Sunday, April 21, 2019

Streaming Video Power Rankings: Week #158

1) HBO: I can't keep throwing shade at Game of Thrones. No, not everyone who has a TV watches it, but everyone who has a TV and writes about TV does.

2) Criterion Channel: I continue watching the heck out of this while it's free. It doesn't look like it will improve the user experience anytime soon, but the movie selection is impressive. This week I enjoyed some Columbia Noir, some Godzilla, and a Maysles brothers documentary. I look forward to seeing what's new in May. Will we see more evidence of the Channel's willingness/ability to license films each month?

3) Hulu: Lowering prices of some of its Live TV service add-ons. Repeat: loooooowering prices.

4) Amazon Prime Video: A slow week for adds except for the new season of Bosch, which I really need to try sometime. Yes, I said that when season 4 dropped.

5) YouTube: LMAO the other day watching the "It's Raining Men Collection" from Late Night with David Letterman thanks to the great Don Giller's channel. "A certain segment of the audience finds it very entertaining. That's all I'll say about it."

6) CW: I may not have accomplished as much in April as I thought I would heading into the month, but I caught up on The Flash and Supergirl.

7) MLB TV: As I write this, I am watching the National League best (record) Pittsburgh Pirates via the Free Game of the Day!

8) Tubi: I watched the last episode of the Martin Lawrence/Kelsey Grammer Partners this week, and I won't say it's good, but...I see what it was going for. I mean, I can't believe it tanked the way it did. I can only assume it was that 10/90 deal, where FX was afraid of committing to 90 more and pulled the plug after 10 rather than gambling. Anyway, you can find this "hidden gem" on Tubi!

9) Pluto TV: It continues adding content and making deals, with stuff from new owner Viacom and its family of cable channels (MTV, Comedy Central, etc.) adding shows soon. It really should bring back the "hide/favorite channels" feature, though, because sooooo many of the live channel options are garbage.

10) Netflix: I got an email saying basically, "You know why we are raising your prices?" And the answer was something dumb like, "To better the service." Thanks for the insight. Meanwhile, a story comes out that Netflix is giving 60 million bucks to BeyoncĂ©. I realize many are excited about her Homcecoming special, but to me, that is a colossal waste of money and an insult at a time when my subscription rate is going up. It seems like for every deal that sounds interesting, Netflix makes 2 or 3 that just sound like it is tossing money at something I will never watch.

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