Hulu Spends First of its $500 Million on Original Programs

Last week, Hulu CEO Jason Kilar announced the internet’s go-to destination for the on-demand streaming of movies and television is “excited to invest approximately half a billion in content in 2012 on behalf of our users.” Over the weekend, Hulu revealed a handful of the projects in which that $500 million will be invested.

Battleground is a “workplace dramedy” set in the world and office of a Democratic primary campaign for a US Senate seat in Wisconsin. Conceived by JD Walsh (an actor who once worked for Senator John Kerry), the seemingly more faux documentary than mockumentary action follows the activities of head campaign strategist Chris Tak Davis as he strives to make his employer the latest representative of the Badger State.

Hulu picked up 13 half-hour episodes of Battleground after Fox Broadcasting Company developed and then dropped the project last year

. The program premieres on February 13, with new installments released every Tuesday.

In addition to Battleground, Hulu is bringing back Morgan Spurlock’s seres of half-hour mini-docs highlighting 24-hour periods in the lives of well-known celebrities will be back for a second season. The sophomore installments of A Day in the Life are set to feature comedian Marc Maron, actor and The Soup houst Joel McHale, UFC fighter Jason “Mayhem” Miller and more.

Hulu also announced it’s behind Up to Speed, a non-scripted six-episode original web series hosted by Timothy “Speed” Levitch that will explore the crawlspace of notable destinations across the country.

Both A day in the Life and Up to Speed are set to launch in the first half of 2012.