This Week in Instant Watching Part 2

Yesterday I covered the highlights of Netflix from the past week. Today let's talk about services like Hulu.

So this past week, Hulu added...uh, nothing particularly compelling. If you're an anime fan, you must love Hulu Plus because I swear each time I go to the "Recently Added" tab, I see about 5 anime shows I don't recognize.

I'll tell you who had a hot week--a hot two weeks, really: Warner Archive Instant. Each Friday new titles are added, and a couple Fridays ago I saw something like 30 new ones. I thought this week the service would take a week off, but, nope, another ample batch of new movies appeared.

There's a great diversity in the new adds, too. There are Wheeler and Woolsey comedies, true vintage Hollywood gems like Gable and Crawford in Dancing Lady, and even Monogram cheapies like 1950's Hot Rod. A few new Burt Lancaster pictures are ready: The Flame and the Arrow and Jim Thorpe All-American.

A batch of John Ford/John Wayne collaborations like 3 Godfathers and Cheyenne Autumn are now up. Yeah, I have the box set, but not everyone does, and those that don't can be happy. Having a Wild Weekend with the Dave Clark Five is now streaming. Andy Hardy Meets Debutante is another new movie. I like seeing some of the old series pictures, even if it's just random elements of those series. How about the original Flipper?

Some more recent curios like Killer Party (1986) just showed up, too. I'm personally not a big slasher movie fan, but it's cool to see some different kinds of things turn up here. The original Ocean's 11 is up, as is Randolph Scott in The Man Behind the Gun. Busby Berkeley's Hollywood Hotel, starring longtime Cultureshark fave Dick Powell, is also there.

If it sounds like I'm shilling for the service, well, I'm not, and I don't get any commission (I'd take a comp month or two, though, Warner), but how about Jack Webb's -30-? If that doesn't excite you, well maybe 1966 sci-fi adventure epic Around the World Under the Sea will, or maybe even the 1965 Hammer thriller Hysteria. I know I want to check those ones out.

Oh, yes, in the TV section, Warner Instant put up season 2 of Adventures of Superman.

That's only some of the new titles added, and, folks, this is all just in the past two weeks. 10 bucks per month is looking like more of a bargain with each update. I will say I do expect a light round of additions this Friday, but who knows?

On the first Monday of each month, Acorn TV Online adds several new seasons of British programs. Last week, it debuted Injustice with James Purefoy, Set 23 (23!) of Midsomer Murders, Blue Murder (lot of MURDER on Acorn, you know), and the old stalwarts Prime Suspect and Brideshead Revisited. And just to keep you honest, it added a Canadian mini-series, The Crimson Petal and the White.

Oh, I haven't mentioned I signed up for Acorn TV? Well, I'll have to put up a post about that soon, but for now, it's been a long weekend, and I obviously have a ton of stuff to watch, so I'm outta here for now.