Hulu isn’t just for watching your favorite TV shows of today – and yesterday – any more.

The streaming platform is planning original content just like its 21st century peer Netflix, and one of the first new Hulu shows out of the gate feels like “West Wing Lite.”

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“Battleground,” debuting Feb. 14 on Hulu, takes us behind-the-scenes, “Office” style, of a senatorial campaign. The candidate in question is a Democrat, so expect plenty of scenes about believing in the cause, fighting the power, changing the system, etc.

The first glimpse of the new show does feature those moments, but the focus appears to be on the lifestyles of the young, overworked campaign staffers as opposed to policy wonk soliloquies.

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BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN’S NEW ALBUM IS HIS ‘ANGRIEST’ YET

Like a new Stephen King novel, I miss being excited about upcoming Springsteen albums, and now even the ones I did enjoy (pre-2001) sound a little silly and simple. I haven’t even bothered to listen to his last few releases. Never thought that would happen. And it’s not Springsteen’s obnoxious politics, either. He just bores me, kind of like Wes Anderson’s “sensibility.”

Sinatra. Everything you need to know about life, love, youth, growing old, and what it means to be a man is found in the combined works of one Francis Albert Sinatra.

FIVE NEW POSTERS FOR STAR WARS: EPISODE I THE PHANTOM MENACE 3D

Unless the tagline reads: Watch It Suck In a Third Dimension!, a class action false advertising suit is imminent.

ARE BIOPICS BAD FOR US?

This captures some of the problem:

Indeed, I’m not actually sure The Iron Lady does have any meaning, and would rate it primarily as a simply a striking replication, hamstrung in its ability to be much else. It skips across themes of power, struggle, loss, aging and personal conviction but audiences aren’t going to get any depth, because they’re too distracted by the novelty of Meryl Streep’s uncanny makeup.

If you want movies with genuine character that offer affecting tales of strong female outsiders overcoming great difficulties you can watch, say, An Education, Whip It, Hanna or The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, to name a few diverse flicks of recent vintage. All of them are built around fictional lead protagonists but have way more soul, substance, human heart and authenticity than The Iron Lady.

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There’s actually a bigger story here methinks. Cable television is starting to lose customers as people move towards Netflix Streaming and sites like Hulu that for a low monthly subscription fee offer greater flexibility at a much, much lower price. We’re also in the middle of Obama’s crippling recession and the absurd cost of cable is starting to feel less necessary, especially with all the options out there.

DHD:

Time Warner Cable plans one of the most ambitious efforts yet to combat the rising cost of sports channels: It’s preparing to introduce a low-cost service tier that won’t include expensive networks such as ESPN. Time Warner Cable has said that it’s exploring the “TV Essentials” package that would cost between $30-$40 a month.

We’re all tired of paying for channels we never watch and cable’s monopoly is starting to crack. (more…)

 UPDATE ON YESTERDAY’S NETFLIX POST…

An email from a friend informs me that Netflix is currently being sued for their lack of close captioning. Also, a third of their streaming titles already include captions — with 80% expected by the end of the year.

DISH NETWORK LOOKING TO ACQUIRE HULU

Though I’m not exactly happy with it, I have Dish Network and could become a lot happier if they acquired some kind of streaming service as part of their service. They’ve already acquired Blockbuster, which gives them an incredible inventory even after the physical stores go under (and they will). So adding Hulu would be a major triumph — though an expensive $2 billion one.

What I really want to do is dump cable/ satellite altogether. Thanks to you, Dear Readers, I have found Fox News, CNN, and  MSNBC online, which is presently saving me $17 a month with the disconnect of a second receiver that was devoted to delivering news to my home office.

One down, two to go. Because…

Once football and “Burn Notice” can be screened via the Web on the TV (legally), the wife has okayed a big, fat buh-bye to the days of paying for television.

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As Big Hollywood’s self-proclaimed Arrested Development Superfan, it is my sacred obligation to make fellow enthusiasts aware of The Arrested Development Documentary Project, which just recently came to my attention.  The film’s website is a bit confusing, especially when it comes to ascertaining where and when one might actually see it, but the trailer seems promising (be forewarned, Keith Olbermann makes an appearance):

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Hopefully the finished product will explore subjects beyond the (understandable) bellyaching about Fox’s shabby treatment of the show, abysmal ratings, regrettable lack of audience, etc. 

Note to readers: This documentary is not to be confused with the Arrested Development feature film, reportedly in production. (more…)

As is sadly the case for all good things, the video website Hulu.com may well come under attack by the government, specifically in the form of antitrust action by the Obama administration.

Socialism’s great horde of media apologists has begun a strong drumbeat calling for the U.S. government to go after Hulu, the immensely and increasingly successful source of online streaming media content.

Cord Blomquist of the Competitive Enterprise Institute documents the socialists’ campaign for a government attack on Hulu in an excellent article at the Technology Liberation Front website. “Many media commentators are already using the kind of language we associate with past media antitrust cases,” Blomquist notes. (more…)