TV Shows Watched: St Dennis Medical: S1E? (Peacock) with audio description, Mythic Quest: S4E2 (Apple plus) with audio description, Paradise: S1E5 (Hulu) with audio description, Apple Cider Vinegar: S1E4 (Netflix) with audio description, Celebrity Bear Hunt: S1E3 (Netflix) with audio description, Ghosts: S4E? (Paramount Plus), Common Side Effects: S1E2 (MAX) with audio description, and Surviving Black hawk Down: S1E1 (Netflix)
Best Episode: Honestly? I can’t choose. I think a lot of shows I saw had strong episodes without any having their best. St Dennis Medical was predictably entertaining again as they chased Yelp reviews, ghosts was fun as Thor sought closure for why he was left behind, Mythic Quest had an interesting dynamic where Ian and poppy made AI versions of themselves only to find out they are insufferable, Paradise pushed the mystery further, Apple cider Vinegar showed our lead having a really awful time at motherhood, Surviving Black Hawk Down is a lot like the Vietnam series on Apple Plus, where they interview people on both sides of the conflict, and Celebrity Bear Hunt didn’t eliminate my favorite contestant (Back at the first episode, i said I was only watching for the 1 person I actually knew). the only thing I wouldn’t pick is Common Side Effects which is so boring. I’m cancelling it. It won’t make another appearance on here. removing it from ‘continue watching”.
Best Performance: Again, a lot of standouts I’ve mentioned before. St Dennis Medical was great again for Wendi McLendon covey, David Alan Grier, and Josh Wilson. Paradise once again had a great Sterling K brown, but was highlighted by a guest appearance by Gerald Mcraney, who is great in everything, and did This Is us with Brown.Mythic Quest and Ghosts are both comedies that highlight the broadness of their talented ensembles. Apple Cider Vinegar continues to be a vehicle for Kaitlyn Dever. It was a really strong day overall.
Best Audio description: I could narrow this one down a bit more. Surviving Black Hawk Down has strong audio description, navigating the various interviews. Like Vietnam: The War That Changed America, it is a format where the talking heads are a focus, so the fact we get an substantial audio description at all is just a masterclass in use of timing. But, I also thought that paradise was strong, as was Apple Cider Vinegar. Even Celebrity Bear Hunt, once you get past the poor introductions in the first episode, is a better narrated show than the traitors. it isn’t perfect, but it does show a bit more of what you could get from a competition reality show. There are better examples than this, however, like The GOAT on Amazon. The sitcoms always struggle to get enough audio description in though.
Best Moment Of Audio Description: I’ll pivot and go with things that could have been improved. St Dennis Medical had a joke that was based on a patients weight, but I didn’t even know it was a thing, because the audio description dodged it altogether. Ghosts had a great joke with Isaac pulling himself through the door at the end, but they also “sent him a message”, and i was really confused as to how they did that. Paradise had a great exchange between The president and Sam, with Sterling coming in to check as things got heated, but his proximity and timing left me wondering if he had heard any of the actual conversation itself, which would have been important.I was surprised when the person escaped the Bear Pit, and I felt like we had just had them on camera, and I didn’t feel like what I was given was screaming “about to escape”. Of course, that could be the editing of the show, but maybe not. So, there were a bunch of little nitpicky things here and there. There wasn’t just that one great sequence where I was blown away, and even though I enjoyed everything, there seemed to be a lot of these little moments where I was left asking questions.
worst of- Common Side Effects. Already mentioned it. The audio description even sounds TTS. it has a lower quality sound to it, so I’m not even missing any great description, but for an Adult Swim show, this is the least funny one I’ve ever seen. Ever.