TV News: NBC is wielding an axe! mov out of the way! The network, which just cancelled Suits LA, also killed Lopez Vs Lopez, Night Court, and Found. Those shows were in their third, fourth, and second seasons respectively. Is anyone safe from the Peacock’s death slash?
TV Shows Watched: The Bondsman: S1E8 (Amazon) with audio description, The Righteous Gemstones: Series Finale (MAX) with audio description, Survival of The Thickest: S2E7 (Netflix) with audio description, Top chef: Restaurant Wars! (Peacock) with audio description, RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars: S10E1 (Paramount Plus) with audio description, Etoile: S1E4 (Amazon) with audio description, Forever: S1E2 (Netflix) with audio description, Grimmsburg: S1E8 (Netflix) with audio description, 1923: Series Finale (Paramount Plus) with audio description, Your Friends And neighbors: S1E4 (Apple plus) with audio description
Best Episode: The Righteous gemstones- A lot of excellent television today and a handful of finales. but, I was forced against my will to say goodbye to the Gemstones, and it was an extended episode that really tied up all the stories nicely. I will miss this show very much, and I can only hope it gets some Emmy recognition. It’s hard to pick between the cast, so just slide it a series nomination, say thanks and let it go.
runner Up: The Bondsman- I think that was a pretty perfect Season 1 finale. I’m not gonna argue with it. It demands a secon season like any good show should, left with a major character death, and another one perhaps in peril. what more could you ask for? oh, and it was very gory.
Worth Mentioning: 1923, Survival Of The Thickest, and Etoile- this was so hard. But, even though 1923 hasn’t blown me away as a series, that was objectively a great and epic finale. I picked Survival Of The Thickest, because as a plus sized person, i just loved the direction of that episode. And, Etoile is just a fantastic show every week.
Best Audio description: Etoile- In a slightly longer than usual episode, we found out at great length how the audio description would support extended ballet sequences in a show about ballet. i thought they nailed it.
Runner Up: The Bondsman- From some creepy typical end of times description, to what Lilith makes every man she meets do to themselves, this show had a lot to cover, and some pretty repetitive gore.
Worth Mentioning: 1923, The Righteous Gemstones, Drag Race All Stars- The 1923 is in itself this big sweeping western epic. the episode is like 90 minutes long, and finishes everything it needs to, with a ton of action. the Righteous Gemstones relied less on humor, and more on the specific timing of events for things to work, like everything that happens with Corey, or the return of Dr. Watson. there was even a pretty good description of the handshake at the wedding, and the touching moment Eli leaves us with, just looking up at the sky with a smile on his face. It actually hit all its marks. And, I haven’t seen Drag race since losing my sight, but there’s this vibrance the show has, it relishes in the land of extra, but what I was wondering the most was how would the description work? it does try to describe the outfits, which is super important, and the general look (one girl wore purple paint), as well as describing the lip sync. It is more like a participation trophy, because normally I wouldn’t put this in the top 5. like, I’m glad it is there because it gives so much more context, and is somehow better than The Traitors, but it doesn’t really support the design of the show. I love that Top Chef has audio description, but it is really hard to describe food and make me hungry the way it used to.
best Performance: Danny McBride, Edi Patterson, Adam devine, john Goodman (the Righteous gemstones)- The core ensemble. it would be unfair for me to recognize them individually and no one else really gets mentioned today, so I’m selecting the family Gemstone. there’s a lot they all accomplish, moving from comedy to more serious stuff. They can have a very serious moment, but the words coming out of their mouths are just so wildly ridiculous. Thank you for a great four seasons.
Runner Up: Runner Up: Jennifer Nettles (The bondsman)- I’ve mentioned Kevin Bacon before, but nettles playing his ex-wife has added a lot of common sense and balance. she’s also got a crazy great voice (as the former lead singer of Sugarland), and she’s left with even more potential for the second season based on where we leave her.
Worth Mentioning: Harrison Ford (1923), Michelle Bhutto (Survival Of The Thickest), and Jon Hamm (Your Friends And neighbors)- Ford is the best part of 1923, and finally got to really do some stuff as Jake. Michelle’s Mavis stands up to a designer who claims to sell plus sized but doesn’t, in grand fashion, and Hamm is consistently carrying this show on his back.
Best Moment Of Audio Description- What Lilith Can do (The Bondsman)- probably the biggest moment of the episode is not just what she can do, but how it affects a series regular.
runner Up: The Wedding Handshake (The righteous gemstones)- Quite a few memorable moments, but I’ll pick this silly one as the standout of the episode.
Runner Up 2- running Off The Train (1923)- Dude just jumps off the train and starts running. I’m sure it broke the laws of physics, but it was an epic moment.
Runner Up 3- the Dance 9(Etoile)- they actually perform a ballet in this episode, and it was surprisingly well described.
Runner Up 4- The Lip Sync (drag Race) All things considered the lip sync was done well.
Worst Of…- I found out Hulu lists audio description as a category, and it made me look. Now, MAX has this thing where they acknowledge that, especially with TV shows, they include shows that are 90% described or more. So, majority described. i noticed some shows listed as having audio description that I’ve never heard description for, like FOX shows that apparently get it really late, but some shows like Family Guy which made me wonder how much of that show has audio description. Did they go through 25 seasons of that? I also hard scrolled through the films, and man… I didn’t click on them on Hulu because I didn’t need to watch them to celebrate Star Wars day, but the Star Wars films that have appeared over on Hulu this month aren’t on the giant scroll of films. of course, neither are some other films that obviously have audio description. Hulu is clearly trying to address the leak in the dam, but right now you’ve just identified it, but I’m not really sure this is a helpful tool if shows don’t have majority audio description, and if we still can’t manage to acquire obvious audio description, especially from Disney/20th Century titles.
