Streaming Video Power Rankings #91

1) Netflix: Enjoy life at the top while you can, Netflix, 'cause Disney is a-coming. First we thought it would merely pull its content and start its own competing SVOD service. Now I suspect it will pull its content, start its own competing SVOD service, AND build up Hulu (of which it will own a majority if the FOX purchase goes through).

Meanwhile, I continue to enjoy Glow, this new Errol Morris hybrid docuseries sounds intriguing even if the word "hybrid" is normally a big red flag, and, hey. Red State America, THE RANCH is back with part 4. What's up with "part 4" and not season 2, part 2 or whatever? How can a series that stars Ashton Kutcher and a disgraced alleged rapist be so pretentious?

Actually, I as amused to see Decider.com screw up and put this description (see #2 on the list) on its site: The Ranch: Part 4 *Netflix Original: A world-renowned martial arts expert and undercover agent for hire comes out of retirement after chance encounter with a long lost flame.

Talk about a change in creative direction! That would be one way to retool the series in the wake of Danny Masterson's firing.

One more thing about Netflix, and it is not related to the Judd Apatow special nor the premiere of the Santa Clause movies: When Ken Levine dropped a Cheers commentary as part of his excellent Hollywood and Levine podcast, he didn't recommend listeners fire up the episode on Amazon nor CBS All Access. He said NETFLIX. And I did so, and I followed along, and it was great.

2) Amazon Prime: I finally started watching the latest and final season of Red Oaks, but I haven't yet seen Jean Claude Van Johnson, which is the true source of that Decider blurb that ran with The Ranch. In truth, I was most excited to dive into the old live Buddy Hackett sitcom Stanley, not to mention adding a bunch of obscure movies I will likely not get around to seeing.

3) Hulu: Now with Bunheads and the most recent season of Younger. I love Sutton Foster, but for some reason I am not sure I really want to watch her shows. I do want to see this Goerge Foreman documentary that just arrived via Epix.

How will the Disney/FOX deal affect Hulu? Who knows. I just want to know when we get those seasons of St. Elsewhere and The Bob Newhart Show that were supposed to arrive this year.

4) Pub-D-Hub: A great week for the Hub as it unveiled its annual Christmas section and also an Edgar Kennedy short (which itself had a Christmas backdrop) and a 1948 episode of Public Prosecutor (which had some pretty cheap backdrops--it WAS 1948, after all).

5) Acorn TV: I know I said good-bye to Acorn last week, but I had it for several more days, and I finished the first seasons of Loch Ness and Grandma's House--solid shows I enjoyed. I say again, Acorn, I will return. Thanks for a nice month of keeping me away from the series I fell behind watching on the services that rank above you.

6) YouTube: I highly recommend Bionic Disco, an uploader who is delivering a lot of great 1970s Christmas ads. The jury is still out on the latest redesign of the Roku channel. Each time I get used to the current one, it changes, though after seeing the battle between Google and Amazon, I tend to be thankful I have YouTube on Roku at all. Then I get angry again. It's a terrible cycle that drives me back to Bionic Disco's channel for more old ads.

7) Warner Archive Instant: Still no new updates, still no Twitter activity (which I only monitor as a sign of life), and I had trouble logging in the other day. Yet how can I (sniff) not rank this (sniff) after seeing the beauty (sniff) of the Eight Is Enough Christmas episode (sniff) "Yes, Nicholas, There Is a Santa Claus"?

8) Slacker: I very much enjoyed listening to Christmas tunes with my kids while we played...until they got tired of it and demanded we switch to "80s, 90s, and Today." I think they may be tired of that Mariah Carey song.

9) Nosey: This is one of the more ambitious (if trashy) free channels out there, adding a bunch of new stuff each week. It just premiered a new batch of The Joan Rivers Show, including one with Howard Stern as the guest.

10) Boomerang: I am going to sign up for a free trial and check this out so I can enjoy a nice, uncut, clean version of the classic Yogi's All-Star Comedy Christmas Caper, and I plan to force my kids to wat--uh, plan to enjoy this with the children. There are a lot of other seasonal toons here.