Getting back into the swing, I knocked out seven shows for your enjoyment. But really mine. Although, enjoyment really is a spectrum, isn’t it?

7) The Rookie: Feds (ABC/Hulu)

English Audio description?: Yes

This show, at times, has some really silly writing. Almost like it feels like a spoof of shows of this genre, or an SNL skit.We are only in the fifth episode, but already when I hear her making some connection to being a guidance counselor, it’s like the worlds worst running joke. This episode also amassed two strikes. The first came when a law enforcement officer unironically just dropped Bye Felicia, without any sort of flourish, but just as dialogue he was given. Meaning the writers think they are clever, but the director and actor disagreed, and went with a deadpan dismissal of that line. The second came when Simone’s father stood up for his daughter’s right to love whomever she chooses, and the reaction from the woman he was dating was like “you have too much anger, I’m leaving”. She should have been proud as hell of him. We still live in a world where many parents are not standing up for their kids, and it was very weird to see this show take a stance that was “she can take care of herself”. he didn’t punch a guy, he just really forcefully asked him to immediately leave his house. Why are we saying that is a bad thing? I thought it was awesome, and fuck the writers. When people keep talking about taking away gay marriage this election cycle, it’s clear that the message we need is “get out of my damn house with that nonsense”, and not “oh they’l be fine.”

Episode Grade: C-

6) Mike (Hulu)

English Audio Description: Yes

I’m starting to worry about the tone this show is taking, and whether or not it will hold Mike accountable for any of his actions. The first two episodes use this bizarre format where Mike is telling his story through a stand up routine, and the first two episodes have done a stellar job selling us on how terrible his childhood was, oddly setting us up to be sympathetic in advance of the bad things still to come. It’s a format I’m becoming increasingly uncomfortable with, and one of the reasons I avoided Dahmer. If this show tries to give Tyson a pass, or say everything was because his mother didn’t love him enough, or whatever, I’ll stop watching.

Episode Grade: B-

5) The Equalizer (CBS/Paramount Plus)

English Audio Description?: Yes

There’s starting to be a bit more family drama. Some flirting between Dante and The Equalizer (whose family interestingly is addicted to a show called the exterminator, which I found to be slightly hilarious). But this episode centered around a biker being framed for being a gun runner, and a political election that may not be what it seemed. it was Ok, and there was one sequence where she beats a room full of men silly, but it was pretty average. And I’m not sure i want her to hookup with Dante. i don’t know, I’m on the fence.

Episode Grade: B

4) Star Trek: Lower Decks (Paramount Plus)

English Audio Description?: Yes

In The Least Dangerous Game, Boiler decides to say Yes finally and ends up saying Yes to being hunted by an alien. Of course, this is the comedic version of Star Trek, so he’s never really in danger.

Episode Grade: B

3) Pretty little Liars: Original Sin (HBo MAX)

English Audio Description?: Yes

So that was the season finale. What a crappy killer reveal. Lots of people ended up stabbed or or dead. of course, the episode ends in a way that allows for a second season. My hopes, because I’m very indifferent on needing to actually watch a second season, is that the show hire better adult actors, better directors who allow the adults in this show to not act as if they were rejected from Guiding Light, and just let it be a fun whodunit slasher. This show works best when the teens are just doing their thing, and trying to uncover the mystery. Every time an adult enters the scene, it makes it worse. The entire adult cast in this is awful. Every single one. Maybe season two will feature a rapture of adults. I don’t know, but this was not a perfect season, but it had some fun moments.

Episode Grade: B+, Season 1 Grade: B

2) The imperfects (Netflix)

English Audio Description?: Yes

This is a very weird show. It has a lot of explaining to do in the first episode, and all things considered, I thought it did a pretty nice job. The audio description here on some of the gorier elements, or the creature feature stuff was solid. Also, one of the leads emits stufff we wouldn’t know about without the description. She talks about it, but when its activated, the visual audience gets to see something, we would just have to wait for personality changes without audio description. I wasn’t sure if this would be a keeper or not, but for right now, it’s quirky enough that it has my attention. This entire episode is basically exposition, but there’s really no way to explain and get you started otherwise. It’s a complicated plot not based in any sort of reality.

Episode Grade: A-

1) Home Economics (aBC/Hulu)

English Audio Description?: Yes

What should have just been a rather run of the mill Halloween episode possibly actually changed the structure of the series moving forward. i don’t think Home Economics has ever topped a list, but this episode centered around typical Halloween pranks played amongst the siblings at the same time Tom has a reading from his book. but, a super fan has driven 19 miles to meet Tom. Is this a potential stalker? Well, it turns out that the character (played by Casey Wilson), could perhaps join the cast. I won’t spoil why, but to put something like that in a Halloween episode where you are set up to believe everything is just a gag, I thought was brilliant. If you are going to reshape the dynamic of your show, this was definitely the way to do it. We shall see how future episodes play out if this is temporary or permanent.

Episode Grade: A