Get that holiday shopping done early so you can lounge around and enjoy streaming video more, I say. Or I suppose you can stream video WHILE shopping, but I don't want you to be one of those people I have to dodge while I am walking around with my typical laser-like focu--hey, I still can't get over the fact that Batman is on Roku Channel!
1) Amazon Prime Video: I know it's hip to hate Amazon, but the streaming service keeps adding cool stuff each week. This time, it's the first 5 seasons of one of the most rewatchable sitcoms around, Corner Gas. The welcome return of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel is another highlight, but I didn't even get to it because I just started watching Corner Gas.
It still puzzles me how goofy Prime Video's user interface is. I don't know if people realize how much stuff is really available--like, just as an example, tons of old Shaw Brothers and Japanese monster movies. It's just so hard to browse and find things. There's a lot of great content here, though, even if the originals are a drop in the bucket compared to Netflix.
2) YouTube: Really, having Turner Classic Movies as part of the base package plus unlimited DVR storage makes YouTube TV a great value. Meanwhile, I didn't know until our Hill Street Blues episode that Orson Welles did a talk show pilot, and guess what? It's on YouTube!
3) Netflix: A real hodge-podge of originals this week, including a Jennifer Aniston movie, a crime drama series with Anthony LaPaglia (I never heard of it, and then I saw it was a Canadian import, which I guess explains why it comes out of nowhere), more of The Ranch, and the Nailed It holiday special I can't wait to see with my kids. There is a Mowgli movie that Warners successfully dumped on Netflix, but I think I have Jungle Book fatigue.
Yet again, though, the big story is what's leaving Netflix, as this week everyone experienced a collective panic at the thought of Friends leaving with 3 weeks' notice. Turned out, it was leaving but was renewed for a cool 100 mil for another year. It serves as a reminder to watch what you want now. I bet it's a lot easier to see on Netflix than it will be on whatever monstrosity AT&T cooks up in 2019.
The result of all this: I got back into watching Friends. I also finally watched Moana because--you guessed it--it's leaving Netflix in a few weeks.
4) STARZ: Premieres the second season of Counterpart this weekend, and it also is allowing me to enjoy more of the mystery show that will be the subject of a future podcast.
5) Boomerang: The holiday assortment is great, but it sure would be nice if Warner Brothers, which distributes the Rankin-Bass specials on DVD, could somehow get streaming rights. This week I enjoyed Flintstone Christmas (1977), not to be confused with A Flintstone Family Christmas, Flintstones Christmas Carol, or the original series episode titled Christmas Flintstone.
Christmas Flintstone. What a gloriously clunky episode title, and how great that they went with THAT one first instead of Flintstone Christmas.
6) Hulu: Feels like a slow week for Hulu to me, though if I paid for the commercial-free version, I'm sure I would watch a lot more of it. One of the main reasons it's not higher each week for me is because one of its main draws--next-day network TV shows--isn't such a big deal when there isn't anything on network TV worth watching.
7) CBS All Access: Yes, it's annoying that Happy Days is only up in one season, and only half of that season, but it least it has the heartwarming Christmas episode where Fonz spends Xmas Eve with the Cunninghams. I'm also continuing to enjoy Superior Donuts, which is maybe not the best thing for me but makes me feel good and goes down very easy--much like...much like...I don't know, some tasty but unhealthy comfort food. Can't think of one right now.
8) Shout! TV: It's been lost in the shuffle, but Shout! uploaded a ton of new content for December--the biggest drop I can remember.
9) Best Christmas Channel Ever 2018: Not the best channel title, but I enjoyed a relatively hassle-free viewing of an old Hollywood Palace yuletide episode with Bing Crosby, Glen Campbell, and more.
10) Pub-D-Hub: It's become much less reliable with its update schedule, but it does have a lot of Christmas content up right now and could rise next week after I dig into some of it.
NOTE: Watch TCM premiered on Roku this week, and I have always said it would be one of my favorite channels if it ever happened, but right now it won't load on my version of the system. So for now, it remains outside the top 10.
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