Soon Hulu will have a live television streaming service, and it will be tailored to your watching preferences.
Keep reading after the news update to see the list of period dramas that are new to Hulu this January.
When it comes to “regular” streaming, we already have a great selection of period dramas included with Amazon Prime, and Acorn TV has thousands of hours of the best British TV with new shows added weekly. Netflix also seems committed to making sure we have a selection of new historical dramas to watch each month and has just given us the ability to download many of them to watch offline.
Willow and Thatch even started a Period Drama Channel filled with official, legal playlists of content.
In the end BritBox may be a better option than Hulu for costume drama fans looking for live streaming – if its “Now” category is all we hope for. At the moment, just one thing is clear: the streaming market is becoming more competitive, and that means more options for you.
Period Dramas added to Hulu in January
Starring Barbara Hershey, David Carradine, Barry Primus, Bernie Casey, John Carradine.
Rated R
Curse of the Starving Class (1994): In the 1950s, a poverty-stricken farming family attempts to put food on the table while holding on to their personal dreams of a better life. However, as they individually pursue their own dreams, the family unity begins to disintegrate, until they are all alienated from each other.
Starring James Woods, Kathy Bates, Randy Quaid, Henry Thomas, Kristin Fiorella, Louis Gossett Jr., Jim Fitzpatrick, Joel Anderson.
Rated R
The Long Riders (1980): The most notorious American bandits of the 19th century were very probably the Jesse James/Cole Younger gang. In this unique look at their lives and world, director Walter Hill cast all real-life brothers as the brothers-in-arms. The film concentrates “on familiar rituals–the funeral, the hoe-down, the robbery (a stunning tour de force in slow motion)–Hill pas tribute to such directors as Ford, Hawks, and Ray, emphasizes the mythic aspects of the Western and focuses on the subject of kinship and the land…”(Time Out). As the brothers rob and carouse through the West, pursued by bumbling lawmen, the feel to the viewer is as if he/she were actually there in the unpredictable, unconventional, raw America of the 1870s. Music by Ry Cooder.
Starring David Carradine, Keith Carradine, Robert Carradine, James Keach.
Rated R
Man in the Moon (1991): Fourteen-year-old Dani and her older sister Maureen have always shared everything. When Court Foster moves in next door, the sisters become rivals as Dani experiences her first feelings of affection and Maureen finds the true love she’s longed for.
Starring Sam Waterston, Tess Harper, Gail Strickland, Reese Witherspoon, Jason London, Emily Warfield, Bentley Mitchum, Ernie Lively, Dennis Letts, Earleen Bergeron.
Rated PG-13
The Piano (1993): Winner of 3 Academy Awards® including Best Actress (Holly Hunter) and Best Supporting Actress, THE PIANO weaves the passionate tale of Ada, a young mute woman (Hunter) desired by two men. Sold into marriage to a husband (Sam Neill) who doesn’t understand her, Ada finds herself drawn to her darkly intense neighbor, stirring up vengeful jealousies and violent emotions. But in the end, only one man truly understands how to win Ada’s heart – through her beloved piano.
Starring Holly Hunter, Harvey Keitel, Sam Neill, Anna Paquin, Kerry Walker, Geneviève Lemon, Tungia Baker, Ian Mune, Peter Dennett.
Rated R
Sleepy Hollow (1999): Johnny Depp is Ichabod Crane, an eccentric investigator determined to stop the murderous Headless Horseman. Christina Ricci is Katrina Van Tassel, the beautiful and mysterious girl with secret ties to the supernatural terror.
Starring Johnny Depp, Christina Ricci, Miranda Richardson, Michael Gambon, Casper Van Dien, Jeffrey Jones, Richard Griffiths, Ian McDiarmid, Christopher Walken.
Rated R
The Untouchables (1987): Federal Agent Elliot Ness sets out to take out Al Capone; because of rampant corruption, he assembles a small, hand-picked team. A glorious, fierce, larger-than-life depiction of the mob warlord who ruled Prohibition-era Chicago… and the law enforcer who vowed to bring him down.
Starring Kevin Costner, Sean Connery, Charles Martin Smith, Andy Garcia, Robert De Niro, Richard Bradford, Jack Kehoe, Brad Sullivan, Billy Drago, Patricia Clarkson.
Rated R
Bridge of Spies (2015): In a dramatic thriller inspired by true events, Tom Hanks stars as James Donovan, a Brooklyn lawyer thrust into the center of the Cold War when the CIA sends him on a near impossible mission to negotiate the release of a captured American U2 pilot.
Starring Tom Hanks, Mark Rylance, Scott Shepherd, Amy Ryan, Sebastian Koch, Alan Alda, Austin Stowell, Billy Magnussen, Eve Hewson, Jesse Plemons, Michael Gaston, Peter McRobbie.
Available 1/15/17
Rated PG-13
If you enjoyed this post, you’ll also want to see the post about the new streaming service BritBox. You’ll want to wander over to The Period Films List, with all the costume dramas and historical period films sorted by era and theme.