For those looking for Blind Film Critics Society updates, we’ve recorded a podcast version with all the members involved going over our nominees and winners. That now is moving onto the editing stage. When that is ready, i will of course share it here, as well as post the list for those who are too consumed with time to listen to the podcast, or read the transcript.

TV Shows Watched: One Piece: S2E2 (Netflix) with audio description, American Idol: S24E8 (Disney Plus) no audio description, Down Cemetary Road: S1E7 (Apple) with audio description, Sheriff Country (S1E9 (Paramount Plus) with audio description, Ted: S2E1 (Peacock) with audio description, Last Week Tonight: Most Recent (HBO MAX) no audio description yet, and The Rookie: S8E5 (Disney Plus) with audio description

One Piece- A whale of a tale indeed.This is definitely one of those episodes I’m sure worked better in anime form, though the show does an admirable job. The audio description is also excellent. I really enjoyed the stuff happening inside the whale, and the descriptions of what it was like in there.

American Idol- After that awful Tastemakers thing, I’m back, and the first 10 singers were terrific. Seriously, I had such a hard time figuring out which singers I’d cut. 3 have to exit, since they are going from 20 to 14, so three from each night. I thought Hannah was the weakest, and would benefit (as many would) from not overthinking. Just because it is a big stage doesn’t mean you need to become a giant performer overnight. You still need to get votes, and move onto the next round. Stick to your strengths, and I’m just not sure Hannah did that. Jake would also be a cut for me. Solid voice, nice performance, but I’m not sure what kind of artist he’s supposed to be after that, and his competition is just too fierce. And then, honestly, I’d probably cut Cutter. There has to be three, and I’m not sure Daughtry is quite as relevant today, and he definitely didn’t outsing Chris. Technically, all three are fine performances.This was a super solid group. If I had to guess? It’s becoming harder and harder to predict how America votes anymore, and with the new voting methods, who even knows.

Down Cemetary Road- I’m finishing out of obligation now. I’ve felt the episode count now in the back half of the season, and I think this show would have benefitted from being a six episode limited. The audio description is fine, and I always need more Emma Thompson in my life.

Sheriff Country- I’m amazed I’m still watching. But dammit, I like this show. This weird two-parter I guess was setup in case they didn’t get an order for more episodes, or picked up for next season? No one names their kids Enoch anymore. Whatever happened to Enoch? Nice audio description. The plot with the grieving mother, that was a nice little way to add more to a character, some backstory we didn’t know.

Ted- The first episode is once again hilariously inappropriate. The audio description missed some of the roughhousing, but made sure to clock the growing pile of tissues, and the bear shaped hole in the wall. It got some of the jokes. Not all, but I knew that was a problem from Season 1. It’s weird when I remember bitching about the previous season. There was an episode having to do with Ted shooting a gun, and I remember thinking it was inadequate, but I forget why.

Last Week Tonight- A deep dive into JD Vance, and the many troubling things he’s said over the years.

The Rookie- I remember moments with previous shows and when I stopped watching them. The Rookie just took a hard nosedive and has almost crashed into the quit zone. I’m actually baffled. Nolan is still debating this move to DC, and he is working on a case with Garza. You might remember Garza, since he was introduced along with Niecy Nash for The Rookie: Feds, the show Garza was on for one season, and now recurs on the flagship.Nash hasn’t returned, but Felix Angel Solis has appeared occasionally as Garza. Since The Rookie assumes we all have short term memory loss, let me run this down for you. So, Nolan asks Garza about a potential transfer to the FBI, since Nolan doesn’t want to start at the bottom. Garza’s response is to tell Nolan he can rest easy, because you have to be under 35 to join te FBI. Wait. What? no. Fuck you. You had an entire spinoff that said otherwise. You tried to clone John Nolan with Niecy Nash’s midlife crisis career change. Nash wasn’t playing a 35 or younger character. Nash is 56. She’s actually OLDER than Nathan Fillion. Hell, she’s older than Garza. Nash is 56, Solis and Fillion are 54.

What in the actual fuck. I don’t like when writers treat me like an idiot, and trying to pretend that Niecy Nash was never on The Rookie, or that The Rookie Feds never happened, to fit the narrative of needing to be under 35 is a bridge too far for me. I might be done with this show. It’s one of those moments so shockingly terrible, so poorly written, so infantilizing it took one of my favorite shows, walked it right out back, and shot it in the head. Nonsense. Utter nonsense.

RIP. The Rookie. I don’t know if I can forgive you. It’s a self inflicted wound, and a conversation Nolan didn’t need to have, but you felt the need to do it. For me, it was like when watching Grey’s Anatomy, and we just went through the death of Lexie, and then Maggie comes along, and suddenly, Meredith has another surprise half-sister. Like there’s a well of half-sisters out there she can keep mining. Not a cousin, or Uncle, but they just repeated the same plot, but from a different parent. Instead of it being from her dad’s side, it was her mom’s side. I felt the intelligence get sucked out of the writers room. I felt it just now with The Rookie.