As I’m sure I’ve stated before, I’m a TV junkie. I watch more of it than I should. I can say more about shows I’ve never seen than most can say about their favorite show. I’ve got my DVR programmed to record a dozen or so series’ this fall (with 2 kids under 5, I rarely get to sit and watch what I want, when I want). And yet I’m now coming to find I may be able to cancel a number of those items in my queue due to Hulu.
Last year I did find myself occasionally watching shows that I failed to record (or couldn’t because my DVR only could handle 2 shows at a time and there was a third thing I wanted to watch – sad, but on rare occasions it happens) online – usually at the networks’ sites (mostly, it seemed, on NBC.com). The one drawback to that was that not all of the sites released shows on the same schedule – some would have some of their shows available the next morning, but others might not post new episodes for over a week and for certain shows it seemed not at all. But Hulu brought them all to the same table (well, mostly) and madefor a much more fluid online TV experience.
Thanks to Hulu, I’ve been able to spend some time catching up on some series’ that I missed the last few episodes of last season and be better prepared for the premieres. I’ve also been able to watch shows in full that I often forget to watch or queue and couldn’t watch online such as The Daily Show. There are still some gaps – it seems that the CW has yet to embrace Hulu as a free show-viewing port and you can’t watch more than promos and clips from the premium cable channels. But most of the shows from most of the major and basic cable networks are available to watch there – and usually the day after they air.
I probably will not actually cancel many of the DVR series recordings I’ve queued – at this point I still prefer watching TV on a TV (call me old-fashioned). But I might find myself supplementing what I watch on TV with content on Hulu such as shows for which I don’t keep good track of airtimes or shows that my wife isn’t interested in watching (probably while she is watching something on TV that I’m not interested in). Plus the limited interruptions are a pleasant change from the ever-increasing interruptions that seem to be common on TV these days. I encourage you all to check it out.