TV News: Not that I was surprised by the news, nor do I cover the show, but if you were waiting with bated breath, NBC did pick up both SVU and the flagship revival of the original law and order for next season. I’m not that surprised.
TV Shows Watched: The Studio: S1E8 (Apple Plus) with audio description, Tales Of The underworld: S1E5 (Disney Plus) with audio description, Andor: S2E8 (Disney Plus) with audio description, Deli Boys: S1E10 (Hulu) with audio description, Survivor: S48E11 (Paramount Plus) with audio description, Forever: S1E1 (Netflix) with audio description, Battle Camp: S1E5 (Netflix) with audio description, Krapapolis: 2E16 (Hulu) no audio description, The Pitt: S1E2 (MAX) with audio description, and The Masked Singer: Season Finale (Hulu) no audio description.
Best Episode: Andor- Listen. i don’t even love this show as much as other people, but S2E8 is objectively great television. It is the episode where everything that has been leading up to this has some level of payoff. it was emotional, surprising, and paid surprising homage to Rogue One. We’re starting to see how these shows intend to connect, and it looks solid. A brutal death for a series regular in a politically charged episode with pitch perfect narration just won me over ten fold.
Runner Up: The Studio- This is typically a pitch perfect show. Nothing changed, it’s just that Andor found another level. Seth Rogen’s recently renewed comedy dove headfirst into awards shows, the desire to win, and the crushing realization you may not be in the acceptance speech.
Worth mentioning: The masked Singer, Forever, Deli boys- these shows would round out the top 5. the final four singers on Masked Singer were excellent, and the winner deserved it. Deli boys went out on a high note, and hopefully gets renewed. Forever is very current, very frank, but I hate the main boy’s mom. She is a bit much, especially at the end of the first episode.
Best Audio Description- Andor- Just tremendous work. The whole episode is basically slow walking into chaos, and at the end is this little chunk of realization where several of the major characters sit in their emotions and realize what just happened, and what they lost or gave up as a result. I know this isn’t the most professional pull quote, but it is the title of a Pink song… so… “Fucking Perfect.”
Runner Up- Forever- OK. So I have to talk about Forever. Thank you. Thank you for being open and honest in the audio description, and not being worried about the sexual content of the show. things here are just plainly stated as what they are when they are happening, and while they may choose some shorthand ways of getting there, this is a show with young lead characters, aimed at an audience that wouldn’t use “oral sex” and would absolutely use “blowjob”. it matches the tone of the show.
Worth Mentioning: Tales Of The underworld, Survivor, Deli boys- these three would round out the Top 5 for excellence for the day.
Best Performance: Kyle Scoller (Andor)- Watching the evolution of Cyril from a pencil pusher to being involved in espionage simply is one of the best parts of the show. he’s had this complicated relationship with Deidra, and it plays out in unexpected fashion when Cyril realizes he is suddenly out of the loop, and the person he thought had his back really doesn’t. His confrontation with Diedra is heartbreaking and unexpected, and his disillusioned demeanor retracting from his encounter with her sets him on a rather unfortunate path. this performance was extraordinary. Just a few episodes ago, he was drinking blue milk.
Runner Up: Denise Gough (Andor)- And the runner up has to be Deidra, not for the same scene, but rather (and also a compliment to the audio description team), her reaction to everything when it is over. From trying to maintain any composure, to then trying to control a trembling hand, Deidra was more than aware of what she had done, what she sacrificed to get to what she presumably believed she needed, only to realize that achieving meant very little.
Worth mentioning: Seth Rogen (The Studio), Diego Luna (Andor), and Pearl (The Masked Singer)- Two performers I’ve mentioned before, and also Pearl, who sang her face off. When we get to see who pearl is, it really isn’t a surprise.
Best Moment Of Audio description: broadly, Mounting Tensions Meeting Inevitable consequences (Andor) while this basically is like 90% of the episode, it really is an episode that pushes toward, using momentum and mounting tension, an event, which plays out, and then has this agonizing lingering that everything was for nothing. I do try and avoid spoilers for new shows.
Runner Up: Deidra’s Shaking (Andor)- really, just everything about her reaction at the end of the episode was beautiful.
Runner Up #2- Let’s try This (Forever)- Like I said, these kids do clumsily have a sexual encounter in the first episode, and it is so well described, it also deserves a standout spot.
Worth Mentioning: The challenge (survivor) and Getting Whacked Isn’t Easy (Deli Boys)- These are pretty obvious descriptions if you know the shows.
Worst Of….- I liked everything, so the loser today has to be lack of accessibility which is a problem for Hulu, specifically with both shows I saw that come from FOX. I’m not even up to date with Krapapolis, so it isn’t even like the audio description is late for next day air. there just is no effort to acquire audio description for these shows.
