It is pretty hard for me to start off this column, as a blind film critic and disability and accessibility advocate, who works for the advancement of audio description for the blind and visually impaired community and not at least acknowledge the unfortunate stance the President has taken on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, without any acknowledgement of the reason those Initiatives were created to begin with, to stop leaving portions of our country behind. it is an awful decision, and one that will not lower your grocery bill.
Moving on.
TV Shows Watched: Going Dutch: S1E3 (Hulu) no audio description, Bookie: S2E6 (MAX) audio description, XO Kitty: S2E2 (Netflix) with audio description, 911 Lone Star: S5E? (Hulu) no audio description, and American Primeval: S1E1 (Netflix) with audio description.
movies: Erin Brockovich (Netflix) with audio description.
Best Episode: Bookie- Nothing was exceptional, but bookie was the most amusing as the boys finally realized handing all their money to a shady guy was the wrong move.
Best Performance: Jim Parrack (911 Lone Star)- In a very average day, I’m allowing a non-audio description winner here, as Parrack’s Judd was a clear standout as his character really had to face his alcoholism demons head on, giving his character some of his most dramatic work to date on the series.
Best Audio Description: Erin Brockovich- I actually started American Primeval because I realized I only had two shows with audio description, and I don’t love Bookie or XO Kitty enough to be here. Primeval was the best audio described show, but Erin Brockovich was technically the best thing with audio description yesterday.
Best Moment Of Audio Description: Men Who Leer At Women (Erin Brockovich/American Primeval)- Both featured scenes where men are leering at women, and both handled the scenes with all the ick factor necessary. The interesting thing about Brockovich, is that in one of the scenes, they have to walk it back, because the guy wasn’t hitting on her, he was trying to get her attention because he had some information she needed.
Worst Of: I would prefer if FOX ported audio description to Hulu. I don’t know why this doesn’t happen, but it essentially means they are creating “single use” audio description never to be heard again. It must be frustrating to work on a show for FOX, and know that if you don’t watch it live, your show disappears into the ether.
