Tuesday, April 1, 2008

Great Web Find: Hulu.com

I thought I would take a break from watching an episode of "Fame" and enjoying a slice of peanut butter pie to tell you about this new online video service I recently discovered (thank you Entertainment Weekly) called Hulu.com. Launching on March 12th of this year, Hulu.com allows you to view streaming video of TV shows/specials/sporting events and movies (most of which are the property of NBC and FOX) free of charge.

Not only can you watch current shows such as "House", "The Office", and "The Riches", but you can also check out old series as well. So far, I have watched episodes of "Doogie Howser, M.D.", "Nanny and the Professor", "McHale's Navy", "Ironside", as well as some of my favorite sketches from "In Living Color". Some of the movies offered include "The 40 Year Old Virgin", "Hollywood Shuffle", "Some Like It Hot", "The Usual Suspects" and "Office Space". Hulu.com also offers the option of watching content "full screen".

In addition to being free, one of the great things about Hulu.com is that the content is provided by the studios themselves; meaning that the audio/video quality is very good. Although it isn't as good as traditional TV, it's way better than what you'll find on You Tube.

Along with what I mentioned above, you can also do searches to find out if content is available. Although they obviously don't have everything, they are adding new content on a regular basis. If Hulu.com doesn't have a program (such as "Lost"), it tells you where you can view it online. Hulu.com is ad-supported, so there are some commercials. But when it's free, who cares?! In case you are wondering what the hell "hulu" means, according to Wikipedia the name comes from a Mandarin Chinese proverb, in which it means holder of precious things.

I have barely scratched the surface as far the programming available on Hulu.com. Since I have to get back to work, I'll have to finish that episode of "Fame" later tonight. However, I am having another slice of peanut butter pie!


8 comments:

pjazzypar said...

What is peanut butter pie? Anyhoo, thanks for the tip. I will definitely be tuning in for some vintage television show watching.

Toni said...

MMM peanut butter pie!!

Love the old shows! Not sure if you are a How I Met Your Mother watcher, if not last night the character Barney did a throw back to his old character Doogie - pretty funny...

Enjoy the rest of your pie and your show watching.

Thembi Ford said...

Hulu.com is fantastic. Ive been watching old SNLs, Fame, Fact of Life...its really a dream come true! But can we get some black sitcoms on there...?

Malcolm said...

Pjazzy: Peanut butter pie is made with powdered sugar, Dream Whip, milk, cream cheese, and peanut butter with a graham cracker pie shell.

I had never had it before, but it was good as hell! You know that second piece of pie that I mentioned I was going to get after finishing this post? I had a 3rd slice too!

Toni: For the first two seasons, I occas. watched "How I Met Your Mother". I haven't seen a bad episode so far. This season, I have been watching it on a more regular basis. Although I missed last night's episode, I was able to see the "Doogie" reference courtesy of You Tube. Thanks for telling me!

Thembi: Hulu.com is amazing! There have been times when I have turned off my TV and watched Hulu exclusively.

Considering that NBC and FOX supply most of the content on Hulu.com, it's a shame that series such as "Sanford and Son", "ROC", "Amen", "New York Undercover", and "Living Single" aren't available. I sent them an email asking if there are plans to add more black oriented shows to the site. If you or anyone else would like to contact them, here is the email address:

content@hulu.com

ShannonW said...

Awesome! I will get to enjoy some of the old shows again.

Malcolm said...

Simply Shannon: Be prepared to spend an hour... or 5 going down memory lane.

Pop Art Diva Enterprises said...

Wow, wish I hadn't missed this post on April 1st! I just discovered Hulu.com thanks to your comment on my blog and it's great.
They've got current programming and great old shows - I found Alias Smith and Jones!
Now, something else to watch when bad reruns rule the airwaves.
P.S. This would have been wonderful during the writer's strike.
Thanks Malcolm!
Pop Art Diva

Malcolm said...

Pop Art Diva: I too noticed that "Alias Smith and Jones" was available on Hulu.com. I remember watching that when I was really young and later on in reruns on various channels. Since there aren't any games tonight, I should have time to watch something on Hulu.com.

 
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