Saturday, July 21, 2018

Streaming Video Power Rankings #120

I didn't run a few posts I planed to this week, and I wish I had a good excuse, like I was watching TV all week, but no, it was boring, old real-life stuff. Fortunately, the weekly power rankings are here, they're clear, and we're used to it!

1) Netflix: Back on top despite Captain Underpants bombing with one of my kids (the other was enjoying it until she turned it off). It looked decent from the 45 seconds I saw and 10 minutes I sort of heard.

Netflix gave us an odd grab bag of original series this week, like Dark Tourism, but I am making an effort to really take advantage of my membership--why should the kids have all the fun--and got into shows like Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee. And Netflix wants me to watch Lost in Space (the reboot), and I almost started, but then I thought, hey, I can get back into season 2 of the original Star Trek and watched that instead.

2) YouTube: The highlight for me this week is this vintage CBS special about comic strips:


However, I also enjoyed some great old commercials and a vintage news report on the death of Natalie Wood. I should mention, too, that my kids watched a ton of wacky "eating gross foods" videos on here. Overall, YT got a lot of streaming time at Cultureshark Tower this week.

3) Hulu: Speaking of the kids for the third consecutive entry, they enjoyed them some Teen Titans Go! and after I saw the new trailer for Titans (see #10), I got a new appreciation for the cartoon. I would like to see a little more classic TV added, though, since new TV is a bit is a little slower going in the summer.

4) PIX11: It didn't add much, but I got a kick out of catching up on some of the archival content it did add in recent weeks. The reopening ceremony for the Statue of Liberty is a highlight and comes complete with a newscast including Jerry Girard's sports.

5) WWE Network: This week's hidden gem is a fun one: A non-televised tryout match pitting The Rock (billed as Dwayne Johnson) against Chris Candido, but the real treat for me was rewatching Starrcade '85. I may or may not renew this new week; we'll see what the next big catalog drop is.

6) The Roku Channel: This free channel is gaining momentum and solely gearing up to be a real contender. It has added live news feeds to its assortment of movies and TV shows, and while it will have to add content more often to be a frequent stop for me, it's worth a regular look-in.

7) Pluto TV: This other free channel (free is great!) announced a deal with Sony to add "more than 200 movie and classic TV titles." The news is light on specifics, but this is welcome news that bolsters Pluto's growing on-demand library. Bewitched is one show mentioned, and this reminds me that I would rather watch it on Roku Channel or on Pluto than on Sony's own free streamer, Sony Crackle. That's not a good thing for Sony Crackle. This news is fantastic for Pluto.

8) Amazon Prime: I didn't get to see much on here except Dojo Pro, an intriguing take on pro wrestling with a fresh format. I'm grateful that the Jaws movies are here, though, considering I just started listening to the Inside Jaws podcast.

9) Shout! Factory TV: I said it before, and I will say it again: One of the more underrated TV shows of the 1990s is 1997's The Weird Al Show. Only thing is I think when I said it before I got mixed up and said it was one of the more underrated shows of the 1980s. Anyway, in 2018 the goofy comedy is streaming here on Shout!

10) DC Universe: OK, OK, so this technically doesn't exist yet, but it's on the way, and it finally has a pricepoint, some original footage (that Titans trailer), and, yes, BUZZ! I don't like the pricepoint, I don't care for the original footage, and I want more programming detail and less buzz, but I still give DC a spot this week.

2 comments:

top_cat_james said...

The Weird Al Show is noteworthy inasmuch as it was CBS' last-ditch effort to duplicate their success with Pee-Wee's Playhouse. Their previous attempts with the "whacky live-action kid's show" format included vehicles for Jim Varney's Ernest P. Worrell character, and the comedy/western music group, Riders in the Sky. Nary a one of these series lasted over a single season.

Rick Brooks said...

I didn't watch much of any of those back in the day, though I did watch Pryor's Place. I was not into Pee Wee's Playhouse for some reason, but I'm impressed at how Weird Al's show holds up. It helps that he has guests like Michael McKean.

There's a great oral history of the show, discussing its struggles with CBS, on Rolling Stone's website. I'd love to hear the DVD commentaries Al and the cast did, but the set is apparently OOP and Shout! TV doesn't offer the bonus audio tracks.