Streaming Video Power Rankings #109

1) Filmstruck: This week, I watched The In-Laws and Fast and Furious  (Francot Tone and Ann Sothern, not Vin Diesel and Paul Walker), but this top ranking goes beyond what I watched. See, on Friday Filmstruck added a bunch of old movies from David Lean, Busby Berkley, and Jean Harlow. There is also a new batch of French classics, but let's step back and consider the Lean, Berkley, and Harlow movies. It's not just the most famous ones but a vast assortment, and I notice that the Harlow ones, for instance, don't have the TCM Select banner.

This proves that the studio era Hollywood movies people like me love so much ARE coming on a regular basis to Filmstruck, and it's no big deal. You know what this means? This means that it's safe to say we finally have that Turner Classic Movies streaming service we wanted and that we hoped Filmstruck would become. It's become that, and it doesn't mirror TCM's on-air library, but one could argue that it's better than if we just got Watch TCM for Roku

2) Netflix: I am not that interested in a lot of the new stuff on there this week (exceptions being the John Mulaney standup special and the latest Letterman interview episode), but to be somewhat objective, there is a lot of high-profile new content this week, including new seasons of Dear White People, a lot of kids' programming (like a new Barbie cartoon series), and a host of new foreign shows (The Rain looks intriguing).

Let's talk about that new Carol Burnett show, though. It looks awful. I imagine it's "cute" enough, but I don't need to see Carol interact with precocious kids. Howzabout shelling out to stream the old Carol Burnett Show? I hate to imply that I don't want to give the comedy legend a chance to do something new, but this format doesn't appeal to me at all.

3) YouTube: I could talk about some of the cool stuff I saw here this week--I mean, that's sort of why you're reading this, right--but the main thing this week is that this new Karate Kid series, which had every chance of stinking, is generating good reviews and actual buzz. YouTube Red may have its first real "hit" that doesn't involve teenage YouTubers scaring each other or whatever it is they do when they get together.

4) Hulu: You can pretty much cut-and-paste my entry from last week because it's the same situation. The Rocky movies are new for May, but don't they show up every other month? Also new: The Matrix trilogy and the Nightmare on Elm Street movies. Plus Hulu announced strong growth with 3 million more subscribers than it had in January. Now it's at 20 million, and even if a lot of that consists of freebies through deals with companies like Sprint, hey, so what, the thing has some momentum.

So why not keep it going by adding the rest of those old Fox shows that were announced a year ago, Hulu?

5) WWE Network: I haven't begun to really dig in here yet, but I can always find something that will make me forget about my troubles for a while--like a man bashing another man over the head with a steel chair. Or Andre the Giant singing with a Carribbean band on a 1980s TV show. I'm disappointed that the next catalog drop is reportedly Sunday Night Heat  and not Mid-Atlantic Wrestling, but maybe both will arrive.

6) Disney Now: My kids continue to eat this up, and it's good to see that if a big Disney show is gonna leave Netflix--Phineas and Ferb, in this case--it will show up on Disney Now.

7) Prime Video: I didn't get to watch much on Amazon Prime this week, but I was impressed as more Warner Brothers shows popped up (quietly) on the service: The original Kung Fu and Chuck. Meanwhile, the Bond movies didn't appear on Hulu this month, so they showed up here. It's like they rotate or something. I do want to see Last Flag Flying, which is new this weekend.

8) Philo: I don't always rank these aggregator services, but Philo is getting a lot of ink lately, and my cousin recommended it, so that's good enough for me. Basically if you are a cord cutter and want a low-cost assortment of cable channels that does not involve news and sports (think A&E, HGTV, MTV, etc.), this might be your bag.

9) HBO: I have no interest in a Serena Williams docuseries, but I did start the last season of Curb Your Enthusiasm, and so far, so good. It's bringing some big events with a Gennady Golovkin title defense (unfortunately not the rematch with Canelo Alvarez originally intended for May 5) and the premiere of the condensed version of the latest Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony.

10) Starz: I don't talk a lot about Starz on here, and there are good reasons: 1) I don't subscribe and 2) I don't know anybody who really talks about it. But it debuts two new series this weekend and seems to be steadily serving audiences who don't always get a lot of love from pay cable. Also, it announced an interesting deal to bring some of the old SeeSo originals into the fold and is premiering some of those this weekend.