I managed six shows today, one less than the past few days. I blame HBo MAX, at least in part, for me having to spend an irrational amount of time exploring why I can’t sign in only on my iOS app, but my Roku version is rocking it. So weird. And it just got super elevated, instead of resolved.

The word on the street is that the countdown is the new hotness, so we will continue counting down. Kicking us off here is an old reliable (meaning: lack of audio description).

6) Reservation Dogs (Hulu)

English Audio Description Available?: No

Dammit Hulu. This is why we can’t have nice things. After just rewatching Season 1 (which STILl had at least one episode without audio description, I now absolutely refuse to continue this show without audio description. I never realized how much i was missing until I revisited the show with AD. It went from being a show I thought was a bit overrated, to something I started enjoying and appreciating. In season 1, I had missed all the non verbal cues, from the woman with the deer feet, to the tragic loss of a character. It’s rather selfish to drop exclusive content consistently on your service without audio description, and I’m not going to stop pointing that out. To the cast, crew, and producer, I’m sure Reservation Dogs is better than my review. But if you’re concerned, why not tell Hulu to make this show accessible, and not months later, but when episodes drop. This is the last episode of Reservation Dogs for a while, possibly ever, if I’m not directly paying attention to when they finally decide to add audio description.

Final Grade: C

5) LaBrea (NBC/Peacock)

English Audio Description?: Yes

Even after watching every episode of this show, I consistently feel like I have no idea what is going on, and this show keeps opening up new mysteries just for the sake of doing so. Listen, lost was coherent. Labrea is not Lost. it’s not Stranger things. It keeps expanding this world, but beneath the shiny surface, there really isn’t much there. They’re trying to keep everything so mysterious, so they can wallop you later with “gotcha” moments. In the meantime, while we wait for those moments, this show is just odd for the sake of being odd.

Episode grade: B

4) Andor (Disney Plus)

English Audio Description?: Yes

The fourth episode featured a lot of exposition, the moving around of pieces on the chess board, and conversations. Not a lot of action, and plot points, like the guy holding the gun to his friends back trying to convince him to tell her they all died, never got resolved. If someone held a gun to my back, we’d be having a solid conversation about that later. Plus, the already shitty villains went back to their Office Space hellscape where I felt compelled to like one villain, or sympathize with one more than another over dramatic bureaucracy, like the main bad guy wants to know if anyone found his stapler, or where Michael Scott is.

Episode Grade: B+

3) What We Do in The Shadows (FX/ Hulu)

English Audio Description?: No

Believe me, I’d love to rank one of my favorite shows higher on their season finale. But there was a section of the show that was like 2-3 minutes of just music, and I had no earthly idea what went on. i don’t like things where a giant chunk of the episode is me just sitting there waiting for this scene to end or have some dialogue so I can figure out what the hell is going on. So, once again, thanks Hulu, for your unwavering commitment to inclusivity. And, I suppose I should thank FX for being such a leader in the field of audio description. Truly, if the world was run by FX and Hulu, we might find out what a Thunderdome actually looks like in a real world application.

Episode Grade: B+

2) The outlaws (Amazon)

English Audio Description?: Yes

A bit all over the place. Lady Gaby’s ex is on a dating website, which triggers her to makeover Stephen Merchant. Like, is that possible? Myrna gave a speech saying that cell towers cause Covid. oh, and the gang started actually making drugs and packaging them. Hmmm. Two episodes left this season. This should be interesting.

Episode Grade: A-

1) The Rookie (ABC/ Hulu)

English Audio Description?: Yes

I’m not sure if the first two episodes of the season featured this guy or not, but this is a new narrator. I miss the old guy, and honestly, the narration here wasn’t very good. It was sporadic, missed a lot of scene changes, character entrances/exits, and seemed kind of lazily thrown together. However, in a very odd day, an episode centered around nolan having his first boot was interesting, and she was using her crime fighting skills of seeing auras to solve crimes, which led to Nolan explaining why they have to follow the rule book. Because when does a feeling turn into prejudice? Thanks, The Rookie. I needed a well written episode today.

Episode Grade: A