Streaming Video Power Rankings #143

As we settle into the new year, it's a good time to take stock of ourselves and what we can do better. And by "we," I mean YOU, streaming video on demand providers. This week I plan to unveil some wishes for 2019--things these outlets can add to improve themselves. That's what resolutions are about, after all--other people improving themselves.

It was a quiet week for new material, especially compared to last week, but let's count 'em down--or up, depending on how you look at it.

1) Netflix: I made it through my kids' run through of Fuller House in one piece, Alexa and Katie (their next watch) is tolerable, and I love the Brian Regan show. Also, Netflix added the Indiana Jones movies. This week's #1 ranking is driven largely by the young Culturesharks, though.

2) YouTube/YouTube TV: Yep, I'm keeping YTTV one more month for the playoffs, but, wow, each week brings news about its competitors that makes it look even better. As for regular ol' YouTube, I love the fact that, just ahead of this weekend's Bears/Eagles game, someone posted a Bears/Eagles game from nearly 40 years ago.

3) Boomerang: I will say good-bye to Boomerang again this week, but I give them credit for adding some things--the original Penelope Pitstop and Dastardly and Muttley, plus--oddly--the original Monchichis and a reboot. Nothing against them, but I'd rather they put up some Snagglepuss.

Nonetheless, I have been watching a bunch of The Flintstones lately and reminding myself that it was one of the great shows of its era. Boomerang has the whole series, I think, too, but unfortunately, it's kid-centric interface makes it tougher than it should be to find specific episodes.

4) Amazon Prime Video: It was a pretty good week for high-profile movie adds, with Beautiful Boy and Leave No Trace joining the service. I'm trying to figure out why Prime has some but nowhere near all episodes of Tony Palmer's 1970s All You Need Is Love popular music history series. I'd love to get into these, but my completist mentality makes me want to wait until they are all there...or at least the first one!

5) Roku Channel: I was never a big fan of The Patty Duke Show, but it makes decent background viewing. I give Roku demerits for dropping the first two seasons of Good Times. Just license the whole series and leave it up there, please!

6) Hulu: A quiet week on the TV side, but it did add 2018's acclaimed Annhiliation. I feel I may have to just commit to a show and really tear it up because I don't feel I am getting much out of Hulu lately. I think the no-ads CBS All Access plan spoiled me a bit.

7) Pluto TV: Finally Buzzr is on the Roku version of Pluto (it was on other platforms for some time). The addition of the classic game show network could make Pluto one of the best time-waster options around.

8) Shout! Factory TV: It offered another substantial assortment of new material for the first of the month. If you have Prime, much of it is there without ads, but I like that Shout! is keeping at it. It quietly assembled an impressive collection of genre flicks and is adding to it each month, but I'd still like to see them do a little more with classic TV.

9) Starz: Miami Vice is a welcome addition, but I am still stung by the loss of the 1980s Rambo cartoon, which (admittedly) I did not watch. in my defense, I figured, why would they ever have to get rid of that?

10) Curiosity Stream: I confess I didn't actually watch anything on here; I just want to rank it again because I still feel guilty for having it free for a month and only seeing a few things.