Fun
Frisky
Nostalgic
Intense
Adventurous
Choked Up
Curious
Romantic
Weird
The holidays bring with them lots of choices as you figure out which parties to attend and which presents to buy and which seasonal sweaters to bust out and–it’s just a lot, okay? We spend all of November and December planning and planning and planning, weighing all of our holiday options. Do you really want to add to the stress by spending time figuring out what you’re going to watch, too? Do you go with Hulu, Amazon’s Prime Video, or Netflix?
It seems like going by brand recognition alone, you’re instinctively going to go with Netflix. It’s ubiquitous with streaming! But that right there may be a mistake, as the two main competitors have made plenty of strides in the last year alone. Sure, Hulu and Prime Video have both won Outstanding Series Emmys whereas Netflix has still been shut out, but how do their libraries of holiday offerings stack up against each other?
We combed through the offerings from all three major streamers, weighing all their pros and cons and devising our own quasi naughty or nice list. Which has the best selection of theatrical movies? And whose TV library is king? Depending on what you’re looking for, the answer varies (and if you want to watch classic TV specials, you’re gonna have to pay money for those). There’s only one decision you have to make when it comes to seasonal streaming: whether or not to read this list!
Classic Movies
No Christmas season is complete without rewatching Clark fall through the ceiling or Buddy ride an escalator or Ralphie eat soap. There’s just one catch: you’re gonna have to pay some dollars in order to watch all-time great Christmas movies like Christmas Vacation, Elf, or A Christmas Story. What Netflix lacks in theatrically-released holiday fare they more than make up for in the direct-to-VOD department. If you want to watch a low-budget romcom that’s Christmas-adjacent, you’ll find dozens of those. If you want to watch a movie that had a theatrical run and even a bit of cultural impact, your options are limited. Here’s what’s on the three major services:
Netflix: Bad Santa, Bad Santa 2, How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000), Love Actually, The Star, White Christmas
Hulu: Daddy’s Home 2, Prancer, Miracle on 34th Street (1994), The Nightmare Before Christmas
Prime Video: Daddy’s Home 2, Prancer, Christmas with the Kranks, It’s a Wonderful Life, Scrooge (1935)
Slim pickings, right? But each service has at least two you’ll definitely want to watch. My personal pick is the ’90s Miracle remake, because Richard Attenborough is a great Santa! He clones dinosaurs and he delivers presents to kids!
You should note that you can rent or purchase pretty much every single major Christmas movie through Prime Video, and if you have any Hulu add-ons (like a STARZ account or Hulu with Live TV) you’ll be able to watch a ton of Christmas movies. But if you just want to go with the basic service, it’s kind of neck-and-neck.
THE VERDICT: Tie
Stream Miracle on 34th Street on Hulu
TV Episodes
If you need a quick dose of cheer, there’s nothing better than popping on a holiday sitcom episode. They’re quick, funny, and surprisingly deep at times (like the time Uncle Jesse and Michelle convinced Mickey Rooney to call his kids).
This is a category with a clearcut winner. If you want to watch TV shows with the most Christmas episodes, Hulu is the winner. Period. There’s not even a second place. Netflix and Prime Video are so far behind, they’re barely in this theoretical top five. Hulu has so many sitcoms that last year we devoted an entire flowchart to navigating the all the options. Hulu has well over 60 shows spanning 60 Christmases, ranging from The Addams Family and The Dick Van Dyke Show to Married… with Children and Family Matters. There are cartoons like Bob’s Burgers and King of the Hill and live-action cartoons like 30 Rock and Brooklyn Nine-Nine. Even many of the shows that Netflix boasts (Cheers, Frasier, Parks and Recreation) are also on Hulu!
Prime Video has an okay selection of classic shows. Cheers, Frasier, and Parks are all on it, and the show’s carved out a tiny family sitcom niche (Family Ties, Growing Pains, Roseanne, Grace Under Fire). Netflix’s sitcom selection seems to shrink every year, but you can still find essentials like Friends and The Office over there (as well as New Girl, which has some of the best Christmas episodes around).
THE VERDICT: Hulu
Originals
You know why Netflix is letting Hulu snatch up all those old series? Because they’re crushing the original content game. If you’ve seen all the movies and all the TV episodes, then Netflix is truly the only game in town. While Hulu and Prime Video have plenty of original content, they haven’t ventured into holiday territory yet (a Difficult People or Marvelous Mrs. Maisel episode aside, that is).
After the success of A Christmas Prince last year, Netflix has gone all in on the holiday. This year alone there’s The Holiday Calendar, The Princess Switch, The Christmas Chronicles, and A Christmas Prince: The Royal Wedding. Netflix is even releasing seasonal specials for two of its biggest 2018 hits, Nailed It! and Chilling Adventures of Sabrina.
But heed my warning: if you’re venturing into the made-for-VOD territory, make sure that you see a Netflix logo right when the movie starts. Netflix is still rocking fairly tight quality control when it comes to their holiday releases, so while a frivolous movie like The Holiday Calendar isn’t gonna win any Emmys, it’s still pleasant enough and not some of the… uh… unfortunate stuff that pops up when you search for “Christmas.”
THE VERDICT: Netflix
