With modern technology offering so many new ways to view and enjoy entertainment content previously confined to a television set, it’s no wonder that streaming media companies like Hulu and Netflix have become major players in the TV game.

Not that many years ago, Hulu began to offer a user-friendly model for enjoying TV series running on other networks.

As Acting Chief Executive Officer Andy Forssell told TV critics recently, Hulu “was all about last night’s TV.” The program you missed on FOX or NBC could be seen the next day.

Popular for current and vintage TV shows, Hulu now finds itself up against cable providers offering “Video on Demand,” and so Hulu started to look for opportunities to offer programs, even from other countries, that have been missing from traditional television.

Forssell observed that Hulu is “really not a network, we’re not a studio, we are a distributor at heart,” and that Hulu is all about trying to “connect people with content they love, no matter where it comes from.”

However Hulu wishes to define itself, the obvious thrust of its streaming video content is to focus on upcoming original programs, of which there are ten shows to roll out the rest of this year during the major networks’ customary fall season.

First out of the block this summer is “The Awesomes,” an animated show for adults that combines the thrills of comic book storytelling with the irreverent comedy that springs from the minds of Seth Meyers (“Saturday Night Live”) and Michael Shoemaker (“Late Night with Jimmy Fallon”).

Seth Meyers gives voice to Prock, the son of America’s greatest superhero, who wants to follow in his father’s footsteps but is utterly unqualified for the job.

With the help of the dimwitted Muscleman (Ike Barinholtz), Prock puts together a team of D-list superheroes, trying to keep federal funding for his outfit.

“The Awesomes,” though it has its moments of comic amusement, is not particularly awesome, but that’s because there’s not enough inspired lunacy to distinguish this series from the standard animated superhero fare found on any number of similar shows on cable channels.

There’s an argument to be made that there is nothing original on TV anymore. Everything is derivative, or so it often seems.

A case in point is Hulu’s “Quick Draw,” a comedic half-hour western set in 1875 that centers on a Harvard-educated sheriff and his quest to introduce the emerging science of forensics to an unruly Kansas town.

In the early days of the FOX network, a series called “The Adventures of Brisco County Jr.” starred Bruce Campbell as a Harvard-educated lawyer-turned-bounty hunter who was hired to capture an outlaw’s gang. Humor was a big part of the show.

Similarly, “Quick Draw” is campy and cheeky, with John Lehr’s Sheriff Hoyle constantly reminding the unimpressed yokels that he was educated at an elite school. He has no compunction about feeling intellectually superior, boasting that he graduated 327th in his class.

The citizens of Great Bend, Kansas include the brassy blonde owner (Allison Dunbar) of the town’s brothel, who runs an odds-making wager line on when the new sheriff will meet an untimely death.

Sheriff Hoyle also boasts of getting a B-plus in sharp shooting at Harvard, which he says is an actually an A anywhere else. Meanwhile, he’s assisted by reluctant Deputy Eli (Nick Brown) to hunt down Cole Younger and his murderous gang.

Have you ever wondered about the person inside a mascot’s uniform, whether at a high school game or in pro sports? Well, later this fall, “Behind the Mask” takes viewers on a behind-the-scenes adventure into the colorful world of sports mascots.

The series focuses on four mascots: Lebanon High School’s Rooty the Cedar Tree, UNLV’s Hey Reb, minor league hockey mascot Tux the Penguin, and NBA mascot Bango of the Milwaukee Bucks.

“Behind the Mask” tells the moving stories of these real-life Clark Kents, capturing their highs and lows, both inside the suit at games and outside the uniform at home and regular life. The tales are funny, entertaining and at times poignant.

A lot of Hulu’s original programming comes from the United Kingdom. One show produced by the BBC that looks very promising is “The Wrong Mans,” centered on two lowly office workers caught up in a deadly criminal conspiracy. By the way, it is a comedy with a twisted sensibility.

Part of the appeal of this show is that one of the main characters is played by James Corden, a truly gifted comedian. I had the great pleasure of seeing him as the leading man in the Broadway show “One Man, Two Guvnors,” arguably one of the funniest stage productions ever. Corden won the Tony Award for best actor in that show.

In “The Wrong Mans,” Mathew Baynton’s Sam discovers a ringing phone at the scene of a horrific car crash. Answering the phone turns his world upside down, as he and Phil (Corden) soon realize it’s up to them to save the day.

Sam and Phil are in the wrong place at the wrong time, with the wrong skills to get involved in sleuthing. Now you know why the show is called “The Wrong Mans,” a comedy that seems ever so right.

Several other new programs are on the horizon for Hulu. “Mother Up!” stars Eva Longoria as a disgraced former music exec who transitions from the towers of Manhattan to the carpool lane of suburbia.

I’d like to tell you more about “Mother Up!” and a slew of other new series, but Hulu has not yet provided screeners for review. Nevertheless, there may be a few good reasons to check out Hulu for more than just the next-day airing of TV programs.

Tim Riley writes film and television reviews for Lake County News.

NORTH COAST, Calif. – Rising Stars Music Showcase is a multi-musician, multi-genre competition in which musicians from Lake and Mendocino counties will be competing for prizes and supporting local area non-profits.

Presented by 94.5 K-Wine, City of Light Recording and Sound, Max 93.5 and Mendo Lake Credit Union, this sixth annual event is held to benefit multiple local charities.

The daylong event on Oct. 5 will be held at the Redwood Empire Fairgrounds from noon to midnight.

Rising Stars will encompass as many musical genres as possible showcasing the often-unheard talents of musicians of all ages.

Solo musicians and group musicians from all genres are encouraged to enter the competition.

Bands from all genres are encouraged to enter this competition by going to the Web site at http://www.risingstarscompetition.com and submitting their entry.

Bands will be placed in divisions according to their genre of music and be judged on an individual basis with each judge scoring individual acts on stage performance and presence, talent and audience reaction. Prizes will be awarded to the winners in each genre plus winners overall.

Prizes that have been donated this far include recording studio time at City Of Light Recording and Sound, a mastered live performance CD from Golden Ratio Recording, a Limo Ride from Pure Comfort Limousine along with the coveted Star Awards created by Cash Auto Recycling and Scrap.

The deadline for entry is Sept. 5 but due to the limited amount of spots in each genre, musicians are encouraged to apply early.

Being a family-friendly event, Rising Stars is an opportunity for local organizations and businesses to get exposure.

Nonprofits and businesses alike are welcomed to rent booth space at this popular event. Booths can be anything from selling items to participatory games or information. Vendors must sign up by Sept. 5.

This showcase of talent is an effort to promote awareness of all of the musical talent in the area along with helping community organizations.

Musicians, businesses and organizations are encouraged to participate in some way to help keep the music alive and help keep vital services for those in need.

Information can be obtained at the Web site, through email or through calling Mary Chadwick at 707-272-6514.

CLEARLAKE, Calif. – This coming September, for the first time in more than six years, there will be no Second Sunday Cinema.

Due to a serious accident in the family, Shannon Tolson, SSC's coordinator, will need to focus her time and energy on supporting and helping the healing process of her life partner, Jim, who recently fell off his roof and is hospitalized.

Stay tuned for further information as to if and when SSC will resume.

On a perfect Labor Day, nobody would have to work, and even the “associates” in the big box stores could quit stocking shelves.

Well, it doesn’t happen that way, does it? But here’s a poem about a Labor Day that’s really at rest, by Joseph Millar, from North Carolina.

Labor Day

Even the bosses are sleeping late
in the dusty light of September.

The parking lot’s empty and no one cares.
No one unloads a ladder, steps on the gas

or starts up the big machines in the shop,
sanding and grinding, cutting and binding.

No one lays a flat bead of flux over a metal seam
or lowers the steel forks from a tailgate.

Shadows gather inside the sleeve
of the empty thermos beside the sink,

the bells go still by the channel buoy,
the wind lies down in the west,

the tuna boats rest on their tie-up lines
turning a little, this way and that.

American Life in Poetry is made possible by The Poetry Foundation ( www.poetryfoundation.org ), publisher of Poetry magazine. It is also supported by the Department of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Poem copyright 2012 by Joseph Millar from his most recent book of poems, Blue Rust, Carnegie Mellon University Press, 2012. Poem reprinted by permission of Joseph Millar and the publisher. Introduction copyright 2013 by The Poetry Foundation. The introduction's author, Ted Kooser, served as United States Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 2004-2006. They do not accept unsolicited manuscripts.

KICK-ASS 2 (Rated R)

Just in case it wasn’t obvious in the original, the R rating achieved by the comical superhero franchise “Kick-Ass” has been attached for a purpose.

Notwithstanding the lead characters being teens, this is not a family film.

Arguably, the thrust of “Kick-Ass 2” appears even more intense and over-the-top than the first, though there was something completely shocking about a foul-mouthed pre-teen vigilante superhero in Hit Girl the first time around.

Chloe Grace Moretz’s Hit Girl is now in high school, watched over by her guardian, a police officer (Morris Chestnut), who insists that she hang up her uniform to be a normal teenager, known only by her given name of Mindy Macready. Of course, that’s not part of her plan.

Meanwhile, Hit Girl’s partner in crime-fighting, Kick- Ass (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), now a high school senior, has also put away his green and yellow spandex uniform. But Kick-Ass inspired a motley crew of masked vigilantes to continue the efforts to battle the bad guys.

Mindy tries to fit in with the school’s clique of popular girls, even trying out for the cheerleader squad. Her acrobatic moves, inspired by Hit Girl’s martial arts skills, make the other contestants look inferior.

Of course, the cool kids are, in fact, the mean girls, and they are just like the obnoxious students in Lindsay Lohan’s “Mean Girls,” and to a lesser extent, “Clueless.”

At school, Kick-Ass is Dave Lizewski, a rather nerdy fellow who’s bored by his mundane life, so he starts patrolling the streets with Justice Forever, a fearless group of urban watchdogs fronted by Colonel Stars and Stripes (Jim Carrey).

Members of the colonel’s squad of masked crime-fighters include Dr. Gravity (Donald Faison) and Night Bitch (Lindy Booth), an ordinary girl by day and a Catwoman-like sexy figure by night.

For a movie that contains some very graphic violence and brutality, the comic element springs, in part, from the transition of Christopher Mintz-Plasse’s Red Mist character of the first film into a full-blown super villain who goes by a moniker not printable in a family newspaper.

For the sake of clean language, we’ll go with Red Mist’s given name of Chris D’Amico, who still nurses a desire for revenge for the death of his father at the hands of Kick-Ass. After the accidental death of his mother, Chris inherits a fortune.

With seemingly limitless funds, Chris acts like a spoiled rich kid as he hatches an evil scheme to recruit the scum of the earth into a super villain’s army. His best conscript is Mother Russia (Olga Kurkulina), a truly frightening psychopath.

As to be expected, there is climactic showdown between the Justice Forever good guys and the villains. The best thing about “Kick-Ass 2” remains the sweet yet tough appeal of Hit Girl.

TV UPDATE – STARZ ORIGINAL PROGRAMS GROW AS LOSSES MOUNT

During the recent national TV press tour, Chris Albrecht, CEO of the Starz cable channel, announced a goal for 2014 to air more than 50 hours of original programs.

Starz has had critical, if not financial, success with several original series, including “Boss,” starring Kelsey Grammar as a ruthless Chicago mayor, and “Magic City,” starring Jeffrey Dean Morgan as the owner of a ritzy Miami Beach hotel during the early 1960’s.

At a press conference on July 26, Albrecht answered a question about a possible third season for “Magic City” only by saying that there many “surprises left in the last three episodes” and that Starz is “evaluating all the options” with “Magic City.”

Little more than a week later, Starz announced that they would not order a third season of “Magic City.” Listening to TV executives is a lot like trying to figure out what politicians are really saying.

Albrecht dropped another clue on the TV critics when he said in his answer about the fate of “Magic City” that they had a couple of surprises in store “so I can’t reveal too much other than you’ll have the answer to your question soon.”

OK, he was at least right about the last part, knowing soon, that is. So while we may never be able to check into the Miramar Playa again, there will be other new programs.

Interestingly, Albrecht also revealed a second season pick up for “Black Sails,” based in part on fan reaction at Comic-Con to a viewing of the first episode. And in 2014 there will be a second season of “Da Vinci’s Demons.”

Palace intrigue is always good for TV programs. Just ask Showtime about “The Tudors.” Launched this month, “The White Queen” is a limited ten-hour series based on Philippa Gregory’s best-selling novel “The Cousins’ War.”

“The White Queen” is set against the backdrop of England’s War of the Roses, but it is told through the eyes of three main female characters as they manipulate behind the scenes for the throne of England.

The year is 1464, before the Tudor dynasty, and war has been ravaging throughout England over who is the rightful King. It is a bitter dispute between two sides of the same family, the House of York and the House of Lancaster.

There may not be a sequel to “The White Queen,” but Philippa Gregory continues to be a prolific writer about medieval British royal history, so the source material will be available for several new series.

I know little about the finances of cable networks, but it is obvious that programs like “Magic City” and “The White Queen” have tremendous production costs, which must be recouped.

If the audience for a Starz original series does not grow over time, the financial losses continue to mount, which has factored into whether series stay or go. Starz is committed to keep searching for the right balance.

Tim Riley writes film and television reviews for Lake County News.

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Two young fiddlers represented Lake County at the Ukiah Fiddle Contest.

Taran Dutra and Rafael Contreras both won blue ribbons and prize money for playing three tunes on stage in the junior-junior class.

Rafael also entered the open class, competing with adults, and came in second place, winning even more prize money.

These fiddlers are both members of the Konocti Fiddle Club, which will be performing at the Kelseyville Pear Festival in September.