been a fan of hers, but she’s often undervalued as an actress. An emotional hour of television, to be sure. Kaley Cuoco actually isn’t that bad either, and this is where we pick up James Garner. Legendary James Garner.
