Digital Meld

Hulu, how we love thee. We could try to babble on for a few paragraphs telling you how swell online video streaming is, but if you’re reading this post you probably already know about the glorious video-mecca known as Hulu… so we’ll skip the appetizer and get straight to the main course. Here is our ultimate list of ten television shows (past and present) that are a must-watch on Hulu… they’ll give you literally hundreds or hours of mind-melting pleasure to help pass the boring work day, lazy afternoon or lonely night along quickly.

DISCLAIMER: These choices are listed in alphabetical order and were made because the shows are on Hulu in their entirety (or almost). With the exception of an episode missing here or there for various licensing issues you can enjoy all of the shows and their seasons as a whole, none of that “revolving episodes” crap like most of the top television shows on Hulu. To the list!

30 Days
30 Days is a reality show on FX from Morgan Spurlock, the creator of “Super Size Me.” If you haven’t seen “Super Size Me” it is a wacky documentary where Spurlock brilliantly eats McDonald’s food every meal for 30 days. Yes, it is as disgusting as it sounds. Well, in “30 Days” he takes the same premise and mixes it up a bit. In the pilot for the show he and his fiancé try to live on minimum wage for 30 days. In other episodes other volunteers get involved, including a homophobe moving to San Francisco, a Minuteman living with illegal aliens and a able bodied man living in a wheel chair for 30 days. The show has it’s flaws and they are quite obvious to the viewers but overall each episode is varied and entertaining and maybe even a little thought provoking.

Running Time: Three seasons (18 episodes in total) are on Hulu, for about 13 hours of mind-melting goodness.

Alfred Hitchcock Hour
The Alfred Hitchcock Hour is a classic mystery and suspense television show which was broadcast on NBC starting in 1962. Each episode is it’s own twisted tail and holds up pretty damn well nearly fifty years after the fact… they are brought to you by the visionary that was Alfred Hitchcock so not a lot else really needs to be said.

Running Time: Three seasons (88 of 93 episodes in total) are on Hulu, for about 70 hours of mind-melting goodness.

Arrested Development
Arrested Development is easily the best show to ever be cancelled on television, or at least the best cancelled show in the past ten years. AD is also a darling of the internet age and has become one of the most watched shows in all of the land… too bad the idiots at Fox didn’t know what they had when this show was on. Either way, thanks to the power of the interwebs you can enjoy Arrested Development in all it’s glory.

Running Time: Three seasons (53 episodes in total) are on Hulu, for about 19 hours of mind-melting goodness.

Firefly
Firefly is another great show cancelled by the idiots at Fox in 2002 halfway through the first season. The show is from the super-geeky Joss Whedon (of Buffy and Angel fame) and is a mash-up between a wild west shootout and a space adventure series. At first glance the show and the premise can seem a little cheesy but we urge you to give the hour and a half pilot a chance, because after just a few minutes you’ll be hooked. This show was perfectly written and perfectly cast, it’s just too bad it was on one of the most horrible networks who didn’t know what the hell to do with it. As a side note, there was a movie made about the show in 2005 named “Serenity” which basically condensed the entire series into a two hour feature film.

Running Time: One Season (14 episodes in total) are on Hulu, for about 11 hours of mind-melting goodness.

Mail Call
Mail Call is a documentary television series on the History Channel starring R. Lee Ermey that focuses on the past and present technology and equipment used  by the United States Military. Not all of the episodes are on Hulu but seeing as every show simply focuses on a few set subjects jumping around in order is not a problem. R. Lee Ermey is a hoot to watch regardless of setting (his role in Saving Silverman is a classic), and it is pretty great seeing him get all riled up over some of the crazy equipment our brave men and women have used.

Running Time: Three Seasons (33 episodes in total) are on Hulu, for about 12 hours of mind-melting goodness.

News Radio
News Radio was a great sitcom during the mid-nineties about a New York City news station that was unfortunately doomed after the tragic death of one of it’s stars, Phil Hartman. The show isn’t actually hosted on Hulu but it is searchable via Hulu thanks to a partnership between Hulu and Sony Pictures Entertainment, so you can watch the first three seasons in their entirety via Crackle… which is Sony’s poor effort to copy Hulu, they don’t even have embed codes for Pete’s sake. The show actually ran five seasons in total but with the loss of Phil Hartman you really aren’t missing much during the last two seasons, although Hartman was in all of season 4 he was killed before production of season 5 began.

Running Time: Three Seasons (49 episodes in total) are on Hulu, for about 18 hours of mind-melting goodness.

Start-Up Junkies
Start-Up Junkies is a reality TV series from relative television new-comer MOJO. The premise of the show is simple; you follow along as start-up “junkie” Ron Wiener tries to knock one out of the park with a high-tech online postal mail service. For all of those interested in just how the high-stakes, high-pressure world of tech startups are, this is a must-watch even if the pitch is a little iffy.

Running Time: One Season (8 episodes in total) are on Hulu, for about 3 hours of mind-melting goodness.

Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip
Studio 60 is a now cancelled NBC drama from Aaron Sorkin, the man behind “The West Wing” and “A Few Good Men.” The show revolves around the characters “behind the scenes” of a Saturday evening comedy show (think SNL) and follows their stories West-Wing-Style throughout the week as they prep and go through the show. Think of it as a serious 30 Rock. The show is actually really good, and it sucks that the other horrible network in the room NBC has no clue how to market dramas to the real world. Either way, thanks to the power of Hulu you get to see the whole series in it’s entirety.

Running Time: One Season (22 episodes in total) are on Hulu, for about 15 hours of mind-melting goodness.

Survival School
Survival School is another reality series from the television new-comer MOJO. It takes you through 10 episodes of recruits heading into and going through the Air Force S.E.R.E. program. They widdle the 500 potential applicants down to 47 admitted to the training and almost half of them won’t make the cut at the end. 9 of the 10 episodes are there for the taking, for some strange reason episode 8 is a no-show.

Running Time: One Season (9 episodes in total) are on Hulu, for about 4 hours of mind-melting goodness.

National Geographic
Okay, so this last one really isn’t a television show as much as it is a collection of specials from the National Geographic Channel. However there are some great things to watch, including a look at Arlington National Cemetery, the FBI, Inside Special Forces, Air Force One and more.

Running Time: 17 full featured documentary films and 24 episodes from various shows are on Hulu, for about 34 hours of mind-melting goodness.

And there you have it. A rundown of 10 television shows currently on Hulu that can keep you busy for over 200 hours, or about eight and a half days.