Hulu: We're evil, and proud of it
Note: Spoiler alert, if you haven't seen Hulu's Super Bowl ad.
Google's "don't be evil" motto has been the target of the occasional critic. Hulu, however, has declared in its hyped-up Super Bowl TV ad that it is evil--and it's not making any apologies.
The Web video hub, a joint venture between NBC Universal and News Corp., promised to "reveal its secret" in the Super Bowl ad created by agency Crispin Porter & Borgusky, which was running on NBC on Sunday evening. It was an important debut for Hulu, as many television audiences had likely never heard of it. Indeed, when I tried to watch the ad on the Web for the first time, Hulu's servers were overloaded, indicating server demand was high.
But eager nerds who were hoping for a big announcement of new content or a hardware tie-in were probably disappointed: the "secret" was decidedly tongue-in-cheek. We hope.
The ad, called "Alec in Huluwood," stars veteran actor Alec Baldwin, currently in the cast of the NBC show 30 Rock, narrating a 60-second spot that takes place in what appears to be an underground laboratory facility beneath the famed Hollywood sign.
"You know they say TV will rot your brain?" Baldwin asks as he descends in an elevator. "That's absurd. TV only softens the brain like a ripe banana. To take it all the way, we've created Hulu."
The thinking, per Baldwin's monologue, is that if there's loads and loads of TV content available on the Web, you can't possibly escape it ("I mean, what're you going to do? Turn off your TV and your computer?") And Hulu, he says, was created with sordid ulterior motives: "Once your brain is reduced to a cottage cheese-like mush, we'll scoop them out with a melon baller and gobble them right on up."
A tentacle slips out of Baldwin's suit jacket. "Because we're aliens, and that's how we roll."
Guess my "Hulu is people" theory wasn't that far off.
Caroline McCarthy, a CNET News staff writer, is a downtown Manhattanite happily addicted to social-media tools and restaurant blogs. Her pre-CNET resume includes interning at an IT security firm and brewing cappuccinos. E-mail Caroline. 
... the pirate bay knows no bounds.
;-)
http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=1m71m-LBqFQ
We live in the Information Age. It's kind of sweet. So the origins of ideas get mushy, brain soup like, often.
Consider my Jan 25 post on Usenet, I made as a public service announcement:
http://groups.google.com/group/sci.physics.relativity/browse_frm/thread/5866ba9eec06936f/01256d820a767b2c?hl=en#01256d820a767b2c
Credit where it's due. It's kind of funny that you (Carol) also point out that on Jan 26 Hulu decided to submit an email announcing an Ad. That Ad is verbatim a imitation, to be polite, of what I authored.
If the link doesn't work, search/google for "Mahipal7638", and you'll find it. Hopefully. Unless the Aliens get to it first.
If you think they produced that caliber of ad in 1 week, you are crazier than your usenet postings make you sound.
Call me crazy that quickly? Wow. Try calling me AlienCrazyEvil because I travel time as well. Yes, that was the first time I posted that rant/post. Try finding anything like it by anyone else if you think that's a possibility. Use Google.
Sure they produced that Ad, one minute duration, in a week. Half hour sitcoms get done in less than a week.
Speaking of caliber, the graphics of the Aliens would've been much better had they spent more time.
Try explain the exact coincidences within my Jan 25 post/rant and the messages of the Hulu Ad. If you want call me names, then I have better things to do.
I'm not saying you went back in time, I'm saying it's a coincidence.
"To serve Man.... hmm... with red or white wine.
To be and do evil ... while eating the mind of well served Man.
Enjo(y). "
Are you familiar with the original Twilight Zone TV series? Well, that's from where the Aliens are incarnated and "To Serve Man" line originates. By using it, I myself, as a Writer, was reaching into the deep psyche of our Culture when writing the PSA.
Look , the Hulu Ad was/is very entertaining. I do not wish to take away from that. However, somebody knowingly plagiarized my work. Until I found Caroline's articles, beginning with "Well, well, well...", even I could not be certain of a chance coincidence of events. Laws of Literature just do not allow for such an intricate match by mere chance.
I've been watching all the Babylon 5 episodes I missed when I was stationed out of the country a few years ago. Commercial break points in the show have contemporary commercials of approximately 1 minute length inserted. Not horribly obtrusive, and although I'm not a commercial connoisseur , most of them I've seen to date have been above average in "quality". The Michael J Fox and Audi ads spring immediately to mind.
- by ericshunn May 7, 2009 4:28 PM PDT
- I have no interest in Hulu- too many ads, plus I am a little bit bitter about being locked out since I moved to europe. I found a way better alternative, ad free and complete (every episode every season) of more than 200 series- http://3click.tv
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(37 Comments)works on my iPhone too, can Hulu do that?