How To Choose a Streaming Service

Ed Ferman writes the streaming column for our Compass arts and entertainment supplement (see this week’s column on Page B1). He and I generally agree on which streaming services we like; and as the holiday season lumbers slowly toward us, keep in mind that streaming subscriptions can be expensive, especially if you have a lot of them. They make a great gift — with no danger of supply chain interference.

Criterion Channel: Criterion is the place to go for people who are deeply interested in film history. They show everything from foreign and independent films to more quirky and even kitschy choices.

They also do interesting curations every month, where they pick a theme and select movies to fit the theme.

A monthly subscription to the Criterion Channel is $10.99 a month; an annual subscription is $99.99; www.criterionchannel.com

HBO Max: Some newer shows, only available on HBO, include “Mare of Easttown,” “Succession” and the incredibly entertaining “White Lotus.” And if you loved Hulu’s “Only Murders in the Building,” you can come to HBO Max for the Selena Gomez cooking show.

Ed Ferman says, “Other reasons for HBO Max: best library of miniseries, with ‘Band of Brothers,’ ‘Chernobyl,’ ‘Angels in America,’ ‘The Leftovers’ and many others. Also, they have a deal with Warner Bros to stream all their theatrical releases such as ‘In the Heights’ (which was wonderful) and ‘Dune’ (coming up soon).”

In a way, HBO Max has so much to offer that most families will choose it as their main subscription. If you only get one, HBO Max has oodles of HBO-exclusive choices for every family member. A basic HBO subscription comes with advertising ($9.99 a month or 499.99 a year); you can upgrade your loved ones to ad-free HBO Max for $14.99 a month or $149.99 a year.

Hulu: If you haven’t watched “Only Murders in the Building,” starring Steve Martin, Martin Short, Selena Gomez and the Ansonia apartment building on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, that one show is reason enough to get Hulu.

I also recommend Derek del Gaudio’s “In and Of Itself,” a magic show that is a profound, surprising and moving exploration of how humans interact.

Ed Ferman says, “Additional reason to subscribe to Hulu: They have the best library of sitcoms, old ones like Mary Tyler Moore, ‘Frasier,’ ‘Cheers’ and ‘M*A*S*H’, as well as newer ones like ‘Arrested Development’ and ‘Pen15.’”

If you have young children, Disney + is a no-brainer. This is a perfect grandparent gift; and you as the donor can get the access code to watch special adult programming such as “Hamilton.”

Disney alone is $7.99 a month or $79.99 a year, but you can also get it as a bundle with Hulu and, for the sports fan in your life, ESPN. The Disney Bundle can be $13.99 a month if you get Hulu with ads, or $19.99 a month for Hulu with no ads.

Amazon Prime is also almost too obvious to mention. In addition to streaming almost everything on Earth and selling all the DVDs, there are Amazon productions including my favorite, a version of Anthony Trollope’s “Dr. Thorne,” written for television by Julian Fellowes of “Downton Abbey” fame. Amazon also now owns the MGM catalog.

If you subscribe to Amazon Prime, you also get other Amazon services, at $12.99 a month (plus tax, they warn) or $119 a year plus tax; a video-only membership is $8.99 a month plus tax.

Amazon also makes it easy to access other, smaller streaming services, including ones that stream foreign detective shows, such as the wonderful German version of Donna Leon’s “Commisario Brunetti,” set in Venice, Italy; and “Inspector Montalbano” and “Young Montalbano.” There are the new French series, including “Balthazar,” “Capitaine Marleau” and “L’Art du Crime.” These ones and more are on Mhz Choice ($7.99 a month, $89.99 a year). You can find most of the  British crime series on Britbox ($6.99 a month or $69.99 a year) and Acorn ($5.99 a month or $59.99 a year), including all the various Agatha Christie shows as well as the Vera series from the books by Ann Cleeves, and “Foyle’s War,” created and written by Anthony Horowitz. Don’t miss “McDonald & Dodds,” a new series streaming on Amazon Prime.

Speaking of Anthony Horowitz, there is going to be a new series in 2022 made from his “Magpie Murders” novels. They will air on PBS. If you don’t want to support corporate ownership of entertainment, you can always make philanthropic donations in honor of your friends and family.

We haven’t mentioned Netflix in this article, but look for Ed Ferman’s article on Page B1 about “Squid Game” and other Netflix options. Netflix has the most complicated menu of subscription options; do a search for “Netflix Subscription Costs” to see their chart.