And we’re back. Thanks to all for the birthday wishes. But, what did i actually watch on my birthday? Not much. I did also watch Magazine Dreams, but a lot of your birthday is spent talking to people calling you once a year on your birthday. even though I only had two of those calls, they both broke an hour. How are you? Do you still work? That’s amazing. Wow. Inspirational. So… you go outside? Wow. Amazing. Inspirational. So you can find things to do? Wow. Amazing. inspirational.

TV Shows Watched: Smoke: S1E1 (Apple Plus) with audio description, Squid Game: S3E1 (Netflix) with audio description, And just Like that: S3E5 (MAX) with audio description, the Survivors: S1E6 (Netflix) with audio description, SNL: Scarlett Johansson (Peacock) with audio description, Hacks: S4E10 (MAX) with audio description, Bosch legacy: S3E8 (Amazon) with audio description

Best Episode: Smoke, runner Up: hacks

Best Audio Description: Squid Game, Runner Up: smoke

Best performance: Taron Egerton (smoke), Runner Up: Boen Yang (SNL)

best Moment Of Audio Description: The Skin Fell Off (Smoke), Let The Bodies hit The Floor.. Please? (Squid Game)

Smoke- Instantly drawn in to the new Dennis Lehane series which stars taron Egerton and Jurnee Smollett as a pair of detectives trying to stop a pair of arsonists. Basically, in the first episode, it is clear who one of the two is, but the other remains a mystery, setting up for an interesting game of cat and mouse. Greg Kinnear, who worked on Apple with Egerton in Blackbird (which I would boldly say is one of the top 10 shows of the last five years), is here too as his commanding officer. The pilot does an excellent job of setting up the characters and the stakes, providing context and backstory for our leads. It is well directed, written, and acted, and the audio description really does a stellar job communicating what we need to know to figure out who is doing this, and all the complications along the way. Loved this.

Squid game- i also do really love Squid game, but they don’t actually play anything in the first episode, it is all set up. There is one horrifying set piece where the remaining 60 contenders see the bodies of those who revolted hung from the ceiling. the spoilers on this are leaking SO FAST, so if you care, watch it quick. i don’t even care about spoilers, and I casually caught a really big one the day this dropped. there’s a huge cameo people can’t shut up about.

And Just Like that- in addition to Carrie having a lovely younger man doing her garden, she now has a cute British neighbor. So many possibilities that are not Aiden, and I’m here for all of it. And, kudos to a certain someone for boldly doing a nude scene.

the Survivors- I don’t think the payoff was so profound that Survivors passed how I felt about Secrets we Keep. granted, it is still a strong choice, and the audio description is good. butt Secrets We keep really threw me off.

SNL- the season finale. We never know who is and isn’t coming back, and I miss the days when cast members announced ahead of time so they could get a send off in the finale. this cast has stars, and also rans, and it is super obvious. I gave a nod to Boen Yang, for being one of, if not the brightest cast addition in the last ten years. he has totally taken over, and anchors so many sketches that wouldn’t work if he didn’t find the funny in it. his career is really taking off, and I hope he can manage to do both. I’m worried his time is up. kenan has already hinted at leaving if Lorne leaves, so whenever that is. Likely, as depressing as this sounds, Lorne Michaels will die while running SNL. he ain’t retiring. If he was, SNL 50 was the year to do it, and have a big blowout in the season finale, as so many people would have wanted to thank him. either he doesn’t want to be seen in public, of you can pry this show from his cold dead hands. the audio description was cute. there was even a little remark from the AD narrator that felt improvised, and not really description, but it felt still complimentary to SNL. I didn’t like how Jon Hamm was introduced a few weeks back, but for some reason I didn’t mind the little aside that was more commentary than description. I wish I had jotted it down.

Hacks- Man, I love this show to death, but the penultimate episode of the season was so much stronger. This just ends on a very different note, and it had opportunities to cut at different places. For example, they could have left us with the cliffhanger that Deborah died, but we resolved that so quickly. it was instead more about what TMZ posted for Deborah than the headline. Retired. Not Deborah Vance. So, she’ll come back roaring in season 5, but I can’t help but think we could have done that with a time jump after episode 9 and left that as the finale. She did have a very cute moment with her grandson, and some normal human interactions, but episode 9 was just so killer.

Bosch legacy: The Sicario are involved, and Bosch is on the trail. reliable, and probably two episodes left before being done.