Review of Hulu Plus

I, like most people, can't always watch my favorite television shows when they air. Thankfully we live in the 21st century and we have access to most shows through instant streaming on their corresponding network sites. And back in March of 2008 instant streaming television was revolutionized with the public release of Hulu. For those who haven't heard of Hulu, like maybe the tribes in the Amazon, Hulu offers ad supported streaming video of TV shows and movies from NBC, ABC, and Fox.

Now I've been a loyal user of Hulu, have been since the day of it's release. And I will continue using it till something horrific stops me from doing so i.e. Hulu shutting down or losing my fingers. So of course I was excited to hear about the arrival of Hulu Plus. Hulu Plus is a monthly subscription service offered by Hulu.

Well I sprung at the chance to give it a go when I received my one week free trial invite, but within the first five minutes of the trial I was overwhelmed with a feeling of Ugh. What I witnessed before me was the most horrific thing a television viewer can imagine, a commercial. That's right America, Hulu plus has commercials. It's not even a reduced amount from the standard version, In fact, it would seem it has more and longer commercials. But that's not the only bad thing about Hulu Plus, oh no, this my child is only the beginning. One of the biggest selling points of Hulu Plus is the fact that it offers subscribers an expanded content library. This is shown in the form of full seasons and more episodes of shows already available through Hulu. Too bad this didn't apply to any of the shows I wanted to see.

Another major feature of Hulu Plus is the ability to view your favorite shows on your Television using an internet ready device. This sounds great right? It's arguably the service's best feature. But what it fails to mention, or at least I had heard nor seen a word of, is that not all shows are available for streaming to a TV. At this point I was ready to give up on Hulu Plus, but them something happened, something that was so horrendous that I couldn't help but stare. My video was buffering...

This was the last nail in the coffin of my Hulu Plus Trail. I have a Netflix account and watch HD streaming video all the time and have never had a video stop to buffer every five seconds. I was completely horrified and somewhat ashamed at the pitiful experience I had with Hulu Plus. I even suggested it to a friend before I had fully explored the mangled wreckage that is Hulu Plus and I'm sorry for doing so. When my trial comes to an end I'm afraid I wont be continuing my service plan, but I will keep using the standard free services of Hulu. Over all the experience was wrought with displeasure with a few small instances of hope for a happy ending. Not unlike a meal from a fast food joint, where one might regret their decision upon spending a long period of time on the toilet.