TV Shows Watched: Man On Fire: S1E6 (Netflix) with audio description, Unconditional: S1E5 (Apple) with audio description, Deli Boys: S2E4 (Disney Plus) with audio description, Top Chef: Top 5 (Peacock) with audio description, Bait: S1E6 (Amazon) with audio description, Little House On The Prairie: S1E2 (Netflix), Hacks: S5E6 (HBO MAX) with audio description

Man On Fire- John breaks into the prison looking for answers, and he certainly gets them. Even if I hadn’t seen the movie, Scoot McNairy’s agent is not written well enough to hide the eventual betrayal. Recent Emmy Nominee Yaya Abdul-Mateen II is still doing solid work. The audio description, narrated by Sri Gordon is still really strong. There’s a lot happening at the prison, and they cover it all. I particularly liked how Nico slipped into the trunk. Shockingly, Netflix still has not made a decision on this show.

Unconditional- A lot happens in this episode, as our mom is back in Russia looking for answers, and this name she believes is involved in the disappearance of her daughter. I don’t say this lightly, and I say it everytime. I think this is the best International show (at least with audio description), I’ve seen in the last calendar year.Truly terrific series with lots of solid twists and turns, and some really solid audio description.

Deli Boys- In comparison to some other TTS voices, fo course this is on the higher end. Hell, I listened to a film the other day with a human narrator and it was lifeless. But, slightly edible isn’t a great meal either. Would you eat at a place that was slightly edible? The fourth episode has them finding out more info to keep one of the brothers out of jail, while the other two enter therapy.Hulu hasn’t picked up the show yet, but the producers remain optimistic (don’t they always?)

Top Chef- Man. Fifth Place contestant really needed to speak their mind didn’t they? I’m not sure who doesn’t want to be spoiled, so I’ll hold back the name, but this episode oddly ends with a tantrum. Someone is voted off, who believes they were voted off incorrectly, since the judges admired the actual challenge part of the dish, but he failed on technical precision outside the assigned ingredients. He’s not entirely wrong, but it’s a panel of judges, there are five of you left, and you made it that far. Yeah, it sucks, but they also have All-Star seasons and bring people back. this show is solid for exposure, and I think they got the wrong kind. She-Ra is still providing narration through Diffuse. A recent Emmy nominee for Reality Competition Series.

Bait- the final episode of Riz Ahmed’s Emmy nominated turn as a struggling actor, rife with representation and dark comedy, but it dropped the ball on the premise. I always wanted it to stick with the initial concept of being an actor rumored to be playing James Bond, and a satirical look at what simply being on that list could do for a rather unknown actor. It kinda moves away from that, so it was OK, but nothing special. I love Riz, but I wouldn’t have nominated him here. Jamie Bell for Half Man was an egregious snub.

Little House On The Prairie- Two things can be true. I was absolutely watching this with my Mom, who said to me “whoever is doing the reading for this show is very good, better than usual.” So she appreciated Toy Samuelson’s performance, as do I. The problem is, the writers. Something is not working at VSI. There are two instances where someone was incorrectly labeled. One, is when Charles is talking to his wife about the interaction she had previously with John, who is not there anymore. Roy read “John scowls”, but John isn’t in the scene. Charles is. I know narrators don’t always get to see the product they are narrating, and even the way that phrase sounded felt like it was added from a second pass, which made it weird. Later, when John has just walked away after returning the daughters to the Ingalls family, it says John runs and hugs Caroline. (Approximately), but that makes no sense, since he is gone and doesn’t come back, and certainly didn’t rush to hug Caroline. Probably Laura or Mary did. I’m so conflicted, because this is the second episode in a row with mistakes, but this is one of Roy’s best voice performances ever. It’s a little like watching a bad movie, with one terrific acting performance tying everything together.

Hacks- Love this episode, which Meg Megan Stalter have some of her funniest work so far. Two main storylines, one ends with this super dark twist, and the other is an affirmation against the proliferation of AI. I had questions though. So this had a giant Deborah statue at the center of conflict, and there was a little bit about people walking under it and looking up the skirt like Deborah wanted, suggesting that the thing is built. At the end, she says she decided to scrap it, which frees up the money in the budget. But.. isn’t it already built? I’m confused. I love Hacks, but I didn’t get what it was trying to suggest here.

The best AD? I’ll narrowly give that to Unconditional over Man On Fire. but for worst, I have TTS Deli Boys, probably TTS on Top Chef, incorrect labeling on little house, and a question mark from Hacks. I’ll absolve Hacks, as it could just be a me thing. Top Chef is only ever going to be just so good anyway, since it’s hard to spend the time to make the dishes sound incredible, but I’d love to hear a better writer prove me wrong. I’d love for top Chef to make me hungry again. Deli Boys isn’t human, for sure, but had better writing, whereas Little House had mistakes, but the best actual performance from a narrator. In which came first, the chicken or the egg, Deli Boys versus Little House is a great Sophie’s choice as to do you choose better writing or better audio description narration? The answer to that? Deli Boys loses. Here’s why. You can have writers doing excellent work, but there are some AI voices out there that are so distracting, still, that it makes it impossible to sit through. So it is possible to have excellent writing, but have a TTS voice that is so infuriating, it doesn’t matter. How do I know? If you read me everyday, you should know I recently gave up on MIA. Conversely, we are far more used to inconsistent and subpar writing, especially through sitcoms and game shows, where lackluster writing really offers next to nothing. While incorrect labeling is a problem, I’ve caught it in other shows before. But when the writing is bad, AND you are using AI, taking the human writer away takes the chance for correction away as well. The third season of The Traitors had a moment where the writer clearly dropped a typo, but the robot read it as is. Instead of having the presence of mind to know there wasn’t a person on the series named Bo B, but there was a Bob, it read Bo B and created a whole new person for one interaction. A human, I have to believe, would have at least questioned it. Looked at it, wondered about this character that didn’t exist, and then flagged it. AI can’t do that. it isn’t programmed to think. it is a voice to text program, not the same artificial intelligence powering ChatGBT and Claude. So, on principal, Deli Boys loses. It loses because it is a scripted series with a fake narrator, and while they weren’t caught with their pants down on this specific episode, every cost cutting move you make, is one less human that has the opportunity to comment. Where did VSI fail? The writer, sure. But QC should have caught it, blind or otherwise. And, I have a sneaking suspicion, QC is going the way of the dodo just as fast as human narration.