Netflix Updates, a small orgy of them

Before I get on with it, I wanted to note that the LAMB made Black Dynamite their movie of the month.  As such, the LAMB site will have one post with a collection of various member-submitted reviews. My own review for "Black Dynamite" will be among them.  It goes up tomorrow, April 16th. Moving on:

For months now, over 4 articles, I've tracked this nice, gradual site change on Netflix - makeovers where tv series are condensed to one page with nifty new browsing and viewing options. I will do this no longer. Why?

Because this change has been implemented across almost every tv series that's even listed on Netflix. Anything that was already available for streaming now appears as one show page. So if you're into Stargate SG-1, 10 pages have been replaced by 1. I stopped counting the number of 1-page Instant shows once I hit 50 and saw I'd keep on going.

At the same time, several new series have come to Netflix as well. Since it all happened this week, I am going to highlight some nifty new additions and write down enough new options to give you a sense of what's happened. Please note that only the first 3 are actually recommended. After today, I will have fewer, less frequent updates on Netflix.

Mission Impossible - Yaaaay! This sweet series went up last week, and I was saving it for a special recommendation entry. I think, however, my upcoming review of the "M:I" movie will cover that. This classic is a perfect, inventive, smart way to waste time. Some moments are wildly silly nowadays, but it's an easy series to respect and I strongly suggest it.

The Twilight Zone is now available for Streaming. Only Seasons 1, 2, 3, and 5, but it's still a beautiful thing, and threatens all those neat Holiday weekend tWZ marathons on cable and local stations.

Macgyver, that classic 80's series, is on Netflix Instant, too. Amazingly, the selections include eps never available on CBS' website (which offered nearly the entire series for many years). It's cheesy, and it's fun, and it can be a kick.
Every season of Saturday Night Live is now available, broken down into 70's, 80's, 90's, and 00's.  There's even a current 2010's entry for shows that starting in 2010 and go on to last weekend. I hate to write this, but for all the awful segments, there are a lot of classic comedy skits in there. Heaven help me, it might almost qualify as a social studies experiment, going from George Carlin to Katy Perry...

I typed in every show name I could think of - every long-running series has been converted, even if it's only available as dvds. Even House, which can't be viewed online, now takes up only a single entry. This is why I'm done with the makeover updates.

Let me rattle off some names: Showtime series like The L Word (except the first season), Brotherhood (only the first 2 seasons), Californication, . In the case of Cali, you better watch now because Showtime will not renew the streaming rights for ongoing shows.

Mercifully non-Anime cartoons (for a change) like South Park, Shin Chan, Family Guy, American Dad, Drawn Together, and Tripping the Rift.

There's some classics, too like Anthony Bourdain No Reservations. The last seven seasons of Sesame Street are online. The Dick Van Dyck Show, Soap, The Avengers, The Young Riders, Have Gun Will Travel, and Gunsmoke.

Foreign shows too, like Blackadder - a comedy classic, that must be seen. Monty Python's Flying Circus is also up - so... comedy mecca, basically. Monarch of the Glen, Keeping Up Appearances (which did not get the makeover, oddly),  Westwood Park, Aussie show McLeod's Daughters, Intelligence, Top Gear, Poldark, Hotel Babylon, and Little Men.

The Sarah Silverman Program, Parks and Recreation, 30 Rock,  Roseanne, Monk, Laws & Orders (in both SVU and CI flavors), All Creatures Great and Small, Damages, Ugly Betty, Rescue Me, Grey's Anatomy, Sexual Healing, Thirtysomething, Three Rivers, Murder She Wrote, Friday Night Lights, Party Down, Chappelle's Show, Say Yes to the Dress, Dead Like Me, Code Monkeys, Ruby, and The Secret Life of the American Teenager.

It's too varied to recount! HBO shows, like Spartacus, and The Kids in the Hall. The Cosby Show. Rick & Steve. Blues Clues. The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron Boy Genius. Good Luck Charlie. The 2nd season of (ugh) J****y S***e. It goes on and on. I think you can see why I'm done with tracking this sort of stuff, right?

I had two reviews ready for today, I was debating whether to publish "X-Men" or "The Cassandra Crossing..." But the weather is so pretty, and I'm meeting some friends, and it's a busy weekend with family and more, and this site-wide changeover is big news. This quick update made the most sense.

I'm writing this update now so I can close out this little news cycle that I started. From now on, if I have a Netflix-only post, it'll be me relaying news of new show or my recommendations from their selection. Perhaps I'll make a quick update at the start of a post just to announce when acquired shows have finally gone online.

If this non-review, non-article entry was disappointing, fear not - you won't be seeing one like it for a while. New, varied reviews, articles, and gems are on the way.