Streaming Video Power Rankings #105

1) Amazon Prime: In addition to the joy of the Dean Martin roasts and Laugh-In, Prime quietly added seasons 1, 3, and 5 of The Dukes of Hazzard and seasons 1-4 of Chips. So we get to see the New Dukes but not the New Cops in the final days of the latter show...at least not yet!

These aren't the most prestigious adds Prime has had this year, but it may be a good sign that some of the TV product that might have gone to Warner Archive Instant might show up elsewhere. Now, Prime, how about adding the old Filmation DC Comics cartoons?

Also, Prime added The Florida Project and in a surprise move (Remember, those "Here's what's coming on __ in the month of __ are not definitive) started streaming 4 NBC/UNI series: House, Friday Night Lights, Parks and Recreation, and Eureka. I confess I totally forgot what Eureka was, but it sounds like a fun show. Good week for Prime.

2) Hulu: Thanks to Hulu for enabling my furious season 1 Atlanta watch so I could catch up before FX yanks the season 2 episodes from its app. See, the FX "app" is stingy, but that's a story for another post. Prestige series The Looming Tower ends this week, but I still can't motivate myself to watch it. Another set of National Treasure episodes just premiered, too.

3) Filmstruck: Folks, I don't want to stop getting Filmstruck when the free period expires. It's so great to know that at any given time, there are tons of great movies available, and the variety is better than ever. This week, I personally watched My Favorite Year and Rodan, but just added are The Thing, Reservoir Dogs, Infernal Affairs, T-Men, Gigi, The Spirit of St. Louis, and more. I was curious about a certain director's work, and I looked for the availability of some of his movies, and, bam, a bunch were on Filmstruck.

4) WWE Network: It's WrestleMania weekend, and that means it's the biggest week of the year for the network. Also, it uploaded a pretty sweet Andre the Giant collection timed to coincide with HBO's new documentary and a large drop of library content.

5) Pix 11:  It uploaded some assorted archival WPIX stuff last week, including a complete newscast from 1980. Boy, was it a far cry from the fancy-shmancy sets that would come later. This show, highlighted by coverage of a looming transit strike, consists of a guy reading news in front of a bank of video monitors in an editing room. it even has original commercials.

6) Warner Archive Instant: I'm almost done with Eight Is Enough season 4, and then...dare I attempt to make it through the morass that is season 5 and the Ralph Macchio Era?

7) Netflix: The lowest it has been in a long time, but it's a weird week. Yeah, it added a lot of Originals, but there is a BUT for every one. David Letterman's chat show is back, BUT I have no interest in hearing from Jay Z. There's a big comedy special, BUT I am not a big Seth Rogen fan. There's a big-budget historical epic series (Troy: Fall of a City), BUT it has a 2.8 average rating on IMDB. There's a new animated series, BUT it's based on The Boss Baby. There's a new reality show, BUT...it's a reality show. There's a new movie that sounds intriguing (6 Balloons), but it has Dave Franco. Seriously, right after I poke fun at how much stuff the guy shows up in, here he is again?

There may be something for someone in here, and Despicable Me 3 is a nice premiere to have, but I am busy enjoying other streaming services right now.

8) TuneIn: If TuneIn only offered Deep Oldies, it would still merit consideration. My pick for "Hey, They Played THAT of the Week": Words by The Monkees.

9) DirectTV NOW: It's a little odd to put this here, but I set precedent by ranking PlayStation Vue when I signed up for a month of that. It IS a channel on Roku, sort of. There is a great introductory deal floating around I decided to grab, and while I wasn't missing it, it is nice to have access to mainstream live television. The big drawback right now: No DVR for Roku, and they claim to be working on it, but if they want to be taken seriously as an option for more than a month or two at a time, they need to get that going.

A great thing about this service is it offers HBO for only $5 a month. Therefore...

10) HBO: I have the GO version after getting authorization through DirectTV Now, and I gotta say, getting this for 5 bucks a month makes you realize how overpriced some other things are. I haven't had much time to explore this, but I love that so much of the HBO library is available on demand (unlike with you. FX), and by the way, I watched a 1979 episode of Sesame Street that may have been the most entertaining thing I saw all week.