3 Hulu Hits You Need to Binge This Week (April 22–26)
Hulu timed a 4/20 drop to perfection with 4x20 Quick Hits, a punchy detour from chart fixtures like The Testaments.
Hulu clearly circled 4/20 on the calendar this year. The schedule feels very on purpose, and while The Testaments and a few usual suspects are still hogging the chart, there are a couple of interesting swings worth your time: a new weed-focused doc anthology timed to 4/20, a franchise sequel that still slaps, and a musical rom-com that most people missed the first time around.
4x20 Quick Hits (2026 )
File this under: not subtle, but smart. 4x20 Quick Hits is a grab bag of short documentaries with one shared thesis: everyone on screen really, really cares about cannabis. One episode looks back at Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle — yes, the modern stoner classic with John Cho, Kal Penn, and Neil Patrick Harris — and why it stuck. Another dives into the origins of High Times, the long-running pro-cannabis magazine. If you already know that story, you get the victory lap; if you don’t, it’s a tidy crash course. It’s an easy watch, and if weed is your thing, it’s catnip. Streaming now on Hulu.
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013)
The first Hunger Games turned Jennifer Lawrence from rising star to bankable lead. Catching Fire is the one that took the franchise from hit to phenomenon. It widens the world, sharpens the politics, and makes the arena feel like a pressure cooker instead of a gimmick — which is probably why Hunger Games titles are camped all over Hulu’s top 15 right now.
Story-wise: after the unprecedented joint win, Katniss Everdeen (Lawrence) and Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson) have to fake a grand romance to keep President Coriolanus Snow (Donald Sutherland) off their backs. Snow clocks that Katniss has become a spark for rebellion, so he rigs the 75th Hunger Games to drag most of the living victors back into the bloodsport — including our two co-champions. It’s allies, enemies, and double-crosses with the stakes turned all the way up. Streaming now on Hulu.
Up Here (2023)
This one slipped past a lot of folks in 2023, which is a shame. Up Here is a musical rom-com that treats intrusive thoughts like a Greek chorus. Mae Whitman plays Lindsay, a people-pleaser haunted by the voices of her parents and friends — the peanut gallery in her head that steers her into an engagement with Ned (George Hampe), a guy she doesn’t actually want. She bails, hits reset in a new city, and meets Miguel (Carlos Valdes), who has his own noisy inner soundtrack. They click, obviously, but the question is whether they can keep it together once real life (and those voices) push back. If you want something hopeful and a little floaty, this does the job. Streaming now on Hulu.