Tag: audio description

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The Small Screen Diaries: 09/27/26

John Stark

First, before I start my Small Screen Diary for the day, I figured I would address the fact that you may start seeing a few other writers around here. I wanted to give other aspiring blind film critics the opportunity to write about film, television, or audio description, and since I have a platform, why not? This isn’t monetized. They’re not being paid. I’m not being paid. The struggle is real for all of us. But I do have a platform, and if I can use it to give some other blind writers an opportunity to get their voices out … Continue reading The Small Screen Diaries: 09/27/26

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Stuart Fails To Save The universe: Season 1

John Stark

I’m not really sure that I can consider myself officially a Big Bang Theory fanatic, or even truly a fan, since I have not sat through every single episode of The Big Bang Theory, which I think would be necessary in order to qualify me as a true fan. I have seen quite a bit of The Big Bang Theory, but doing a straight-through binge watch is something I have not accomplished. So I was certainly aware of Stuart Bloom and the comic book store that the guys frequented, but never in a million years would I have imagined that … Continue reading Stuart Fails To Save The universe: Season 1

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The Love Hypothesis

John Stark

I’m just gonna straight-up say it: The Love Hypothesis is joyful nonsense. That may be my pull quote. Just rip that Band-Aid off right now. The thing about The Love Hypothesis is that it proves Lili Reinhart is ready to be a rom-com star. She is effortless. She hits every single beat and mark, even when the film around her doesn’t make sense. That is the true evidence of a rom-com queen: someone who can take what is essentially a mediocre or even below-mediocre concept, a script that frequently becomes nonsensical, and even a co-star who might be miscast or … Continue reading The Love Hypothesis

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The Stunt Driver

John Stark

When I think of stunt drivers, I think of that iconic shot from Bullitt, with the car flying through the air on the streets of San Francisco. Or I think of the video game Driver, because it was one of the earlier computer games I remember playing and loving, while wishing somebody would turn it into a badass film franchise. When I think of stunts, I think of all the incredible stunt work we’ve seen throughout the history of cinema. Combine those two things and you get a stunt driver, somebody who drives and does stunts. Except The Stunt Driver … Continue reading The Stunt Driver

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unabomber

John Stark

September seems to be the season when Netflix clears out most of what it doesn’t really intend on having as its high-profile Oscar contenders. Even one of its better offerings that kicked off awards season a few years ago, Fair Play, still ended up not making much of an impact in the awards race despite being generally well liked. Well, we won’t have that problem with Unabomber, because I can’t imagine critics piling onto this movie. It’s deeply unsatisfying, aimless, and rather pointless. It’s a film that isn’t sure what its structure should be, how much of either story it … Continue reading unabomber

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The Small Screen Diaries: 09/25/26

John Stark

Well, to start off my Friday, of course I watched the season finale of Stuart Fails to Save the Universe on HBO Max with audio description narrated by Elliot Schiff. The finale, “Spoiler: Filmed Before a Live Studio Audience,” of course has people divided, but the one thing we shall not be divided on is the excellent audio description that Elliot has provided all season long. I actually liked this show way more than I thought I would when they conceptually announced that there would be yet another Big Bang Theory spinoff. I figured it would continue to deplete the … Continue reading The Small Screen Diaries: 09/25/26

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The Small Screen Diaries: 09/24/26

John Stark

I think the biggest, and really only relevant, TV news to kick this off today is the fact that Netflix has once again proven the term “limited series” means absolutely nothing. They have picked up The Beast in Me for a second season. Originally billed as a limited series, the show is coming back with Claire Danes set to return as Aggie Wiggs following her Emmy-nominated work in the first season. We’ll see if this turns out to be a good decision for Netflix or not. In other TV news, only because I don’t think I’ve mentioned it yet, Disney+ … Continue reading The Small Screen Diaries: 09/24/26

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The Small Screen Diaries: 09/22/26

John Stark

Kicking off today, I continued with Furious, season one, episode two, which is available on Hulu and through Disney+ with Hulu, with audio description. This definitely is a winner. I can understand a bit more now as to why it has become a breakout hit. Lola Petticrew is still captivating here as this killer with a sympathetic angle, allowing you to follow her as a protagonist instead of purely as an antagonist. Sort of like the mysterious person in The Shards, it would be hard to justify everything that she does, but the way Furious shapes Petticrew’s mysterious character allows … Continue reading The Small Screen Diaries: 09/22/26

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The Small Screen Diaries: 09/21/26

John Stark

I feel like I consistently come in here with bad news all the time, and apparently we’re opening with bad news again. Ride or Die, the Prime Video series starring Octavia Spencer and Hannah Waddingham, has been inexplicably canceled after one season. This is particularly surprising considering it outperformed other Prime Video shows that have already been renewed. I’ve seen the trades breaking down the viewership data that is available and lining it up against shows like Off Campus, Elle, and some of the other younger-skewing series Amazon has picked up, and Ride or Die was ahead of several of … Continue reading The Small Screen Diaries: 09/21/26

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The Small Screen Diaries: 09/20/26

John Stark

Normally, when I do the Small Screen Diary, I start with the actual order in which I watched the shows. Today, I actually want to throw American Hostage, Season 1, Episode 1, right up at the top. This is the new MGM+ drama, and it was actually one of the later things I watched during the day, but it also had one of the more interesting audio description tracks. I didn’t get to listen to the credits at the end, so I don’t have the full AD information yet, but some choices are definitely being made here. This is the … Continue reading The Small Screen Diaries: 09/20/26

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Travis Barker: Louder Than Fear

John Stark

I often refer to documentaries like this as content creation, because it seems like with the rise of streaming services has come the rise of, “Let’s send a camera crew to follow a celebrity that people will want to watch a documentary about, and let’s bring in some easy views.” You can tell which ones they didn’t put a lot of time and attention into, and which ones are actually a labor of love. Something like last year’s John Candy documentary comes to mind, or even this year’s Martin Short documentary, directed by his longtime friend Lawrence Kasdan. Then you … Continue reading Travis Barker: Louder Than Fear

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Pressure

John Stark

Literally every time I think of this movie and its title, I think of “Under Pressure” by Queen and David Bowie, specifically that bassline right at the top, the one Vanilla Ice repurposed for “Ice Ice Baby” and then got into some legal trouble over. I hear it every single time. I don’t know why, but that is the pressure that has been put on me by the film Pressure: trying to remember the lyrics to a Queen and David Bowie song. Pressure is a nice, pleasant surprise for the year, a World War II drama that somehow manages to … Continue reading Pressure

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Where Did The Adults Go?

John Stark

I am pleasantly surprised that this little indie film, with actors no one would necessarily consider bankable, yet who are very talented, somehow managed to get an audio description track. I think the selling point here is the fact that disability is actually central to the story, which you would think would initiate the demand for accessibility across the board. Sadly, that’s not true. I would point toward Netflix and its release of Color Book this summer, a film where a disabled youth was at the center of the story, yet the film did not have an audio description track. … Continue reading Where Did The Adults Go?

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The Small Screen Diaries: 09/18/26

John Stark

Unfortunately, we have to start off the Small Screen Diary for today with a sad bit of news. Not really, because I gave up on the show after the first episode, but I’m sure someone out there cares. Netflix has canceled Sweet Magnolias, which really indicates to me, following the cancellation of Ransom Canyon, that there’s a very specific audience that has either abandoned Netflix or that Netflix is looking at abandoning. And if I was a fan of Virgin River, I would be afraid. I would be very afraid. I mean, I am casually a fan of Virgin River, … Continue reading The Small Screen Diaries: 09/18/26

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Supergirl (2026)

John Stark

I hate to say it, but I think Greta Gerwig would have killed this movie. It could have been great. Instead, for reasons unbeknownst to everybody, we got Craig Gillespie, who sort of lacks a singular voice as a director and is utilized a bit more to plug into various different genres. He just seems to be able to make a broad film for audiences, whether it’s comedy, action, horror, or something else. He’s touched all of the genres, and now he’s coming for Supergirl. The problem is that he’s coming for James Gunn’s Supergirl. Because make no mistake, this … Continue reading Supergirl (2026)

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A Good Girls Guide To Murder: Season 2

John Stark

The biggest revelation coming out of streaming might be that there’s enough data now to show that shows filmed within a tighter window and released in a reasonable amount of time perform better and retain more of their audience from season to season than shows with longer breaks. I would say, especially for shows with large ensembles, difficult plot structures, and fantastical worlds we’re somehow supposed to remember years later, that has to be true. I definitely look at certain shows coming up where I know I saw the first season, and there’s a new season coming out, and I … Continue reading A Good Girls Guide To Murder: Season 2

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The Small Screen diaries: 09/13/26

John Stark

TV Shows Watched: The Walking dead: Dead city: S3E8 (AMC Plus) no audio description, Tomb Raider King: S1E6 (CrunchyRoll) with audio description, My brilliant Career: S1E6 (Netflix) with audio description, The Shards: S1E4 (Disney Plus) with audio description, Have I Got News For you: S5E1 (HBO MAX) no audio description, jeopardy Masters: S4E3 (Disney Plus) with audio description, The paper: S2E1 (Peacock) with audio description Dead City- Already reviewed, but 1 of 8 episodes with audio description is not accessibility. If eight kids were dropped off at day care, and one survived, that daycare doesn’t remain open. Tomb Raider King- … Continue reading The Small Screen diaries: 09/13/26

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Going In Blind: The Walking Dead: Dead City: Season 3

John Stark

Seth Hoffman clearly had some thoughts. Luckily, AMC was willing to listen, because as The Walking Dead: Dead City was sort of headed nowhere, Hoffman stepped in, asked someone to hold his beer, and figured out how to alter the course of a series quickly headed for cancellation. If you look at the live ratings for Dead City compared to The Walking Dead at basically any point during its run, they’re critically lower. I know we’re not really into linear television anymore, but let’s also be honest: not that many people have AMC+. The benefit of AMC+ used to be … Continue reading Going In Blind: The Walking Dead: Dead City: Season 3

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My Brilliant Career: Season 1

John Stark

I choose me. What a bold decision. Never before done by anyone in any film or television series, limited or otherwise. But those big, beautiful words, that power, and so many strong female leads, along with a few strong male leads, are becoming awfully redundant and more than a little derivative. Of course, it’s hard to call Netflix’s My Brilliant Career derivative when it’s adapted from a 1901 novel by Miles Franklin. A lot of the characters who have followed Sybylla Melvyn and had their own self-awakenings may, in fact, have knocked off this novel to begin with. It’s not … Continue reading My Brilliant Career: Season 1

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The Small Screen Diaries: 09/12/26

John Stark

A lot coming up this week for fans of returning shows. Not only do we kick off the week on Monday with The Emmys, but Dancing With The Stars (ABC), RJ Decker (ABC), The Voice (NBC), Masterchef (FOX), Kitchen Nightmares (FOX), Slow horses (Apple), South Park (Comedy), Mobland (Paramount plus), and Outlander Blood Of My Blood (Starz) all return, the latter of them may not have audio description. Netflix is also smashing the Lizzie Borden story with Eileen Wurnos for reasons unbeknownst to anyone but Ryan Murphy in Monster. Perhaps because there’s already a well known film titled Monster that … Continue reading The Small Screen Diaries: 09/12/26

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The Small Screen Diaries: 09/11/26

John Stark

TV Shows Watched: Stuart Fails: S1E7 (HBO MAX) with audio description, Trying: S5E1 (Apple) with audio description, Black Clover: S1E4 (CrunchyRoll) with audio description, Rise Of The teenage Mutant Ninja turtles: S2E12 (Paramount) with audio description, Robin Hood: S1E8 (MGM Plus) with audio description, and Jeopardy Masters: S4E2 (Disney plus) with audio description Stuart Fails- Loved the opening credits about the dog. Another brilliant episode with terrific audio description. The show also has massive recaps at the beginning, so if you somehow missed an episode on streaming, and are too lazy to click back to it, you catch up really … Continue reading The Small Screen Diaries: 09/11/26

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Lucky: Series Review

John Stark

I definitely saw quite a bit of buildup for Apple TV’s new limited series Lucky, which hit the streamer in July and ratcheted up the tension over seven episodes. Perhaps the premise was pulling people in, feeling like a crime thriller with a little bit of a survival vibe thrown in for good measure, or it could be the fact that Anya Taylor-Joy just feels very much of the moment right now. I wish she was a little bit more of the moment, because it’s possible more people would have seen Furiosa if that were true. But she is popular … Continue reading Lucky: Series Review

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Tyler Perry’s Why did I Get Married Again

John Stark

The benefit of having aggregators like Rotten Tomatoes is that you can find critics who come from all various walks of life, with different perspectives, approaching each film from a different angle, with a different background and a different subset of films that we’ve seen throughout our lifetimes. Different upbringings, different life struggles, so on and so forth. And in this regard, you have stumbled onto a review of a Tyler Perry movie. But not just any Tyler Perry movie. The third film in the Why Did I Get Married? franchise. And you get to read this from the perspective … Continue reading Tyler Perry’s Why did I Get Married Again

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The Small Screen Diaries: 09/10/26

John Stark

Never Forget. Yesterday, Netflix surprisingly axed Ransom canyon, which dipped over 40% from Season 1 to season 2. It is a recurring problem with streaming TV. The longer the wait, the bigger the drop. Despite feeling like it fit perfectly along Virgin River and Sweet Magnolias, with a dash of the Taylor Sheridan vibe, Ransom canyon couldn’t buy its audience back. Also, in blind news, sighted gamers are complaining about the existence of accessibility within the new Wolverine game, and Neon’s Hope topped Spider-Man: Brand New Day in its first day of release, despite not having an English Audio Description … Continue reading The Small Screen Diaries: 09/10/26

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The Small Screen Diaries: 09/08/26

John Stark

I’m still trapped in my own personal hell, so welcome back to Reinventing the Small Screen Diaries for the time being. I tried to watch some things today, and while my attention span wasn’t always willing to cooperate, I did manage to bounce among four very different shows. First up was the new Netflix series My Brilliant Career, which follows Sybylla Melvyn, a young Australian woman who wants to become a writer and has absolutely no interest in getting married. She doesn’t necessarily want to leave her family behind either, but they’re poor, have too many children to support, and … Continue reading The Small Screen Diaries: 09/08/26

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The Small Screen Diaries: 09/06/26

John Stark

TV Shows Watched: The Walking Dead: Dead City: S3E7 (AMC Plus) no audio description, Black Torch: S1E2 (CrunchyRoll) with audio description, Elle: S1E8 (Amazon) with audio description,Jurassic World: Chaos Theory: S4E7 (Netflix) with audio description, The Doomies: S1E2 (Disney Plus) with audio description Dead City- No audio description again. Only one episode this season dropped with it. Baffling. Also, this episode revealed the writers are still unable to write eight episode seasons. You did not earn this episode. Black Torch- Fairly easy to understand fantasy series about an aspiring ninja with the ability to talk to animals merging with an … Continue reading The Small Screen Diaries: 09/06/26

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The Bombing of Pan Am Flight 103: Series Review

John Stark

This is not the first adaptation of the Lockerbie bombing, but it might be the best. That’s a hard thing to say when I haven’t seen every other version of the story, but I don’t know how another dramatization could necessarily surpass this one. We have a tendency to sensationalize true stories, oftentimes almost embarrassingly so, completely rewriting history to fit a decidedly more audience-friendly narrative. The Bombing of Pan Am 103 does simplify things and admittedly features composite characters who are amalgamations of multiple people who worked across more than a decade to bring justice to the victims, but … Continue reading The Bombing of Pan Am Flight 103: Series Review

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The Runner (2026)

John Stark

I got to The Runner slightly later than a handful of other critics, so I had already watched its Rotten Tomatoes score rapidly plummet and seen most of the ire targeted specifically at Gal Gadot. She seems to be a fairly easy target nowadays. Her choice of films, her limitations as an actress, her thoughts on various topics—pick one. I’m sure there’s a reason why you or someone you know doesn’t like her. However, she is not the reason this movie fails. She is merely one piece in a catastrophic puzzle that Amazon has decided to thrust upon the world … Continue reading The Runner (2026)

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The Small Screen Diaries: 09/05/26

John Stark

Coming up this week for you to add to watch lists: Season 2 of The Paper (Peacock) returns Wednesday, the final season of Colin From Accounts (Paramount Plus) returns Thursday, and The Secret Lives Of Mormon Wives (Hulu) has a truncated fifth season. new shows A Tale of Two cities (MGM Plus), Dang! (Netflix), Crew Girl (Netflix) and Last Seen (Apple) hope to draw in new viewers, while Peacock airs a retrospective for The office fans on Monday, and HBO celebrates Band Of Brothers on Wednesday. Several 9/11 specials are planned for Friday, and in film Supergirl lands on HBo … Continue reading The Small Screen Diaries: 09/05/26

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Silo: Season 3

John Stark

Silo Season 1 became a new obsession of mine the minute it dropped. I knew this was something I would want to consume as much of as humanly possible. After the second season aired, Apple announced that Silo had received a two-season renewal but would finish with its fourth season. It was a happy-sad moment because I knew I had two more seasons coming, but it also meant the series already had an end goal in sight. Once that seed has been planted, people become expendable. Instead of simply building the world around these characters, the show is now working … Continue reading Silo: Season 3

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The Whisper Man

John Stark

Do you know the Whisper Man? He’s nothing like the Muffin Man, so if you do know the Whisper Man, you might want to stay away. Maybe not from this film, though. The Whisper Man has sort of its own identity in that it’s not as terrible as a slew of other Netflix original titles, but it’s also not going to launch into the upper echelon of the few, the proud, the Netflix originals that make the subscription worthwhile. It’s basically a one-time-watch type of film, especially given how much it hinges upon a twist ending. Directed by James Ashcroft, … Continue reading The Whisper Man

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The Small Screen Diaries: 09/03/26

John Stark

TV Shows Watched: The Shrouds: S1E1 (Disney Plus) with audio description, Tomb Raider King: S1E4 (CrunchyRoll) with audio description, Lucky: S1E6 (Apple) with audio description, Rick And Morty: S9E2 (HBO MAX) with audio description, and Oasis: S1E2 (Netflix) with audio description The Shrouds- I actually started the day thinking I’d knock this series out either in full, or in part, but it is a miserable watch, so i couldn’t do it.The Troller is just such a disgusting distraction from an 80’s piece that could actuall have something to say about sexual fluidity from the eyes of Bret Easton Ellis. Instead, … Continue reading The Small Screen Diaries: 09/03/26

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The Small Screen Diaries: 09/03/26

John Stark

TV Shows Watched: Ted Lasso: S4E5 (Apple) with audio description, Elle: S1E7 (Amazon) with audio description, Black Clover: S1E3 (CrnuchyRoll) with audio description, and The Comeback: S2E6 (HBO MAX) with audio description Ted Lasso- i feel like they are trying really hard to justify Roy’s presence in the show. Other than that, it is nice to have Ted and his mostly cheery and friendly disposition back. This is still a very well written show, even if it isn’t flying as high as the first three seasons. I also like the AD here, which I can’t say about every show on … Continue reading The Small Screen Diaries: 09/03/26

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The Small Screen Diaries: 08/28/26

John Stark

TV Shows Watched: Silo: S3E9 (Apple) with audio description, Stuart Fails: S1E6 (HBO MAX) with audio description, Elle: S1E4 (Amazon) with audio description, St Dennis Medical: S2E14 (Peacock) with audio description Silo- I’m not a scientist, and it has been a while since I stayed at a Holiday Inn Express, but with the modicum of research I’ve done, the final sequence is nonsense. Thrilling, sure, but nonsense. The blast radius would never hit them where they are. A certain person made a big show of reinforcing how out in the middle of nowhere they basically were, due to the buying … Continue reading The Small Screen Diaries: 08/28/26

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Buddy (2026)

John Stark

In every generation, there is a kids TV show that absolutely confounds parents, annoys the heck out of them, but also makes them incredibly glad their children have found something that will keep them quiet long enough that they can use the bathroom in peace. Let’s be honest, screen time can be useful. I have no idea what the little kids of today are watching. Probably Gabby’s Dollhouse. Paw Patrol seems like a strong possibility. Buddy, however, feels very much targeted at the Barney generation, even including a song with different lyrics that sounds suspiciously close to something Barney would … Continue reading Buddy (2026)

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The Small Screen Diaries: 08/26/26

John Stark

Another tragic loss. Tim Curry, whose talent blew through The Rocky Horror Picture Show and into a variety of films, from The Hunt For Red October, Clue, and Congo, to family fare like Home Alone 2: Lost In New York, Muppet Treasure Island, and his voice work in films like Ferngully, and on TV for Star Wars: The Clone Wars. he is a Tony nominated actor, he is also nominated for a Grammy, an Emmy, but sadly never an Oscar. He was chosen in 2026 by GALECA as their Timeless Star honoree (a group for which I am a member). … Continue reading The Small Screen Diaries: 08/26/26

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The Small Screen Diaries: 08/25/26

John Stark

Wow. We lost a true legend yesterday. Dolly Parton.What an immensely kind, warm, gifted, generous, and humble human being. Our world isn’t just a little less bright, we lost the North Star. TV Shows watched: Survival Of The Thickest: Season 3 (Netflix) with audio description, Last Week Tonight: Most Recent (HBO MAX) no audio description yet yes, a really short diary. My work, with classes resuming, is always far more consuming at the beginning and end. I basically focused on Survival Of The Thickest, which truth be told, I had already powered through half of it before walking out the … Continue reading The Small Screen Diaries: 08/25/26

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The Small Screen Diaries:08/23/26

John Stark

TV Shows Watched: The Walking dead: Deaad City: S3E5 (AMC Plus) no audio description, Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed: S1E9 (Apple) with audio description, Tomb Raider King: S1E2 (CrunchyRoll) with audio description,The Westies: S1E8 (MGM Plus) with audio description,Life Larry and the Pursuit Of Unhappyness: S1E7 (HBO MAX) with audio description, Pop Culture Jeopardy: S2E17 (Netflix) with audio description, and Marshals: S1e13 (Paramount) with audio description Dead City- Back to not having audio description again. Good job guys. Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed- I love how invested I am in this woman getting to keep her daughter, more than the strange shit happening around … Continue reading The Small Screen Diaries:08/23/26

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Stranger Things: Tales From 85: Season 1

John Stark

How quickly a good thing can become a bad thing is not one of the specific tales from ’85, but it is more or less the overall theme of Stranger Things: Tales from ’85. That applies both to the story connecting these ten episodes and to the general feeling I had when it was all over. Our young cast is in between mysteries in 1985, now fully aware of Eleven’s powers, the Upside Down, and everything that happened to Will. With nothing particularly strange happening at the moment, the kids are bored enough to consider expanding their detective talents. Luckily … Continue reading Stranger Things: Tales From 85: Season 1

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Freefall: A Reckoning For Boeing

John Stark

This just surprised me in my Netflix feed, and I decided to watch it. I will say that while the lack of having a publication to back me as a film critic certainly limits my exposure, one of the things it does for me is allow me to choose what I want to review and when I want to review it because I’m not working on assignment. I’m working on a wing and a prayer. So, much like pilots when they’re flying a Boeing airplane, they’re doing so on a wing and a prayer. It also tends to mean that … Continue reading Freefall: A Reckoning For Boeing

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Wishing You Were Somehow Human Again: Nothing To Lose (2026)

John Stark

Netflix does this thing where they randomly select international titles on their streaming service and tap them for audio description. I’m not really sure what the wheel of algorithms that drives them to do this tells them in terms of supportive data. Pick this film because the English-speaking blind audience will like this one more. Don’t pick that one because the English-speaking blind audience won’t like it. It’s such a tremendous fallacy given the fact that a film like Nothing to Lose just kind of randomly and quietly dropped on Netflix with little fanfare, yet Netflix has had films in … Continue reading Wishing You Were Somehow Human Again: Nothing To Lose (2026)

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The Small Screen Diaries: 08/22/26

John Stark

A weird day yesterday. Best laid plans. Didn’t get to review things as I had hoped. Coming up this week on streaming, the biggest movie seems to be Netflix’s The Whisper Man with Adam Scott, Robert DeNiro, and Michelle Monaghan. Returning Series include Dark MAtter (Apple), Adults (Hulu), The Undeclared War (Peacock), Leann (Netflix), and Beauty In Black (Netflix), as well as more Jeopardy Masters (ABC). On the new horizon, not much. Netflix has something called The Airport Chaplin with Hugo Weaving, but it is pretty bare. TV Shows Watched: The Vampire Lestat (Interview With A vampire Season 3): All … Continue reading The Small Screen Diaries: 08/22/26

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The Small Screen Diaries: 08/21/26

John Stark

TV Shows Watched: Silo: S3E8 (Apple) with audio description, Stuart Fails: S1E4 (HBO MAX) with audio description, Mating Season: S1E6 (Netflix) with audio description, Robin Hood: S1E6 (MGM Plus) with audio description, The Miniature Wife: S1E10 (Peacock) with audio description Silo- The episode is titled Grey Goo, and when you get to the end, that’s all you really need. It’s like Silo’s version of Olaf’s Frozen quote “some people are worth melting for”. Jedediah Barton and Pixel Logic do more wonderful AD as they cram a lot into this episode. Not only do we check on the past, but we … Continue reading The Small Screen Diaries: 08/21/26

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The Small Screen Diaries: 08/20/26

John Stark

TV Shows Watched: among Us: Season 1 (Paramount Plus) with audio description, Daemons Of The Shadow Realm: S1E12 (CruncyRoll) no audio description, and Berlin: S2E? (Netflix) with audio description Among Us- Not a big day, but I did knock off the entire first season of Among Us (likely the only season) which was a lot of fun. Totally bingeable by the way. Each episode is approx. 15 minutes, So it’s under 2 1/2 hours. The audio description was interesting, and I didn’t catch credits in the span of time before it pushed me into the next episode. The characters here … Continue reading The Small Screen Diaries: 08/20/26

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The Small Screen Diaries: 08/19/26

John Stark

TV Shows Watched: Ted Lasso: S4E3 (Apple) with audio description, Nemesis: S1E8 (Netflix) with audio description, Sheriff Country: S1E19 (Paramount Plus) with audio description, The Comeback: S2E4 (HBO MAX) with audio description, St Dennis Medical: S2E13 (Peacock) with audio description, and Breaking Bad: S4E9 (Netflix) with audio description Ted Lasso- I enjoyed this episode with open tryouts. Plus, Ted got to hang with Henry for a smidge, the whole reason he left to begin with. Ted Lasso is slowly finding its feet. Will it ever be as good as it once was? Probably not, though I like this reboot of … Continue reading The Small Screen Diaries: 08/19/26

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The Small Screen Diaries: 08/18/26

John Stark

TV Shows Watched: Sugar: Season 2 (Apple) with audio description, Black Clover: S1E1 (CrunchyRoll) with audio description, and American Classic: S1E7 (MGM Plus) with audio description Seems like a slow news day until you realize that’s eight episodes of Sugar. Sugar- I do plan on reviewing, which is the whole point of bingeing. I didn’t really love Season 1, though I appreciated its vibes in terms of that old school gumshoe thing Colin Farrell has going on, which reminded me of like The Maltese Falcon, or Chinatown. Then things got weird, and if you haven’t seen Sugar at all, just … Continue reading The Small Screen Diaries: 08/18/26

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Avatar: The Last Airbender: Season 2 (2026)

John Stark

We are certainly living in a golden age of television, regardless of how you feel about the endless adaptations. The fact that we’re getting so many of them, and that they are as well funded as they are, is at least promising because some of them are producing quality work. Thirty years ago, science fiction, fantasy, and superhero television meant shows like seaQuest DSV, Earth 2, The Flash, Xena: Warrior Princess, and Sliders. I remember that live-action Flash series starring John Wesley Shipp, who would later play Dawson’s father on Dawson’s Creek. Budgets were lower and casts were largely filled … Continue reading Avatar: The Last Airbender: Season 2 (2026)

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The Small Screen Diaries: 08/16/26

John Stark

TV Shows Watched: The Walking Dead: Dead City: S3E4 (AMC Plus) WITH audio description, Unconditional: S1E8 (Apple) with audio description, The Westies: S1E7 (MGM Plus) with audio description, Avatar: The LAst Airbender: S2E6 (Netflix) with audio description, The Rookie: S8E10 (Disney Plus) with audio description, and The Five Star Weekend: S1E2 (Peacock) with audio description The Walking Dead: Dead City- I’ve suspected in the past that AMC Plus uses synthetic voice, and I’d still buy that here. They tipped their hat previously when the narrator couldn’t pronounce the name of a character, so I operate as if this was synthetic. … Continue reading The Small Screen Diaries: 08/16/26

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Is God Is

John Stark

Somehow Is God Is slipped completely by me. I remember seeing it listed when it was opening in theaters, and it was a film starring Sterling K. Brown and Vivica A. Fox, and I immediately thought, why is this being released theatrically? I also thought it was probably a Christian movie, and it is anything but. It’s amazing what happens when you actually know what something is about, but I skip nearly every trailer for a film, so I work largely off of what studios send me and what other critics are talking about. It wasn’t until after Is God … Continue reading Is God Is

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The Bear: Season 5

John Stark

If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. That’s the phrase, anyway. But here, it’s also the question, because I already reviewed the fifth and final season of The Bear once, and I still didn’t feel like I adequately explained why it didn’t work for me. Then I looked at that 97% Rotten Tomatoes score and realized just how far into the minority I’m going to be when I put up a Rotten review for this show. So I wanted to come back and really pin down why. The best explanation I can give is surprisingly simple: Season 5 … Continue reading The Bear: Season 5