TV Shows Watched: Dynasty: The Murdocks: S1E1 (Netflix) with audio description, The Comeback: S1E1 (HBO MAX) with audio description, America’s Culinary Cup: S1E1 (Paramount) with audio description, Have I Got News For You: S4E9 (HBO MAX) no audio description, Celebrity Jeopardy: S4E2 (Disney Plus) with audio description

Dynasty: the Murdocks- Succession was basically this in dramatized form, and this confirms it. Turns out the Murdoch kids were big fans of the series, three of the four of them, and this is the story of four siblings fighting for Daddy’s love, but in real life. Documentary style. VSI did the audio description, and Roy Samuelson performs the AD. It’s a lot of talking heads, and I honestly wasn’t always sure who was talking. So, it’s a hard format to land effusive audio description, and the biggest thing of “who is this” isn’t easily answered. It falls more under the belief that if they say the name once, we imprint upon it. I’m curious as to how future episodes work, and if they’ll at least hit the reset with each episode.

The comeback- Since this is coming back, I figured I should start it finally. It’s fine. The AD is disappointing, and no one was credited. It does have a tough format, but I’m also not sold that this maximizes its potential. Very few things are actually described here. In case you have no idea what this is, Lisa Kudrow does a mockumentary style show where she plays a fading sitcom star being offered a new show, thus the title, The Comeback.

America’s Culinary Cup- Parma left top chef so she could take a break, film a little series for Hulu, and ultimately just rip off top chef but do it for CBS. Cool. It flows a lot like Top Chef, just not formatted exactly the same with Quickfire/Elimination Challenge/Judges Table. Here, at least in the pilot, the 16 chefs are cooking off in pairs. 8 of them advance, and 8 are in danger. Those 8 once again cook off, and from that four are eliminated.the AD here is fine, but all shows of this ilk have the impossible task of describing the actual dish itself, which is why your sighted partner is drooling during this, and hungry after.

Have I Got News For you- One of the two guests used to work for NPR. I bet he has some stories. this was fine, if you like this format.

Celebrity Jeopardy- Macaulay Culkin, Steven Weber, and Jackie Tohn compete. All of them did well last time. Of the three, I had them ranked in my mind as to who I liked the most, and then I listened to their charities, and I prioritized there as well. the winner was neither on top of my favorite celebrity list, nor did I think they had the best charity. The AD here is listless, and lacks purpose. Again, I’ll echo what I said last week, Roundabout did a better job with Pop Culture Jeopardy. Stop cutting every corner possible.