A Proper Ranking of All 169 Episodes of Seinfeld

Want to know how to totally undercut any chance of being productive on this Friday? Well here you go, a comprehensive ranking of every Seinfeld episode ever. While I personally feel The Merv Griffin Show and The Pool Guy are hard done by here, it's still tough to argue with the breakdown provided incredulously by Vulture. Enjoy...

At long last, you can clear all those syndicated Seinfeld episodes off your DVR. Following years of speculation about when and where the historic sitcom would arrive online, today it finally became available to stream on Hulu. But with 169* episodes in the Seinfeld archive, it's understandable if you're intimidated by the the idea of entering the vault without a guide.

 In the interest of both helping novices prioritize and reminding veterans about forgotten jewels, we've ranked every episode in the series from worst to best. The ratings are based less on cultural significance — you'll find many recognizable episodes fairly low on the list — and more on the density and quality of jokes, the inclusion of multiple strong narrative arcs, and, to a lesser extent, how well the comedy and stories have aged.

 That said, even the worst (well, maybe the fourth-worst) episode of Seinfeld is better than most of what you'll currently find on network TV — and now it's just a Hulu account away. The bingeing is going to be real, and it's going to be spectacular.

 *We arrived at a count of 169** by considering all two-part and hour-long episodes as single entries. We also omitted the retrospective. With every episode now available on-demand, why waste time watching highlights?

 ** Correction: This ranking initially included only 168 episodes. The 169th (No. 58) has since been added and the ranking adjusted.

 169. "The Puerto Rican Day Parade" (Season 9). An episode so racially offensive that NBC had to apologize upon its airing, the second-greatest crime that "The Puerto Rican Day Parade" commits is simply not being funny enough. It's the loosest version of a bottle episode to come out of the writers' room — and of all the bottle episodes in Seinfeld's run, it's the dullest, full stop.

 168. "The Outing" (Season 4). After four seasons spent using George's homophobia as a character flaw, the show wholeheartedly embraces gay panic as a plot device to a nonsensical, largely unfunny degree. The phrase "Not that there's anything wrong with that" ascends to pop-culture permanency after a practical joke played by Elaine causes a college newspaper reporter to mistake George and Jerry as lovers.

 167. "The Finale" (Season 9). Is the final episode of Seinfeld really that bad? They get what they deserve! It's a long time coming! Symbolically, it's perfect! But upon rewatching, you realize that, yeah, it is that bad. Not even the minor revelation that George cheated during "The Contest" can save what is an uninspired parade of guest stars and forgotten characters. The final scene's callback to Seinfeld's first episode is a cute touch, but it's not enough to save "The Finale"'s reputation as one of Seinfeld's lowest points.

 Enjoy the rest of the list HERE.

Hulu Holds Off On IPO

So Hulu says it's foregoing an IPO to push harder on their subscription model, which is their current Hulu Plus offering ($7.99 for access to extra content libraries, as well the opportunity to watch on your mobile device or connected TV). As an avid Hulu user but non-subscriber, I find one very interesting point in Hulu's statement in the Wall Street Journal below, "subscriptions may allow the site to distribute material is currently doesn't offer. What that content is, the paper's sources couldn't say."

So they are counting on a new subscription model, but they don't know what the content is? Um, ok. So what am I paying for? I personally take a Netlix subscription over Hulu Plus any day, but that's just me.



courtesy WSJ...
While Hulu, the premium video destination has been mulling over the idea of an IPO since August, it has quietly tabled the idea. According to a report in today's Wall Street Journal, Hulu is instead looking at other ways to raise revenue.

Citing unnamed sources, the paper says that Hulu's board shelved the idea for an initial public offering (IPO) because of concerns that Hulu doesn't have long-term rights to the content is shows online.

Instead, Hulu may look to subscription offerings beyond the recently-introduced Hulu Plus. These subscriptions may allow the site to distribute material is currently doesn't offer. What that content is, the paper's sources couldn't say.

Additionally, Hulu may raise funds by getting its existing owners to put in more money.

The Hulu Plus service goes for $7.99 per month, down from $9.99 per month during the preview period. Hulu is already aggressive about raising revenue. As a recent report from comScore showed, the site streamed 1.1 billion video ads in November, making it the top site for video ads. Its viewers averaged 42.4 ads per person. Hulu shows ads even on Hulu Plus content.

According to the Journal, Hulu is outperforming the company's expectations for paid subscribers. In a recent interview, Jason Kilar, Hulu's CEO, said the site was generating "material" revenue, and will earn $260 million in revenue for 2010.

Viacom Yanks 'Daily Show' and 'Colbert Report' From Hulu

In the ad biz, you hear a ton about Hulu being hard to work with and pushing their weight around. As a consumer, I couldn't care less; I love the content, I love the interface, and the unique content deals are second to none. As an ad pro, it's about damn time people yank their dollars when negotiations go wrong with the giants and quick backing down (I'm hinting at some other big co's, fill in the blank....). Of course, my consumer and business opinion are intrinsically tied because I can't have the content without the advertising, but it's 6am and I don't have the energy to start a chicken and the egg argument.

via NYTIMES....

Unable to make the digital media dollars add up to their liking, Viacom will remove “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart,” “The Colbert Report” and other Comedy Central television shows from Hulu next week.

Although the companies said Tuesday evening that they were parting amicably, the decision represents the first major fracture between television show owners and the wildly popular video Web site.

Viacom’s decision is a serious loss for Hulu — this week “The Daily Show” is listed as the third most-watched TV show on the site — and it is a reminder that content owners can control just how much video — or how little — is placed online for all to view. At the moment, that spigot is being tightened, in part to protect the industry’s primary revenue stream, cable and satellite distribution.

However, the severing of ties with Hulu does not represent a strategic shift for Viacom. Comedy Central will continue to stream full episodes of the shows on TheDailyShow.com and ColbertNation.com, respectively.

Viacom’s Comedy Central channel reached a programming agreement with Hulu in mid-2008 that placed “The Daily Show,” “The Colbert Report” and a sampling of other shows on the service.

“In the past 21 months, we’ve had very strong results for both Hulu and Comedy Central, in terms of the views and revenue we’ve generated,” said Andy Forssell, senior vice president of content and distribution for Hulu, in a blog post Tuesday evening.

Mr. Forssell said that Hulu’s viewers had been “extremely vocal and passionate” about “The Daily Show” and “The Colbert Report.”

In a message that seemed written specifically for Comedy Central, he said that Hulu had “driven steadily increasing revenue per view” for the shows “as advertisers voted with their budgets to take advantage of innovative ad formats and very strong advertising effectiveness.”

“After a series of discussions with the team at Comedy Central, though, we ultimately were unable to secure the rights to extend these shows for a much longer period of time,” he said in the blog post.

Hulu said it was talking to Comedy Central about “a number of opportunities,” and said viewers should “stay tuned.”

TV episodes and individual films regularly rotate on and off of Hulu, in accordance with the site’s agreements with the content providers. The site’s candor is impressive; it explains the limits placed on each show, and episodes and clips are marked with icons that indicate their expiration dates. But the removal of entire shows is unusual, especially one as popular as “The Daily Show.”

The three-year-old Hulu dominates the burgeoning market for online TV viewing, with more than 44 million monthly visitors, according to ComScore. The site’s monthly video view totals have skyrocketed in recent months, from 580 million last September to 1.01 billion last December.

Three of the broadcast networks, ABC, NBC and Fox, own stakes in Hulu. Viacom’s decision may suggest that the economics of Hulu make less sense for content providers that lack equity in the Web site.

“We tried to reach a deal; we got close; we continued to talk even over the weekend. But we could not agree on a price,” said a person involved in the Viacom negotiations who requested anonymity because the process was conducted in private.

The companies declined to say what prices were discussed. Hulu’s deals with content owners revolve around an advertising revenue split; the owners typically receive 50 to 70 percent of the revenue, and Hulu keeps the rest, according to industry executives. Because “The Daily Show” and “The Colbert Report” are so popular on the service, Viacom may have insisted on an upfront payment as well, although representatives for the companies would not confirm this.

“There have certainly been instances where there was a premium paid for what you might call the ‘halo effect,’ ” the person involved in the negotiations said. In Hulu’s case, the “halo effect” would be the users who come for Mr. Stewart’s jokes and stay to watch other shows.

A Comedy Central spokesman declined to say whether the channel would strike a distribution deal with one of Hulu’s competitors.

In a statement, the channel said:

Comedy Central has made “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart” and “The Colbert Report” available to consumers through Hulu since June 2008. Although that agreement has concluded, full-length episodes of each show will remain available at TheDailyShow.com and ColbertNation.com, respectively.

Hulu was one of the many digital distribution partners we’ve worked with over the past few years to add new outlets for our valuable and powerful content and to help drive the businesses of our partners. We had a great experience with Hulu, and we hope to work with its team again in the future.

Hulu users who have added “The Daily Show” and “The Colbert Report” to their queue will be informed of their removal later today, a spokeswoman said.

Hulu AdZone Brought Straight To You

Hulu Adzone: Superbowl Commercials Live Here

How I didn't see this last year, I haven't the slightest idea. But the biggest day in advertising, the Superbowl, now has a place to house the players in the real competition; the commercials. Be sure to check back in to the Hulu Adzone to go back and watch the last 10 seconds of the commercial you missed because you were too busy laughing at the first 20 seconds. Or because you were elbow deep in guacamole, either one.

Hulu iPhone App Coming Soon

Safe to say this will be the greatest iPhone app in the history of the app store...

Silicon Alley Insider is reporting that a dedicated Hulu application is indeed on its way to the iPhone and should be here in just a few months. SAI says the application will work over Wi-Fi and AT&T's 3G network, meaning that users will be able to view programming anywhere with a fast data connection.

Rumors suggesting that an iPhone-friendly version of Hulu swirled around this time last year, however, they predated the launch of the App Store, and Hulu flat-out denied that one was being worked on.

This time around, though, it's far more plausible, with the upcoming iPhone OS 3.0 software update, which lets developers bake streaming media into their applications. For Hulu, this means that the advertising could be stuck into the mobile stream and that users would be able to watch videos without leaving the application.

One of the things that keep this rumor from holding water is that Hulu is in direct competition with Apple's iTunes business. Users of Hulu can watch ad-supported, full-length television shows and movies on their personal computers for free, instead of paying Apple to download a copy for offline viewing.

If such an app were available on the iPhone, it would also offer portable TV and movie watching, something not yet offered in Apple's own mobile iTunes app, which is limited to video podcasts. In past instances of this, the company has simply denied applications such as Podcaster from making it through the app approval process, only to launch it as a first party feature later on.

On the other hand, some of Hulu's competitors have already gotten a foot in the door, including Joost and CBS-owned TV.com, which has its own iPhone application that streams in content in chunks. In addition, Google's YouTube, whose application comes preinstalled on the iPhone, has recently reached an agreement with major studios, including Sony Pictures, Lions Gate Entertainment, and CBS (publisher of CNET News), to offer visitors full-length TV shows and feature films.

If Hulu can't manage to pull off getting advertisements in the stream, using this system, it would be fairly simple to force users to sit through advertisements between clips.

NBC Ran Hulu Super Bowl Spot For Free

Super Bowl ads cost several million dollars, but Hulu.com received 60 seconds on NBC free by essentially cashing in a voucher, according to a New York Times report.

The online video hub is a joint venture between NBC Universal and News Corp., with a stake owned by a private-equity firm. The Times said when the site was launched, it received credits to run ads on NBCU and News Corp. properties, but had not cashed any in until Sunday night.
It would appear as if the site, which apparently had not advertised on so-called traditional media before, made the most of the opportunity--with its second-half spot, which starred Alec Baldwin riffing on TV and brain function, getting good reviews.

It's possible Hulu could now hold its powder again and cash in more credits in February 2011, when News Corp.'s Fox has the Big Game. Perhaps that would focus on a Fox star, as Baldwin is a headliner on NBC's "30 Rock."

But while Hulu may have gotten the coveted media time for free Sunday, the production costs for the glitzy spot were certainly significant--and it may be angling to run it again before retiring it.

The Times had previously reported that Hulu was to pay for the ad time, quoting an NBCU executive.

Because I Love Hulu...

They deserve any coverage possible in my mind. Good news bad news, whatever. I haven't slept a wink in the last two months without dozing off to an old Family Guy episode or some hilarious bonus clips from The Office.

Either way, turns out Hulu took a hit in unique viewers in November compared to October according to comScore. If it's any consolation to them, I still think they are fantastic. That should tide them over while they build their traffic back up.

The Simpson's Get An Apple, I Mean Mapple Store

Hulu and YouTube Battling Ad Revenue Projections

Great story from CrunchGear comparing the revenue projections of video giant YouTube and NBC/Fox internet front Hulu.  As a big Hulu fan and someone who has been bashing media buyers for buying ad space on YouTube, this article really made me happy.

Something’s wrong with YouTube, and it looks like Hulu stands to benefit. 

YouTube, as you’re all painfully aware, is primarily comprised of short videos of guys falling off their skateboards (embedded here), dudes playing video game songs on the piano and illegal Seinfeld clips. Those types of videos aren’t attractive to advertisers. That may explain why YouTube, which had 83 million unique hits in September, is only expected to generate $100 million for the year.

Compare that to Hulu, which primarily consists of professionally made NBC and Fox shows and clips—I just wasted quite a few minutes watching a few “popular” Simpsons clips, for example. That all of the content there is nice and legal makes it more appealing to advertisers, which explains why, even though with only 6 million hits in September, Hulu is expected to generate to $70m.

Both sites are expected to generate $180 million next year. Don’t think that’s because, overnight, Hulu increases its viewership 10-fold.

In other words, people (“analysts” and the like) are now wondering how, if ever, will Google will turn YouTube into a monetary success.

Don’t forget that Google paid $1.65 billion for the site two years ago—that’s a lot of skateboarding videos for which to sell ads.