TV News: I hate when networks and streamers do this. Amazon, in their bid to take over the world as dastardly as possible, has revoked the initial order for a second season of Etoile. This not only is disrespectful to the creatives, but also the audience, who could have watched the show at their own pace, knowing a second season was guaranteed. But as Hollywood is willing to break that trust more and more, by shelving films that are completed and using them as write offs (Universal just wrote off a completed Pharrell Williams musical, so it isn’t just WBD anymore), they are also becoming more and more confident in shutting out fans and making the concept of an order of another season irrelevant. Now, it is a game of “I’ll believe it when I see it.” This defeats the purpose of even announcing your renewal choices. Why bother? You’re just going to change your mind anyway. Etoile joins a long list of shows promised another season, from Glow and westworld, to lesser remembered shows like On Becoming A God In central Florida, as things that just piss fans off, and keep them from starting up a new show. in an age of binge watching, it is a lot easier to just wait and see if the show you are interested in works out, and has a beginning and end, like how Suits became a phenomenon on Netflix, than it is to take a risk.

That being said, Etoile is perfect, and worth the risk. Amazon couldn’t find a quality program if they had it shipped to them next day.

TV Shows Watched: Duster: S1E4 (MAX) with audio description, Murderbot: S1E5 (Apple Plus) with audio description, Battle Camp: S1E9 (Netflix) with audio description, Dark Winds: S1E3 (Netflix) No Audio Description Yet, The second Best Hospital In the Galaxy: S1E8 (Amazon) with audio description, No Man’s Land: S1E4 (Hulu) with audio description, The Rehearsal: S2E2 (MAX) with audio description, Phineas and ferb: S5E1 (Disney plus) NO Audio description, Jeopardy Masters: S3E9 (Hulu) with audio description, the Survivors: S1E1 (Netflix) with audio description

New Show Alert!- the Survivors centers around a group of adults in Australia, a mysterious death in the present, and a tragedy in the past, and how all that comes together. it feels a little like it might be a less violent version of Yellowjackets, as the thing in the past may have repercussions to what is happening now. The first episode is a little slow getting started, but finishes strong, and likely will hook anyone interested in this limited. Also, Disney revived Phineas and Ferb, and much like I had already predicted, it does not have audio description. Disney has a tough time describing their own content aimed at kids for some reason. last year they left off new animated shows like Ariel Jr and Zombies: the reanimated Series, the Big City Greens movie, and even the Wizards Of Waverly Place revival. These are all Disney brands. They should at least be concerned about branding, but I think maybe they think there isn’t a big blind kid audience for them, and by describing their theatrical titles, they’ve offered enough. my counter is, it is 2025, and you shouldn’t create new content that isn’t accessible. Netflix describes all English language originals, regardless of likely audience. And a lot of that stuff never becomes a time honored brand like the little Mermaid.

best Episode: Duster- JJ Abrams’s new show is hitting its stride, continuing to push the cast in a new and more interesting direction every episode. In this week’s outing, two foes become allies for a cause, and the plot thickens!

runner Up: The Rehearsal- Nathan Fielder really goes after Paramount Plus for removing one of the episodes of his Nathan For You show, and has “rehearsals” like he’s going to talk with an executive from Paramount about this, and they’re portrayed as Nazis. Scathing.

Best Of The Rest: Murderbot, Jeopardy Masters, and The Survivors round out the top 5.

Best Audio Description: Duster- there’s a really good brawl, a cool car chase, and some searching for clues that were all highlighted nicely.

Runner Up: The Second best Hospital in The Galaxy- one of my least favorite shows I’m currently watching does have some solid description of the aliens, and the competition was a little weaker today.

Best Of The Rest: The Survivors, No Man’s Land, Battle Camp- These three round out the Top 5 in terms of audio description.

Best Performance: Nathan Fielder (The Rehearsal)- As someone who has been through a reality singing competition series before, he totally got the vibe. I believe he did work for Canadian Idol. But, also as a creative on the show, he just stuck the landing.

Runner Up: Alexander Skarsgard (Murderbot)- he just remains hilarious. For most of this episode, it is all inner thoughts, and his reactions to the humans around him are biting and hilarious. It is a combination of a great script plus his deadpan delivery.

Best Of The Rest: Josh Holloway (Duster), The Winner (Jeopardy Masters), and The Ensemble Of No Man’s Land- An extended top 3, but No MAn’s Land is one of the darkest and bleakest shows on air. I’m shocked Hulu looked at this and said… yes. Let’s do more of this.

Best Moment Of Audio Description: The Bathroom (Duster)- A solid fight sequence. Well described.

Runner Up: Can We just get Rid Of trey? (Battle camp)- the episode itself sets up Trey as being annoying, and everyone is ready to send him home. but, the wheel decides. And with a double elimination, I thought the description highlighted on both spins that everyone seemed most attentive to whether or not the wheel was about to land on Trey. The second elimination will be revealed at the beginning of the next episode.

Runner Up 2- Still Got That Awful Image (No Man’s Land)- They mention a photograph being held of the thing that happened at the end of the last episode. not sure we needed the brutal reminder, but that’s also what this show is. A brutal reminder.

Runner Up 3- The Car Chase (Duster)- Making a second appearance, the audacity some guys have to steal a car, and how they are made to regret it.

Runner Up 4- the Shoes (The Survivors)- As the cast is trying to figure out what happened, kieran remembered some boots that were full of sand. it could be a big clue, and I’m glad we included it. It probably is a clue.

Worst Of…- the lack of audio description on the first season of Dark Winds is really making me consider skipping to season 2. I really don’t do that with linear shows. But, I really might. this show is so hard to follow without AD. But also, the lack of audio description on Phineas and Ferb’s reboot is egregious. Predictable but egregious. Disney has got to make audio description for new content, so it doesn’t have to come back around. it is so much easier to build accessibility in from the beginning than to have to do it later.