TV News: I actually have some renewals today! Ted Danson’s new sitcom, A Man On The Inside, has been picked up for a second season by Netflix. Also, Apple renewed Silo for two more seasons, but also confirmed that Season 4 is the final season of Silo. I feel like that is probably a choice by the show runners, who want to keep the story tight, and not overstay their welcome.
TV Shows Watched: Dune: Prophecy: S1E5 (MAX) with audio description, Black Doves: S1E5 (Netflix) with audio description, No Good Deed: S1E2 (Netflix) with audio description, The Agency: S1E4 (Paramount Plus) with audio description, 911: S8E1 (Hulu) with audio description, SNL: Bill Burr (Peacock) with audio description, and Elsabeth: S2E? (Paramount Plus) with audio description
Podcasts: None.
YouTube: I watched critics review Flow and Dahomey, which had no audio description, and are both unwatchable without it.
Movies watched: The brutalist (Screener) no audio description, A Different Man (screener) no audio description, Here (screener) no audio description, Flow (screener) no audio description, Dahomey (screener) no audio description.
I also had a lovely time last night talking about Holiday films on the ACB link with the Dark Room boys, Carl, Renee, and all that participated and raised their hands to suggest more titles. I was definitely making notes of movies I hadn’t seen in years, and even a few I still needed to see.
Best Episode Watched Yesterday: Black Doves- With only one episode left, we certainly left with the stakes high. I’m actually hoping this is a show that can continue, because the three leads are terrific, and in need of a great show like this right now. Especially Keira Knightley.
Runner Up: Elsabeth- Gotta hand it to this twisty Christmas episode. Sometimes, even I’m not sure if Elsabeth is going to figure it out, and I was really curious to see her connect the dots on this one.
Best Performance: )technically)- Guy Pearce (The brutalist)- But I’m really here to talk mostly about “The Small Screen”. But, Pearce is a revelation.
Best Performance In A TV Show Yesterday: Keira Knightley (Netflix)- I mean, she’s still terrific. That fight scene near the end of Episode 5, I thought would take longer, but she owned it, and delivered every line with exuding confidence.
Runner Up: Bill Burr (SNL)- That monolog though. Burr is hilarious, and while the whole episode was very uneven, with some sketches not working at all, Burr had mostly great moments.
Best Audio Description: Black Doves- Honestly, yes, I know this is winning everything, but it deserves it. There are really well described fight sequences, spy devices, people creeping around, and really important facial reactions. This is an excellent track.
Runner Up: Dune Prophecy- there is *a lot* happening in this show, an almost impossible task, and I feel like this narration team is swimming upstream, and I want to thank them for doing their very best to make the unintelligible…. Less so.
Best Single Moment Of Audio Description: Black Doves- I’ve mentioned a fight with Keira a couple of times. No spoilers, but it is well written. When she started to lower the security curtains, I knew shit was going to go down.
Runner Up: SNL- While I didn’t love the totality of the track, I felt that the ink blot sketch, which was one of the better sketches, was tied so visually in, that we wouldn’t have gotten anything out of that, or totally misinterpreted the sketch. That is such an example of why SNL has needed audio description for so long and finally has it.
Second Runner Up- 911- One word. “beenado”. I loved hearing that in the audio description.
Worst Episode: SNL- Sadly, most of the sketches didn’t work for me. I got a few laughs out of Colin and Michael, Bill had some funny moments in the monologue, the ink lot sketch, and the Buffalo Wild Wings sketch, but some of these I’m surprised made it to air. The bald man thing was just so unfunny.
Worst Performance- Various SNL Cast Members From The Sketches That Didn’t Work.
Worst Audio Description- This always seems like the danger zone, like I’m going to put someone on hard blast. I will say, SNL had narration over one sketch that had people talking, and audio description, but the balance I’ve been getting from Peacock on this show has the audio description so much higher than the show, I missed that sketch for the most part. But, the actual winner… Flow. When we talk about these screeners I get, sometimes they might have audio description later. Flow is currently in theatres, and is the most accessible film to not have audio description this year. There’s *NO* dialog. They don’t have to worry about the great dubbing debate. It is a film about animals that act like animals. Animated. 97% on Rotten Tomatoes. No audio description. Egregious. This is an experience everyone around the world could share, and decidedly is segregated to just the sighted.
