Is Hulu Plus Worth It? No Way! Save Your $10!

Let me start by saying that I love Hulu. I loved those creepy Hulu commercials with Alec Baldwin about eating brains.

For a while, I was using Hulu only occasionally, mostly because I had basic cable and could catch most television shows I wanted to see on that, but once I moved into an apartment without cable, I started visiting Hulu more often. I can't see some of the shows that I like on Hulu, like Project Runway (sigh!) and various Next Top Model shows from around the world (Australia, New Zealand, Britain, and Canada, in addition to the good old US of A), but I have enough favorites that I'm checking my queue pretty often for updates.

I'd been tempted to try Hulu Plus for a while, but I just wasn't sure if $10 a month for Hulu Plus was worth it. Why pay for something I can get for free? If I can't watch shows on Hulu, I can usually find them on another site to watch. Still, sometimes all that searching can be a pain in the arse. Finally, I requested an invite (my, how exclusive!) and paid the $10. I was suckered in because I was under the impression that a lot of shows that I liked had full seasons available, like House, the Office, Glee, and more. Sadly, only the Office is available, and even at that, there are some episodes missing from the line up for unspecified reasons. I also thought there were more movies available, but there aren't, at least not any I'd bother watching. I did recently discover Ugly Betty, all four seasons of which are available on Hulu Plus.

Still, I don't feel like I'm getting anything worth $10 a month. I could have just as easily put in a library request for the DVDs of Ugly Betty for free, well, as long as I returned them on time. All that $10 is giving me is instant gratification. Oh, and lots of procrastination, which I can do for free very well on my own, thank you. Sure, Hulu Plus can be connected to fancy-schmancy televisions so you can watch 'em on the big screen, but, um, if I had a big fancy television, I'd probably be paying for cable, too. I have a crappy tiny television with rabbit ears, which suits me just fine. So that aspect of Hulu Plus is utterly useless to me. Also, I don't have an iPhone, so the mobile service is similarly wasted on me. My boyfriend has an iPhone, but has zero interest in watching television shows on his phone. Don't blame him. I already steal it all the time to play Chicktionary. (Best game ever!)

I don't consider the $10 I spent to try out Hulu Plus to be a complete waste, since I'm writing this review, after all, but I can assure you that I will be canceling my Plus account before the next payment goes through. Still, you might find that you like Hulu Plus and it's worth it for you. If you were going to stream to your television or iPhone, it might be worth it. Another way I can see it being worth a subscription is if you recently discovered a television show, like The Office, and you want to catch up on past seasons. For me, I love the Office, but I own the first 4 seasons on DVD already. And while I've already seen all the episodes from later seasons, I'm pretty sure the Office has jumped the shark, so I'm not as into it as I used to be. If you like a decent number of shows from the HuluPlus catalog of shows available in their entirety, then it might be worth your while. There aren't many shows I want to pay to watch in the inventory. (okay, I might watch some X-Files for old times' sake...)

If you are still considering paying for Hulu Plus, I must tell you the number one reason why I won't be continuing my subscriptions: the Ads. Oh, god, the ads. It's not so much that there are ads, which is still pretty annoying considering that I'm paying for access, but it's the fact that it's the same freakin ads all the time. I'm watching Ugly Betty season 1 and there are two commericals on repeat: one for Fed Ex, the other for Disney Parks. I have no interest in either company. I even click the answer to the question "is this ad relevant to you?" all the time, and not just saying no all the time either, but it doesn't matter, it's those two ads over and over again. It's driving me mad, I tell you, and that alone is enough for me to say screw it and cancel my subscription once my first 30 days are up.

By the way, Netflix's service is $1 cheaper per month and has a way bigger inventory. Here's a comparison chart I found online that you might find interesting: it compares regular Hulu, Hulu Plus, and Netflix. I'd say that Netflix wins.