Some cancellation news. Predictably, FOX axed Going Dutch after two seasons. It consistently ranked at the bottom of their programming, so they’ll try and pair Animal Control with something else. And, Netflix announced that the already renewed The Night Agent is entering its final season. The show is already in production on Season 4, which will be the conclusion. Originally, The Night Agent drew in 20 million fans with its first season, but has since dipped to just 8 million for its third season.

TV Shows Watched: Star Wars: Maul: Shadow Lord: S1E9 (Disney Plus) with audio description, The Count Of Monte Cristo: S1E7 (PBS) with audio description, Lord Of The Flies: S1E1 (Netflix) with audio description, Kevin: S1E1 (Amazon) with audio description, SNL: Ryan Gosling (Peacock) with audio description, and Abbott Elementary: S5E15 (Disney Plus) with audio description

Maul Shadow Lord- All anyone will want to talk about is THAT ending. If you do not wish to be spoiled, watch ASAP. I did love the description. I loved how the writer chose to first give us a lush visual description of an icon, instead of assuming we’d all just know or have a visual image. They had the space to do it, and it paid off.

The Count Of Monte Cristo- I’ve thoroughly enjoyed this adaptation.As we near the end, Edmund does start to reveal who he is, and definitely gets his final revenge on at least one of his enemies.Media access Group has done nice work on this.

Lord Of The Flies- A beautiful score. Supposedly the first TV adaptation, and the first episode keeps things mostly light, tonally speaking. IN fact, maybe too light. For a group of kids who just survived a plane crash, they are wildly upbeat about their setting, and Piggy, who we meet first, couldn’t have less of a fuck to give. He’s ready for a swim in a lagoon with who knows what in there. Zero survival instincts. It has been years, decades, since I read this, so I can’t remember a thing except things don’t work out well for Piggy. The first episode is rather tame, especially given audio description, the performances, and optimistic score.

Kevin- I feel like I probably know the AD team behind this, but either the AD isn’t good, or the format is just awful, but I definitely felt like I was not getting nearly enough from this adult animated sitcom where animals talk to humans on the regular, including insects.I wasn’t even sure of who was human, or what kind of animal everyone was in the first episode, which is a structural problem. The show is smart, funny, and decidedly original, with a strong voice cast led by Jason Schwartzman, but the AD did not get me from point A to point B. It basically saw the traffic ahead and told me I could walk the rest of the way.

SNL- On the other side, this has some truly great AD when having to explain the musical guest. Not just was Gosling’s opening monologue a lot to cover in terms of AD, but the musical guest is Gorillaz, which if you know who they are, seems impossible.But they went for a hybrid performance, choosing half animation half live performers, and the AD on both songs was really good, noting who was physically present, and trying to mention as best as they could how the animated component was working out. Really well done.

Abbott Elementary- Always feels like it is missing visual cues, but this was a day where Abbott had Safety Day, so a few people from different areas were reminding kids to not do drugs, or text while driving, at an Elementary School.Jacob does find out that an unqualified former teacher is running for some silly position, and he cares enough to attend her pointless town hall, and when he learns she’s running unopposed, runs against her because she’s really dumb. Like, really dumb. I’m concerned that she was a teacher at some point.There’s a great jab at being unqualified for your job, which felt like a nod to the audience.