Even more TV news! And it concerns a show I watched yesterday! Will Trent (Hulu) has been renewed by ABC for Season 3. Not really surprising. The narration can be better. I did figure out that they are creating a multipurpose track that can go anywhere, which is why we keep using torches. but, it is shooting for the bare minimum, with there being times when description might have been nice. For example, when the captain gets dressed up in advance of her press conference, a couple of the cast make reference to that, but we have no idea what she’s wearing. It’s not relevant to the overall plot, but in that moment, it is relevant to the conversation being had. Also, they rescue a random woman we have yet to meet, and when they find her, she’s just referenced by her name and then never seen from or heard from again. No idea what she ever looked like, her age range, ethnicity, weight, hair color, we know nothing about her. I do enjoy this narrator, but the material she’s being given isn’t cutting the mustard. We’ll see what happens in season 3. Middle/Botttom tier.
I started something on Netflix I was told is getting a second season starting soon, Heartbreak High? It’s a British show I had no idea existed, and its about a school where this mural is drawn detailing the sex lives of many of the students, and how it blows up their lives, and how the school deals with it. It’s like Netflix wants the next Sex Education, and between this or Everything Now, they think they’ll find it. Did anyone watch season one? How am i just now finding out about this? Audio description seems to be fine. It introduces a lot of characters in the first episode, which always makes it really difficult, but we got a little bit of description about most of them, even if it was just hairstyle. I’ll keep it in the middle tier.
Constellation (Apple Plus) really started to reveal its weird hand in the 6th episode, which showed us the alternate universe. I believe this is Tansy Alexander, and I think this has had some really good description the whole season. Top tier.
X-Men 97 (Disney plus) also landed its 4th episode, which had jubilee turn 18, and in the back half connected Forge more with Storm, until an owl attacked! Jedidiah Barton and his team at Deluxe do a nice job with this audio description. My only nit picky thing was that Jubilee made a joke about Mojo losing weight, which I didn’t know what that was in reference to, because I had no visual comparison. I know that’s an almost impossible task, because it assumes that we saw Mojo before, or you’d have to describe the before and after, or just tell us if he was slimmed down, and there is no good answer for it. but, it was this weird hanging chad type reference that went nowhere. I also have no answer as to how to have handled this, so this is still Top Tier.
Apples Never Fall (Peacock) also entered its fourth episode, and I just do not like this show. Annette Bening is barely in this. They keep having the kids being centric in the show, but not all of them can act, and some of the side characters aren’t great either. The writing just isn’t that great, and I’m afraid this Apple may fall out of my lineup soon if not now. My one thought, if this is final, is that while the narrator would be fine on thousands of projects, this show needed someone with a darker tone, to match the murder mystery. She is way too happy. Sorry, whoever you are. It’s not personal, but I just would not have chosen this narrator for this particular project.
And lastly, my new pick for Best Audio Description I’m currently Watching. This title was up for grabs after I finished Halo last week, and I hinted it might go this way, but Dave Wallace wins this, and the Point 360 team, including writer Connor DeWolfe. mostly, it’s Dave Wallace who goes above and beyond here. It’s amazing how he uses his voice to really enhance the tone of the show, and what is happening in the moment. His narration is often reflective of what is happening on screen, and there’s so much nuance in his performance. He wouldn’t be able to do it without a great script, and mixing from his team, but Dave Wallace is absolutely moving The Regime into the Best Audio Description right now spot. So, congrats. This isn’t even my favorite show on air, but it is my favorite AD.
