Streaming Video Power Rankings: Week 33

Did you stream more or less video this week with everything else  happening? I intended to sit down and watch random stuff on YouTube for no reason, then got sucked into political coverage Tuesday night. Here's to hoping the country moves forward and comes together behind a cause everyone supports: griping about Netflix.

1) Netflix: Yes, we continue to complain about the shrinking Netflix catalog, and it never has enough new movies we want to watch. Yet it sure has a heck of a lot of new content. This week alone, we got some documentary/drama series (What the hell does that mean?) about the Roman Empire (and really, had any of you even heard about this project before this week?), another season of its King  Julian cartoon (that's 4! Seriously, do you realize this stuff is even on Netflix?), A Kathleen Madigan standup special, a new Kevin James movie, And Sing Street, not a Netflix original, but the latest from director John Carney. It's enough to keep Netflix at the top this week.

2) Hulu: To tell the truth, I think Hulu kind of took this week off, but it's nice to have it around if you missed your favorite shows while watching/reacting to you know what this week.

3) Pub-D-Hub: A solid roster of adds last week, including a movie I watched: The Devil Diamond from Conn Pictures with the immortal team of Kane Richmond and Frankie Darro--a cheap programmer complete with sudden jumps due to the poor quality of the print. In other words, exactly the kind of entertainment we want from Pub-D-Hub.

I also enjoyed some new election coverage..from 1980 and 1948.

4) YouTube: Well, just because I didn't sit down and waste 3 hours on YT Tuesday night doesn't mean I couldn't have. I saw plenty of other good stuff throughout the week, and YT hasn't done anything to annoy me in a few weeks, so it stays high on the charts.

5) Amazon Prime: Considering I don't actually subscribe, AP has to do big things to rate so high in the weekly rankings. Red Oaks returns this weekend, and I enjoyed season 1. Plus I read Amazon is producing several animated Christmas specials. I am all in favor of streaming services stepping up and doing what the broadcast networks don't do anymore. Maybe one of them can create a new enduring classic.

Finally, I just read about an upcoming David O. Russell series to star Bobby De Niro and Julianne Moore. Are you kidding me?  Sure, that ballyhooed Woody Allen series generated zero excitement (I had to double-check that it actually premiered already), but this is an even bigger deal.

6) Warner Archive Instant:  I give it a generous boost to #6 because hours after posting last week's rankings, I noticed that WAI did add a bunch of new content recently and it did alert people in the form of a post on the new "News" section of its website. Good for you, Warner Archive.

On the flip side, that was two weeks ago and nothing has been added since, you still can't tell what's new on the Roku site, and the buffering on the Roku version of the channel is infuriating.

7) Shout! Factory TV: Added another "Best of the MDA Telethon" special, a compilation of Jerry Lewis moments.  It also announced it would stream a Turkey Day MST3K marathon with hosts original (Joel) and new (Jonah Ray of the upcoming relaunch).

8) Tune In: I am discovering that on certain channels, if you listen long enough, you discover they have a definite standard rotation. There are plenty of other channels, though! And for those of you who skipped my Rick Astley post on Wednesday, hey, I actually listened to several of the guy's songs this week.

9) The CW: Where else can I watch The Flash and Supergirl? Uh, you know, besides the actual CW, I mean. By the way, I got excited when I read that sister SVOD service CW Seed added V, but then I realized it was the ABC reboot, not the original NBC miniseries (or the continuing series). Bummer.

10) HBO Now: It's cool that HBO is promoting an upcoming Sesame Street holiday special, and Tracy Ullman is back with her umpteenth series, but really I am ranking this because I am sure some people will want to check out Bill Maher and John Oliver this week.