10 Original Hulu Shows You Want To Be Binge-Watching Now
Seriously, these shows rock!
Streaming service Hulu, which has long sat in the shadow of bigger siblings Netflix and Amazon Prime, recently announced its triumphant growth to 17 million subscribers, up 5 million — a 40 percent increase — since last reported in May of 2016. With a total audience of 54 million comprised mostly of people living in the United States, that's not exactly something to sniff at, friends.
Hulu is going to be even a bigger deal in the coming months if the rumor mill proves correct and Disney winds up buying them. Word on the street is that Disney wants to make them the center of their foray into streaming which ain't too shabby!
Which is all a very long-winded way of saying that if you have a Hulu account and you're just using it to watch re-reruns of Parks and Recreation you are 100% missing out.
Part of their success, and part of why Disney all wistfully wants to take them out on a romantic date (that's what I call buy-outs in my head), is just how awesome their original content is.
There's a lot of to watch on Hulu and it can be easy to miss the really great stuff.
To that end, I've made a list here of the 10 best original shows they currently have on their roster.
They haven't been in the game for long and they're already making amazing strides, so it will be awesome to see where they go with time!
1. Marvel's Runaways
A group of teenage friends have been estranged for months following the suicide of one of their own. When their parents get together to work on their top secret and (seriously shady) so-called charity organization, the friends are reunited after witnessing their parents do something unspeakable.
Now the kids have to work together to uncover what exactly their parents are involved in. Oh, did I mention that there is a Scientology-type cult at the center of this? And a dinosaur? And also that multiple characters have super powers?
Because there is, there is, and they do.
As a fan of the comic, I wasn't sure what to expect of the show, but I've been nothing but delighted. The entire first season is available now — plus it was just renewed for a second! — and you don't need to be a teen to love it. In fact, the show succeeds most exactly where the comic version fails — humanizing the parents by portraying them as real people you care about and root for, even as you undoubtedly question their motives.
2. Harlots
Samantha Morton dominates the small screen as Margaret Wells, a woman doing her best to earn her rightful place in London's high society as the Madame of their premiere brothel. Meanwhile her daughter Charlotte, who was once the belle of society, is in stuck a fraught relationship with her wealthy keeper, and her youngest daughter, Lucy, is having a tough time adjusting to the new-to-her game of life as a sex worker, to say the very least.
Set in turn of the century London, this show has sex, violence, humor, and some serious girl-on-girl crime, most of it originating with Madame Quigley, the villainess and rival brothel owner desperate to see Margaret and her up-and-coming house of ill repute fail in a big way.
3. Casual
There's nothing not to love about "Casual" (currently in its third season). Bachelor Alex moves in with his sister Valerie now that's just gotten her divorce, which means that Alex, Valerie, and Valerie's teenager daughter Laura are all living together... and dating together! Though to be very clear, they are NOT dating each other. You want that kind of thing, head on over to HBO.
The relationship between the siblings makes this show, as does their shared experiences, successes, and misadventures in dating.
There is literally something for everyone, no matter where you happen to be in your life vis-à-vis love, dating, and sex.
4. Difficult People
If cringe-worthy situations aren't your bag, stay away from this one. However if you love big, bold, and unapologetic personalities, then you may have found your next favorite show.
This series follows the trials of two up-coming New York comics, Julie and Billy, as played by Julier Klausner and Billy Eichner. Their friends are having families and settling down while these two are working the clubs each night, trying to make people laugh. Thankfully they have each other, which is also a curse seeing as how when they're together they seem to get into a never-ending array of awkward situations.
Unfortunately, this one was canceled after the third season, but you can still enjoy seasons one through three streaming on Hulu.
5. The Path
I. Am. Obsessed. With. This. Show. And. Also. Aaron. Paul.
Frankly if me saying, "This is a show about a cult and Aaron Paul is in it" isn't enough to get you to check out this amazing drama, I truly believe you might just be lost beyond all hope.
Paul plays Eddie Long, a devotee of a religion known as "Meyerism." He's an up and coming potential leader in the cult, until he has a vision about its founder that causes him to question everything he believes. Which, you know, is never seen as a good thing by the higher-ups (or anyone else, really) when you're in a cult.
I am not going to say anything else. You just need to watch it, okay?
6. The Handmaid's Tale
I love Margaret Atwood and I love that we are finally living in an age in which her amazing stories, i.e., the novel this series is based on, are being told on the small screen in such a big, bold, and inventive way.
This is the story of a time when almost all women are barren and so those who are still fertile are forced to breed as "handmaidens." It is meant to be a dystopian tale, a feminist ode to the terrifying society we all might live in misogyny is allowed to rule the day. Unfortunately, given the current political climate, it feels, well, not that far off from where we seem headed.
It's dramatic. It's moving. It's gripping. And it's important.
7. Chance
Hugh Laurie is back as a doctor, only not that kind of doctor. He plays Dr. Eldon Chance in this pretty darn gripping TV-noir show about a forensic neuropsychiatrist... WITH A DARK PAST!
I know, I know. It sounds tired and hack and I'll be honest, at times it kind of is (in fact, that might certainly be at least part of the reason this series was just canceled after two seasons), but the show is at its best when it is focuses on Chance as he grapples with his teenage daughter's problems while also squaring off against his own demons of sexual obsession. "Chance" also features one of the best portrayals of a person struggling with multiple personality disorder that I have ever seen on the small screen, and that's not nothing, folks.
If you've been searching for a show so compelling that you'll forget where you put your phone for the full duration, check this one out.
8. The Wrong Mans
Look, I'm a sucker for British TV and I'm a sucker for James Corden, so of course I'm going to tell you that "The Wrong Mans," a Hulu original co-produced with the BBC, is something you absolutely have to check out. It was only green-lit for one season, and for some pretty good reasons, but it's still 100 percent worth a good weekend binge-fest.
In a very British turn, the premise of the show involves two working class guys who end up involved in a top secret deadly spy mission due to (you guessed it) a case of mistaken identity.
Hijinks! I love me some good hijinks. Huzzah!
9. Dimension 404
Netflix might have "Black Mirror", but you can't watch that noise unless you're prepared to stare vacantly into the void in a deep depression for weeks on end, and who needs that? I much prefer the zaniness (that's right, zaniness) of Hulu's take on the futuristic anthology genre — "Dimension 404"! The only constant here is the quality of the story-telling and the delightful Mark Hamill, who serves as each episode's narrator.
It's like "Black Mirror" and "The Twilight Zone" had a baby, and one day that baby presents you with a horror film, and the next day it chooses to offer you a light-hearted futuristic romp. It's riddled with guest stars like Patton Oswalt, Lea Michele, Joel McHale and Sarah Hyland, and this baby definitely has legs.
You can bounce around on it or binge all day and night. Your choice! Ain't life grand?
10. East Los High
Full confession: I do not watch "East Los High." But when I told people I was writing this article they kept asking me if I was including it, which made me feel like a dingus, so I am, indeed, including it even though I cannot speak to its awesomeness on a personal level. I can, however, speak to the fact that people are — apparently — NUTS about this show.
"East Lost High" is a drama about Latino teens trying to make it through high school in East LA, and in being dedicated entirely to their experience, it's the first show of its kind. It has everything we all love in a teen drama, such as gossip, sex, and love, without sacrificing any depth in the process.
And that's a rare thing indeed!
Rebecca Jane Stokes is a sex, humor and lifestyle writer living in Brooklyn, New York with her cat, Batman. She hosts the sex, love, and dating advice show, Becca After Dark on YourTango's Facebook Page every Tuesday and Thursday at 10:15 pm Eastern. For more of her work, check out her Tumblr.