by Timothy Justice

Created on: November 18, 2008

A few months ago, I was doing some research and was introduced to the website hulu.com. For those who don't know, this site is funded primarily by NBC, and offers streaming videos of several shows and movies...all legal, all free. There are a few 15-30 second ads interspersed, but occasionally the viewer will be given the option to view a full length movie trailer and skip ads through the length of the show or film.

I first used it to catch up on favorite shows, such as Hell's Kitchen and Kitchen Nightmares. Yes, both of these shows are available off of NBC's website, but these shows are only the starting point. Imagine my delight when I was able to watch episodes of "The A-Team", as well as Fox standards like "The Simpsons" and "The Family Guy". Again, I could have headed to the network website, but hulu.com offers "one stop shopping" to view these films.

The film quality of these movies is so-so. It's not high definition, but it's much improved over the quality of "bootleg" movie sites, and there's the added bonus of not having the fear of malware being downloaded onto your computer as you watch these shows. There are also the occasional pauses, especially on a slower speed connection, but the picture and sound are clear.

We gave up on cable years ago, and will soon be hooking a computer up to our TV set and getting a wireless "presentation" mouse so that we can sit in the living room and watch these shows instead of at a computer desk. All the benefits of TV, none of the hassle...and we can pause the show and pop on over to the Pizza Hut website to order some pizza to boot.

Now, to be fair, there are some things that this website still lacks. ABC and CBS are not on board, but CBS, at least, streams their shows on their website (not sure about ABC). Hulu.com does update its offerings fairly quickly; I watch episodes of "The Office" and "Kitchen Nightmares" on Friday instead of Thursday with the rest of the country. And their movie selection is at this point somewhat lacking. But if the site is successful this is an area I would expect them to remedy quickly.

Hulu.com is at this point the best place to watch some of your favorite shows. And the best part is, you don't have to worry about them being pulled by copyright lawyers before you get a chance to watch them. This time, the big guys are IN on the deal! Hulu gets 3 out of 5 stars for me. I'm hoping over time they are able to build on that further.

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