Not a ton of new TV news, but I did see that MAX is slating Season 3 of And Just Like That for 2025. So, all you SATC fanatics have to find something else to do in 2024.
1) Bodies (Netflix)
English Audio Description?: Yes
Status: Limited
Still a very complex series. I realized one of the timelines is in the future, and that wasn’t even the weirdest part. They think they might know whose body it is, so one of the detectives in one of the timelines drops a cool end to the episode. Honestly, it’s just a ton of characters, and time jumping. If you think you can do anything during this series, like look at your phone, you are wrong. This is probably the most demanding series I’ve seen this year.
Episode Grade: B
2) Still Up (Apple Plus)
English Audio Description?: Yes
Status: Unknown
After Danny left his house last episode, you’d think he’d be a changed person. And he kinda is, but the enormity of what Danny did is causing the other half to try and figure out how to say she’s sorry, while also navigating a relationship she may not want to be in.
Episode Grade: B+
3) Fellow Travelers (Paramount Plus)
English Audio Description?: Yes
Status: Limited
This episode really broadened the series, by looking at the dynamics of relationship instead of pushing the story forward. Hawk is trying to make things up to Skippy, so he takes him away on a weekend jaunt, and it’s really to get dirt on McCarthy, who likes men too. So, Hawk is trying to balance this weekend, with getting the info he needs to shut McCarthy up. We even spend some time with Cohn trying to get Shine not drafted. Marcus, meanwhile, helps to flesh out the drag queen character we’ve been seeing, even helping to give him a name, as they broaden their relationship. Hell, even Hawk’s relationship with his wife is very telling, as she seems to have a moment of recognition, where she knows what he’s up to, but genuinely isn’t mad at him.A really strong episode from a show that keeps getting stronger.
Episode Grade: A
4) Young Love (MAX)
English Audio Description?: Yes
Status: Unknown
Recently acknowledged by the Critics Choice with a nomination for Best Animated Series, this broad family show split the family into three different stories, with Mom and Dad trying to find an old chicken joint for date night, Grandma and Grandpa celebrating their anniversary with Grandma wishing her husband would be less predictable, and finally the two young ones being left to their own devices, and bonding while getting into a little bit of trouble.
What really won me over was when mom and Dad encounter gentrification. That yoga tea lady was *a bit much*. To say the least.
Episode Grade: A
5) Invincible (Amazon)
English Audio Description?: Yes
Status: Not Yet Renewed
In what seemed like the longest episode ever, we had to see the creation of Sayonce Dog, Mark went off to college and learned about socks on doors before having a date with amber, Seth Rogen’s character encountered Optimus Prime (not literally, but that voice means only one thing to me), and Mark’s mom goes to a support group meeting, all while the Guardians are up to their own unique stories. They crammed so much into this one episode. By the end of this damn thing, I was like… holy hell. I mean, it was great, but they really did seem to tackle every character in the damn show.
Episode Grade: A
6) Futurama (Hulu)
English Audio Description?: No
Status: Revived
Fry is on the warpath trying to find his old seven leaf clover. This is where we get a lot of flashbacks about Fry’s life.Oddly, a rather nice story building episode.
Episode Grade: B+
7) Adventure Time (MAX)
English Audio Description?: No
Status: Ended
I was down for this until Jake had to tell the brawlers about that time he went boom boom. Then, it lost me. Adventure Time is always an interesting experience, but talking about pooping your pants over and over just… not my thing.
Episode Grade: C-
8) All In The Family (FreeVee)
English Audio Description?: No
Status: Ended
in honor of Norman Lear’s passing, I wanted to make sure to catch an episode of this TV classic. It’s a Season 4 episode, where Archie tells a box boy from the local grocery store that he should take a break, which turns into a break that gets him fired, and his dad is worried about where he went. The catch here is that the boy is mentally disabled, and his father gets to express a lot of concerns, on what would ahve been prime time television, about his son’s future, and how jobs like the one his son had don’t really want him there, they want to find a reason to fire him. Norman Lear didn’t invent the sitcom, but he certainly contributed to shifting it in a new direction. Going from what were largely G-rated sitcoms, where parents slept in separate beds, Lear took the opportunity to frequently challenge his audiences with ideas and concepts while also making them laugh. No one has made the same impact since, and everyone owes him a debt of gratitude. It would be nice to see his shows get audio description, as an acknowledgement of their worthiness in permanence to TV history, but tonight I don’t feel like bemoaning the lack of accessibility here, and just saying a thank you to Norman Lear for the many contributions he made over the years. He fast tracked the evolution of the sitcom, and without his winning formula, I’m not sure some of the newer classics we love today would exist.
No Grade. Just, a big thank you.
