TV Shows Watched: Disclaimer: S1E2 (Apple Plus), Starting Five: S1E5 (Netflix) with audio description, Pachenko: S2E8 (Apple Plus) with audio description, Tomb Raider: S1E4 (Netflix) with audio description, Teacup: Peacock) with audio description, Love Is Blind: S7E8 (Netflix) with audio description, The Legend Of Vox Machina: S3E4 (Amazon) with audio description, Futurama: S5E7 (Hulu) no audio description
Podcasts: None
YouTube: Perry Nimaroff (FYC: Best Actor Predictions)
Movies: Bad Boys Ride Or Die (Netflix) with audio description, Wimbledon (Netflix) with audio description, Lonely Planet (Netflix) with audio description, Didi (Peacock) with audio description
A format I haven’t used in a while.
Starting Five
What is It?: A docuseries that chronicles the lives of five NBA players over the course of a season, both with a look at their lives on and off the court.
Why It needs Audio Description: The show has a series of talking heads, not just the five players, but other people in their lives, and people who understand the greatness these players have on the court. The show features equal parts game footage, interviews, and behind the scenes looks at each players life. Without audio description, the game footage would be completely lost, we would likely never know who was talking unless you were acutely aware of that specific NBA player and their voice, and we would have little idea of what the home life is for any of the players, and their family that surrounds them.
What the audio description actually does: Mostly, this is a really great track. Documentaries are often hard to describe, because of the amount of talking, and how people often talk on top of archival footage. Here, it seems like everything is balanced, with the NBA footage explained well when we get it, a fairly decent description of these athletes homes and families, and at least a first introduction when someone speaks. That’s the only thing that stands out to me at all, is that with the amount of people speaking, we are expected to remember everyone after their first intro. Recently, I caught Mr McMahon introducing speakers after the first time, reminding us who they were, because blindness didn’t give us a superpower to immediately hear a ton of voices and remember all of them instantly. So sometimes, even with an intro to someone in Episode 1, when they speak in Episode 4, I might have already forgotten that voice.
I can’t say final thoughts, but thoughts so far: Having seen half this show, I get the vibes of the audio description enough to comment on it. It is a very good track. Could it be better? Perhaps. But the fact is, it is already far beyond what we often get in this genre, and therefore already seems like it is ahead of the curve. It would be like getting nominated for Best Picture and not winning. Like, you’re still one of the 10 films, you just didn’t win. But considering everything else that never even got close, I’d still say being within striking distance of perfection is an achievement.
