I should stop watching TV. Not because it is rotting my brain, but because I seem to be a bad luck charm for a TV show. Once again, i wake up, watch a show, and then later that evening… that show gets cancelled. Like, what the hell?
5) Echo 3 (Apple Plus)
English Audio Description?: Yes
It’s not that this show is bad, but it just never fully hits my interest. I keep seeing shows dropping like flies, and Echo 3 is actually one i wouldn’t be upset about. I just wrapped Chapter 2, and there were some great moments. Early in the episode, when she’s sitting there trying to convince the head honcho she’s not an asset, but just related to ones, they have a nice calm conversation, and he still admits she will probably die. Harsh. Then that ending, that Sophie’s choice moment of sorts, great. I think the episodes are perhaps 5-10 minutes too long, and it becomes a pacing issue. After watching the really well done season premiere of Jack Ryan, I know you can have your espionage and eat it too. There’s just something missing from Echo 3, and I think it might be pacing.
Episode Grade: B-
4) Let The Right one In (Paramount Plus)
English Audio Description?: No
I’m still upset about the lack of audio description in this show, because I think the show has actually written a unique take on the series, and our two lead kids are fantastic, as is Demian Bichir. But there are still far too many scenes I don’t understand, so I’m really maybe only getting 75% at the most, likely lower if I actually *knew* what I was missing.
Episode Grade: B
3) Welcome To Chippendales (Hulu)
English Audio Description?: Yes
I suppose this is a really complicated story after all. I look at the specific elements of what i didn’t like about Leech, and they have to do more with plot details, which are likely actually what happened, so I’m grading a show on something it lacks the ability to control. I will say that watching Steve be turned away from a club earlier in the season, only to have the revelation that he was doing the same thing just made me hate him. But I think that might be the point? And I love how Juliette Lewis just can see all the way through Andrew Rannells acting like he’s been there from day one.
Episode Grade: B+
2) Leopard Skin (Peacock)
English Audio Description?: Yes
I loved the inclusion of “fucking” as an audio description term. I feel like the default is always thrusting, but when you watch as much naughty stuff as I do, thrusting has lost all meaning for me. It’s no longer sexy, it bores me. I’m in a loveless long term marriage with thrusting, and I’m seeking a new partner in fucking. Leopard Skin defies all conventions as a series. I wouldn’t know how to properly explain it as a series, or what the comparison would be. It’s bonkers, and I love it.
Episode Grade: A
1) Doom Patrol (HBo MAX)
English Audio Description?: Yes
I woke up this morning to Cliff having a really meaningful conversation with a zombie that has decided to just not be a zombie, and instead be a farmer, and grow some really nice tomatoes. I was thinking to myself, I can’t wait to talk about this episode in the roundup tomorrow. At the time, it was the first thing I had watched, so i didn’t even know if I would put it on top. But, I kept thinking about the silly context of that conversation, as well as Cliff having an oven mitt on his hand, trying to save the next time he feels for touching his daughter or grandson. But, then all he feels is the cold inside of this zombie’s head. And he has this really long monolog about what that means to him. And I knew this was the best thing I watched yesterday. Then HBO MAX cancelled it. Because that is what they do now, they are the center of everything that is devoid of joy, and they have made a corporate decision to see how many tears they can make people shed in 2023. Damn you WBD. Merging with Discovery has been the worst Entertainment merger ever, in terms of the cannibalization of content, and unapologetically so. It’s their party, and they’ll kill what they want to. And today, they killed Doom Patrol and Titans. Tomorrow? They’ll probably take candy from a baby, just to see how easy that actually is.
Episode Grade: A, HBO MAX Grade: F
