by The Cowl Editor on September 12, 2019
Film and Television
by Anne DeLello ’20 A&E Staff
With every new season comes a new set of shows and movies to be added to the various streaming sites; Netflix and Hulu are the main competitors once again. In a world where cable is slowly dying and the entertainment competition is fierce, streaming services must keep their material fresh, both with their own original productions and with older movies and shows from different networks.
Netflix, a pioneer in the industry, is adding a variety of movies and shows to its site throughout September. Some classics that will be added are Superbad on Sept. 1, along with The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, and The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers.
Forty-one of the new additions to Netflix will be originals. Some notable originals, according to Vulture, are Surviving R. Kelly, which will delve into the allegations of sexual assault against American singer R. Kelly, as well as The Spy. The Spy is a six-hour miniseries based off the work of a real Mossad agent named Eli Cohen, a man who went undercover in Syria in the early 1960s. The Hollywood Reporter describes the series as “shocking and unfathomable,” particularly since it is based on true events.
Though Netflix seems to be releasing the most originals this September, Hulu is also releasing a great variety of movies. The new titles range from the rom-com classics 50 First Dates and 27 Dresses, to the Lethal Weapon franchise.
While there are a limited amount of Hulu originals compared to Netflix, Hulu stands out in the number of new seasons it has of preexisting shows. The premiere of the final season of the popular ABC show Modern Family can be seen on Hulu starting on Sept. 26. Some other fan favorites premiering on Hulu include season four of This is Us, and season three of The Good Doctor, both on Sept. 24.
For Hulu customers who also have an HBO premium account or a STARZ premium account, there is exclusive access to additional movies each month. These additional movies include the thriller Fast and Furious for HBO subscribers and the classic Moneyball for STARZ subscribers.
The battle between streaming services will continue as cable becomes less and less popular among viewers, and companies like Netflix and Hulu gain more competitors. As the competition increases, the sites will have to keep adding new content for their viewers, so fans of the streaming sites can remain confident that they will keep gaining new shows to watch in the months to come.