Kicking off today’s Small Screen Diaries are two bits of good news, one of them pretty great. After a week of watching Carrie dominate the charts, Amazon has decided to indulge Mike Flanagan’s three-season plan by at least giving him a second season. So Carrie will return, and hopefully Flanagan will eventually get to complete the story he envisioned. Meanwhile, NBC has picked up Line of Fire for a full season, which is also welcome news if you’re a fan of that show. It’s always nice to start things off with some positive news, especially when so many shows seem to be fighting for their survival these days.
Landing at the top of my rankings is Reacher, season four, episode one, on Amazon with audio description. I’ve always loved Reacher, and the audio description has consistently been excellent. Yes, I’m just now getting around to the fourth season, but let’s be honest, this is a show that has its future pretty well solidified. It’s already renewed through season six, so it didn’t exactly need my immediate attention. Plenty of people are watching Reacher, and for good reason. Alan Ritchson is such perfect casting, and it’s nice to see someone I’ve known about for over two decades finally hitting his stride in such a major way. The new season starts off with a bang, quite literally, as there’s a content warning about suicide, and Reacher finds himself in a situation where he’s trying to save someone he ultimately cannot. This sets off a larger mystery involving a missing flash drive and the people who desperately want to get their hands on it. It’ll be interesting to see how everything plays out. I haven’t read all, or really any, of Lee Child’s Jack Reacher novels, so this is pretty much my only experience with the character, and it’s definitely been worth enjoying.
That top spot was actually a difficult decision because my number two is Solar Opposites, season six, episode ten, the series finale, which I finally pulled the trigger on and watched on Disney+. This officially concludes my journey with Solar Opposites, at least unless someone decides to resurrect it. Nobody else has picked it up, and while stranger things have happened, particularly with Futurama, it looks like Solar Opposites might be dead for good. That’s genuinely depressing because it’s far better than a lot of animated shows that continue to get renewed. I swear to God, if Universal Basic Guys makes it to season seven and Solar Opposites doesn’t, we’re going to have a problem. But what I really want to talk about is the audio description, produced by .360 and narrated by Dave Wallace, because this is one of the best audio description tracks I’ve ever heard. Full stop. I fell in love with Solar Opposites, but I also fell in love with its audio description, and throughout this entire journey of writing reviews and Small Screen Diaries, this show has been a constant companion. It has remained one of my favorite examples of how Hollywood and audio description can work together symbiotically to create an actual experience, rather than simply delivering some sanitized, stripped-down accessibility version of the original product. The audio description and the show almost seem to merge into one cohesive experience, creating something that is greater than either element could have achieved separately. This is Dave Wallace’s best work, bar none, and I will miss it deeply. Did the finale entirely work for me? No. I think they were trying to bite off more than they could chew, and they didn’t quite stick the landing the way the team behind What We Do in the Shadows managed with their series finale. But that doesn’t change how much this show has meant to me, or how much I will miss having it around.
Dropping to third place is Crystal Lake, season one, episode three, on Peacock, which apparently has audio description produced by absolutely nobody, because I made it to the very end of the credits and nobody was credited. This is becoming a disturbing trend. Audio description companies, why are you allowing your work to go unrecognized? At the bare minimum, your company name should be attached to the track. Hollywood credits personal assistants and drivers whose contributions are to individual performers, yet companies directly responsible for making a film or television series accessible somehow go uncredited. That’s ridiculous. And if the excuse is that studios will simply hire somebody else, then the industry needs to collectively recognize its own worth and establish some standards. We’re not even talking about on-screen credits. These could be included exclusively in the audio description track, heard only by the people using it. If companies producing this work can’t advocate for that much recognition, who will? Oh, and as for Crystal Lake itself, there’s an absolutely brutal death in this episode. Just extraordinarily gory and vicious. So there’s that.
Fourth place goes to Abbott Elementary, season six, episode two, which I watched on Disney+ with audio description by Verbit, narrated by Vito Di Filippo. Here’s a company that manages to get credited for producing one of the worst audio description tracks I encounter every year, while companies doing considerably better work remain anonymous. Make that make sense. Whatever else I think about Verbit’s work, at least they understand the importance of putting their name on it. The industry desperately needs more consistent standards for crediting companies and talent. As for the episode itself, it was cute. Janine was particularly concerned about one of her students and wanted to make sure she was okay, while a bit of tension developed between two of the teachers. Gregory was also trying to figure out how to balance being a teacher with his responsibilities as vice principal. I liked it. It was fine. The audio description, unfortunately, was not.
In fifth place is Lioness, season two, episode five, on Paramount+ with audio description by Media Access Group. This is where Josie starts having something of a crisis of faith regarding the program she’s become involved with and the assignment she’s being asked to undertake. She’s beginning to question what she’s gotten herself into and needs a little extra convincing before moving forward. It’s a solid episode, and Media Access Group did a nice job with the audio description. I didn’t have any particular problems with the track, which is always nice to be able to say.
Coming in sixth place is Mating Season on Netflix, with its season finale, which was okay. The episode essentially brings everyone back together for a wedding, allowing us to revisit characters from earlier in the season, including Timothy Olyphant’s character. I’ve enjoyed parts of this series, but the audio description has consistently struggled with the sheer number of different animals and the visual complexity of everything happening on screen. I know they’re trying, and I recognize that the degree of difficulty here is exceptionally high, but there are moments when the description simply cannot keep up, and the overall experience suffers. I’m not even entirely convinced there’s a better solution. Maybe a different writer could squeeze a little more information into certain gaps, or perhaps adjusting the speed of the narration could create additional opportunities for description. I don’t know. There’s only so much room to work with, and this show presents a particularly difficult challenge. So while the results aren’t always satisfying, I’m inclined to give them an A for effort.
At the bottom of the rankings is Black Torch, season one, episode six, on Crunchyroll with audio description. I’m starting to forget what the original intention of this series was supposed to be. We were introduced to a guy who could communicate with animals, and then he merged with a mononoke, which seemed like a pretty interesting premise. But the deeper we get into the series, the further we seem to move away from the whole talking-to-animals concept, and the more we’re getting buried in some crazy-ass lore that just isn’t nearly as interesting. It’s starting to feel like generic anime, which is disappointing because I thought the original premise had potential. The audio description is also synthetic, although it’s produced by Global 3 and written by Melvina Babu, who is an excellent writer. Unfortunately, even good writing can’t necessarily save a show that I’m gradually losing interest in.
With those rankings established, the award for best audio description goes to Solar Opposites, which should surprise absolutely nobody. On its way out the door, the show delivers another outstanding track, and it deserves every bit of recognition I can give it. Dave Wallace and the team at .360 have created something special, and I sincerely hope the industry recognizes their work. At the bottom is Abbott Elementary, which continues to waste opportunities for meaningful description. Unlike Mating Season, where the sheer visual complexity makes the limitations understandable, Abbott Elementary routinely leaves usable gaps empty. That’s not a lack of opportunity. That’s a failure to maximize it. I could penalize Black Torch for its synthetic narration, but Melvina Babu’s writing demonstrates a commitment to quality that deserves recognition, even when the delivery falls short. Abbott Elementary had an opportunity to change companies for season six and chose not to. So until the audio description improves, it can expect to remain at the bottom. Solar Opposites demonstrates what happens when accessibility becomes an integral part of the entertainment experience. Abbott Elementary demonstrates what happens when simply having an audio description track seems to be enough.
