The roundup has shifted in format several times, and it becomes whatever it needs to be. Late last year, I stopped ranking shows episodically, and started ranking them by the order I watched them. but still that somehow feels like an odd way to talk about TV, since it is just what I’m watching, which is a mix of older titles, and streaming titles that I don’t binge watch. Hopefully, this evolution of the Roundup, which will feel a little less roundup-ish will put a little more focus on things it needs to focus on.
So, for the final day of 2023, this is what I have to say:
I usually use Sundays to start new series and add them into the rotation, or consider adding shows into the rotation. This Sunday was the same, with me starting the new season of Dr. Death (Peacock), checking out the import of Ghosts from the UK (Paramount Plus), and two new Netflix shows I had yet to watch, My Life With The Walter boys (Netflix) and Obliterated. Also, I watched the final episode of Archer, along with catching up on some shows from back in the day that need audio description. If I had to make a list, All in The Family would absolutely be on that list. I don’t know if there’s some version of the National Film Registry for TV shows, but All In The Family would certainly be there, for its contribution.
Archer absolutely goes out with a bang, and I’m glad they finally threw audio description on the last few seasons. However, it would be nice to recommend this to people who had never seen it, and know the entire thing had audio description. We’ll see after Hulu is absorbed by Disney, but I doubt it is a priority.
Dr. Death felt like something I didn’t need to revisit, as the first season was obviously the most important. but I guess I need to sit with Edgar Ramirez a bit longer. The shows audio description isn’t necessarily a stand out, but considering some others had problems, I felt like this was fine.
Ghosts UK definitely had action moments that weren’t described and I had to leave it up to my brain to put puzzle pieces together. It is a comedy, and half hour comedies are one of the hardest things to get audio description in on as the dialog is often rapid fire.The UK version still relies a bit on ambiance, and there were some things I would have liked to know. Also, while it’s just the first episode, I’m not really clear how many Ghosts there are in the house, in any given scene, or even what they all look like. Most of them have been reduced to simple descriptions like being headless, or having an arrow in the neck.
Obliterated is a show that the audio description has been lamented by others online already. Looks like another fail for Difuse. However, it wasn’t the oddest audio description, but I hated the pilot. I had no idea who these people were after the first episode, since the plot is so generic, and they all go to a party. Sending your cast to a party is the least interesting way to help define them as characters, as it is a unique situation where characters act out of their usual personality types due to alcohol and drugs. Phone calls home were used to substitute actual character development, but I have already deleted this from my queue. It’s just flat out a bad pilot.
Oddly enough, the soapy My Life With The Walter Boys In The Summer I Turned Pretty With Ginny And Georgia In Virgin River felt like the show I might actually watch more of. Except, this has actually the worst audio description. Another show that suffers from an abnormally large cast, the narrator refers to one character as Alex, when it’s actually Erin, and then gets it right, but no one in quality check caught it, so they released it to the world. It also is from an audio description company I’ve never heard of.
So, what did you watch? Let me know in the comments!