The Small Screen Diaries: 08/19/26
TV Shows Watched: Ted Lasso: S4E3 (Apple) with audio description, Nemesis: S1E8 (Netflix) with audio description, Sheriff Country: S1E19 (Paramount Plus) with audio description, The Comeback: S2E4 (HBO MAX) with audio description, St Dennis Medical: S2E13 (Peacock) with audio description, and Breaking Bad: S4E9 (Netflix) with audio description Ted Lasso- I enjoyed this episode with open tryouts. Plus, Ted got to hang with Henry for a smidge, the whole reason he left to begin with. Ted Lasso is slowly finding its feet. Will it ever be as good as it once was? Probably not, though I like this reboot of … Continue reading The Small Screen Diaries: 08/19/26
My Top 10 Favorite Best Actor Nominations Of The 2010’s
Last week, I decided to share with all of you my feelings on the 10 Best Actor winners of the 2010s because I had seen all of them. This week, I decided to share with you my 10 favorite nominations that did not go on to a win. So, of the remaining 40 Best Actor nominations from films released from 2010 through 2019, with ceremonies from 2011 through 2020, I picked out my 10 favorite performances. I wasn’t necessarily worried about trying to get one from each year or anything like that. These are just my 10 favorites. I have … Continue reading My Top 10 Favorite Best Actor Nominations Of The 2010’s
The Small Screen Diaries: 08/18/26
TV Shows Watched: Sugar: Season 2 (Apple) with audio description, Black Clover: S1E1 (CrunchyRoll) with audio description, and American Classic: S1E7 (MGM Plus) with audio description Seems like a slow news day until you realize that’s eight episodes of Sugar. Sugar- I do plan on reviewing, which is the whole point of bingeing. I didn’t really love Season 1, though I appreciated its vibes in terms of that old school gumshoe thing Colin Farrell has going on, which reminded me of like The Maltese Falcon, or Chinatown. Then things got weird, and if you haven’t seen Sugar at all, just … Continue reading The Small Screen Diaries: 08/18/26
The Small Screen Diaries: 08/17/26
Loosely, I’ll say I’m feeling discriminated against this morning, though I won’t provide context. I did have to casually accuse/suggest that in an email, which is not fun. TV Shows Watched: Lanterns: S1E1 (HBO MAX) with audio description, Widows Bay: S1E10 (Apple) with audio description, Avatar: S2E7 (Netflix) with audio description, Tracker: S4E? (Paramount) no audio description, Elzabeth: Season Finale (Paramount) with audio description, and Last Week Tonight: Most Recent (HBO MAX) no audio description Winner: Lanterns Loser: Tracker I don’t know why Tracker lost AD for an episode, but considering I also watched Elzabeth without problem, then Tracker just … Continue reading The Small Screen Diaries: 08/17/26
Avatar: The Last Airbender: Season 2 (2026)
We are certainly living in a golden age of television, regardless of how you feel about the endless adaptations. The fact that we’re getting so many of them, and that they are as well funded as they are, is at least promising because some of them are producing quality work. Thirty years ago, science fiction, fantasy, and superhero television meant shows like seaQuest DSV, Earth 2, The Flash, Xena: Warrior Princess, and Sliders. I remember that live-action Flash series starring John Wesley Shipp, who would later play Dawson’s father on Dawson’s Creek. Budgets were lower and casts were largely filled … Continue reading Avatar: The Last Airbender: Season 2 (2026)
Going In Blind: The Magic Far Away Tree
When I was growing up in a different time and a different generation, back in the days when churning butter was a thing, before electricity, when dinosaurs were roaming the Earth, I loved to read books. I had plenty of children’s books, and because I read so voraciously, I moved fairly quickly up the age bracket, routinely reading material above my grade level, except for Goosebumps, which was just for fun. I definitely grew up in the Goosebumps generation. We were always presented with the summer reading list, and the goal was to check off as many books as possible, … Continue reading Going In Blind: The Magic Far Away Tree
The Small Screen Diaries: 08/16/26
TV Shows Watched: The Walking Dead: Dead City: S3E4 (AMC Plus) WITH audio description, Unconditional: S1E8 (Apple) with audio description, The Westies: S1E7 (MGM Plus) with audio description, Avatar: The LAst Airbender: S2E6 (Netflix) with audio description, The Rookie: S8E10 (Disney Plus) with audio description, and The Five Star Weekend: S1E2 (Peacock) with audio description The Walking Dead: Dead City- I’ve suspected in the past that AMC Plus uses synthetic voice, and I’d still buy that here. They tipped their hat previously when the narrator couldn’t pronounce the name of a character, so I operate as if this was synthetic. … Continue reading The Small Screen Diaries: 08/16/26
Is God Is
Somehow Is God Is slipped completely by me. I remember seeing it listed when it was opening in theaters, and it was a film starring Sterling K. Brown and Vivica A. Fox, and I immediately thought, why is this being released theatrically? I also thought it was probably a Christian movie, and it is anything but. It’s amazing what happens when you actually know what something is about, but I skip nearly every trailer for a film, so I work largely off of what studios send me and what other critics are talking about. It wasn’t until after Is God … Continue reading Is God Is
Off Campus: Season 1
The expectations were pretty high going into Off Campus, as Amazon had already picked up the show for a second season, feeling ultra-confident that it had a new hit on its hands. It comes from Elle Kennedy’s popular book series, which allows the show to have almost a Bridgerton-like structure, meaning the focus can shift to a new couple each season. But I grew up on these types of shows, coming-of-age teen dramas. I was blessed to be there for the arrival of The WB, starting off with shows like Dawson’s Creek, moving into things like One Tree Hill and … Continue reading Off Campus: Season 1
Going In Blind: The Snare
I was not part of the After School Special generation. I did not come home after school to watch a weepy teen drama about life lessons, but if that were still a thing, I imagine The Snare could have found a place among the pantheon of what I’m sure are legendary classics. It’s very much a cautionary tale, both for teenagers in terms of being a coming-of-age story and for parents who apparently need to get all up in their kids’ business 24/7, because the world from The Snare’s perspective is very much waiting to find your children and eat … Continue reading Going In Blind: The Snare
The Small Screen Diaries: 08/15/26
Coming up this week, a bit of a slow week, Lanterns (HBO) premieres tonight, Outer Banks (Netflix) returns for a final season on Thursday, with Conan O’Brien Must Go (HBO) dropping on Friday. Disney is celebrating itself all week long with various content on Disney Plus, and features like Passenger (Paramount) and Mother Mary (HBO MAX) hit their streamers. I also believe THe Christophers (Hulu) is dropping this week. TV Shows Watched: Avatar: The LAst Airbender S2E1-5 (Netflix) with audio description, Pop Culture Jeopardy: S2E16 (Netflix) with audio description, Marshals: S1E12 (Paramount Plus), Little House On The Prairie: S1E7 (Netflix) … Continue reading The Small Screen Diaries: 08/15/26
The Bear: Season 5
If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. That’s the phrase, anyway. But here, it’s also the question, because I already reviewed the fifth and final season of The Bear once, and I still didn’t feel like I adequately explained why it didn’t work for me. Then I looked at that 97% Rotten Tomatoes score and realized just how far into the minority I’m going to be when I put up a Rotten review for this show. So I wanted to come back and really pin down why. The best explanation I can give is surprisingly simple: Season 5 … Continue reading The Bear: Season 5
Monstrous Me
Obviously, if you’re here, you know I’m a blind film critic. Or maybe you don’t. Maybe you found this review, clicked on it thinking it was just another review of Monstrous Me, and just learned that a blind film critic exists. I’m also an advocate for audio description. So pretty much whenever somebody comes to me and says, “Hey, will you review my movie? It has audio description,” I go, “Sure.” I want to support films that bothered to snag an audio description track for people like me, since major studios are still releasing titles without them. It’s funny that … Continue reading Monstrous Me
The Small Screen Diaries: 08/14/26
Two shows entered cancellation thunderdome, with one getting renewed, and the other cancelled. Stuart Fails To Save The Universe has been picked up for a second season at HBO MAX, while the synthetically described Deli Boys failed to make it to a third season.Synthetic narration. It may be hazardous to the health of your series. TV Shows Watched: Silo: S3E7 (Apple) with audio description, Stuart Fails: S1E4 (HBO MAX) with audio description, Tomb Raider King: S1E1 (CrunchyRoll) with audio description, Detective Hole: S1E8 (Netflix) with audio description, Will Trent: S4E17 (Disney Plus) with audio description And in other news, stay … Continue reading The Small Screen Diaries: 08/14/26
The Witness (2026): Series Review
Well, at least it was only three episodes. I know that’s not necessarily the most reassuring way of convincing you to watch a show, but these days, sometimes reminding an audience that something is appropriately lengthed instead of being drawn out for ulterior motives is oddly refreshing. The Witness could have been some 10-episode limited series where every aspect and detail of the case was spread out and beleaguered, with additional material packed in for dramatic effect until the passage of time slowed considerably and we spent a lifetime in a story that is rather simple for what it is. … Continue reading The Witness (2026): Series Review