TV News: Netflix, which recently announced that Virgin River would be returning in December, has renewed the show for its 7th season, which I believe makes its the longest running scripted drama original Netflix has had.
TV Shows Watched: Disclaimer: S1E5 (Apple Plus) with audio description, Hysteria: S1E7 (Peacock) with audio description, Teacup: S1E6 (Peacock) with audio description, The Old Man: S2E8 (Hulu) with audio description, Grotesquery: S1E8 (Hulu) with audio description, Beauty In Black: S1E2 (Netflix) with audio description, Love is Blind: S7E11 (Netflix) with audio description, The masked Singer: S12E5 (Hulu) no audio description, and Elzabeth: S2E1 (Paramount Plus) with audio description
Podcasts: the dark Room (Alex and Lee rank the live-action Spider-man films), Pod Save America (politics), and where Everybody Knows your Name (Interview: Kelsey grammar)
YouTube: Jeremy Jahns (review: Venom: The Last Dance), FishJelly Film reviews (review: Conclave), Deep Focus Lens (Review of…)
Movies Watched: Carved (Hulu) with audio description and Don’t Move (Netflix) with audio description
I may not talk about every show, since several of them I also just watched the previous day.
Disclaimer- I’m really enjoying Alfonso cuaron’s new limited series, and the audio description always points out when Kevin Kline hilariously pretends to throw a fake grenade. the show is starting to walk a fine line of revealing things that Kline’s character couldn’t possibly have known, without telling us how he knew it. And these are facts he holds to be true, but there’s no evidence behind his knowledge, since he wasn’t there. For example, he mentioned that she saw him drown (which our flashback supports), but how does he know that? There’s no moment where he interviewed someone from that day who says she was just standing there watching. He seems to know intimate details about an event he wasn’t there for, and that is oddly bad writing from one of our top director/writers working today.
Hysteria- Again, since Episode 5, I’ve been less and less interested. Also, what’s really blowing my mind, is that bruce Campbell has been in as many episodes as the credited series regulars, but is *still* being listed as “special guest star”. No, you can’t keep claiming someone is a guest star with this much screentime, especially if this is truly a limited series. Audio Description highlight here would be the scene where Dylan is about to go in and see his mom, and the darkness, and then trying to cram in what is is we get to see when the lights turn on and all that noise starts happening. I’m surprised we got as much as we did in that moment.
The Old Man- Well, I’ve stayed pretty quiet, mostly because I was just happy FX managed to day and date all the audio description. season 1 started out with audio description, and then it didn’t finish the season until much later. but they got every episode and they did it the day after. that is a victory. I didn’t like season 2 as much. Actually putting Bridges and Lithgow in the field felt more of a stretch to me than the tension suggested by the first season. It looks like they need at least one more go around, but I think Season 2 was just OK. the audio description was solid the whole way through, I was just afraid I’d jinx it by pointing it out. But all episodes are now available with audio description.
Beauty In Black- The last time I mention this show. The only people who could possibly enjoy this are people who like to watch other people suffer more than they are, like after having a bad day, reminding yourself that some fake character has it worse than you. My exiting this series has no reflection on the quality of audio description, which is good.
the Masked Singer- Though I can’t prove it to you, I did guess this week correctly. I had a feeling this was a trans celeb, but trying to figure out which one based on the clues was tough. I could hear it in her voice. honestly, it was Jenny’s shitty Serena Williams guess and the mention of the mirror that got me. I was thinking of who has a sibling, and Cox is actually an identical twin, and her twin was used in orange Is the New black for her pre-transition scenes. She also did Rocky Horror live, so I knew she could sing. And I was right.
Elzabeth- I love the fourth wall breaking in the season premiere, about how there was a summer break, just when things were getting good. I do hate that Nathan Lane was the guest star, because he was an actual character in multiple episodes of The Good Wife, which is where this character originated. I know some people have done Law and order more than once, and that bothers me less, as one off characters. but, with lane actually being a recurring character on the same level as Preston, the fact that he’s playing a different person here, who is ALSO a lawyer, felt almost like a really risky betrayal to fans who have followed this franchise from The Good Wife, to the Good Fight, and now here. I would have either had him reprise the same character, or at least not made him a lawyer. One little thing about the audio description…. If we are shown who tells her to get in the car, it wasn’t in the audio description.
