Kicking off the Small Screen Diaries for the day, I woke up this morning to discover that Jay-Z has apparently selected himself to perform at the Super Bowl halftime show. Now, do I think Jay-Z has enough material to headline the halftime show? Absolutely. Do I think it’s shady that the guy who signed a deal with the NFL to help select these performers has apparently chosen himself? Also, absolutely. It reminds me of the time when Jeopardy executive producer Mike Richards conducted this massive search for the next Alex Trebek, parading a variety of guest hosts through the studio, only to ultimately select himself. The backlash was swift, and he didn’t last very long. If you’re the person tasked with making the decision, choosing yourself is inherently insane. While I appreciate that Jay-Z has helped bring artists to the halftime show who might otherwise have been overlooked, it does feel like we’ve gone quite a long time without recognizing a country artist. And we’d be kidding ourselves if we pretended the NFL didn’t have an affinity for country music. I keep expecting Jay-Z to use this platform to select a more progressive country artist, but that hasn’t happened. Maybe he just can’t bring himself to listen to country music unless it’s being filtered through Beyoncé. I don’t know when his contract with the NFL expires, but my guess is that as soon as it does, we’ll suddenly have a country singer headlining the Super Bowl halftime show.
Coming in first place for the day is Below, season one, episode four, on Netflix with audio description by VSI. This Josh Hartnett-led series has done quite well for itself throughout October as a man-versus-monster thriller, and the fourth episode gets particularly wild. Although, considering this is episode four of a six-episode series, I was reasonably certain that Josh Hartnett wasn’t going to be killed off two episodes before the finale. That would have been a bold choice. Even with the escalating danger, having him trapped in that submersible never really convinced me that he wasn’t going to make it out alive. Interestingly, the episode ends with him somehow magically washing up on a beach, so everything isn’t exactly okay, but I was still right. Josh Hartnett was never going to die halfway through a six-episode series. The audio description during these sequences of peril was certainly interesting, but I particularly want to give props to the scene where they’re quarantining everyone who has recently consumed ice or water, and one guy suddenly gets up and runs screaming out of the room like the Kool-Aid Man. I thought that sequence was hilarious, and the audio description did a terrific job of conveying the absolute chaos. Kudos.
In second place is Last Week Tonight with John Oliver on HBO Max, without audio description yet. I’m simply too impatient. We go through this every week. Oliver’s examination of white nationalism and the resurgence of Nazi propaganda, including people who aren’t even bothering to disguise their sympathies anymore, was an important topic to tackle. That might just be me, but I happen to live in a world where I think Nazis are bad. I’m hoping my readers do too, especially considering that, as a blind film critic, I fall into the disabled population, and the Nazis weren’t exactly kind to disabled people either. Food for thought, particularly if you’re looking for reasons to support someone who seems a little too sympathetic to that ideology. Remember what those people did to people like you. History is not particularly ambiguous on this subject, and I appreciate Oliver taking the time to remind people of that.
In third place is Ghosts, season five, episode 18, on Paramount+ with audio description by Media Access Group. Now that the mayor has managed to acquire a controlling interest in the business after saving it from financial ruin, Sam and Jay have to deal with his input, and one of his brilliant ideas is apparently turning Jay’s restaurant into an upscale version of Hooters. Because that’s exactly what this establishment needed. Naturally, hilarity ensues as everyone tries to navigate this ridiculous new direction for the restaurant. Ghosts continues to understand its particular brand of comedy, and the audio description from Media Access Group was solid throughout.
In fourth place is Women in Blue, season two, episode two, on Apple TV with audio description. This Spanish-language crime thriller continues its pursuit of another serial killer, which is a little disappointing considering that’s essentially what the first season was about. Police officers do things beyond hunting serial killers. They don’t perpetually need to be tracking down another one. I didn’t realize Mexico City had such a rampant serial killer problem. However, the series remains consistent in its storytelling, and the English dubbing work from the actors is genuinely impressive. I’m still invested in these characters, and I appreciate that the show has managed to maintain much of what made its first season compelling. But if someone asked me right now whether season two is better than season one, my answer would be no. It hasn’t quite managed to distinguish itself from what came before.
In fifth place is Black Clover, season one, episode seven, on Crunchyroll with audio description. This is basically anime for Harry Potter fans, which remains the easiest way I can describe it. It’s also a great example of why I remain convinced that at least some anime is specifically intended for adults. I’m not entirely sure how anime is categorized or marketed in Japan, but something like Black Clover feels almost impossible to imagine existing without binge-watching. It’s incredibly linear, with episodes picking up almost exactly where the previous installment left off. When I was growing up, even children’s television that had overarching storylines generally maintained some degree of independence between episodes. You could turn on the television, catch a random episode, and reasonably understand what was happening. Shows like Black Clover, Tomb Raider King, and Witch Hat Atelier have far too much narrative structure for me to believe we’re simply celebrating another country’s equivalent of Saturday morning cartoons. There’s clearly a more sophisticated approach to serialized storytelling here. And while we might be celebrating a different culture’s approach to animation, I’m fairly certain the culture responsible for creating these shows wasn’t necessarily making all of them for children. Regardless, if you’re browsing Crunchyroll and have an affinity for Harry Potter, Black Clover might be your bridge into anime. The audio description is well written, although I’m reasonably certain the narration is synthetic, which continues to be disappointing.
In sixth place is Helluva Boss, season one, episode zero, on Amazon Prime Video with audio description by Media Access Group. Yes, episode zero. I didn’t even realize we were doing that, but Amazon made absolutely certain I understood that this was episode zero. These are shorter episodes, and I wasn’t particularly familiar with the series until I noticed it was appearing at New York Comic Con, where there was apparently some sort of kerfuffle involving its panel. That caught my attention because I vaguely remembered it being an Amazon show. For whatever reason, I had spent all this time assuming Helluva Boss was some sort of reality series, perhaps something in the vein of Undercover Boss. Apparently not. It’s an adult animated comedy, and the closest comparison I can come up with is Hazbin Hotel, at least in terms of its particular brand of humor, although this introductory episode doesn’t lean into the musical elements that define that series. I would need to watch considerably more before I could coherently explain what the show is actually about, because episode zero doesn’t function particularly well as a traditional pilot. However, from what I could tell, Media Access Group did a nice job with the audio description, and I’m curious enough to see whether the series eventually finds its footing for me.
That leaves Marshals, season two, episode one, on Paramount+ with audio description by Media Access Group, in last place. Media Access Group really dominated my viewing today, but Marshals continues to struggle with its identity. It’s still trying to figure out which elements of Yellowstone it wants to preserve and how to build something different around Kayce and Tate. Unfortunately, this premiere spends a considerable amount of time wrapping up the cliffhangers from the first-season finale, and it does so in such an underwhelming fashion that I found myself wondering why we even bothered. It’s not as though those cliffhangers led to some massive revelation or dramatic new direction for the series. At least, I don’t get the impression that the next episode will continue exploring them. Instead, it feels like we’ve simply closed the book on a storyline that could have been allowed to linger a little longer. Tate is brought back into the fold so quickly that I have to wonder whether the writers actually know what purpose he serves on this show. With so few characters making the transition from Yellowstone, perhaps they feel obligated to keep Tate around as a recognizable connection to the original series. But it shouldn’t be insurmountable to have him exist somewhere else while the story continues developing around Kayce. Not every character needs to appear in every episode, and Marshals might benefit from realizing that. There were some solid action sequences, and the audio description handled those well, but the storytelling itself remains frustratingly uneven.
As for the best audio description of the day, I’m giving that honor to Below. VSI doesn’t usually find itself at the top of my rankings, but there were a couple of particularly effective moments here, and nothing else I watched really managed to surpass them. Marshals had some strong action sequences, and Media Access Group certainly had a busy day across multiple shows, but Below ultimately delivered the most memorable descriptive work. I also have to be careful not to confuse the excellent English dubbing in Women in Blue with the quality of its audio description. Those are two different things, and I don’t want my enthusiasm for one influencing my judgment of the other. At the bottom of the heap, I’m placing Black Clover, primarily because I’m reasonably certain its audio description is synthetically narrated. Last Week Tonight does receive audio description, but I’m simply watching it before that track becomes available, so I’m not going to penalize it for my own impatience. That wraps up another day of television.
