Hulu...

OK, the name sucks but it the name actually is rooted in a Mandarin proverb that refers to the ''hulu'' as the ''holder of precious things.'' And if you are a TV nut like I am, it is a very precious thing. Mark has mentioned that this was going to happen. Every bit of entertainment, he said, will one day be on the Internet. This is the start. Click on the Hulu image to go to their website.

Originally conceived as a joint venture between NBC Universal and News Corp, this is what every TV nut is waiting for. Hulu is a place that you can go to watch old and new TV shows. Some good and some that I have never heard of (of wish I had forgotten). Not only TV, but you can watch movies FREE. Well sort of. I will get to that part later.

So this little venture started out as Fancast (which is still out there but not as good) and then progressed into what Hulu is planning to become. When you want to watch a TV show you have a choice to ways to search. By title, most popular, recently added, popular clips, alphabetically, genre, or network. With movies you can search by popular movies, popular movie clips, alphabetically, genre, and studio. When this site is fully functioning it will be something else.

Why do I say when? Because, as I stated, this is a collaboration NBC and News Corp (Fox). This means that the majority of the TV shows that are on the site are from NBC and FOX. The other problem is that they don't have all the episodes for recent shows (Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, House, Chuck, Bionic Women, etc.). They also don't have any episodes of some recent shows (SCRUBS, Heroes, etc.). So if I wanted to go back and catch up on a show I missed, they may not have all the episodes or may not have all the seasons. They are still adding new shows daily, but when are they going to be adding new (or all) the seasons. For an example: I Dream of Jeannie has episodes 25, 26, 27, 29, 30 from season two and missing episodes 2, 6, 14, 15, 23-27, 29-32 of season three. I hope they add them all on.

Although they have movies as well, they are not truly "free". You will have to watch some commercials throughout the movie. The positive thing I can say about this is that they actually do a great job of breaking up the movie for the commercial. Not like watching a movie on TV and they break right in the middle of a scene. They are also trying to get major advertisers to be the "main" ad that you see. This has happened to me three times. When you pick a movie or TV show, there may be a choice to watch one ad that may be two-three minutes long and then watch the show uninterrupted or pick to see short ads throughout the show. This choice was given in both TV and movies. I would rather watch a long ad at the beginning than have my entertainment chopped up.

The quality of the shows and movies are real good. Not HD quality, but good. Hulu also gives you the option to embed a show or a clip from the show. I have not done it yet, but from what I see you can crop part of a show or movie and embed it. You choose. I like that.

Hulu is in talks with other networks to bring more to the table, but in an Entertainment Weekly article, CBS is the only one that responded to request for an interview and they sounded optimistic about adding to the Hulu world.

Some of the good shows that Hulu has:
I Dream of Jeannie
Bewitched
Hart to Hart
The Bob Newhart Show
Mary Tyler Moore
McHale's Navy
And many more! I could just sit and watch all these old shows all day long.

Below is a promo from Hulu.