Our Cups Runneth Over

Hulu Plus gives us choices - Pic courtesy of Wikipedia

by Trebor Snillor
This has been a weird weekend.. my job is unusually busy and I spent part of my TimeOn Friday running computer scripts for work. I put the RAV4 in the shop to find out why the engine light was on. The code scan indicated “bad air/fuel ratio”. The car shop couldn’t see a problem and we just reset the indicator. The events of this weekend are leaving some loose ends and issues to resolve.. Outside, the sun keeps emerging and then running back behind the clouds. I think it’s a bit like my own mind-set right now. Think I’ll commence with today’s topic and see if I can dispel the clouds.

I wrote about Hulu I think maybe in 2007. At the time, it was a free service letting you watch recently aired network shows and a smattering of vintage TV shows. It seemed too good to be true and it turns out that it was. The network oligarchs at ABC, NBC and CBS concluded that they were giving away the store. There was money to be made by morphing it into a paid service called “Hulu Plus”. Hulu.com, the free service, was kept -- but with seriously clipped wings. The offerings were reduced; you can now see mostly just clips and you can only watch it on a PC.

I normally recoil from monthly fees, but I recently decided the $8.99 fee for Hulu Plus would barely be noticed in my budget. I can spend $9 on a single Pei Wei dinner so I went for it. Here are my observations thus far.

The major networks on Hulu Plus give you:
o recently canceled shows (i.e., Dads, Sean Saves the World).
o quirky shows that have been off for more than a season (The New Normal).
o month-old re-airings of select popular shows (Hot In Cleveland).
o vintage shows like I Love Lucy -- quality is a bit grainy, not re-mastered.
o Most shows have short embedded ads that run @ 1 minute -- not too intrusive.
o @ 25 hulu-exclusive shows that can’t be seen anywhere else

I figure with the above, I can finagle 9 bucks worth of viewing material pretty easily. My caveat to people considering this service -- it will appeal much more to a Cinema Arts major than to a mainstream person looking to catch the latest Big Bang episode. If you’re the kind of person who can sing the theme song of Green Acres, you’ve found your niche! :-)

Hulu Plus appears to have over 25+ exclusive shows -- enough that I lost count scrolling through it. In selecting these, I will flash by titles and trailers -- making value judgements based on thin descriptions and 30 second previews. If it has vampires, car chases or police detectives I’ll probably say “next”. Even on shows where I opt to watch the pilot -- something in the first 3 minutes needs to grab me. Something has to rise above cliche, or same-old-same-old. There are so many choices we really could use a professional TV critic to pre-screen these for us. There aren’t enough hours in life to watch all the pilot episodes much less a full season of each show.

I’ll clarify -- I do like having the TV choices. I’d rather have it and not need it than need it and not have it. I’ll just have to develop that Simon Cowell rapid-fire decisiveness that gives a thumbs up or thumbs down in a few critical seconds. My time is too valuable -- I have good shows to watch!

I'll close by noting that we've hit rerun season.. This would be the perfect time to check out Netflix or Hulu if you haven't yet.

© 2014 Snillor Productions