I was totally all ready to watch Echo yesterday morning during my workout period, and it turned out that it didn’t drop until later? Weird. Anyway, I’ll have thoughts on the first episode of that in the next episode. I really want to start by acknowledging the loss of Adan Canto, who fans might know from The Cleaning Lady, but I recognized from Designated Survivor. A rather surprising loss, as he was only 42.

Also, I would be remiss in mentioning that MAX, in their continuing wisdom, has decided not to do a third season of Our Flag Means Death. I would say this cancellation is surprising, but this is the streaming service that used Batgirl as a tax write off, and decided the rest of us never needed to see that finished product. And they did it again recently with Coyote vs ACME, which I’m hearing has a bidding war, and yet still has Warner being little bitches. They are where artistry goes to die, apparently. Also, we can’t forget that reversal on Minx. It’s always fun to announce to fans of a series that their show is coming back, just to wait a few months and rip that rug right out. In case you’re curious, it’s actually pretty easy to find out how much the head of WBD makes every year, just by himself (hint, it’s a nine-figure number). I just asked my Alexa device, and even she knew what was up. So, the financially strapped MAX has to figure out how to cut costs, and the choice is to cut on the content end. Brilliant. With even a fraction of his salary, I’m sure we could add audio description to every title in warner’s catalog, across WB, HBo, Discovery, and their subsidiaries.

So what did I watch? Well, I’m not really trying to acknowledge shows without AD, but I did continue with the new season of The Great North (Hulu), and that’ll be the last time you hear me mention that for a while. Add audio description, and we’ll talk. I knocked out the second episode of Berlin (Netflix), which is so quirky I’m kind of enjoying it. I know it’s a foreign language program being translated, but I love how the dialogue is written sometimes, and what these characters say. It’s just not exactly how I’d put it, but it does give it a new flavor. Difuse needs to invest in making better audio description though. They seem to keep getting used more and more, and I’d be lying if I said this was the best audio description of the day.

Add to that Ghosts: UK (Paramount Plus) had some difficult narration to tackle, trying to let us know where the ghosts are, when she can see them, and not. In many ways, this audio description is better than the US version, as UK shows often don’t feel the need to rapid fire the dialogue, and challenge their audiences with humor in moments, which allows for audio description time. Still, sitcom audio description is one of the hardest things to do well, on either side of the pond.

Young Sheldon (MAX) which I’m still catching up on, does try to make the most of the dead air there as well. It does have the misfortune of older Sheldon’s internal monologues, which often take up the ideal space for narration, but we got some good stuff in there. The episode was about Sheldon trying to build a nuclear reactor.

I still have to hand the trophy, at the end of the day, to Monarch (Apple Plus), which is that rare series to have roped in Jedidiah Barton, and the team here is really doing a lot, from translating languages, to having to describe the occasional appearance of a Kaiju, as well as the devastation left in the wake of G-Day. Luckily, this cast is rather limited in size, so there aren’t a ton of people to keep track of, or explore what they look like and are wearing. this isn’t that kind of series. It’s trying to bring out more human elements in a franchise that has been hammered for having none, and just being loud.