Television keeps you warm

December 17, 2007 9:55 PM

OPENhulu has copied many of the shows featured on hulu, the NBC/Fox joint internet television service that is still in closed beta. While it lasts, watch all of Firefly, the first seasons of Buffy and Arrested Development, and the second season of Heroes. There are also several recent episodes of The Office, Family Guy, House, 30 Rock, The Simpsons, and more, plus new shows from hulu's list will apparently soon be added. For bonus points, compare the original Battlestar Galactica to the new series, or just watch every darn first season A-Team episode.
posted by blahblahblah (26 comments total)

And yes, the shows on OPENhulu still have commercial breaks and are DRMed, but the quality is quite high and they can be watched full screen.
posted by blahblahblah at 9:56 PM on December 17, 2007

That's funny! They call it "open" yet still block out non-Americans. Somebody tell me how this is any different from the regular hulu?
posted by evilcolonel at 10:04 PM on December 17, 2007

I REMEMBER TV-LINKS.CO.UK
posted by loquacious at 10:04 PM on December 17, 2007 [7 favorites]

Big surprise... can't see it in Canada.
posted by autodidact at 10:11 PM on December 17, 2007

Dugg?
posted by dhammond at 10:14 PM on December 17, 2007

Yeah, looks like USA only.
posted by zardoz at 10:46 PM on December 17, 2007

Sigh. Is there some easy way of dealing with those idiotic geographical restrictions? Ideally, running a program that says "I am in the USA now" or bounces TCP/IP packets off an open proxy server somewhere in the USA, or something similar.
posted by aeschenkarnos at 11:23 PM on December 17, 2007

God bless living in the USA, and God bless Remington Steele.
posted by Roman Graves at 11:41 PM on December 17, 2007

"Full screen" in this context must mean "Microsoft Windows;" on my MacBook Pro running 10.5 / Safari I just get another large window. Video quality is meh. Back to BitTorrent for me.
posted by ZakDaddy at 11:42 PM on December 17, 2007

<4 firefly
posted by tarheelcoxn at 12:16 AM on December 18, 2007

Fixed. To watch outside of the USA, get AnchorFree Hotspot Shield from here, install it, and connect. Close Firefox, reopen, go to www.openhulu.com.
posted by aeschenkarnos at 1:02 AM on December 18, 2007

AnchorFree didn't work for me, plus it decided to play video ads in the background. Next.
posted by signal at 3:21 AM on December 18, 2007

And remember as you're watching- this isn't useful and profitable at all, so in no way should the writers of all these shows get any money for it.
posted by XQUZYPHYR at 4:37 AM on December 18, 2007 [5 favorites]

Next time Doogie Howser, MD is available and you don't mention it in your link text: temporary ban.
posted by sneakin at 5:23 AM on December 18, 2007

Yes, this is the totally non-profitable enterprise of online promotion that will net the big six 130,000,000 dollars in ad revenue, for which the writers get paid nothing. Because it's just promotional. I always watch commercials to watch commercials, don't you??
posted by headspace at 5:48 AM on December 18, 2007

Oh yeah, yeah, the guy in the $4,000 suit is giving ad revenue to the guy who doesn't make that in three months. COME ON!
posted by bluishorange at 7:15 AM on December 18, 2007 [4 favorites]

So tell me what's so open about this? Or has "Open" just become another buzzword?
posted by drstein at 9:06 AM on December 18, 2007

Whedonesque is calling on fans to not patronize Hulu, accordingly.
posted by bitter-girl.com at 9:15 AM on December 18, 2007

<4>

That's one better than <3!

Actually, my preferred variant is <#, which is the emoticon for one's heart exploding with joy.
posted by sparkletone at 9:19 AM on December 18, 2007

So they just figured out they can use Hulu's video content and player in embedded mode and stuck it in their site? This isn't open at all, all they're doing is embedding every new video posted on the site, and have figured out that they can get at Hulu's full-screen javascript hook in the embedded player.

I signed up for, and received, a Hulu beta account and it's about as open as this and more functional.
posted by mikeh at 9:29 AM on December 18, 2007

And now that I actually have clicked it, they haven't been able to put full screen mode in the embedded player. All they're doing is showing the embedded film in a full screen browser window. The actual Hulu site will go completely full screen, or at least it did on my mac.
posted by mikeh at 9:32 AM on December 18, 2007

Well, yeah, but the writers are only barely paid for DVDs, too, so how exactly are we supposed to support them if we missed the original run on television and still want to see the show?
posted by Caduceus at 11:41 AM on December 18, 2007

If there are any American Dad fans out there besides me then it's worth mentioning that Hulu has posted an unaired episode for some reason. "Frannie 911" was supposed to air a few weeks ago on FOX but was pulled at the last minute for a rerun. I guess nobody told the Hulu team though, 'cause it's up there for viewin'. It looks like it won't air on TV until next year according to the recent AD schedule.
posted by Servo5678 at 3:40 PM on December 18, 2007

Firefly marathon here I come!
posted by andythebean at 4:54 PM on December 18, 2007

Whedonesque is calling on fans to not patronize Hulu, accordingly.

Actually that started at SerenityStuff and Fans4Writers, and then got discussed on Whedonesque, too.

Well, yeah, but the writers are only barely paid for DVDs, too, so how exactly are we supposed to support them if we missed the original run on television and still want to see the show?

Some options:

Buy DVDs-- writers and below the line people do get residuals from those, although less than they want.
Or wait until after the strike and use hulu.
Or use hulu now and donate to the WGA Strike Fund and/or Motion Picture and Television Fund's Work Stoppage Relief Fund.
Buy pencils.
Feed striking writers on the picket line.
Sign the petition.
Email the studios.
Write letters or send postcards.
posted by Tehanu at 10:51 PM on December 18, 2007

XQUZYPHYR: "And remember as you're watching- this isn't useful and profitable at all, so in no way should the writers of all these shows get any money for it."

Why is anybody who's not a personal friend or relation of one of the striking writers supposed to care about their well being? Should we start guiding our behavior according to every possible loss of compensation to any worker even partially responsible for any product or service we consume?
posted by signal at 5:01 AM on December 19, 2007