Saturday, June 30, 2018

Streaming Video Power Rankings #117

1)  Hulu: It added all umpteen seasons of MASH--As I said on social media, finally some concrete evidence that something good came out of the Singapore summit. But why did it take one year after the announcement it had been acquired? Does this mean we'll get the rest of Bob Newhart Show next summer, The Mary Tyler Moore Show in 2020, and St. Elsewhere in 2021?

And I just happened to see this episode this week on Hulu, which is itself to earn a high ranking:




2)  Netflix: It didn't offer much new apart from The Last Jedi, but, hey, it's Star Wars. Netflix gets to brag that, "Hey, we got the Disney movies, yo!" Well, until next year when it loses them. I'm looking forward to season 2 of Glow, which just dropped, and my kids are gonna be thrilled to see another set of Nailed It episodes on the heels of discovering Alexa and Katie last week.

Sure, Netflix had to can an executive for allegedly being cluelessly racist, but other than that, it was a strong week, and the swift action seemed to dissipate any controversy. Hey, maybe he was the guy who authorized getting all those Streisand movies.

3) YouTube: As I compile this week's list, I am enjoying a 1989 Pirates/Cubs Game of the Week telecast from NBC with the great Bob Walk on the mound. Vin and Tom Seaver in the booth. I just love that this exists. YouTubeTV had some outages, but it also unveiled a deal to give viewers 3 free months of its premium service (see Cordcutters News for the details). I  feel I should take advantage of that, but, man, I can't keep track of everything else let alone this.

Uh, except for these weekly rankings, of course. I pay close attention to everything for the purposes of the prestigious top 10.

4) PIX 11: Still riding high on the strength of its 70th anniversary special, but it also posted a timely clip of Justice Kennedy's original nomination. Plus I saw a vintage Magic Garden and in an instant was transported back to simpler, better days when there was no such thing as Netflix and therefore no danger of it streaming Streisand concerts.

5) HBO: Farewell, HBO, and thanks for the entertainment you gave me at a heavily discounted rate. Is HBO worth 15 bucks a month? No, on a regular basis, there is no way it should cost that much. But it is strong, and I got my money's worth while I had it. This week it premieres It, which isn't enough to make me sign back up but is still a fairly big deal.

6) Hoopla: While trying to use my allotted "borrows" for the month from this library-affiliated service, I enjoyed an old Disneyland TV special and The Sultan and the Rock Star, another Disney TV effort, with Timothy Hutton and a tiger!

7) Amazon Prime Video: This may be the only place this week you see someone give Amazon credit for adding two episodes of Robert Montgomery Presents. I think The Closer (complete series) is also new, but it's no Robert Montgomery Presents.

8) WWE Network: I was watching an episode of TNT, and it still amazes me that even as "early" as 1984, The Fabulous Moolah was still holding a championship in the WWF.

9) Slacker Radio: I had some time to listen to some music and put on the TuneIn channel and was prompted to sign up or log in. So I immediately went to Slacker and listened to some good music for an hour or two without logging in.

10) Starz: I signed up for a 7-day trial so I could watch [redacted because it will show up in one of my other ventures soon]. So I will be "seeing Starz" this week! Heh heh!

Hey, these rankings take a lot longer to do than you might think, and I'm often a bit fatigued by the end. Cut me some slack.

2 comments:

top_cat_james said...

Glad to hear Hulu acquired M*A*S*H, because its soooo hard to find on cable.

Rick Brooks said...

Point well taken, but at least on Hulu it's uncut and un-time-compressed. I've somehow managed to avoid (mostly) MASH fatigue over the years, so I will probably dive into it at some point.