Yeah, the title is click bait as hell, and I own that. But this post is about what people don’t take ownership in, and that is Hulu with The Bear. the absolute bane of my existence has been the term “FX on Hulu”, which seemingly is giving Hulu carte Blanche to screw over the blind and low vision community. Too often, shows like Reservoir Dogs and The Bear have launched without audio description. Trying to get them to care, they seem to think that the ‘FX’ part of that gives them some kind of hall pass to screw around with providing accessibility.

Yes, I recently rolled through Hulu after a month of waiting for them to upload the existing audio description track to The First Omen, which is 20th Century Fox, and is directly under the umbrella of Disney, which is now where Hulu is. Just in case the integration of Hulu into Disney Plus was confusing, or being asked to create a unifying Disney login for both services, Hulu is Disney. This seems to be a really hard thing for Hulu and Disney to understand as Disney isn’t quite aware of its subsidiaries. I know Bob Iger has a lot on his hands, so let me help.

The Walt Disney Corporation is a multi-national conglomerate that has its hands in pretty much everything. From theme parks on three different continents, to filmmaking, television channels, including network broadcast television, ESPN, and recent acquisitions like Marvel, LucasFilm, most of what was Fox, and taking their share of Hulu and transforming it into a majority buyout, recently getting the last portion from Comcast/Universal.So Disney is everything from Snow White to Deadpool, from Hannah Montana to Sons of Anarchy, and The Acolyte to The Bear. In fact, if you head to Disney Plus, you might just find The bear in the carousel right now.

So where is the disconnect? And why does it keep happening? Why do we consistently have to remind Disney and Hulu about their own projects, something I do not have to do with Netflix, Amazon, Apple, or MAX. The competitors, when they drop new programs, seem to have an understanding of what exactly they own. Hell, even peacock just added audio description to Bravo’s Below Deck Mediterranean. So, why can’t Hulu remember when a title is being released, and make sure the audio description is there at launch?

It is a question that plagues the blind community, as we have seen films like A haunting In Venice and The Creator landing without audio description. The second season of Hulu original Extraordinary is still missing audio description. Why is Hulu so bad at something that everyone else is seemingly not, including Disney Plus.

Could you imagine if the latest Marvel or Star Wars show hit Disney Plus without audio description? It just sounds ridiculous typing it. Yet, the award winning comedy The Bear, a show which synergy landed the cast an interview spot on ABC World News Tonight with David Muir just before the episodes dropped, somehow escapes the conversation.

For me, as a blind film critic, who now finds himself in the interesting spot of getting FYC invites, and voting in awards, it gives me pause when voting. I do not plan on voting for shows that do not value accessibility for my community. That goes for The Bear, and any other show out there on any streaming service or network. if you do not find me to be a human being, I do not vote for you. By dividing The Bear’s audience in an accessibility caste system, where there are those who now can watch the show and discuss it in full, while there is another portion that cannot and must wait for Hulu to do their job, that isn’t exactly a great “for my consideration” campaign.

Hilariously, I was planning on breaking my binge watch rule, watching the entire season today and posting a review, a first for me. But, no. I won’t be doing that, because someone at Hulu who should have been fired a long time ago forgot to prioritize uploading the audio description track. Inequity is not inclusivity. As someone who lives in orlando right here by Disney World, I lived with the Disney quote “drawing creativity from diversity”. Perhaps, adding some disabled voices into your boardrooms might draw some of that creativity again.

yes Chef?