Sunday, February 10, 2019

Streaming Video Power Rankings #148: Hey, wait, football's over? Edition

You know, the NFL still hasn't figured out how to put up a free, worthwhile streaming channel. Time to move on, though, and get ready for the national pastime.

1) Netflix: I am interested in the newest edition of music docuseries ReMastered, this one focusing on the great Sam Cooke, and also debuting are the new season of critical favorite woke-com One Day at a Time, a Kevin Hart comedy special, a Steven Soderbergh basketball drama, and a new season of Nailed It. For me, the real value of Netflix this week was unwinding after hard days at work with some commercial-free sitcom reruns.

2) Hulu: It apparently made some kind of big hubbub with an egg and a Super Bowl ad, but here we like to celebrate content, and after me complaining for months--hey, mere days after I called for it here on the blog--Hulu finally added the rest of The Bob Newhart Show. Yes, THAT is what I want my willpower to influence--reruns on streaming video. That's much more exciting than success, fame, fortune, or romance.

I think I am going to declare a Hulu Appreciation Week to get back into the service and watch some of the stuff I praised it for acquiring in 2018. So look for this to have a high spot next week, too.

3) Amazon Prime Video: I don't know if this White Dragon is any good, but it looks interesting, as does acclaimed movie Don't Worry, He Won't Get Far on Foot.

4) YouTube/YouTube TV: I am loving the old baseball game uploads, like the 1972 playoffs.

5) Shout! TV: I enjoyed another few episodes of Soul!  but I am disappointed that Shout! didn't bring back Black Omnibus for February.

6) CBS All Access: CBS gets credit for being an easy (but pricy) streaming home for big events the last two weeks: the Super Bowl and the Grammys. After this, though, CBS, you have to start bringing good shows!

7) HBO: I'm very much looking forward to Won't You Be My Neighbor, which is this weekend's movie premiere.

8) DC Universe: I watched the Doom Patrol episode of Titans, which was interesting enough not only to rekindle my interest in Titans, but also to make me look forward to the upcoming Doom Patrol series.

9) ESPN+: It announced reaching 2 million subscribers, which a very impressive number considering how young it is and even more impressive if it's a real number. Oh, I am sure they have had 2 million subscribers, but how many were free riders who quit after the trial?

10) Adventures in Paradise: I'm not sure the world needed a small Roku channel devoted to showing grungy-looking episodes of the 1959-1962 Gardner McKay series, but the program created by James Michener will never be on DVD, so enjoy it while you can.

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