Netflix has been on a bit of a roll with series renewals and cancellations lately, and today is no exception, thanks to the early renewal of The Hunting Wives for a third season. When a streaming service is comfortable with a show’s budget, and social media reactions consistently suggest that investing in its future is worthwhile, making an early renewal decision is smart. As I’ve noted before, and as many others have pointed out, the longer audiences have to wait between seasons, the more likely they are to lose interest. Honestly, I think Netflix has to be terrified about the eventual return of 3 Body Problem. It’s been so long since the first season that, given the enormous budget behind the series, I’m sure they’re trying to figure out how to convince audiences to revisit season one or get excited about season two. I suspect a lot of people have forgotten there’s even another season coming. But I watched some other shows yesterday that weren’t The Hunting Wives, so let’s talk about those. For anyone who hasn’t read my Small Screen Diaries in a while, I’ve started ranking the shows based on how much I recommend them, rather than simply listing them in the order I watched them. I also select a separate winner based entirely on the quality of the audio description. Once again, I struggled with the top spot, because the first thing I watched was tremendous. Unfortunately for that show, the second thing I watched was even better.
Taking the top spot is the series premiere of Carrie on Prime Video, featuring audio description by Media Access Group, narrated by Adrienne Barbeau. This is stunning. I was a little worried going into this because Brian De Palma’s original Carrie is such a classic, anchored by an iconic performance from Sissy Spacek and a terrific supporting ensemble, that the film feels almost untouchable. Why would anyone want to try to top that? I know people have varying opinions about the remake from a little over a decade ago, but the original remains a highly regarded piece of horror cinema. What Mike Flanagan does with Carrie is modernize Stephen King’s story, introducing contemporary issues that King couldn’t possibly have anticipated when he originally wrote the novel. The characters are essentially the same, but the world around them has changed. In addition to worrying about popularity and fitting in, Carrie White now has to contend with things like active shooter drills. One of the things I love about Flanagan is that he consistently prioritizes character development over shock and awe. He also doesn’t need a cast full of A-list celebrities to make something compelling. He finds the right actors, whether they’re emerging talents, established character actors, or familiar faces from his previous projects. His ensembles are always fascinating, and often introduce audiences to performers they might not otherwise know. Matthew Lillard and Amber Midthunder are arguably the biggest names here, and neither is the lead. I’m incredibly excited to see where this goes. A tremendous amount happens in the premiere, and without spoiling anything, Flanagan essentially shows us where the story is headed before taking us back to the beginning to discover how everything gets there. If you’re familiar with his previous Netflix series, you’ll recognize that approach to storytelling. Those shows were terrific, and this looks like another winner. Mike Flanagan isn’t merely one of the best filmmakers working in horror. He’s one of the best creative talents working in Hollywood, period.
In second place is the fourth season finale of Ted Lasso on Apple TV+, with audio description by Pixelogic. I’m sure some Ted Lasso fans will be disappointed that I didn’t give the finale the top spot, because it’s Ted Lasso, but this episode made several creative decisions that left me scratching my head. Without getting too deeply into spoilers, the previous episode ended with Rebecca seemingly receiving devastating news, and considering the revelations surrounding the team’s potential acquisition, it seemed logical that her reaction would be connected to that storyline. Instead, her distress comes from the death of a character, which sends the narrative in an entirely different direction. Meanwhile, Roy makes a significant career decision, leaving a vacancy that I fully expected someone else to fill. Ted also makes a rather bizarre decision of his own, one that seems to happen almost entirely inside his head without much explanation to the audience. If we’re getting into mild spoilers, I also had a problem with Silver’s justification for her actions. She delivers this speech about women empowering women, and how difficult it is to succeed in rooms where powerful men refuse to listen to them. That’s a perfectly reasonable sentiment, except that she could have targeted virtually any football club and deliberately chose one owned by a woman. That rather undermines her entire argument, doesn’t it? And considering the decisions Ted makes regarding his coaching staff, I think there was a missed opportunity to bring that conversation about women in leadership full circle. With Roy moving on, Rebecca could have offered his position to another character, reinforcing that theme while delivering a genuinely surprising development. I know some people would immediately dismiss that as some sort of killer woke agenda, but if you’re going to introduce those ideas into the narrative, follow through with them. It would have opened an interesting door for a character audiences probably weren’t expecting to see in that position, while leaving Ted ready for a fifth season. Instead, I found myself questioning several of the finale’s choices. Still, the audio description from Pixelogic was solid and much appreciated.
In third place, I’m continuing to catch up on the fifth season of Ghosts, watching episode sixteen on Paramount+, with audio description by Media Access Group. This episode finds the ghosts helping out during a poker game, which naturally becomes complicated when they begin questioning whether Flower can be trusted. Ultimately, they decide to stand behind her, and it turns out she was right about someone at the table cheating. Unfortunately, all their efforts end up being for nothing, as the money they hoped to win doesn’t materialize, leaving Jay and the property in the same precarious financial situation. Given that there’s another special episode coming up shortly, I’m going to assume the property survives its latest crisis. Otherwise, we’re about to have a very different version of Ghosts.
In fourth place is Monday’s episode of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, available on Paramount+, unfortunately without audio description. I understand that the turnaround time for a show like this is incredibly tight, but I also think there’s an argument to be made for approaching its accessibility differently. The Daily Show has a relatively short shelf life because it’s so dependent on current events. Unlike John Oliver’s longer investigative segments, which people might revisit months or years later, I don’t imagine many viewers are digging through old episodes of The Daily Show. Ideally, audio description would be incorporated into the broadcast in something approaching real time, similar to the accessibility considerations for live programming on CNN, MSNBC, or Fox News. Otherwise, by the time an episode receives description, its relevance may have evaporated. That said, Monday’s episode was certainly still relevant when I watched it on Wednesday. Stewart devoted most of the program to artificial intelligence and the influence of big tech, and I thought it was both informative and entertaining. His guest was also connected to the subject matter, keeping the conversation focused. Interestingly, I noticed that Tuesday’s episode featured someone associated with The Social Reckoning, suggesting the show is really leaning into the conversation surrounding AI and its consequences. Given how quickly this technology is evolving, there’s certainly no shortage of material.
In fifth place, we have a significant drop in quality for Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story on Netflix. I watched the third episode, featuring audio description by Descriptive Video Works, and this installment took a rather strange detour. Instead of continuing to develop Lizzie’s story and her relationship with Maggie, we’re introduced to Bertha, an abusive figure from Maggie’s life, and suddenly we’re spending a considerable amount of time exploring a storyline that feels disconnected from what had previously been established. I wasn’t entirely sure what the episode was trying to accomplish. I’ve deliberately avoided digging too deeply into which elements of the series are historically accurate, partly because I’ve heard Ryan Murphy discuss his approach to historical material before. He’s not particularly concerned with strict adherence to the facts. His priority is creating entertainment inspired by real people and events, which means this entire storyline could be completely fictional for all I know. Unfortunately, this is where the series starts to lose me. Hopefully, having gotten this detour out of its system, the show can regain its footing, although I know we’re approaching the point where the narrative shifts away from Lizzie Borden entirely and toward another serial killer in a different timeline. The audio description, however, remains excellent. There’s a particularly gruesome moment involving a hatchet striking someone in the face, and the description was so precise about exactly where the blade landed that I could practically picture the injury. It was appropriately disgusting, which is exactly what effective audio description should accomplish in a scene like that.
Bringing up the rear is The Doomies, season one, episode five, on Disney+, with audio description by Pixelogic. I actually think this is a perfectly reasonable recommendation for families looking for something Halloween-themed to watch with their children. It’s an animated series that’s spooky without being particularly frightening, and this episode follows our young monster hunters as they attempt to identify and capture a monster on Halloween. Naturally, that becomes complicated when everyone is wandering around in costumes, making it difficult to distinguish actual monsters from ordinary humans. It’s a familiar premise, and there’s nothing particularly original about it, but it works well enough for the intended audience. My bigger problem continues to be the audio description. I’ve mentioned before that the narration initially sounded synthetic to me, and when I heard the credits in the second episode identifying a human narrator, my heart sank a little. This is precisely why I keep emphasizing the importance of emotional engagement in audio description. Human narrators need to bring something to the material beyond simply reading the words on a page. Synthetic voices are only going to become more sophisticated, and anyone who has spent enough time interacting with AI across different platforms knows there are already some remarkably convincing voices out there. Once those systems become consistently capable of interpreting emotional context and delivering narration that responds appropriately to what’s happening, distinguishing between an uninspired human performance and an engaging synthetic one will become increasingly difficult. If we want to preserve human narration as an essential part of audio description, we need to make sure we’re demonstrating why that human element matters. Unfortunately, the narration on The Doomies simply isn’t doing that for me.
As for the audio description winner of the day, I’m giving that honor to Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story, despite ranking the episode considerably lower in terms of its overall quality. There’s simply more for the description to accomplish, particularly with the graphic violence, and Descriptive Video Works handles those moments with impressive specificity. The hatchet sequence alone demonstrates how effective detailed narration can be when it’s properly executed. At the opposite end of the spectrum is The Doomies, which once again lands at the bottom because I just can’t connect with the narration. It’s especially interesting that I watched two productions featuring audio description by Pixelogic on the same day, and had such dramatically different reactions. Ted Lasso was perfectly fine, delivering the information I needed without distracting from the experience. The Doomies, on the other hand, continues to leave me wanting something more. It’s a useful reminder that the company providing the audio description is only part of the equation. The actual performance matters, and sometimes it makes all the difference.
