Streaming Video Power Rankings #100

Welcome to the 100th edition of this feature! That means that over the last two years or so, we have ranked...uh, a bunch of different streaming video channels. Let's get to this special regular edition of the rankings.

1) Netflix: I finally finished Daredevil season 1. One Marvel season down, only about, what 13 more to go! That's the thing about the Netflix originals--they don't leave on us. I have also picked up the pace on my Friends watching, though, in case it leaves before 2022.

In other news, Duncan Jones follows up his acclaimed Moon with a Netflix original movie. Hey, I never saw Moon. Maybe I will--D'OH! Not on Netflix. Figures. The creator of The Killing has a crime series that sounds a  lot like The Killing. Is that a good thing? Didn't everyone decide that show was terrible by the end? Netflix is also getting into cooking shows and reality shows, and I don't know if I like that. Sean Bean shows, like The Frankenstein Chronicles? That's a different story.

2) WWE Network: I'm about to say bye-bye to this one for a while, but I very much enjoyed it the last several weeks. I am tempted to figure out some way to have my account auto-play classic content all day so the WWE knows that there is an audience for the old territorial wrestling. Love the 80s. The original shows drive me crazy with their corporate-ness, but there is so much old footage to enjoy.

3) Hulu: I saw multiple sources this week discuss what a tremendous success ER is for Hulu. That's pretty cool, but I'm just not ready to make that commitment when I can watch a half-hour of Golden Girls, laugh, and not be depressed for the rest of the evening. I tell you, though, I keep talking to people who had no idea how much content was on Hulu. I think the billions of dollars it's spending on all this stuff is going to pay off. Probably not in billions, but in a lot of happy subscribers!

4) Amazon Prime: Hey, dozens of the Dean Martin Celebrity Roasts are on here! I continue to enjoy, and I use that word loosely, the 1970s Lucille Ball specials, and I plan to check out the just-added David Susskind interviews with Milton Berle and Dick Cavett. Oh, and more episodes of The Tick are here if you're into that sort of thing.

5) Roku Channel: Worth a slot if only for the presence of Good Times, my pick for the best "socially relevant" sitcom of the 1970s. Too bad it only has the first two seasons right now, but those are the best ones, when John Amos and Esther Rolle carried the show.

6) Warner Archive Instant: I don't know if Suzanne Pleshette was on as many episodes of Dr. Kildare as I think she was, but I don't complain when I see her. I also enjoyed a young John Travolta on a later episode of Medical Center.

(see tomorrow's Behind the Rankings post for more info on WAI)

7) Shout! Factory TV: Now that its Roku problems are over, this resumes its place as the most underrated service on the platform. Did you know the entirety of the Steve Martin TV specials box set is on here? Yet I spend time watching reruns of Starcade. I can't help it; there's something about seeing a grown-ass man compete against a little kid, even if they are "matched according to video gaming ability," that cracks me up.

8) YouTube: Every now and then I like to remind myself how useful YT is as an instructional tool. I have learned how to do so many little things on here--you know, like juggling chainsaws--but it's easy to forget that when you are having so much fun watching old promos for The Fish That Saved Pittsburgh.

9) Pub-D-Hub: The highlight this week is Make That Spare, which is a lame name even for a bowling show. Isn't the goal to get a strike? Did they ever make shows called 8-Yard Drive and Triple Derby?

10) Boomerang: I am enjoying the old 'toons, but I'm getting a little frustrated that each week the new content consists of something like Baby Looney Tunes. Let's get some more older stuff.