We lost two actors in the same day. Chuck Norris, legendary action film star and famous Texas Ranger, died at 86, and Nicholas Brendan, Xander from Buffy The Vampire Slayer, died at 54. What a sad day.

TV Shows Watched: The Hunt: S1E2 (Apple) with audio description,The Dinosaurs: S1E1 (Netflix) with audio description, School Spirits: S3E5 (Paramount Plus) with audio description, Top Chef: S23E2 (Peacock) with audio description, The Beauty: S1E4 (Disney Plus) with audio description, The Greatest Average American: S1E4 (Disney Plus) with audio description, and Abbott Elementary: S5E11 (Disney Plus) with audio description

The Hunt- A decent international entry. Last time I lamented the dub version, as Melanie Laurent is in the cast, and I love her, and I wish I could hear her performance somehow. But the show is interesting, weird, and creepy. The audio description doesn’t catch all the visual cues, like an outfit is commented on, or a character objects to the grandfather getting high, but I wasn’t even really sure how he was, or how she put a stop to it. I’m assuming she put a joint out, but that’d just be a guess. Some of the action sequences are better described, and I liked the description of the plushie.

The Dinosaurs- A lot of heavy lifting here, since this is a faux-nature documentary, imagining the dinosaurs as they were. Morgan Freeman narrates and Steven Spielberg produces. They are obviously making up stories to teach us about the evolution of dinosaurs. The downside, is that if you know very little about dinosaurs, this audio description struggles to tell you anything about them, what they look like, or how big they are.It is great for using actual names for each dinosaur, so it feels scientific, but you’ll need to know something going in. It would be great for a blind kid studying dinosaurs, to enjoy a nature type documentary, and comparing this production with what they are learning. It is no more violent than any other nature doc, and obviously none of this is real.

School Spirits- This plot is driving off the deep end this season. It feels like we have jumped the shark. Maddie’s mom just leaves her alone so she can go to rehab, even though her daughter was missing for two seasons. LOL.

Top Chef- The quick fire involved pairing dishes to various flavors of Talenti Gelato, and the elimination was based on a three course meal increasing the heat. The contestant who went home seemed miffed, but also had moments earlier that they didn’t like hot things, yet they chose the hottest dish for their team. Bro. Self inflicted wound. Who is this narrator? She gets a ton of work. not all of it is great, but she’s never credited.

The Beauty- So, there’s a part of the episode where a character is in a battle, and tears pieces of themselves off and throws them at their foe. I think that’s all you need to know about this Ryan Murphy series. The AD here trends above average, as it is so gory, it is hard not to.

The Greatest Average American- I actually thought the audio description was starting to figure out, finally, how it should effectively work in this series. The things they describe are starting to improve the experience, noting scores, and keeping track of Nate’s challenges a bit better.

Abbott Elementary- They’re done with the mall already. The storyline ran its course in three episodes, in a season where they’ve just bounced around as a group, aimlessly hoping for Season 5 to have a plot. I love Abbott, and I thought maybe they finally had an idea for Season 5, and then… we’re right back at the school again. Great. Thanks for taking a creative risk?