TV Shows Watched: Surface: S1E4 (Apple Plus) with audio description, Zero Day: S1E6 (Netflix) with audio description, Vietnam: The War That Shaped America: S1E6 (Apple Plus) with audio description, School Spirits: S2E7 (Paramount Plus) with audio description, Invincible: S3E5 (Amazon) with audio description, The Eastern Gate: S1E4 (MAX) with audio description, Shifting Gears: S1E? (Hulu) with audio description, celebrity Jeopardy: S3E5 (Hulu) with audio description, Have I Got News For you: S2E5 (MAX) no audio description
Best Episode: Vietnam- the Apple Plus documentary closed out on the calamity of exiting Vietnam, which looked a lot like what the Taliban did to Afghanistan when we announced we were leaving. The troops pulled out, and then all hell broke loose, while there were still Americans on the ground working in the Embassy, as well as many South Vietnamese soldiers who had fought alongside our troops, who were in danger of being wiped out by the VietKong. this was an excellent docuseries. There was a moment in this, where one of the interviewees sees a picture of himself in Vietnam for the first time. He didn’t even know that moment had been captured.
runner Up: Invincible- As invincible and Eve find their relationship out in the open, they deal with what that means, and also whether or not Invincible’s little brother is mature enough to be on his own should they move out. There was also a really cool sequence featuring a replicating powered individual.
Best Audio Description- invincible- There were other moments throughout the episode to warrant putting this on top, but it also had my favorite moment of all the shows. but, basically the superpowers really give the audio description team some interesting action to describe, and they did a good job with it.
Runner Up: Zero Day- While the quality of the show declines as it progresses, the audio description does not. And because they insist on continuing to run with DeNiro’s former President having memory issues, it makes for a few fun sequences of “is he really seeing that?”
Best Performance: Matthew Modine (Zero Day)- His Speaker Of The House has a lot more to do in the final episode, and Modine gets his mustache twirling villain on, pulls out the soap box, and is ready to deliver the overdone idealistic bullshit they wrap the series with. He’s a solid actor who has never gotten an Oscar nomination, and he’s standing amongst giants who have, and he finally stood out.
Runner Up: Jenna Elfman (Shifting Gears)- I’m glad people are still hiring her. If her dharma and Greg co-star hadn’t had some issues, we might get a revival of that. I’d love to see what dharma was like as a grown adult, who could even be a mother to… someone the opposite of her? Do we need Greg? Maybe her Greg can be her son, Greg Jr., and dharma is a widow. I’m just spitballing here. I was happy to see her drift through Shifting Geears in a recurring role, and it made me want to see more of her.
Best Moment Of Audio description: Escaping Prison (Invincible)- A certain character who can replicate himself tries to escape prison. obviously, the replicating factor opened up a door for some fun audio description, which is why I put this here.
runner Up: Problems At The Court (Invincible)- In a second selection from the show, there’s a scene where you wonder how a character is going to react to a bully, and their choice is appropriate, and hilarious.
The Worst of…- Zero day as a completed series is not something I would recommend, ultimately. It opens strong, with a very interesting concept, and a great cast, but it squanders everything along the way. Ideas are introduced and never followed up on, the show ends with a dozen loose ends, and gets really preachy about the state of politics and the justification for zero day. it has this subplot with DeNiro and his memory, with a device they never fully describe, nor do they ever find it and resolve it. He keeps seeing Who Killed Bambi?, but it is a phrase that leads nowhere. I would advise you to not waste your time, despite how shiny it looks. If you really must, just to experience the excellent audio description, the first episode is fine, and it drops with each successive episode.
