Friday, October 30, 2015

Why the New Hulu “Watchlist” Sucks

Hulu has recently implemented new functionality for how you access shows (and what is easily accessed).

If you follow Hulu’s constant recommendation to “update” to the new Watchlist, you lose all control of what content you watch.  In other words, the Watchlist is made so Hulu can force-feed you whatever programming they are trying to push.  They claim it is based on your viewing habits, but I believe that is b.s.  They are simply trying to control what you watch.

Here are some reasons why "watchlist" sucks:

  1. You have NO control of what plays after the episode you are currently watching (this is a MAJOR problem).  If you don’t hit “play all” for a program, and the episode you are currently watching is finished, instead of playing the next unwatched episode, or even an episode from another show you have “favorited,” they will try and get you to watch some other “recommended” show (STOP TRYING TO FORCE ME TO WATCH “NEW GIRL.” Are you f*cking kidding me?!).  So once an episode is over, you have to spend a LONG time trying to navigate to the next effing show you want to watch.
  2. When you open up Hulu or finish watching a show, there is no direct link to your Watchlist.  Not from the main page.  Not from the main navigation choices at the top of the page.  NOWHERE.
  3. Sometimes if you've “favorited” a show but have already seen all the episodes, Hulu keeps trying to make you watch old episodes (even shows with new episodes you haven't seen force feed you episodes you’ve already watched from previous seasons!).
  4. Similar to #3, here is no way to change if an episode has been marked watched/unwatched, so Hulu will FOREVER try to keep feeding you “unwatched” episodes even if you have, in fact, already seen them. I don't know how many times they've tried to force me to watch Episode 3 of the "The Wrong Mans."  WHY?!?!?!  I watched that episode YEARS ago, and much as I liked it, I don’t want to watch it again!!!
  5. You cannot order your Watchlist, so the shows you watch most (or want to watch next or more often) are often at the end of a LONG list of garbage you've "bookmarked" but don't want to see every time I open Hulu.

I have more gripes, but I’ve already wasted enough of my day on this.

There doesn’t seem to any way to revert to the old Queue functionality, and while I love the new (more expensive and I’m totally willing to pay for it!) “watch without commercials” option, if I can’t revert to queue functionality, I will be ending my subscription.