Super Troopers
Super Troopers is an absolute classic of the stoner comedy genre. Either you’ve seen it and you love it or you haven’t and you’ll hate it. Meow,* maybe you like it, but not so much that you want a DVD of it sitting around your house for your parents to find and try to watch while everyone’s over for Christmas. Fortunately for you, it’s on Netflix Instant!
*You’ve either seen it and you get it, or you think this site took a really weird turn.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
In a world where all vampires can do is look angsty and make teenage girls’ hearts melt, it’s almost quaint to look back at a vampire show that’s heavy on action (every vampire knows karate!) and even heavier on sass.
Buffy gave us a whole world of beasties and, um, beastie fighters over its seven seasons and you can catch up on all of them on Netflix and Hulu Plus (which are both now $7.99 for all you can stream). It also inspired a spin-off and launched Joss Whedon to his current nerd-genius status.
I missed the boat on Buffy the first time around, and I have to admit I haven’t quite caught up on all 144 episodes, but I have a few questions… Can someone be a werewolf and a vampire at the same time? How about a witch and a vampire? Why is there so much hand-to-hand combat involved in slaying vampires? And isn’t Angel just dreamy?
Uh… never mind that last one.
Of course, as with most TV shows that are almost old enough to drive, watching Buffy is like a constant parade of Before They Were Stars. It should be a drinking game… if you spot an actor you recognize in a bit part, you have to take a shot. (Don’t actually do that, I don’t want to get sued.)
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 1 on Netflix
Buffy the Vampire Slayer on Hulu Plus
And a special bonus: the original movie Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Movie on Netflix
Tribute to Stephen J. Cannell
Stephen J. Cannell, who passed away at the end of September, was responsible for some of the best TV of the ’70s, ’80s and ’90s, including Rockford Files, A-Team, The Commish and Greatest American Hero. You probably remember him for his production card, which included footage of Cannell typing and then tossing a piece of paper, which turned into an animated logo. (You can see several versions here.) Next to “Sit Ubu, sit,” it’s the credit I remember most from my childhood.
Here’s a round-up of everything I could find that he wrote, produced or created. If I missed any, let me know in the comments and I’ll update the post. Some of these shows don’t hold up very well, so if you have particularly fond memories of one of them, it might be better to just skip it.
The Greatest American Hero: Season 1 on Netflix
The Greatest American Hero on Hulu
The Rockford Files: Season 1 on Netflix
The A-Team: Season 1 on Netflix
The A-Team on Hulu (Available only through Sept. 18, 2011)
The Commish: Season 1 on Netflix
21 Jump Street: Season 1 on Netflix
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
You either like classic movies or you don’t, but there is no denying the charisma that Robert Redford and Paul Newman have in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. You can make an argument that it’s an action movie in which nothing happens for large stretches of time, but that’s just the way it was before movies became non-stop assaults on our senses.
Despite the fact that Butch and Sundance spend almost the entire film somewhat-ineptly running from lawmen turned railroad security guards, they are so cool that you just want to be them (or want to be with them if that’s your thing).
This is the movie that named a film festival (and won four Oscars), so check it out. And let me know if it also sounds to you like the horses only have three legs.
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid on Netflix
Star Trek Remastered
Netflix and Hulu aren’t the only places to watch streaming content. One of these other services is TV.com, CBS’s answer to Hulu (there is even an an iPhone app, but apparently not an iPad app, yet). It even offers videos in 1080p high-definition. That brings us to the reason for this post—Star Trek, the original series.
The franchise may have hit its stride in theaters, but it was the TV show that kicked it off (and introduced us to tribbles). As someone who was grew up with The Search for Spock and The Voyage Home (volumes III and IV, respectively), it’s interesting to watch the show and see Shatner before his Kirk became a caricature of himself.
The whole series is there on TV.com in all its remastered glory, but you’ll have to click around a bit to find and watch the episodes in order.
(For a nice list of places to watch TV shows online, check out this list from Mashable.)
Star Trek Remastered on TV.com
The Jerk
One day, after I’m wildly successful through some fluke of my personality quirks, I’d like to think I’d crash and burn as successfully as Navin R. Johnson, Steve Martin’s greatest character ever. From the opening lines through the end when he’s found in the alley clutching his beloved thermos, the titular Jerk is the funniest ass in all of Hollywood.
Like all good comedies, you either love it or hate it. And, if you love it as much as I do, you’ll take any opportunity to watch it. I think I’ll go do that now. And then I’m going to look into getting this site listed in the phone book.
Also, pizza in a cup.
Ghostbusters 2
The studios have long loved to make sequels, and now they also love to make those sequels available for streaming. I assume it’s just to spite me. But in this case the joke is on them, because Ghostbusters 2 holds up pretty well next to the original. Venkman’s TV show, Vigo the Carpathian, the river of slime, and the Statue of Liberty walking down the streets of Manhattan… what more could you ask for in a sequel?
I keep hearing rumors that they’re going to make a third Ghostbusters movie, featuring a whole new set of ‘busters. If they do make it, I’m sure it will be on Netflix streaming mere moments after it comes out.
Short Circuit
When you look over Steve Guttenberg’s body of work, one movie stands out as better than the rest. But since Cocoon isn’t available for streaming, we’re left with Short Circuit. It may not have won any Oscars, and it may have been slightly racist in parts (really, Fisher Stevens as an Indian?), but it was one of my favorite movies growing up. And it holds up surprisingly well, even with the dreadful ’80s attire.
They were shooting for a futuristic look, but the decades have revised Number Five into a sort of proto-steampunk robot traipsing around the world and learning what it’s like to be alive. Just remember: disassemble = dead.
What’s Eating Gilbert Grape
“I’m having a birthday party, but you’re not invited, but you can come if you want.” — Arnie
It’s hard to believe this movie was made 17 years ago, but I guess its age is part of what makes it a classic. Johnny Depp, Leonardo DiCaprio, Juliette Lewis, John C. Reilly, Crispin Glover… do you even have to know what it’s about to want to watch it?
It’s only available until Sept. 30, so if it interests you at all, get over to Hulu and check it out now.
What’s Eating Gilbert Grape on Hulu
