In browsing the alphabetical list, many shows only contained clips, including one of my beloved programs, Scrubs. House had only one episode, three show clips, and a few interviews. Heroes had the first five episodes from season two. Those were the ones that stunk. Couldn’t they have shown the last five instead? The Simpsons had nine episodes, which isn’t much considering they’ve made over 400. ER had three episodes and six clips, all from season 14. Weren’t there 13 seasons before it? Then, I was delighted to see one of my all time favorite shows, WKRP in Cincinnati. My joy quickly turned to disappointment though when I found the episodes were from season one only, which I already have on DVD. Why not offer episodes from seasons two, three, and four, which aren’t on DVD yet?
I went onto the movies next, and that list is far less robust. Only half of the films listed are in their entirety. One film I chose to test is a favorite in our family, Ice Age. I had the DVD less than five feet away, but wanted to see how Hulu compared. Even though I’m running my Internet connection from a high-speed DSL line, the stream was often plagued with quick interruptions and made for choppy viewing. Granted, I was watching in the evening, which is likely peak time, but that still took away from the experience. I found by comparison that nothing beats the full screen video quality of the original DVD. I watch full length films for entertainment and not for background noise while I’m performing ten other tasks, so watching films on Hulu will not be part of my immediate future.
That brought me back to the TV shows. Since many of the shows had clips, I sought out the clip-friendly shows, such as The Simpsons, in which the episodes contain many small nuggets of comedy that are legendary. Only 91 clips were listed, and those came from seasons one, four, six, seven, and 19. Seasons eight through 18 were made, right?
I Found Something to Watch
Eventually, I found the perfect show to fully bend the Hulu interface and let this site prove itself to me — Saturday Night Live. This show is in season 33, and Hulu offers 477 clips going back all the way to season one. The only season missing clips was the infamously horrible season six, and I’m sure many viewers were grateful.
Considering I’ve watched SNL since the first season, I took interest in older clip choices. The list comes up in random order. I wanted to sort from season one on, and sorting through 32 seasons worth of material gave Hulu a workout. I clicked on the season:episode field, and 10 seconds later the sort defaulted automatically to the most recent season first. When I clicked on the field again so it would sort the other way, there was no indicator that a sort was in process, making me believe I couldn’t do that. 20 seconds later, when the sort did eventually work, it took me by surprise since I’d already started scrolling through the list.
Article comments
1 - snowcrous
I have been watching movies/TV shows from hulu.com for a while . I love Hulu!!! What it offers is awesome. The user interface is simple, elegant and so easy to use. There are plenty of full length episodes and movies. But I have never experienced choppy viewing as you describe here. By the way, I am using internet connection via the cable company.
2 - Alice Jester
Snowcrous - Thanks for letting me know you are loving the site. It does have many wonderful features and I'm glad see someone out there is getting the benefit.
It's good you're getting decent video streaming on a cable modem. I think that's the trouble with these online streaming sites, they're catering to the highest speed connections possible and pushing the bandwidth. My DSL line is slower than cable, but there are many DSL users out there that want to check out this site. Also, I heavily use wireless, and the experience is worse through a wireless connection. Many people will also be accessing the same way, and might end up disappointed.
Hopefully I'll come back in the near future and many of the issues will have been ironed out.
3 - MGersh
I am disappointed by online video, so far. (Full disclosure: I was associated with an online video site, Reeltime.com, for the last two years) The selections are thin, and poorly presented. On Hulu, the TV shows are limited to a mere pick of a few episodes, then some clips. I saw House on Hulu for the first time, and I really liked it. But I was only able to find two episodes, and those were the last two, at that. I like to view shows from the oldest to the latest, and that is impossible on Hulu. I would really like to see the last four seasons, and then the first ten from season 5. That would be a better incentive to get me to watch on television than two episodes were.
Online video has a long way to go. They all need to get better at search, or stocking the shelves of their video store. And they need WAY more selection. Once they do that, online video will change the way we view entertainment, no doubt.
4 - ReelTimeKing
Hello MG,
I remember you from when you were at ReelTime. We exchanged e-mails a number of times. I am sorry you are no longer with the company, but I understand your reasons. I am still invested there. I should have sold about the time that Ro came on board. But who was to know that they wouldn't get their act together. You know what I think will make it work. I know you see the same problems I do, not only for ReelTime, but for the industry as a whole. I have exchanged e-mails with JD and talked to him on the phone. He says he agrees, but nothing seems to happen. I don't know why the process is so slow. They need to do something to be competititve, and people will pay for the service. Wish you the best in whatever you are doing now.
Gonzalo