So, someone slid into my DM’s (really, just left a comment) about me previously listing The Leopard as having had the Best Audio Description based on the conglomerate of shows I watched on Sunday. most of that was based on the writing, but I don’t remember having a visceral reaction to the voice, and I thought it was strange, because I clearly remember there being credits at the end. So, with this new inside information, i did put The Leopard back into rotation again for today’s shows. Obviously, my awards are silly and random, because they involve throwing a different grouping of shows against each other, so The Leopard may or may not be on this list.
But I stand by my original comment. I prayed on it. Not really, but I did the equivalent of it. I am not a fan of AI/TTS usage, and most of the time, I can catch it because it is so poorly done, that there’s a mispronounced word sticking out like a sore thumb, or speed modification to squeez more description into a short period of time. This didn’t have it.And, if I’m being honest, I can point to some human narrators who bring less to the table. Like, if this past season of the Traitors was narrated by a human, I’d take this voice over that. Hell, I’d kill to get this level of description on a show like that. I enjoy like 95% of human narrators, but there’s that 5% that a track like this really does out perform. So, let’s see if given a harder stack of shows, if The Leopard gets any mentions.
Also, side note, for fans of The Neighborhood, CBS has announced that next season will be its final season.
TV Shows Watched: The White Lotus: S3E4 (MAX) with audio description, American Idol: S23E2 (Disney Plus) no audio description, Tracker: S2E12 (Paramount Plus) with audio description, Zero Day: S1E5 (Netflix) with audio description, Clean Slate: S1E7 (Amazon) with audio description, The leopard: S1E2 (Netflix) with audio description, The Kardashians: S1E6 (Hulu) with audio description, Last Week Tonight:: Most Recent (MAX) no audio description, and Have I got News for you: S2E4 (MAX) no audio description.
Best Episode: The White Lotus- We’re starting to get a bit more development of the female cast, but Jason Isaacs and Walton Goggins are still blowing through this with their storylines. Now that a gun is in play, and it is being carried by the most desperate character, it’ll be interesting to see how that gets used.
Runner Up: Last Week Tonight- I’m glad stuff like this exists. This episode about our failing ICE system dropped on the same day a court ruled against ICE for their illegal detainment of the Columbia University student who had a green card, presented it, and was denied his rights.
Best Audio Description: So, with the new information, let’s be fair and break this down. Obviously, we’ll just skip over the shows without audio description since they can’t win.
The White Lotus- As a track, the human voices are done really well. Sometimes, the written script can be really helpful in picking up visual cues, or facial expressions. In large part, this has been held back from the conception phase, as the first episode required the introduction of so many characters that individual depth of description wasn’t great. When I think about this episode, and the most impactful moments, I think about the scene revolving around the gun, and how it goes missing, and two characters walk right past each other. There were some things, that were totally non-verbal that happened, with likely huge repercussions later on, that if this show didn’t have audio description we would be worse off.
Zero Day- It’s a weird show, because it doesn’t know what it wants to be from any given moment. Sometimes it leans political, sometimes it leans into a domestic terrorism thriller, and the other part is this bizarre thing going on with DeNiro and his character’s memory loss.This episode didn’t really feature much of the mind games, which has made it more interesting, instead it leaned a bit more on the politics angle, with people having conversations, and a Waco-esque domestic terrorism sequence. In the sequence with the most action, I felt like I knew the least about what was going on, who was shooting who from where, and even just a general concept of the facility the feds were trying to raid. I wouldn’t pick this. It got messy, and I felt lost.
Tracker- A pretty basic script most of the time. our male lead is always trying to find someone, and the shadiness of people involved, their reactions to things, is what makes each episode more challenging or less. here, I was less impressed by the track from start to finish (even though I love this narrator’s voice), and I thought it had one standout sequence, that was a little gory for a primetime drama.
Clean Slate- comedies and Documentaries always seem to have an uphill battle really excelling in audio description. Here, it is less about the depth of description, and simply acknowledging people entering and exiting scenes, driving off in a car, etc. There was an attempt at some of the visual sight gags, like the sponge float, or the guy peeing off the deck at the gay bar, but I did want a bit more location based description. How dreary was this bar? And, this masquerade thing they supposedly go to, I wanted more from that. It doesn’t really have the time to give you detail, you just feel like you need it.
The Leopard- yes,the British AI voice employed by International Digital Center at the center of today’s great debate. The written part of this is pretty good. Like I mentioned, we did get a solid world building in the first episode, and I’m assuming part of the reason they dodged things like ethnic description was because this is historical, Sicilian, and probably everyone looks the same. mostly, this is about the action, and the set pieces. The other part is me just being really impressed with the dub that Netflix paid for, and whoever provided that. the show sounds excellent that way. I haven’t caught this Ai voice mispronouncing a word, like I did with last year’s the Wages Of fear and the “Grenada launcher” that was a dead giveaway. There are worse tracks.
The Kardashians- this mostly suffers from not being able to always follow who is talking. Sometimes we transition, and the only way I can figure out who it is, is by paying attention to the stories. However, if it is just some bullshit chit chat, I really won’t know unless I’m told.
Final Winner: the White Lotus
runner Up: The Leopard
Best Performance: Walton Goggins and Jason Isaacs (the White Lotus)- One guys is seeking closure, and the other is grasping at whaat is left of his life. I know the Emmy voters are going to find a way to nominate everyone in the cast, but these two are standing out far above the rest right now.
Runner Up: Idol hopefuls (American Idol)- the amount of time given to Colby was a bit much. She was good, but not my favorite. i really did enjoy the British father. he had a Sam Smith vibe going on. Without being twisted or manipulated by any stories, I was really pleasantly surprised those three judges let that hard rock singer through. In case you don’t watch the show anymore, but have ever watched it, we’re now at a point where a contestant who auditioned with Korn was taken seriously, and even got to sing his second song, which was Bodies by Drowning Pool. I think for no other reason than “let’s see what happens”, he should be fast tracked to the voting rounds. They’ve never had anyone on his level of rock before. I can’t wait for that guy to get to Disney night. I don’t remember his name, but he might be my new favorite, as I think about the possibility of him screaming his way to the finale.
Best Moment Of Audio description: What Colter Finds (tracker)- From the moment he goes to the house, we got the description of the tripwire, Colter jumping back and getting missed by the shotgun blast, and the image from behind of two people watching TV. we all knew what was about to be revealed, but the narration even checked in on Colter’s facial expressions during this horrifying reveal. Runner Up: The Gun (the White Lotus)- Again, nothing verbally was said about the gun being stolen, and I feel like it will be extremely important at some point in the future.
Worst Of….- Three shows with no AD. American Idol is the loser as the auditions were months ago, and they’ve had plenty of time to put together audio description for the auditions. it’s getting a little silly that a show in its 23rd season still is the last network holdout regarding audio description. come on ABC. Disney, whaat are you doing?
