SAG and DGA nominations yesterday! Even in the midst of the LA Wildfires that have destroyed over a thousand structures, including the homes of many celebrities. James Woods, notably, trended yesterday as CNN got him on to talk about the loss of his home, which brought him to tears. Mark Hamill talked about fleeing his home, and how there was fire on either side of the road on the way out. So, thoughts and prayers to everyone in the LA area. no snarky comments. And a congratulations to everyone nominated yesterday. Notably, Pamela Anderson, who is now both a Golden Globe nominee and a SAG nominated actress.
What I Watched: Skeleton Crew: S1E7 (Disney Plus) with audio description, High Potential: S1E8 (Hulu) no audio description, Will Trent: S3E1 (Hulu) no audio description, Virgin River: S6E6 (Netflix) with audio description, and Landman: S1E6 (Paramount Plus) with audio description.
Movies: Shockingly. For the first day in a long time, I watched no movies. none. However…
YouTube: The Oscar Expert (SAG Reactions)- I did manage a YouTube video. Watching these two scream for 20 minutes is equally entertaining and exhausting.
Best Episode: Skeleton Crew- While there were some silly aspects to this weeks episode of Space Goonies, the melodrama is high on Virgin River, Billy Bob is surrounded by bad actors on Landman, and Hulu didn’t port two audio description tracks.
Best Performance: TIE: Jude Law (Skeleton Crew) and Billy Bob Thornton (Landman)- Thornton is just getting the nod simply because Landman is so mediocre, it really makes you appreciate him as an actor. But, Jude Law really started grabbing the villain aspect of his character by the balls in this episode, and he was a delight to watch. If you are a big Jude Law fan, and love to see him play nasty characters, he was excellent this year in Firebrand.
Best Audio Description: Skeleton Crew- Far and away. Again, it just has a lot more to describe. In Virgin River, it is just a lot about tracking Jack’s level of brooding, and Landman is going hard on Thornton’s chain smoking. Meanwhile, Skeleton Crew is having to consistently describe things that have no real world version, so it is like shaping imagination. It is also much easier to fail at. But Skeleton Crew does a decent job, even if I still have questions about Fern’s spider legs.
Best Moment Of Audio Description: Skeleton Crew- The Spoiler Free version is that Jude Law finds something, and the description of that moment, not just what he finds, but also embracing his reaction to it, as it cascades, was fantastic.
Worst… Anything- Hulu- It like punishes you for watching a show the next day, yet a show is renewed based on how soon after an airing it can be watched. So, ABC is looking at Live, Live +3, Live + 7, and then also sometimes the totality of 30 day growth, especially within new shows. How strong would the word of mouth be for a new series like High Potential? So, the industry would like to encourage us to watch as soon as possible, in order to save our shows, but in order for us to really do that, and do our part as blind lovers of television, the accessibility needs to port too. Otherwise, a metric that could have helped the live + 3, maybe becomes a live +7, or then… neither? I’ve only seen 2-3 episodes of High Potential with audio description, out of eight. Do better.
