This Week in Instant Watching: Aaaand the rest!

I spent a lot of time talking about Hulu yesterday, and with good reason. There isn't as much going on in Netflix Land lately apart from the decision to raise prices a buck a month. That's not a terrible increase, and existing customers are told they are "safe" from any hike for two years.

The May 1 haul brought in the James Bond movies yet again. Maybe they'll last more than a month this time! Same holds true for the batch of old Godzilla flicks that return.

Other notable May 1 titles: Forrest Gump, The Big Chill, Fantastic Voyage, Heavy Metal (Hey, now!), Kill Bill 1 and Kill Bill 2, and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.

One thing Netflix has been good at is adding recent documentaries. Some interesting music docs in the past two weeks: (Green Day's) Broadway Idiot, Metallica Through the Never, Muscle Shoals, Beware Mr. Baker. Others that caught my eye: JFK: The Smoking Gun (which aired on Reelz last year), The Trials of Muhammad Ali,  Cocaine Cowboys Reloaded, and Eyes of the Mothman.

Crackle scared me for a day or two by delaying its  monthly addition of Seinfeld episodes. Yet 10 more arrived eventually, with this month's theme of "Sports." I still wish they didn't repeat so many, and part of me thinks it's a cheat counting a two-parter ("The Boyfriend"--the Keith Hernandez one) as two of the 10, but I'll enjoy what I get.

Crackle did irritate me by removing "Drive." It was there for only about a month or two! I should have caught it while I could.

New on Acorn TV this month: Series 2 of Blandings with Timothy Spall, Jeeves and Wooster (with Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie), The Civil War: The Untold Story (Wait, whaaaa?), Midsomer Murders Set 24 (!), Theatreland with Ian McKellan and Patrick Stewart, and An Idiot Abroad. That last one has just been on cable TV and is already on Netflix, so while it's nice that it's there, it's not a game-changing asset for Acorn. I'd rather see more pre-1990 comedies, for example.

Warner Archive Instant has been quiet again the last few weeks, though it did add the complete series (minus the pilot movie) of The Man from Atlantis. I think that instead of the "Dallas" shower scene, the go-to joke when Patrick Duffy shows up in something should be based on "The Man from Atlantis." I remember seeing ads for the show in old comic books, but I've never seen it. Here's my chance!

A handful of movie adds include Rio Rita (the Abbott and Costello version), Summer Holiday (the Mickster and Judy Garland), Tom Thumb, and Reckless (William Powell and Jean Harlow). It seems like more movies have gone out than have come in the last month or so, and I think we're due for a big update later this week.