Coming up this week, Rooster (HBO), Top Chef (Bravo/peacock), One Piece (Netflix), Sunny Nights (Hulu), Virgin River (Netflix), The Secret Lives Of Mormon Wives (Hulu), The Madison (Paramount), Scarpetta (Amazon). And because you’ve all been so good this year, some major stars are in those shows. Steve Carell stars in The Rooster, Nicole Kidman and Jamie Lee Curtis top line Scarpetto, Sunny Nights stars Will Forte and Darcy Carden, The Madison has Michelle Pfiefer, Kurt Russell, and Patrick J Adams, and there’s even the return of Celebrity Jeopardy with God knows who. TV Shows Watched: Monarch: S2E1 (Apple) with audio … Continue reading The Small Screen Diaries: 03/07/26

Disclaimer: I’m a blind film critic, and this short film does have audio description on Netflix. Who is excited? The Oscars are upon us, and while I’ve run out of narrative features to watch, there’s still the short film categories. Color me pleasantly surprised to find The Singers on Netflix with audio description. This is not a long movie, so it won’t be a long review. Basically, the film takes place at a bar and starts with a wager on singing, and turns into a full blown sing off. There was something about the bar, the differences in styles, personalities, … Continue reading The Singers

Disclaimer: I’m a blind film critic. I typically watch films with audio description, and this film has AD produced by PixelLogic, with the AD performed by john Bentley. Andrew Stanton is the director of one of my top 10 films of all time, if I’m allowing my initial feelings to not change. Wall-E would be a top 10 film for me, but it is slightly less enjoyable when you are limited to just audio description. It is a rare outlier in that. But Stanton, who also directed Finding Nemo, hasn’t had much success in live action, notably the big budget … Continue reading In the Blink Of An Eye

With the networks behind, it’s time to look at some of the decisions being made recently by Netflix. The streamer gave a two season renewal to Bridgerton, bringing it through Season 6. Some shows returning soon include Virgin River (March 12th), Sweet Magnolias (June), and One Piece (March 10th). Two recent Netflix stalwarts, The night Agent and The Lincoln Lawyer both dropped new seasons, 3 and 4 respectively. The Night Agent has scored an early Season 4 renewal, while The Lincoln Lawyer is having to wait and see. Several recent half-hours, Emily In Paris, Nobody Wants This, and A Man … Continue reading The Small Screen Diaries: 03/06/26

Since yesterday’s diary mentioned a few pilots from NBC in contention for next season, I felt it only fair to look back at CBS and ABC. CBS actually operates under more of a constant development now, more like a streamer does, less concerned about when a show premieres on its lineup. They are working on Cupertino with Robert and Michelle King, the creative minds behind CBS/Paramount Plus hits The Good Wife, The Good Fight, Elzabeth, and Evil. The series stars Mike Colter, and while not a guarantee, feels like something they’d at least throw at the wall to see if … Continue reading The Small Screen Diaries: 03/05/26

Continuing my look at the Network lineups, NBC is up. They’ve already handed out a few renewals, locking in the One Chicago lineup for next season, as well as Happy’s Place and St Dennis Medical both picked up for a third season. With the Voice currently in its 29th season, and experimenting with one less judge, there’s zero chance they don’t hit 30. It has been a solid performer for them, and major milestone seasons always allow for a bigger promotional push, just look at Survivor 50. Surprisingly, NBC doesn’t have a Law and Order deal on the table yet, … Continue reading The Small Screen Diaries: 03/04/26

Continuing on with some renewal predictions, CBS has some shows to decide on for sure. They often end up axing shows that have more of an audience than other networks, but struggle either financially, or are lower in the 18-49 demo. It’s too early to tell on Marshals or CIA, but Watson looks prime for cancellation. It wasn’t a huge ratings success last season, and is not only down from last season, but is actually CBS’s lowest rated show. It manages a meager 0.1 average in the 18-49 bracket. If you’re a Watson fan, there’s zero chance this moves to … Continue reading The Small Screen Diaries: 03/03/26

Let’s talk a little about renewal chances for network shows. First, High Potential, which for some reason has not been renewed yet, continues to grow, now pulling in over 6M viewers on linear, and 12M across platforms, doubling its audience and up from last year. There’s no chance ABC cancels this. The Rookie is also at an all time series high, with the last episode hitting nearly 10M viewers in its live +7 numbers. A ninth season is also extremely likely. Will Trent on the other hand fluctuates a bit, but is the lowest of the three, and instead of … Continue reading The Small Screen Diaries: 03/02/25

TV Shows Watched: Bridgerton: S4E8 (Netflix) with audio description, Down Cemetary Road: S1E5 (Apple) with audio description, Shifting Gears: S2E10 (Disney plus) with audio description, Can You Keep A Secret: S1E1 (Paramount Plus) with audio description, have I Got News For you: S4E? (HBo MAX) no audio description, Matlock: S2E? (Paramount Plus) with audio description, and the Actor Awards: Part Of It (Netflix) with audio description Bridgerton- With the finale behind us, I think it will be interesting to see where Netflix goes with audio description. IDC has had the show until now, but they’ve also had Liz Gutman doing … Continue reading The Small Screen Diaries: 03/01/26

Disclaimer: I’m a blind film critic, but this film does have available audio description. If you are part of the block that sees Brendan Fraser as the human equivalent of a warm hug, then get ready for a big bear hug from the man. Rental Family is one of the few life affirming, feel good films of 2025. I just truly think no one knew what to do with it. Even with as much as I enjoyed the movie, I can’t think of a single award I would have nominated it for. Even in the youth performer category, last year … Continue reading Rental Family

The Actor Awards (FKA SAG Awards) are tonight on Netflix. Some fun shows debuting this week are Marshals on CBS, the Yellowstone spinoff following Casey Dutton (Luke Grimes), Young Sherlock on Amazon, a reimagining of the classic detective by Guy Ritchie, The dinosaurs on Netflix,a 4-part docuseries produced by Steven Spielberg about the life and times of dinosaurs, and Ted’s second season on Peacock. Netflix is also dropping their original new film War Machine, which may be confusing, since they already have a Netflix original called that starring Brad Pitt. This one stars Alan Ritchson. TV Shows Watched: Bridgerton: S4E7 … Continue reading The Small Screen Diaries: 02/28/26

Disclaimer: I’m a blind film critic. This was a film I saw from Slamdance 2026, and while it did not have audio description at the time, it could acquire it at a later date depending on the distributor. I do not like Pickleball. I don’t even know what it is. It feels like some weird cultural phenomenon that just flew into the public conscious, like if we all started playing squash, or shuffleboard. IN fact, why not? There are so many sports out there that have existed for years, where are the tetherball communities? Why isn’t everyone taking up croquet? … Continue reading Going In blind: Kings Of Venice

Disclaimer: I’m a blind film critic. This film does have available audio description. If you do not know the answer to “who lives in a pineapple under the sea” by now, get out of here. This film is not for you. It unabashedly won’t even try to be for you. I’m not even sure who this is for anymore, as SpongeBob has been around so long, you could see a theater full of families, but also a bunch of thirtysomethings without kids who grew up with the franchise, and have never let go. He now transcends simple branding as just … Continue reading The SpongeBob Movie: Search For SquarePants

Disclaimer: I’m a blind film critic. I watch films with audio description, and this film had audio description on Amazon. This movie made me want to watch Cutthroat Island again. Take that for what you will.The 1995 flop that starred Geena Davis didn’t seem like the worst thing in the world when I saw it at age 12, but then again, neither did Waterworld. Now those cheesy remnants of the 1990’s are on a very different level.In 2026, Amazon tried to do what seems like a perpetually futile and stupid gesture and make a pirate film. You would think that … Continue reading The Bluff

I wanted to have something positive, and apolitical here up at the top today, so even though I don’t cover Industry, HBO did renew the series for a fifth and final season. TV Shows Watched: The Traitors: 04E11 (Peacock) with audio description, Bridgerton: S4E6 (Netflix) with audio description, School Spirits: S3E2 (Paramount Plus) with audio description, the Mighty Nine: S1E3 (Amazon) with audio description, The Greatest Average American: S1E1 (Disney Plus) with audio description, The Masked Singer: S14E7 (Disney Plus) no audio description the Traitors- No spoilers. None. I’m glad who won, won. That is all. I shall not reveal … Continue reading The Small Screen Diaries: 02/27/26