Lots of TV news to start the day. NBC has predictably ordered new seasons for all three Chicago shows, as well as two of the three Law and Order shows. This time, Organized Crime has been left on the bubble.Meanwhile, over at Peacock, the streamer has reversed its decision to do a second season of Butkus. Honestly, I’m not sure how much Joe Pesci wanted to really do another season, and he was the best part about that show. So, I’m not mad. I wouldn’t have watched a second season without joe.
Netflix just launched their high profile Three Body Problem, which does have audio description. I promise. The problem with this show, which is created and being run by David Benioff and DB Weiss, is that the pilot is a little all over the place. It doesn’t really center on one character, or theme, or idea. I can’t tell you after just one episode what this show is about, and a lot of the audio description is not just about giving context, but it also helps us understand the project. I’m not saying this audio description feels like it falls short, but right now, it’s hard for me to have even a cohesive idea about the description, because I just watched a show where a woman was arrested in China for possessing Silent Spring, a girl may have killed herself after playing a VR game, the universe is flashing, and it is a bad time to be a scientist. This is a huge cast, and clearly has a lot of ideas. The problem is when shows on streaming services get picked up, they no longer need to create pilots. They get full season orders. So, no one really asked the question of whether or not this was a good pilot. I don’t think it is, though all the mystery and hype will keep me around a little longer.
I finished The Traitors (Peacock), in so much that my only remaining episode is the cast reunion. I wasn’t going to watch, but I really want to see what those two have to say to MJ. They finished with three faithfuls, and MJ was willing to share the money, and she voted to end the game. Those two, voted to kick her he hell out. Damn. Poor girl. So, yeah, I was going to skip it, but now I really want to see what they say to MJ.
The Dynasty (Apple Plus) gets more into why Robert Kraft wanted to buy the team. Not so much into massages though. But, his team, sure. And, they go win their first Super Bowl, with two superstar QB’s. This show has excellent audio description, navigating very well from sports footage to documentary style talking head stuff.
I thought I finished Death and Other Details (Hulu). There was a killer reveal and everything, but there’s another episode on my watchlist. I don’t understand. However, this is another well described show, but I’m honestly done. At this point, I really only came this far for Mandy, and if this got a second season without him, I wouldn’t watch. So, call it the de-facto ending.
Manhunt (Apple Plus) gets a little more interesting in episode 2. Tobias Menzies really is working his stuff as the lead here, and he’s doing some solid work. Patton Oswald feels out of place. I love him, but he feels miscast. Anyway, it’s the kind of limited series where you feel like you are learning things while watching. I’d be shocked if this swept the Emmys.
Abbott Elementary (Hulu) is starting to desensitize me to their shitty audio description slowly. This episode was funny as is. I love how they kept bringing up that they couldn’t understand why the panel was being scored. however, the tag right before the end, with the janitor debating the Roomba, was priceless. This might have been my favorite episode of this season so far.
And, on the classic side, I watched another episode of Veep (MAX), which is hilarious, and has excellent writers. The audio description is there, but there’s so much dialogue, it’s hard to call this description exceptional. I think, being 4 seasons in, it is doing the most with what it can, but if an episode accidentally lost audio description after the first two minutes, I honestly might not notice. That’s just how oddly structured it is.