TV Shows Watched: Clean Slate: S1E2 (Amazon) with audio description, XO Kitty: S2E5 (Netflix) with audio description, Going Dutch: S1E5 (Hulu) No Audio Description, Apple Cider Vinegar: S1E3 (Netflix) with audio description, The Kardashians: S1E3 (Hulu) with audio description, and Elzabeth: S2E? (Paramount Plus) with audio description.
best Episode: Elzabeth- I’ll give Carrie Preston’s spunky lawyer the win. This is a delightful series, with a great episode every week, and an ensemble cast that never takes away from Preston, but gradually continues to have slow character development. This week’s case was fun, and it referenced back to things from Elzabeth’s appearances on both The Good Wife, but also the Good Fight. I remember the episode when she had that AI assistant in her office. So, calling back to that episode was a nice touch for those of us who have been with Preston for a while now.
Runner Up: Apple Cider Vinegar- I’m enjoying seeing this show continue to tell this story. I wonder if it will burst into the zeitgeist.
best Performance: Kaitlyn Dever (Apple Cider Vinegar)- She’s still doing great work, and on what is kind of a slow day. She had the most heft in her performance.
Runner Up: Denis Leary (going Dutch)- I wish this show had AD. It is funny seeing Leary in this role. he spent most of this episode drooling over WWII, and when finally presented with an opportunity to punch a real Nazi in his face, well… it didn’t quite go his way. But, he did catch that spy? Right? Well….
Best Audio Description: Elzabeth- In a very narrow victory, I think this audio description track edged out the competition. Really, it was very close, but I was thinking specifically about when our killer was playing virtual golf, which doesn’t seem important, but his game play is clearly affected by how stressed he is in the real world, which was important to his character. I noticed the nuance, and it put it over the top.
Runner Up: Clean Slate, XO Kitty, Apple cider Vinegar- All three are consistently good tracks, but I found a reason to move Elzabeth above this week. I don’t want to sleight these three for making good work though.
Best Moment Of Audio description: Golfing (Elzabeth)- Like I said, the virtual golf seems so insignificant, but when you understand how the writers are using it, it actually matters how his swing is, if he sinks the putt, or what reception the virtual screen gives him.
Runner Up: The Kardashians- One of the biggest problems with this show, is not always tracking which one of the ladies is talking. So, you have to be uniquely tuned into the smallest differences in their voices. However, what this episode did right, involved Kim’s appearance on SNL, which prompted on camera appearances by a lot of SNl cast members who got mentioned immediately when they showed up. So, even if the audio description track thinks everyone can tell the difference between Kendall and Kylie speaking, it still manages to directly point out interesting famous people who drift through. And, instead of wasting time describing these brief cameos in what they look like, as themselves, as already famous people, we just get the name right away, because that was just a fly by cameo.
Worst Of… Either the lack of audio description on going Dutch on Hulu, or not really tracking the ladies of the Kardashians as well as they could be. One of those two things. both, oddly, Hulu related.