If you've taken advantage of Hulu's $1 offer and gotten yourself three months worth of the streaming service for just $3, then you've now got three months to play with. And we're here to help you choose what to watch.
Hulu is part-owned by Disney and Universal and often gets the best of both worlds when it comes to the movies it can host on its platform. While Disney Plus has focused on a family friendly offering, Hulu’s selection of movies and shows draws from huge broadcast players like ABC, NBC, and FX, as well as its own original programming.
We’ve calculated that you’ve got two hours a night to watch television, five nights a week and a total of 90 days worth of subscription. Assuming you take our advice and subscribe right now, you’ll get 13 weeks worth of Hulu – multiply 13 by 5 and you get 65, and, given we’re allocating two hours a night for each week day, that’s 130 hours of television. That even gives you Saturday off to have a movie night and you can explore our guide to Hulu’s Best Movies here too.
But what should you fill it with? We can help you with that. To truly maximise the time, here’s exactly how to fill every single minute.
Only Murders In The Building
Part zany comedy, part drama, Only Murders In The Building is a light-touch, but rather gripping, take on the ever-present trend of true crime podcasts that seem to dominate so many people's listening habits.
Selena Gomez, Martin Short and Steve Martin star in this, which consists of 10 half-hour-ish episodes. Short and Martin's characters are both down on their luck theatrical types, while Gomez is struggling to make any life decisions. The three of them, who initially want nothing to do with each, discover a mutual love of true crime podcasts, only to then get pulled into the orbit of a crime themselves – inside the building where all three of them live.
A second season is on the way at the end of June, so if you like this, you might have to make some tough choices about what to give up, or, squeeze it in on a weekend.
Total running time = 331 minutes (Five hours and 31 minutes)
Left to play with = 7,469 minutes (124 hours and 49 minutes)
Dopesick
Michael Keaton, Peter Sarsgaard, Michael Stuhlbarg, Will Poulter, Kaitlyn Dever and Rosario Dawson unite for this weighty drama, which explores America's struggle with OxyContin opioid addiction and the hold the drug would eventually take in some sections of society.
The drama plays from multiple angles: we see doctors and patients using the drug, we watch on as prosecutors try desperately to hold OxyContin manufacturer Purdue Pharma to account, and, how the drug itself was made and marketed.
Dopesick is a harrowing watch at times, but also totally gripping, skilfully plotted and sensitively laid out. A stand-out drama.
Total running time = 507 minutes (Eight hours and 27 minutes)
Left to play with = 6,962 minutes (116 hours and 2 minutes)
Normal People
Hulu and the BBC teamed up for this hugely-acclaimed adaptation of Sally Rooney's bestselling novel, which made stars of Daisy Edgar-Jones and Paul Mescal.
Set on Ireland's Atlantic coast, the show follows the lives of teenagers Marianne and Connell and their relationship as they move from school through university and into adult life.
With stellar performances from both Mescal and Edgar-Jones, the series is an emotional rollercoaster as the pair's complex love life takes turn after turn after turn.
The drama plays out in 12 30-minute episodes. That's handy, because things get very, very intense quite a lot...
Total running time = 339 minutes (Five hours and 39 minutes)
Left to play with = 6,623 minutes (110 hours and 23 minutes)
A Teacher
Kate Mara and Nick Robinson headline this drama about an illicit relationship between Mara's teacher, Claire, and Robinson's Eric, a senior at the high school where she works.
The drama tracks the pair's relationship in painful detail, exploring the unbalanced power dynamics at its core and the lasting effect it goes on to have on both their lives.
A Teacher is told in short 25-minute-ish chunks, a wise decision because some of it is deeply uncomfortable viewing.
Total running time = 237 minutes (Three hours and 57 minutes)
Left to play with = 6,386 minutes (106 hours and 26 minutes)
The Girl From Plainville
Elle Fanning leads the way with this drama, which retells the events leading up to the death of Conrad Roy, who took his own life at the age of 18 .
Fanning plays his girlfriend Michelle Carter, who was convicted for involuntary manslaughter after she encouraged him in text messages to kill himself. The drama takes us through the lead-up to the tragedy and Carter's subsequent trial.
Fanning is front and center here, but there are also good turns from Chloë Sevigny and Cara Buono to back her up.
The events, as you might imagine, are rather grim and nothing is shied away from here, but it is tastefully and compellingly handled.
Total running time = 357 minutes (Five hours and 57 minutes)
Left to play with = 6,029 minutes (100 hours and 29 minutes)
Under The Banner Of Heaven
It's no wonder Andrew Garfield is eyeing up a break from acting after leading this drama, which is as dark as a double espresso.
The seven-parter chronicles the horrendous 1984 murder of Brenda Wright Lafferty and her 15-month-old daughter, Erica, and the subsequent investigation into the crimes.
Garfield plays Jeb Pyre, a devout Mormon and a police detective whose faith is utterly shaken when he is asked to investigate the murders, which seem to involve The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Daisy Edgar-Jones, Sam Worthington, Rory Culkin, Denise Gough, Wyatt Russell and Billy Howle round out an impressive cast for this show, which has a script from Dustin Lance Black, writer of Oscar-winning drama Milk, who has adapted Jon Krakauer's book for Hulu.
Total running time = 455 minutes (Seven hours and 35 minutes)*
Left to play with = 5,574 minutes (92 hours and 54 minutes)
*Under The Banner of Heaven still had two episodes to go at the time of writing, so we've averaged out the series episode length and multiplied it by seven.
Pam & Tommy
Marvel Cinematic Universe key man Sebastian Stan and an almost unrecognisable Lily James team up for this warts and all drama about the relationship between Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee and the fallout after their honeymoon sex tape is stolen and leaked to the public.
Outrageous, uncompromising and full of great performances, including stellar supporting turns from Nick Offerman, Seth Rogen and Taylor Schilling, this is not for the faint-hearted, but another drama well worth diving into.
Total running time = 340 minutes (Five hours and 40 minutes)
Left to play with = 5,234 minutes (87 hours and 14 minutes)
Brooklyn Nine-Nine
Now, we are not suggesting that you sit down and bulldoze your way through all eight seasons of Brooklyn Nine-Nine in the way you might do for any of the other shows we've recommended. This show is more of a palette cleanser, some light relief after some of the heavy, heavy dramas we've recommended. It's a nice way to end the evening after two episodes of grim tales.
Brooklyn Nine-Nine follows Andy Samberg's Jake Peralta, a police detective who, while brilliant at his job, does not have much regard for the rules or the concept of hard-work. That changes when Ray Holt, a glacial and efficient new captain, arrives in the precinct.
Charming, clever and so, so funny, Brooklyn Nine-Nine is the perfect light relief to end every day, especially after what we've recommended you put yourself through.
Total running time = 3366 minutes (56 hours and six minutes)
Left to play with = 1,868 minutes (31 hours and 8 minutes)
Devs
Alex Garland's first foray into long-form television is a slowburn, but one well worth sticking with.
We follow Lily, one of the employees at Amaya, a Google-esque quantum computing company set on a vast campus in Silicon Valley, who is drawn into a mystery after Sergei, her boyfriend, goes missing, one day after he joined Amaya's mysterious new project, Devs.
Part horror, part sci-fi, Garland's writing is full of ideas and intrigue, and he has created a terrifying and strangely beautiful drama.
Total running time = 377 minutes (Six hours and 17 minutes)
Left to play with = 1,491 minutes (24 hours and 51 minutes)
The Great
Writer Tony McNamara penned the script for the terrific Oscar-winning historical dark comedy The Favorite, and, if you loved that slightly madcap tone, then you'll love The Great.
The show stars Elle Fanning and Nicholas Hoult and is an acerbic look at the rise of Catherine the Great and her relationship with the dreadful Emperor Peter III of Russia, who she is scheming to remove from power.
Outrageous, compelling and very funny, both seasons of this drama are well worth investing a chunk of your time in.
Total running time = 1100 minutes (18 hours and 20 minutes)
Left to play with = 391 minutes (Six hours and 31 minutes)
Life & Beth
Life & Beth partners Amy Schumer with a returning Michael Cera in this show, which is a comedy on the surface, but with plenty of darkness hiding in depths.
Schumer is the titular Beth, a wine salesperson in Manhattan who, while making good money, is unhappy with the work and her difficult relationship with her boyfriend.
After that disintegrates, Beth heads back to her hometown in Long Island, where she meets Cera's Nick, a vineyard farmer and blunt instrument, whose love of the simple life shows her a different way of living.
A departure from the straightforward gross-out comedy we've largely known Schumer for, this is a comedy that's full of sadness, poignance and real depth.
Total running time = 280 minutes (Five hours and 40 minutes)
Left to play with = 111 minutes (One hour and 51 minutes)
WeWork: or the Making and Breaking of a $47 Billion Unicorn
We've not got much time to play with, so our final recommendation is a documentary.
You might have seen Jared Leto and Anne Hathaway bringing the unraveling of WeWork to life for Apple TV Plus in WeCrashed, but, for us, this Hulu documentary tells the same story smarter, better and with more impact in just under a third of the time.
So there you have it. We've even left you nine minutes to make a cup of coffee.
Total running time = 102 minutes (One hour and 42 minutes)
Left to play with = Nine minutes
