Hulu-related stories
Posted Nov 25th 2009 6:06PM by Jackie Schnoop
Filed under: OpEd, Pickups and Renewals, Reality-Free
Yes, it's that time of year once again. It's Thanksgiving -- yay, food! With the times such as they are, I'll admit to being more thankful on a regular basis during this year than many years gone by. I have a job (a few jobs actually), a roof over my head, money for food and bills, good friends, family, a bionic knee so I can be a bit like
The Six Million Dollar Man, and so much more.
But, since this is about television, I'm going to focus on what I'm thankful for in television and TV-related kind of things. We might share some items on the list, we might not. While the times might not be great for financial dealings, it's a wondrous time for television geeks like you and me. Or, maybe it's just me. So, exactly what am I thankful for? Read on.
Continue reading What Jackie is thankful for
Posted Nov 25th 2009 4:04PM by Joel Keller
Filed under: OpEd, How I Met Your Mother, Reality-Free, Mad Men, Community, Cougar Town, Modern Family
You know, it's funny. When I started here I was a lowly IT guy with no girlfriend and lots of time on his hands to watch TV, even on Thanksgiving. Now I'm engaged, the editor of this site, and have to run around to so many family and friend-related events this weekend my head's already spinning just thinking about it. So I have a lot to be thankful for (and I just realized how friggin' long I've been here... wow).
But TV has always been a part of that equation, and it had no less of a role for me this year. So, in the TV world, here is what will make me thankful as I dive into the turkey tomorrow:
ABC's Wednesday comedy line-up: Against all trends, ABC rolled the dice and started a whole new night of comedy on Wednesdays. And while
Hank flamed out,
The Middle, Modern Family, and
Cougar Town look like they have staying power, both from a quality and a ratings standpoint.
Continue reading What Joel is thankful for
Posted Nov 24th 2009 8:01PM by Michael Pascua
Filed under: Programming, OpEd
Thanksgiving is the best time to reflect on the year and find out what one is grateful for. Like most people, I'm grateful for my family and our well-being, but I realize that it's the little things that can perk up a depressing day.
Hulu
I cover a lot of reality shows and I found Hulu to be a great website for me to catch
Glee,
Modern Family, and
Community without having to fill up my DVR. When Hulu gives me the option to play one long form commercial, I squeal, press play, and run to the bathroom to pee. When I get back
Glee's preview is on. That show is better without either commercial or bathroom interruptions.
Continue reading What Michael P. is thankful for
Posted Oct 22nd 2009 3:02PM by Jonathan Toomey
Filed under: Industry, Video, Web, Reality-Free, Webisodes
Hey you. Yeah, you - guy wasting company time by watching last week's episode of Heroes on Hulu. Enjoying it? Well, get ready to cough up some cash to find out what happens next.
In a move that we've all long feared was probably inevitable anyway, Chase Carey, deputy chairman of News Corp. (one of Hulu's co-owners) annouced that Hulu would begin charging users. According to Broadcasting & Cable, Hulu's fees could start as early as 2010.
You may commence booing now.
Continue reading Hulu to charge for content; cubicle dwellers everywhere cringe
Posted Oct 6th 2009 1:00PM by Annie Wu
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, OpEd
A few months ago, I ever-so-giddily wrote about the entire first season of the
British comedy Green Wing being available on Hulu to American viewers. It only seemed right to spread the good word, as it happens to be one of my favorite shows (it's like
Scrubs if it were a little less annoying and more demented).
Well, shame on me for being late with more news, because it wasn't until reader Erik pointed it out that I saw that the entire series of
Green Wing is now on Hulu. Having both seasons and the finale special means that you get the laughs
and closure. Isn't that nice?
Continue reading Green Wing finally available in full on Hulu
Posted Sep 11th 2009 12:28PM by Joel Keller
Filed under: Video, Site Announcements
Our friends at AOL TV have launched a new video site today that they're pretty proud of. The new site,
SlashControl, provides thousands of free full-length TV episodes of current and past TV shows, as well as lots of free full-length movies.
Navigation is fairly simple: go to either "Free Movies" or "Free TV Shows" and click on the first letter of the show or movie you want to watch. Shows are also easily searchable and grouped by season. Through AOL's partnerships with Hulu, ABC, CBS, Showtime, and a number of other providers, the list of available shows is fairly comprehensive. For shows that don't have full episodes available, there are plenty of embeddable clips available for viewing.
After taking a quick stroll through the site, the interface looks pretty easy to use and navigate, and it's always good to look for what you want on one site instead of all over the place. So take a look at SlashControl; hopefully, it'll only suck away half your day instead of the whole thing.
Posted Aug 18th 2009 12:26PM by Jonathan Toomey
Filed under: Lost, Video, Web, Reality-Free
For those of you that have been annoyed with Hulu's ABC offerings since the alphabet company's parent Disney became a stake-holder in the online video service, here's a bit of good news:
Almost every episode of Lost is now available to stream online.
Up until now, only the first season and the last five episodes of season five had been uploaded for viewing, but now the list has expanded to include the first four seasons in their entirety. Season five still only has the last five eps available, but that isn't too surprising since the DVD set doesn't come out until December 8th. Hey - you gotta give people at least some reason to buy it I suppose.
I'm curious to know what people think about this though. At this point, Lost has become such a pop culture obsession, that it makes me wonder how many people are still out there and haven't seen at least the first couple of seasons. Any Lost virgins out there with plans to plow through the first four seasons now that it's an option?
Posted Aug 12th 2009 6:30PM by Mike Moody
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, Programming, Video, Web, Reality-Free
Today I don't feel like Brian Krakow standing sad and alone in the street holding my bike. Nope, today it feels like the Internet is giving me a big warm hug thanks to the
debut of My So-Called Life on Hulu. The site is now streaming every episode of ABC's pioneering but short-lived series about a teenage girl growing up in the '90s.
For the uninitiated,
My So-Called Life stars Claire Danes as Angela Chase, a teen desperately searching for meaning in her life and balancing new friends, the wild Rayanne Graff (A.J. Langer) and gay 15-year-old Rickie Vasquez (Wilson Cruz), with old ones, nerdy Brian (Devon Gummersall) and cheerleader Sharon Cherski (Devon Odessa). The show also chronicles Angela's parents' (Bess Armstrong and Tom Irwin) rocky relationship and her obsession with the broody Jordan Catalano (Jared Leto).
Continue reading My So-Called Life lands on Hulu
Posted Jul 25th 2009 3:30AM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: Other Sci-Fi/Supernatural Shows, Pickups and Renewals, Reality-Free, Comic-Con
Despite a lengthy hiatus in the middle of its third season due to that pesky WGA Strike, and a shift to Friday nights, it was reported at
Comic-Con that
Syfy has renewed Eureka for a fourth season. And not one of those crappy 12- or 13-episode seasons we usually get on cable. This is a full 22 episodes, for which I say ... well, that would be a bit obvious, wouldn't it?
The good news is that the absence didn't hurt the show at all. It's just as compelling as it ever was. And fun. By fun, of course, I mean for us. Poor Sheriff Carter seems on the verge of a nervous breakdown half the time. Between negotiating a teenage daughter and the geniuses and their dangerously inventive concoctions, it's a wonder Eureka hasn't been blown off the map. Maybe for the series finale.
Even better, if you've yet to add it to your weekly list of stops, you can catch the latest four episodes of
Eureka streaming on Hulu, along with tons of other fun clips.
Posted Jul 24th 2009 1:03PM by Annie Wu
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, OpEd, Web, Celebrities, Reality-Free
Hulu has been making all the right, super-sweet moves lately, at least in my book. Not only is the site streaming the marvelous British comedies
Peep Show and
Green Wing, but now
Spaced is on Hulu, too.
Spaced! You can tell I'm excited because I put an exclamation mark on it. The show has been available on DVD in the States for quite a while, but now that both seasons are online, there really isn't any excuse to not experience it. Is it obvious that I have a weird, almost evangelical need to spread the word?
Continue reading Spaced on Hulu! Now you have no excuse to be uninformed
Posted Jul 6th 2009 10:02AM by Brad Trechak
Filed under: Industry, Programming, OpEd, Reality-Free
It's about damn time. The folks behind Hulu are
making deals with broadcasters in the U.K. to offer their service to U.K. residents. Hopefully as a result of this, TV Squad won't have to apologize to Brits every time we post a clip from Hulu (at least most of the time... some current American shows like
Heroes won't be available in the U.K. due to rights issues).
I'm secretly hoping this also means that some British content will be available to United States viewers. It would somewhat ease my frustration with my cable provider, who can't seem to justify carrying BBC America in their channel line-up no matter how many times I ask. It would be nice to satisfy my Brit TV craving without resorting to Netflix (or, even worse, The Pirate Bay).
Given how protective both countries are of their content, it wouldn't surprise me if this deal fell through. Regulation is a bitch, but Hulu is making some pretty big bucks right now for an Internet venture and I can't see how the media conglomerates behind this deal could be that resistant to profit.
Posted Jun 22nd 2009 7:05PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Web, Hardware, TiVo, Reality-Free
Do you remember a long time ago when you had no options to watch a TV show if you didn't see it when it aired (you had to wait for a repeat)? Of course you don't, you people with your Twitters and your iPhones and your space-age Saran Wrap. But there was a time when if you wanted to watch, say,
The Magician, you had to stay home and watch it. No iTunes, no Hulu, no YouTube, no DVDs.
Then came the VCR, and everything changed. Only $1000! (
Full-sized ad here.) Notice the fine print at the bottom: "Caution: The unauthorized recording of television programs and other materials may infringe the rights of others."
Posted Jun 16th 2009 5:02PM by Mike Moody
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, Other Comedy Shows, Industry, Lost, Grey's Anatomy, Web, Ratings, Reality-Free
ABC's
Lost was the
most watched TV show online in May, ranking up more than 36.4 million total video streams, according to Nielsen VideoCensus. Another ABC show,
Grey's Anatomy, was the second most watched show online with the network's
Desperate Housewives rounding out the top three. All three ABC shows brought in about 80 million online viewers for the month.
Variety posits that May's season finale cliffhangers put the ABC shows on top of the list. That's a fine theory, but here's another one – ABC led the online pack because Nielsen VideoCensus doesn't count any viewing done via Hulu, arguably the most popular site for streaming free online video content from TV networks.
Continue reading Lost is number one online -- if you don't count Hulu
Posted May 30th 2009 10:02AM by Annie Wu
Filed under: Other Comedy Shows, OpEd, Web, Celebrities, Reality-Free
I recently -- and giddily -- posted about Hulu.com's inclusion of
Channel 4's Green Wing, one of my favorite programs. Hulu is definitely on my good side right now, as they also have the first season of
Peep Show online now. Those of you that don't have this in your list of British comedies to conquer, you should. Now. I mean, once you get over David Mitchell's extra-weird, giant, almost-black eyes, it's pretty enjoyable.
Continue reading Peep Show's on Hulu... No, not that kind of peep show
Posted May 25th 2009 9:02AM by Danny Gallagher
Filed under: Industry, Web, Reality-Free
A lot of readers outside of the United States regularly express their disgust with us over our use of Hulu's videos on some of our posts.
Well, I've got some good news ... for 1/100ths of the rest of the world.
Hulu could be coming to the United Kingdom and include more programming than what's available in the States. So if you Brits have been hankering for some
Facts of Life but don't feel like the necessary humiliation of having people see you buy it at the local video store, you're in luck.
Continue reading Could the rest of the world get Hulu... or at least the U.K.?
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