Saturday, September 9, 2017

Streaming Video Power Rankings: Week 76 (Special Spirit of '76 Edition)

1) Amazon Prime: I just found out that they added half of the Honeymooners Lost Episodes last month.  This is the problem with Amazon Prime: For all we know, cool stuff shows up all the time, but it's too hard to keep track of it.

This is cool stuff, though, and in a weak week for its competitors, Amazon not only re-enters the list but shoots all the way to the top! It is kind of weird, though, how it suddenly changed its mind by canceling Z after announcing its renewal.

2) Shout! Factory TV: The recent addition of Soul! merits more attention. The first episode alone, hosted by Jerry Butler, features all kinds of music plus a remarkable interview with Muhammad Ali, whose case against the government for dodging resisting the draft was still in the courts. He "cuts a promo," to use wrestling lingo, on the draft. This show is a lot of fun.

3) YouTube: Lots of great stuff on here this week, and I am happy to discover that so many episodes of [REDACTED] are available. And YT has that spiffy new logo!

4) Netflix: Yeah, Bojack Horseman has a new season, and there is some other new stuff, like a Marc Maron special and seasons of Blacklist and The Walking Dead, but...Disney head mouse Bob Iger confirmed that his company is pulling the Star Wars and Marvel movies, too, from Netflix. That's what we figured would happen, and it's a bummer.

5) Brown Sugar: I can't drop it too far this week, even though I don't have it anymore, because it is still adding new titles, like 1974's The Zebra Killer. It'll probably say bye-bye next week, though. Actually, I hope it says, bye-bye, SUCKA!

6) Warner Archive Instant: Maybe they'll add something new by Columbus Day. I can't be too snarky, though, in a week in which I skip ahead in Eight Is Enough and am rewarded with an episode guest-starring Ken Berry and Jack Riley.

7) MLB.TV: The Pirates are still playing games. There's also a lot of playoff-contention baseball out there. Sometimes these things intersect.

8) Hulu: Things will pick up soon, and people are excited about new episodes of Difficult People, but where are all those MTM episodes?

8) TuneIn: This week's, "Hey, they played that song on Deep Oldies" pick: Jefferson, Baby, Take Me in Your Arms, AND The Bee Gees, If I Only Had My Mind on Something Else.

9) Boomerang: There is a new version of Wacky Races, and the first 10 minutes are free. It doesn't look at all appealing, but I appreciate the free sample, plus the free Jetsons episode.

10) WWE Network: Getting some buzz for the Mae Young Classic tournament, but it's bad form to leave everyone hanging by not putting up the first dozen or so episodes of World Class Championship Wrestling.

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