TV News: You will be forgiven for not remembering either of these shows since their second seasons took *forever*, but both The Old Man (FX/Hulu) and Tulsa King (Paramount Plus) will be airing their second seasons in September. I believe The Old Man was conceived as a 2 season show, but nowadays that means nothing. Shogun was a limited series until FX gave it a 2 season renewal.
TV Shows Watched: Bel Air: S3E1 (Peacock) with audio description, The Lady In the Lake: S1E6 (Apple Plus) with audio description, Evil: Most Recent (Paramount Plus) with audio description, 911: S6E? (Hulu) with audio description, Emily in Paris: S4E1 (Netflix) with audio description, and Who Wants To Be A Millionaire: Most Recent (Hulu) with audio description.
Podcasts (all with speed modification through Apple Podcasts): Fly On The Wall with Dana Carvey and David Spade (Interview: Dennis Quaid), Director’s Commentary With Mike Flanagan (Interview with Karen Kusama), and The Big Picture (deep thoughts on Matt Damon).
YouTube: Chris Stuckmann (Review: Alien Romulus) and The Oscar Expert: (Updated Oscar Predictions for Lead Actor and Actress)- as an aside, man those two are going hard on this new Adrien Brody film. I have zero faith doing a sight unseen prediction on The Brutalist getting an Actor/Picture combo. Brody hasn’t been getting the best offerings in terms of film, and having Guy Pearce, and I think they’ll be eating crow pretty fast. It’s funny to see them drop films and never mention them again, despite going hard on them before.
Movies: Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (MAX) with audio description, The Union (Netflix) with audio description
Today, I really just want to discuss why Apple Plus has an aversion to listing cast during opening credits sequences. We always get these random images that frequently have nothing to do with the show, and many shows use these opening credits to denote guest stars. While I can’t remember specifically the title sequences to some of their older content, they have had anthology shows in the past that have changed entire cast from episode to episode, so no one carries over. it forces a general audience to have to look things up online.
I really wanted to call this out after noticing that it doesn’t seem to matter which audio description company is doing this for Apple Plus, no one seems to be allowed to use names. And, after seeing Diffuse (of all things) manage to essentially take one of those quirky title sequences with random images and balance both the images and the cast for The Decameron, it’s about time to wonder why this is standard practice at Apple Plus? I come from a generation where credits *had* to be aired. As a projectionist, we couldn’t ever cut off credits unless the theater was vacant. As an usher, we couldn’t clean because the credits were part of the movie, and you never know if the person sitting through the credits worked on the film, and then reports to their guild or whatever. Even on TV, networks had to run film credits. Granted, usually at a faster pace, and even in the corner of the screen sometimes, but it was there. People used to be so overly anal about making sure every credited person always got their due, in every format, always.
Yet, Apple Plus seems to literally have some kind of policy that prevents this. It’s too many different companies, and none of them are trying to use names. It is so bizarre. Why? Challenge your narrators to do the balance of both,because if Diffuse (again, of all companies) is able to pull it off, anyone can.