The Small Screen Diaries- 04/26/24
We’re kicking off today with some surprisingly bad news, at least for fans of NCIS: Hawaii. CBS has cancelled the spinoff after just three seasons, making it (by far) the weakest link in the series so far. I’d argue part of the reason for this is that they are developing NCIS: Origins for next season, as well as the renewal of NCIS: Sydney. Baby Reindeer (Netflix) is still in its lighthearted phase. I noticed the episode length even was closer to that of a sitcom, running approximately 30 minutes. Of course, we’re still back toward the beginning of this whole … Continue reading The Small Screen Diaries- 04/26/24
The Bloody Hundredth
The only film this year to list Tom Hanks and Hitler in the “cast list” section on iMDB. This is the companion documentary to Masters Of The Air, a fantastic limited series on Apple Plus, which was also narrated by Laura Post. This documentary tells the true story, and in many ways would be a spoiler if you wanted the series to surprise you. Real interviews are used, along with footage from the era, and commentary from those involved in the creation and production of Masters of The Air, explaining why this story is so worthy of its own incarnation. … Continue reading The Bloody Hundredth
Damsel
Millie Bobby Brown needs to have a deal with… life. The poor girl basically is living inside Netflix, as the star of Stranger Things, which will probably air its final season when she’s 30, and the Enolah Holmes series, Brown is of course doing Damsel for Netflix. The problem with that, is that Netflix has a movie vomit approach to its platform, and it is so hard to parse which films are worth your time just by assuming it’s the new Friday release. Netflix has so many mediocre movies with movie stars they could stock a defunct Blockbuster with just … Continue reading Damsel
The Small Screen Diaries- 04/25/24
Some renewal news. CBS officially has ordered a fifth season of The Equalizer, while NBC has decided to send its newest Law and Order incarnation, Organized Crime, to Peacock. Both are technically coming back, so fans of those shows can at least be happy for that. I finished The New look (Apple Plus), which as a series had its moments. I’m not sure if they are planning more. I think this is in competition for Drama Series at the Emmys, not limited, but the ending that explains the cultural impact of Christian Dior feels like a hard ending. So, when … Continue reading The Small Screen Diaries- 04/25/24
Frida (2024)
Amazon has quietly released a documentary about Frida Kahlo that is uniquely animated to represent her style, and is told through her Owen voice and/or words. The draw here would be, well, the drawings. The animation bringing to life this story, and doing so in a way inspired by one of the most recognizable artists of all time. However, as a blind film critic, it was really just a documentary. Without the ability to wow me with the visual intentionality, how did the audio description help Frida? Well, the audio description done here by the Media Access Group has quite … Continue reading Frida (2024)
The Greatest Night In Pop
Ah. The 80’s. What a wonderful time. I don’t remember much of it, and the parts that I do remember revolve almost entirely around toys, cartoons, and elementary school, so I was not really aware that We Are The World had so much that went into it in order to make it happen. Of course, I am familiar with the song, and knew it had a bunch of famous artists that worked on it, but I didn’t know that in 2024 we would get a documentary exploring just what went into the production of this song. First, this is a … Continue reading The Greatest Night In Pop
The Small Screen Diaries- 04/224/24
X-Men 97 (Disney Plus) is sort of the central point of my Wednesdays. Like, if I only got to watch one show, it would be this. Episode 7, Bright Eyes, does not disappoint. It is a very dark episode, but not disappointing. The episode was very Rogue centric, and did reveal who the villain really pulling the strings is. We also got more Cable, more Nightcrawler, and in the audio description we got the cameo of Strong Guy, as well as Thunderbolt Ross, and captain America. However, what we missed were other visible cameos, including Angel, Blob, and Multiple Man, … Continue reading The Small Screen Diaries- 04/224/24
The Small Screen Diaries- 04/23/24
I’ll break my no audio description rule to talk briefly about American Idol. Dear fans, you vote for shit. Stop voting. Thanks. I love how this week basically just wasted the judges saves with two wildcards going home on Sunday, and two going home on Monday. So the original top 10, regardless of how good any of the wildcards performed, is still the top 10. No wavering in support. What blows my mind the most is Roman not making the Top 10, after the judges had to eliminate the other two Top 20 singers who were too close to him … Continue reading The Small Screen Diaries- 04/23/24
The Small Screen Diaries- 04/22/24
My whole streaming experience was weird, since I usually watch American Idol on Monday mornings. For whatever reason, Hulu held back that drop until much later in the day. So, I watched some other stuff instead. Ripley (Netflix) kicked off the day, when I realized I had finished Three Body Problem, and it stopped at 8 episodes, not 10. Hah. Anyway, this show, and this episode, were a bit slower. This was all about Tom becoming Dickie, and how he does that. It’s not really the most engaging episode, and even with a slightly smaller cast now, it still feels … Continue reading The Small Screen Diaries- 04/22/24
The Small Screen Diaries- 04/21/24
And we are back. As a content creator, who also works, and has to balance this, sometimes real life wins. And due to the format of this being “shows I just watched the day before”, it is impossible to create in advance and put this out. So, apologies for two days with no diary. I’m sure everyone was devastated. I always assume I’m the first thing everyone reads in the morning, like USA Today or The Wall Street Journal. In my short absence, CBS murdered two shows that perform better than most of the shows on other networks, choosing to … Continue reading The Small Screen Diaries- 04/21/24
The Small Screen Diaries- 04/18/24
My day was full yesterday, so not a lot going on here. Amazon did renew Fallout. So, that expected thing happened. Ghosts (Paramount Plus), which I know is confusing, because it also aired live last night, but I did watch finally last weeks episode, with the poltergeist. So, I’m back to being an episode behind in the same day. It’s a funny show, the audio description is OK. Middle tier. Not Dead Yet (Hulu) got priority viewing from me on Hulu since it is heavily on the bubble. I like this show, I don’t think ABC will pick it up, … Continue reading The Small Screen Diaries- 04/18/24
The Small Screen Diaries- 04/17/24
We’re going to do a speed run of the very little TV I watched. Constellation (Apple Plus) almost seemed like it would head toward a finale, except they clearly were not answering questions, and the whole storyline with Jonathan Banks wasn’t resolved. So that twist at the end wasn’t entirely unexpected. Really good audio description this whole run, especially due to the dualities happening. Top Tier. X-Men 97 (Disney plus) revived someone from the dead, though not who you would expect, added someone to the opening credits who wasn’t even in the episode, and I don’t care because I’m still … Continue reading The Small Screen Diaries- 04/17/24
The Small Screen Diaries- 04/16/24
I am pleased to acknowledge the renewal of The Rookie for a 7th season. That means ABC has either renewed or cancelled all of its current drama series. The last two shows on the bubble are The Connors and Not Dead Yet. I hear things are looking much better for The Connors, which is a shame, because I also really enjoy Not Dead Yet. But, The Connors deserves an actual finale, after all these years. The Dynasty (Apple Plus) is such a tough format for audio description, but I really feel like this is getting best-case scenario audio description. This … Continue reading The Small Screen Diaries- 04/16/24
The Small Screen Diaries- 04/15/24
I think I mention every week my newfound love for The Completely Made Up Adventures of Dick Turpin (Apple Plus). Not only is the half hour comedy hilarious, but it has some really great audio description that shapes this series very well. Six episodes in, and I’m getting more impressed by it. I’m not sure what else it could do for a series with this much dialogue, as it already does a lot. I’m a big fan of this and the audio description. Top Tier. Third episode in on Ripley (Netflix), and we learn why Johnny Flynn will be submitting … Continue reading The Small Screen Diaries- 04/15/24
The Small Screen Diaries- 04/14/24
Another rundown, another day. Got through episode 7 of Three Body Problem (Netflix), and even though the show has slowed down significantly since the bonkers fifth episode, this still has really nice audio description from Darren Polish. probably the best scene is the one describing the chimpanzee coming out of being cryogenically frozen. While I now need a new “Best Of” since losing The Regime last week, it doesn’t feel like this one is it. Top Tier though. What feels like it might be is Fallout (Amazon), which is doing some really strong work with this post-apocalyptic hellscape. The second … Continue reading The Small Screen Diaries- 04/14/24
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