Streaming Video Power Rankings: Week 28

1) MLB TV: I salute this outfit for offering all games free to viewers on the final weekend of the regular season--a classy move! There was some fun action the last week of the regular season, too. So let's say goodbye to MLB TV with a final week in the rankings, one at number one, before we meet again in spring of 2017.

2) Hulu: Fall TV keeps on rolling, but that's not all. I love that in the midst of the launch of the new broadcast TV season, Hulu still adds all 6 seasons of the Roger Moore The Saint. In the bad news department, we now have an official end date for Criterion on Hulu: mid-November.

3) Netflix: This was another big week for Netflix. Yesterday alone, it debuted a buzzy new documentary from Ava DuVernay, more episodes of The Ranch, and a new season of Dinotrux (Hey, I'm sure the preschool set loves it). So why is it falling to number 3? Well, there was that story about the programming catalog being half of what it was 4 years ago. Is that official? No, but it is hard to believe? No, not at all. There's something very real going on here, and it is seems to be accelerating. While Hulu adds The Saint, Netflix continues to let its catalog deteriorate.

4) YouTube: I'll be candid here. I watched a lot of garbage on YouTube this week. But it was the garbage I wanted to watch when I wanted to watch it!

5) TuneIn: I'll try to talk about other stations next week, but right now let me share my "Hey, they played that!" song of th week: "Public Execution" by Mouse and the Traps. Mouse and the Traps!

6) Dumont Network: Added new episodes this week! Love this channel. Loooove it!

7) The CW: Putting its money where its mouth is (while not charging us any money) by uploading shows the morning after they air on broadcast. Don't see corporate sibling CBS and its All-Access deal doing this.

8) Pub-D-Hub: No uploads last week, but I did enjoy an episode of Range Rider, with Jock Mahoney in the title role and Dick Jones as one of the most "Golly gee whiz!" sidekicks ever. Give me a big update this weekend, though, Pub-D-Hub.

9) Shout! Factory TV: A lot of Shout's content is available elsewhere, like on Hulu, but a lot of it isn't.

10) Crackle: Doesn't belong in the top 10, but  I recently asked my podcast co-host Michael Cowgill  this question and got this response, and I wanted an excuse to share it:

Rick: Did Crackle redeem itself for not uploading any more Fantasy Island  episodes (and taking down the 5 it had) by adding a bunch of Hart to Hart?

Mike:  I hadn't thought about until now, but it seems Crackle, more than other  streaming sites even, lives in a constant "stream" of failure and  success, sin and redemption. While its programming often has little say about the human condition, Crackle itself might tell us more than we  want to know. Maybe we need to stop judging Crackle and take a look at ourselves. Are we demanding too much of a free service in today's  I-want-it-all society? Are we so hard to please that Crackle just keeps  trying and trying? Should we maybe let Crackle be Crackle?

Um...depends on the episodes.