TV News: ABC renewed a ton of shows, leaving really only Dr Odyssey as the odd show out. That means 911 will be back for Season 9, The Rookie will be back for Season 8, Will Trent will return for Season 4, and Shifting Gears will be back for Season 2. Oh, and something called Grey’s Anatomy? Is that a new show? They will join the previously renewed High Potential and Abbott Elementary as ABC’s returning scripted offerings in the fall. None of these choices surprise me.
TV Sows Watched: Mythic Quest: S4E9 (Apple Plus) with audio description, The Studio: S1E3 (Apple Plus) with audio description, Pulse: S1E1 (Netflix) with audio description, Reacher: S3E8 (Amazon) with audio description, Survivor: S48E6 (Paramount Plus) with audio description, Berlin ER: S1E5 (Apple Plus) with audio description, Million Dollar Secret: S1E1 (Netflix) with audio description, and Real time with Bill Maher: most Recent (MAX) no audio description.
Best Episode: the Studio- i feel like this show is going to run away with the Best Episode prize every day I end up watching. The third episode featured guest performances from Ron Howard, Anthony Mackie, and Dave franco, and put Rogen’s studio head in the uncomfortable position of having to tell Ron Howard that the last 45 minutes of his film is a self indulgent mess.
Runner Up: Mythic Quest- Reacher wrapped up a little too nicely, so I’ll give the edge to Mythic Quest, which saw our two creative directors both taking leaves of absence putting the company in a precarious position. However, it is all about those jokes along the way, like how wildly different Poppy’s vault is from Ian’s.
Best Audio Description: Reacher- In the action packed finale, Reacher certainly had a lot to describe. It wasn’t perfect, and some of the guests at the party who were specific to just this episode had virtually no character description, but the action sequences are largely why people watch, and I think it made good on that promise.
Runner Up: Survivor- Another series where character description lacked, but that was a problem episodes back when they needed to introduce these people. Now, it makes the cut because the challenges are shockingly well described, and engaging to sit through.
Best Performance: Ron Howard (The Studio)- coming off a memorable guest appearance on Only Murders In The Building, Howard continues to effortlessly return to his acting roots, playing a version of himself. Here, he hilariously recounts this story of the first time he remembers meeting Rogen’s character, listens to feedback from everyone too afraid to give him any constructive criticism, and finally makes an apology that really isn’t. This show has so far perfectly utilized its guest actors, and Howard’s performance is an example of how that is likely to continue.
Runner Up: Alan Richson (Reacher)- I could have easily picked Seth Rogen again, or tied them, but with this being the season finale of Reacher, I did want to acknowledge that three seasons in and I still love this show. I’m surprised the finale worked out as nicely as it did, but this character is one I’d love to see play out for however long they can keep Ritchson and strong writing. he really is an excellent choice for Jack reacher, and I’m glad this American Idol alum is having his day in the sun.
Best Moment Of Audio description: The Reacher/Pauly Fight (Reacher)- While it may seem like narratively Reacher was always gunning for revenge, so the primary villain was Quinn, Pauly was the titan that had already bested Reacher once. So, for the first time in hand to hand combat, reacher actually felt like the undercard, and their action sequence had to be inventive to give Reacher the edge. it was long, drawn out, and well described.
Runner Up: Roy Roger’s (Reacher)- remember that gun the son was fixing for his dad, for no real reason whatsoever except extreme boredom? it turns out, we needed that gun for the finale. However, as the audio description points out, the work on putting the gun back together starts falling apart, revealing itself along the way. one of the best parts of the description was pointing out that we could actually see Roy Roger’s on the old cap gun.
Worst Of…- Character. Introductions. Are. Important. I’m looking at you Pulse, and also you Million dollar secret. Both of you are brand new series with apparently a lot of super vague nondescript cast members.this is not a problem with just these two shows, it is actually a pervasive and rather obnoxious problem. TV and Film are two different mediums. if you employ the exact same strategies, you miss the nuances. The thing about both of these shows is that their runtime will be longer than a movie, with the same characters. Pulse dropped with 10 nearly 1 hour long episodes. With a little bit of time taken off each episode, this is around 9 hours with these characters, and that’s without any promise of another season, and another block of time. When you start to narrate a pilot, everything stops. You are essentially creating a foundation for the rest of the series, admittedly a project you may not even finish should it run for many seasons. You are laying the groundwork for every major character, what we will know them as, and how they will be defined. you get to choose in this moment if representation matters, if age matters, if there are specific characteristics we should know about a character more than another. What makes someone different? What could be used as a plot point in the future? And the work you do is hard. But, the less you give, the less we have for however long a series will run. For reality shows, usually those characters run for just a season. But for scripted shows, the possibilities are endless. Grey’s Anatomy just got another season, and Law and Order SVU is heading into its 27th season. Can you imagine watching Law and Order for 27 years and not knowing anything about what Olivia Benson looks like? It has to be maddening. Please, write a different rule book for the first episode of a TV series. I’d rather know less about mundane actions that won’t be repeated in future episodes, or characters that will not be in any other episodes, if it means I get a better depth of description of the primary cast. And, I believe in this enough, I’m willing to fight any blind or low vision person who would advocate otherwise. I know we’d like to believe you can get character descriptions beyond the first episode a character is introduced, but it is so very very rare. I noticed the Lincoln Lawyer was doing that, and it stood out to me because it is so rare to have characters continuously described. I will beat this dead horse.
