55 Comments
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Tim Goodman's avatar

OK, I fixed the polls to all be individual results for each streamer. This should be a better option.

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Joe Lynch's avatar

You might want to delete the original polls.

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R S's avatar

Late to this but...right on. Looking forward to even more TG recommendations.

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Alex Skn's avatar

Unpopular oppinion : I've seen 8 episodes of The Pitt and I am not getting the hype about it. I mean it's good, but very similar to many other hospital dramas. It's got excellent casting, but it's very linear, almost unreal. For me it looks like a theater play in which every character waits in line to speak in turn; and everybody is so calm and positive and understanding that it feels like something staged.

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Tim Goodman's avatar

That's not unpopular with me! I feel validated for skipping. Woot!

But seriously, interesting take. I have read zero on the series, so I can't really compare.

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Lynn's avatar

Looking forward to a deep dive on Hulu. I will just plug “Rivals” starring David Tenant, Adrian Turner and many other great British/Irish actors. It’s somehow Bridgerton meets Mad Man but in the 80s and really soaped up! I watch one episode a week as a treat. I am halfway through.

Just a tech tip for Disney+ users: you can now clean out “Continued watching”. I am really OCD with my digital spaces so this was a relief. I watch Hulu shows mostly through the Disney app with some exceptions. I do browse both apps because it seems to display different stuff.

Re The Pitt. I have come across a lot of people who refused to try it for various reasons. So I have been quiet about it. But I really thought it was outstanding and by the end it became appointment television.

Okay I am the one person subscribed to MHz Choice. I think it might be smart to highlight the fact a lot of foreign shows (Acorn and BritBox, too) are eventually available on Hoopla which everyone with a library card has access to.

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R S's avatar

Thanks on the clean out update - annoying as hell on the services that don't have it.

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Tim Goodman's avatar

Yes absolutely on Kanopy/Hoopla. I had them in the original mix and then given the constraints of the poll, decided otherwise but I will always toot those horns. I wanted to watch Rivals way back and you'll be happy to know that on my recent scanning of what to dive into on Hulu that show resurfaced and I'll be all over it.

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Lynn's avatar

By the way I can’t find you on BlueSky. Search is not very good on that app. You might have to provide a link. I do hope you enjoy Rivals.

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Tim Goodman's avatar

Oy! Maybe I'll fix that. Ha. Yeah, next opportunity where people would be reading something like a Notes column, I'll drop it in there.

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Scott Kempf's avatar

Shallow Dive - Hulu: Mr Inbetween

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Tim Goodman's avatar

I think Mr Inbetween feels like a show I just watch and rewatch on my own, which is kind of funny. Man, that show. Wow.

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Wayne Brown's avatar

Poll-wise being in Canada I didn't vote for Max or Peacock. We get HBO/Max, Showtime and Starz content on Crave. Movies as well but not as many as when streaming blew up.

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Tim Goodman's avatar

Going to jump in as an American saying I love Canada! I'm not sure how much Showtime/Starz content I'll get to but a lot of it is good but we don't have a thing like Crave where they are paired and affordable.

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Wayne Brown's avatar

We also have CBC Gem which has their own content as well as foreign mostly from the UK. That’s where we watched The A Word. Ontario and British Columbia each have educational channels which stream scripted and documentary content. TVO and Knowledge. And everything ever produced by the National Film Board is also at our fingertips. Makes you wonder how I find time to watch sports. 🤣

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Joe Horne's avatar

👍

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Tim Goodman's avatar

I like the vibe of this. Like, "yeah, I'll go with this idea." Simple. Direct.

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JJ's avatar

Dark Winds on AMC+ is excellent. Native American police on a reservation.

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Tim Goodman's avatar

I have seen it and liked it. I believe I watched the first season.

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Tim Goodman's avatar

Way more people getting Peacock than expected.

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Tim Goodman's avatar

I mean it’s early but still.

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Sue's avatar

Peacock is cheap! I got a whole year for THIRTY BUCKS (this was just a couple of months ago, it was probably a special rate). To me, that's a no-brainer.

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R S's avatar

I've definitely enjoyed my "please please don't cancel" rate. I'm on it mainly for sports but the series I have watched there I've enjoyed.

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Stephanie Wien's avatar

I just dropped Netflix and picked up Max for The Pitt, White Lotus, and The Last of Us. Netflix didn't have enough to keep me engaged. Once TLOU season 2 is over I'll probably unsubscribe. I was glad to see that S2 of The Pitt is planned for January so we won't have a huge gap. I have rewatched a lot of it already. The casting is just so incredible, down to even the character players.

I'm into the Marvel and Star Wars series, so Disney+ currently gets a lot of my time. Daredevil Born Again is just wrapping up and Andor S2 is about to start.

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R S's avatar

I have Marvel Fatigue but the Daredevil seasons have all been excellent. Some overlooked performances.

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Tim Goodman's avatar

My goal of course is to eventually find so much on Netflix that everyone freaks out and rejoices. I mean, within bounds.

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Michael Taylor's avatar

Autocorrect is very much a mixed blessing. The only way I can beat it in the proof-read stage is to print out whatever I'm working on. I don't know why, but an error -- be it thanks to autocorrect or my own malfunctioning brain-to-fingers matrix -- that I'll never spot on the screen just leaps up and shouts at me on a printed page.

Go figure.

I'm not a fan of hospital dramas either. Needles and scalpels penetrating flesh and drawing blood just isn't anything I want to see. I see quite enough blood and guts on the PBS nightly news. I'm more into laughing these days, which is one reason I so love "The Studio." I was still laughing at Ep 2 everytime I thought about it today.

Onward, into the mist...

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Tim Goodman's avatar

This autocorrect has me triple checking everything and I still mess up. But wabi sabi. I don’t mind my own mistakes but I don’t want a machine making them for me.

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Michael Taylor's avatar

Indeed. Autocorrect so often seems determined to violate the Hippocratic oath ... as we used mutter during dark days on set, "If you can't help me, at least don't hurt me!"

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robin b's avatar

We just canceled Netflix after being members since 2011. Tired of price increases (to pay for stuff we will never watch - WWE, NFL, etc), we can subscribe for a couple months a year and get all our watching in

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Tim Goodman's avatar

It’s a very solid plan — for any streamer, actually. Going in with a list and knocking a bunch of stuff off in a month is smart. And efficient!

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Lynn's avatar

Theoretically. But I admit I so enjoy being in the cultural zeitgeist it would be a sacrifice. Eventually I might have to do it. But for now, I love having all this TV at my fingertips.

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Lisa Beaudry's avatar

I really like the plans for Deep Dive! One Hulu show I liked recently was Big Boys. I'm not sure how to describe it -- sort of a combination of Derry Girls and Shrinking? It stars Dylan Llewellyn from Derry Girls as a young man attending what I think is the English equivalent of a public/city college, having postponed it for a year grieving his dad. So it deals with grief and mental health in a comedic setting, but with a slight period feel (it's the early 2000s) and humor that's more physical (and sometimes gross-out) than Shrinking. Definitely a lower-middle class setting, as opposed to Shrinking's Pasadena fantasy. (I adore Shrinking! But Jimmy's house would cost like $3 million!)

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Rick Rosenberg's avatar

A combo of Derry Girls and Shrinking sounds like a winner and I will check it out. Thanks for the tip!

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Lisa Beaudry's avatar

I hope it works for you! I didn't realize until today that Hulu has all three seasons; I've seen only 1 and 2.

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Tim Goodman's avatar

Thanks! I think it will be a good, inclusive feature that has a slower but similar rhythm to The Box Set.

And I will check out Big Boys!

Hulu is almost as bad as Netflix in not promoting its content, particularly international stuff.

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Glenn Jackson's avatar

You are missing a very good show in not watching The Pitt.

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Cliff Robinson's avatar

🥁🥁🥁🥁

This is me banging the drum for The Pitt

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bayareascott's avatar

It is also very unfair that gifs cannot be posted here.

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Tim Goodman's avatar

Agreed

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Tim Goodman's avatar

But my hypochondria remains oblivious, which is good for my mental health.

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Zig2k143's avatar

I'm enjoying The Pitt. In my head cannon he's the same character from ER but had to go into the witness protection program.

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robin b's avatar

Just anecdotal but I never watched ER and still really like it! (In case someone is on the fence)

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MCT's avatar

I really like The Pitt but can see how TG would absolutely hate it. Noah Wyle as an ER doctor with a heart remains charming.

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Tim Goodman's avatar

I’m in the not watching hospital dramas protection program. In here we just nod. We know why we’re not watching. We know.

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Zig2k143's avatar

🤣😂🤣

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Rick Ellis's avatar

Yep. About 90% of the stuff Disney produces outside the U.S. for Disney+/Hotstar now ends up on Hulu in the U.S. Disney+ was streaming some of the stuff initially, but I don't think anyone ever watched the shows.

One downside is that Disney isn't especially aggressive when it comes to doing English audio dubs. So most of the non-English stuff on Hulu is subtitled. Unless it gets some traction in the U.S.

But there is a lot to choose from, they are releasing 1-2 new global shows most weeks. I've developed a week spot for some the dramedies, which are an acquired taste, I admit.

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Tim Goodman's avatar

I'm OK with that because I vastly prefer the subtitles. But that's just me.

Ah, yes, some of the "dramedies" and a bunch of the kind of sappy love stuff from Korea, yes, a very acquired taste. But I love international series (as do you) and it's just great to have the diversity.

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