Streaming Showcase: Brown Sugar

I give bonus points to any streaming video on demand service that 1) calls itself "Like Netflix, only blacker, and 2) sends me a welcome email when I sign up that begins, 'Right on!" Brown Sugar is a new-to-Roku movie (mostly) and TV streaming channel geared at African-Americans. It has some technical issues and usability issues to work out, but its library is well worth a look at $3.99 a month.

 It markets itself mostly on the strength of Blaxploitation classics. Brown Sugar launched in Fall 2016 with advertising featuring the likes of Pam Grier. It offers some modern movies and some original programming courtesy of corporate parent Bounce TV, but what I was looking for when I took the 7-day trial was the old stuff--late 1960s, 1970s, maybe some early 1980s. On this count, Brown Sugar delivers. If you dig 1970s soul cinema, you will love the channel.

Let's be clear: A lot of this content is or has been floating around other streaming services, including, yes, Netflix. MGM was the king of Blaxploitation in the 1970s, and the most popular titles circulate all over the place. However, Brown Sugar also licenses content from other studios. It was a nice surprise to see titles from Warner Brothers, which has its own streaming service, available. Perhaps the best aspect of the programming, though, is the lesser-known material like The Candy Tangerine Man, about a family man who is secretly a pimp, and Black Eye, a nourish private detective flick with Fred Williamson. This is the kind of stuff I "Favorited" when checking out the selections, but stuff like Shaft, Foxy Brown, and Superfly is available.

I couldn't think of too many movies that were missing, really, though Trouble Man is one I thought of offhand. I'm pretty sure Isaac Hayes' Truck Turner wasn't there when I first looked but was later. Here's one of the big problems I have with Brown Sugar: You can't tell what's on there until you sign up. At least, I can't figure out how to just browse the site--neither on Roku nor on the web.

Also, the web version didn't seem to retain changes I made on the Roku version, which is a pain if you are compiling a watchlist (You can't really, but you can mark "Favorites." The Recently Watched/History section was inconsistent during my trial, and I couldn't see a way to view ALL titles--there were some categories, but no VIEW ALL row--unless I went to search and entered one symbol or a black space. I could see everything on the web, but not on the Roku.

Also, make no mistake: These are not restored, shiny, sparkling versions of the films. I didn't watch the more famous titles, but the ones I did looked like beat-up prints. Some looked like VHS dubs. They were uncut and unencumbered by ads, though. Besides, some of this stuff probably plays just as well, if not better, with a big vertical red line on the right side of the screen much of the film.

I hope they work on some of this stuff to make it a much better viewing experience. Yet the movies alone make it worthwhile. There is all kinds of great stuff here. I have way more streaming than I can handle now, but I will sign up for at least another month when I can.

What I would like to see is more vintage TV. There is an assortment of episodes of Get Christie Love, and that's a nice and relatively rare get, but how about some old sitcoms like Baby, I'm Back or That's My Mama? The good news is Brown Sugar adds new stuff each month; the bad news is I can't see it (apparently) unless I renew. I may not need a browse option, though, to renew someday. Brown Sugar is as badass as it promises and can only improve from here.