Kicking off today, Girls5Eva (Netflix) is still delightful, and after the 5th episode, I now only have one episode left. I’ve basically been saying the same thing, I think this series does a lot for a half hour comedy in terms of what it is able to include in the audio description, but it is so hard to have a half hour sitcom with truly immersive audio description. Damn, this is close though. Top/Middle tier.
A Gentleman In Moscow (Paramount Plus) continued its excellence in describing the innards of this hotel, as our lead looks to expand now to the roof. The third episode shows even more of how people like him are being torn out of Russia, and his desire to hold a funeral of some kind for the Countess he held so dear that he just found out passed away really was one of many things that showed how cold the revolution had become. This show has excellent audio description, and this show is excellent. Top Tier.
The Good Doctor (Hulu) dealt with its recent cast loss, and had the hospital flooded with victims of a terrorist act. A man drove his truck into a crowd, and the doctors rush to save all the victims.An act of hate, following one they just had that cost them Asher. And, Sean and Charlie must learn to work together. This was a strong episode. The audio description was kinda dull, considering the heavy nature of the content, but it mostly described anything I would have had a huge question about. There certainly is better narration out there, and the show had better description last season. Middle tier.
Tokyo Vice (MAX) still has this audio description conundrum. One guy doing it all. I still think that is a terrible idea, even if I do like the narrator on other projects that aren’t this show. the description itself is well written. That keeps it out of the full bottom tier. Middle/Bottom tier.
Hop (MAX). Yeah, TV-Y. But, another blind individual keyed me onto this show, and I need to talk about it. Remember how Jay-Z said he had 99 problems? This audio description was all 99 of those problems. Hop is from the creators of Arthur, and features a crew of differently abled animals who do fun tasks and adventures together. Yes, it felt odd watching a show aimed at 3-6 year olds by myself, but kids deserve quality audio description too, and this is not that. For a show that embraces disabilities, this audio description, which would be used by children with a disability, certainly does not. While some of the characters are things like “neurodivergent”, which is hard to just come out and say in the audio description, the main character, Hop, is a frog with one leg shorter than the other. Not only do you not know that about his legs, but he’s never mentioned as a frog. None of the “hoppers” were ever given animal descriptions. Just their name. They could literally be anything. The audio description also refuses to do anything during the opening title sequence, which is wasted time. You could have described characters there. The first episode is narrated by the same guy who does The Good Doctor and Abbott Elementary currently, who shouldn’t be anywhere near kids TV. his voice is not suited for it at all. Oddly, the AD company replaced him for the second episode, going with a kid-friendly narrator. But, instead of going back and re-recording the first episode that was clearly inadequate, they released it. If you do not take your work in the field of accessibility seriously, quit. I would rather the company behind Hop stop producing audio description. If MAX is preventing them from describing the disabilities, that’s a conversation we need to have with MAX about representation, and what that really looks like. But I cannot imagine a world in which MAX told this company they couldn’t acknowledge Hop was a frog, or that his friend was a squirrel. This audio description is offensive, and the studio behind it owes parents an apology. Blind kids deserve to have quality accessibility. Not just adults in adult programming. Bottom tier. very much bottom tier.
Palm Royale (Apple Plus) pushed forward. It may not be my favorite show, but it has moments. And, we got more Carol Burnett this episode than the last. Ricky Martin is also doing pretty good. The audio description here is fine. The attention to detail when necessary is the key element here, pointing out what we really have to know, when we need to know it. Top tier.
So Help Me Todd (Paramount Plus) had Jenifer Lewis as the guest this week, playing Lyle’s mom, an Opera diva who is accused of murder. I don’t get what they are doing with Susan, as a character, but this weeks mystery was fun. The audio description here is always quirky and fun, and I think they know how to get this across to fans now. Top/Middle tier.
Franklin (Apple Plus) is the new limited series starring Michael Douglas, which is about Ben Franklin traveling to Paris to convince France to become an ally of America during the Revolutionary War. If you read a history book, you can guess how this series will end. It’s pretty good, though Douglas isn’t doing much to change his voice to match the period or be Ben Franklin, and co-star Noah Jupe is a bit too modern for a show set in the 18th century. The audio description is above Tokyo Vice, as it has a narrator doing the audio description, and another reading what would be the subtitles for all the French dialog. The Hamilton fan in me went a little nuts when Lafayette was mentioned. Middle/Top tier.
