Just showing that it can happen. Nothing I watched yesterday is managing an A grade. Minus is as high as we go.
1) The Weakest Link (NBC/Peacock/Hulu)
English Audio Description Available?: Depending On Platform.
Bet you didn’t see this coming. i was laughing my ass off as somehow, the two dumbest players survived until the finale. This one guy missed the trivia question “I before E except after… what?” I was living for some of these answers. Ultimately, someone who did not deserve 40K got 40K. I loved. This episode so much. The one guy got to the finale and was asked what Virginia college was named for the king and queen at the time it was established. And the guy was talking through the answers, and you heard him literally say “It’s not Virginia Tech.” Well, duh. Then he paused. And he STILL GUESSED VIRGINIA TECH. hilarious. Fucking hilarious. I’m sure Jane went home and got wasted after hosting that episode.
Episode Grade: A-
2) All Rise (OWN)
English Audio Description Available?: No
Another reason Weakest Link topped the chart is that when faced with a technical tie, I like to try and avoid putting a show without audio description up there. But the fourth episode of All Rises revival was twisty enough to gain my interest.
Episode Grade: A-
3) Pachenko (Apple Plus)
English Audio Description Available?: Yes
I do kind of feel like I’m watching the evolution of the Asian This Is us. We started getting a little melodramatic in the sixth episode as Sunja gives birth finally… to Noah? A character we haven’t met yet. That should be fun. Oh, and the girl Solomon has been talking to over the phone? She has AIDS. So, what was once intriguing me, has learned a bit too much from soap operas. Please, keep the rhythm you had in the first five episodes.
Episode Grade: B+
4) Atlanta (FX)
English Audio Description Available?: No
In the 8th episode of the season, paperboy got high and wandered the streets. I like Atlanta, and I think the work Brian Tyree Henry does on the show is great, but I needed audio description for this episode. That’s why it’s ranked a little lower than I usually would for an Atlanta episode. Rule of thumb, when your lead characters are tripping balls, and there are no descriptions to be had, the episode doesn’t really make sense.
Episode Grade: B+
5) The Hardy Boys (Hulu)
English Audio Description Available?: Yes
In the 7th episode, things got a bit more complicated, but also started to come together. And the episode ending where it did, with everyone having these big revelations, and then realizing they’ve been bugged this whole time was rather effective. It still just feels like an elevated CW show. Like, if Nancy Drew didn’t suck.
Episode Grade: B+
6) We Crashed (Apple Plus)
English Audio Description Available?: Yes
They may have crashed, but at least this series has reached a conclusion. And honestly, a rather abrupt one. For a show that was fully committed to dragging this story out, where it ended felt very weird. I actually assumed we were just going to go another episode, then it just closed the book. We did get to listen to an interview done by the original actual people which was nice, and I appreciated Leto and Hathaway’s performances more. Plus, it did end with a nice final Big Bang, after wandering a bit. I’m not sure this ever needed to be a limited series, but I am sure after sitting through 8 episodes, that this would have been stronger at 6.
Episode Grade: B+, Series Grade: B
7) The Baby (HBO/HBO mAX)
English Audio Description Available?: Yes
I’ve been waiting for this show to make sense. Why didn’t she seem to care more that she lost her damn finger?
Episode Grade: C+
8) Miss Marvel (Disney plus)
English Audio Description Available?: Yes
I keep waiting for this show to blow my mind. I don’t know if that’s even what they have planned. I think the bar has been set so high by previous Marvel efforts, both film and television, that eventually I was going to find something that didn’t work. I love Kamala as a character, I love the girl playing her, I like her friends, I love the culture. Strip all of that away, and you have a rather boring show that in the fourth episode still finds our main character training and trying to figure out her powers. This is only a six episode series, and she has spent 2/3rds of it flailing. Her villains are terrible. i don’t care about the Clandestines at all. And then the Red Dagger is introduced, because we needed one more random faction to think or care about. We’ve still got Damage Control running around, and I kind of just wonder when this Miss Marvel show is actually going to be about Miss Marvel, and when Kamala is finally going to be the superhero with great powers and great responsibilities.
Episode Grade: C+
