What a time to be alive. While people like me are facing an increasingly uncertain future, it would seem that we’re already starting to roll back the audio description train. Hulu has actually removed the audio description from Golden Girls, whether you access it through the Hulu or Disney Plus with Hulu experience. Existing audio description. The fight to expand, the fate of traveling audio description, conversations about human vs TTS, all of those go away if companies are removing existing audio description on their own properties. Oddly, this comes at a time with renewed interest in the series after it was just announced Betty White was getting a Forever stamp. If you wake up depressed, sad, scared, angry, or a similar adjective… so do I.
TV Shows Watched: Yellowjackets: S3E2 (Paramount Plus) with audio description, Zero Day: S1E1 (Netflix) with audio description, The Traitors: S3E9 (Peacock) with audio description, School Spirits: S2E4 (Paramount Plus) with audio description, Harley Quinn: S5E6 (MAX) with audio description, Elzabeth: S2E? (Paramount Plus) with audio description, Matlock: S1E? (Paramount Plus) with audio description, and The Golden Girls: S7E18 (Hulu) no audio description.
Best Episode: Yellowjackets- It still explores the present and the past. There’s clearly another person lurking (and the casting notice about who is joining this season was big enough that the reveal won’t be a surprise), but even with the surviving Yellowjackets all moving forward, it really is Christina Ricci who continues to amaze me as her character really feels very different post Season 2 finale.
Runner Up: Zero Day- I liked the pilot. Some critics haven’t been kind to the show as a whole, but Netflix doesn’t give me advance screeners of shows, so I’m just catching up. Right now, it has a lot of promise, a great concept, and a brilliant cast. What’s not to like? I thought this was a strong pilot.
Best Performance: Christina Ricci (Yellowjackets)- She’s clearly processing. And while she tries being the responsible babysitter when asked, she clearly is making up for a variety of things. her conversation with Walter was revealing and a little heartbreaking, as he’s trying really hard to help her in his own way. And, he’s actually trying to help, she just doesn’t know what that actually looks like.
Runner Up: BANE! (Harley Quinn)- Few things make me happier in life than HArley Quinn’s Bane. Very very few.
Runner Up: The Eliminated (The Traitors)- Gotta say, I thought that person played a solid game. More so than most. I would have predicted them in the final four. So, without spoilers, I’m also choosing who gets eliminated at the round table in the most current episode of The Traitors. If you know, you know.
Best Audio Description: Yellowjackets- Between the flashback sequences, which include mushroom induced hysteria, plus a creepy bathroom sequence, and even the specific color of some drinks, this audio description was pretty strong. I might have tried to describe the rich douchebags a little more, but that is just a small thing.
Runner Up: School Spirits- things are getting freaky as the ghosts start to realize that maybe the one they’ve been searching for did what Janet did. But then, where would that person be? Wouldn’t they be like Maddie? the mystery! but yeah, lots of supernatural stuff happening. Flickering lights. Theme. mood. Surprises. Liked it.
Best Moment Of Audio Description: The Subway Video (Zero Day)- There were a few moments in Zero Day where we got to see action set pieces, and one was a subway sequence shot on a phone by some random guy. the narrator not only described the action on the video, but described the random man and his son, and even included their ethnicity. It was such an oddly well described little moment that it stood out to me. No one in that scene mattered in the grand scheme of the show, but it was still a brief and intense sequence.
runner Up: Claire Opens Up (School Spirits)- I actually really liked the simplicity of the scene between Claire and Simon, which also had Maddie there as a ghost. The description of them watching Claire tell her sad reality, as well as Simon telling Claire that Maddie is there with them, and using something Maddie says to prove it, gave the actress playing Claire to have so many emotional reactions just in this one scene. I thought the narrator captured it well. Sometimes the details really make an impact, and not every moment needs to be an action sequence. Capturing the essence of an actor is important as well.
Worst Of…- I’d like to say The Traitors, but even then I’m pretty sure Elzabeth incorrectly labeled a character. It should have been Billy, the lawyer, but was labeled as one of the guest stars. I’m pretty sure. Also, really the removal of audio description beats all other worsts for the day. That is soul crushing.
