As per their strategy, Netflix has increasingly become less interested in carrying compelling movie titles (except for the occasional little-seen gem, like Sleepwalk with Me or Take This Waltz), and more eager to be your major streaming outlet for marathoning television shows and plopping your kid in front of the iPad for an hour while you get a few extra nods of sleep (Netflix recently announced the additions of Walt Disney Animation, Marvel, Pixar films, which will be exclusive to the service come 2016). They’ve now partnered with Warner Brothers to add eight new television shows to their roster, and while a few aren’t even worth your time, there are three solid additions if you haven’t seen them yet.
The good: West Wing (which was exclusive to Amazon Prime for a short window last year), Fringe, and Chuck. If you haven’t seen the West Wing already, well, I don’t even know what to think of you. What was it like living in a third-world country? Fringe is intermittently great and frustrating, but the perfect kind of series for marathon viewing on Netflix, while Chuck had a superb two seasons before drifting aimlessly through countless resets in the final three (though, it remained decent eye-candy television, thanks to Yvonne Strahovski).
The other titles aren’t as compelling: NBC’s Revolution (UGH), Political Animals (not very good, but watchable thanks to Carla Gugino), Longmire (a tidy little procedural that’s great for watching with your grandparents, but that doesn’t have nearly enough Katee Sackhoff) and 666 Park Avenue, which was recently cancelled by ABC (there will only be 13 episodes available, and it’s not likely a show that will gain a lot of traction on Netflix). The wild-card is The Following, one of the most anticipated shows of this month, but we’ll have to see how good it is before we know if it’ll be a good addition to the streaming service.
(Source: Deadline)
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Any idea when the agreement starts?
West Wing is already available.
Did Longmire get renewed for a second season?
I’m hoping it did, because whether or not the media sites love it (I’m looking at you Warming Glow), I think it’s a great show for what it’s supposed to be. A modern day western. Nothing grandiose, not deep thinking or webs of intrigue, just a straight up western. And that’s OK. Not everything has to be as fantastically written and plotted as your beloved Breaking Bad, Walking Dead, Game of Thrones. Sometimes it’s ok to just enjoy a simply written show.
It’s a strange show. It’s easy to write it off as another crime procedural except that the crimes are kind of secondary. It’s like if on Murder, She Wrote someone was murdered every week but the story focused on Jessica Fletcher’s constant battle with other writers and who she was banging.
*shivers*
I have to blame myself for that image.
I still have a hard time actually believing that people would pay to stream shows that you can find for free on any streaming site or hell just wait for a random marathon on TV
Meh. I stopped paying for cable, so no marathons for me, and I don’t want to watch shows on my laptop. $9 for Netflix supplemented with Amazon Prime is worth the price for me IMO
please tell me which sites stream Fringe and The West Wing in HD for free. i more than get my 8 bucks a month worth, i use it every single day
If you want the shows to continue being made in the first place, you should be happy to drop a measly $8 a month for the privilege of watching them. If everyone stops paying to use the service, the service dies and ultimately the new shows die. Why am I the only guy on the internet who sees this? You waste more than $8 a month in vending machines or coffee shops.
oh you’re not the only guy, trust me. plus the luxury of being able to stream in High Def to your television for free (as long as you don’t use Xbox) and it’s a fucking steal.
Call me old fashioned, but sometimes I just want to watch something without seeing 8,000 flashing vaginas in banner ads.
@kintof1 – Some people don’t have TV service and have found that streaming sites can be incredibly inconvenient. I myself got rid of my dish and cable service and began just downloading everything I wanted to watch on my big screen TV. After awhile, I realized that paying $8 a month is well worth the time I got back downloading and managing the file load. I still download movies like a crazed ape, but for the majority of shows – I rely on my Netflix, Hulu, and HBO GO accounts which have been bartered with friends (I only pay for one). And since I ditched cable/dish, I save $100 or more a month.
And I’m with Hank – when does this agreement start????
Sleep Walk with Me was fine enough. The problem is if you’ve seen his stand up, read his book, AND watched this movie, then you saw the same material in 3 different formats. Granted the book was based on his stand-up/one man show, and the movie was based on that, but I suppose it should be considered genius to recycle your material so much.
or you can try and distance yourself as a hardcore Birbiglia fan and try and look at the product through the eyes of a newcomer or someone who’s never heard of him before. which considering it’s a MOVIE, is basically who it’s intended for, and realize it’s a pretty fantastic little film.
No, I know you’re right, but it would be nice to see something new.
Although I need to backtrack and correct your last statement, which is that this specific movie he made was intended for new audiences, not that all movies are only intended to bring in new audiences.
fair enough. either way, a lot of the material was familiar to me and i still loved it. hell it was worth it just for the marc maron scenes.
So glad The West Wing is on there, now I can finally catch up to 2006. Any idea when The Wire will be on netflix? #stuffwhitepeoplelike
The Wire (the Sopranos, Deadwood, Six Feet Under) will stream right after HBO stops thinking they’re special.
well The Larry Sanders Show is streaming and that was on HBO…
I can finally get caught up on Fringe. I got too behind like towards the end of season 2.
I can finally get caught up on.. Hey! The shows on that list that I haven’t seen, suck!
Yeah, I fire up The Electric Company for my daughter on the iPad and watch TV shows in bunches on Netflix. What’s a little weird about the West Wing is that it was a well written (while Aaron Sorkin was writing it) show on a major broadcast network, so each season is 26 episodes. Most other great shows (The Wire, Sopranos, Justified) are 13 at best.
Serious question: How are Janel Maloney’s boobs that big while she’s that skinny?
Clearly there is some benevolent force in the cosmos that loves us and wants us to be happy. It is the only explanation for Donna’s boobs.
What happened to her? Had a huge crush on her (and Poppy Montgomery from Without a Trace) for awhile and thought both were destined for stardom but I don’t ever see them.
Now, revisit the days when we had white presidents!
Someday they’ll look back at the West Wing as sci-fi.
Jed Bartlett’s Mexican. Nero Padilla’s even more Mexican.
Viva la raza.
I’m taking a Netflix break until they can come up with some better stuff and a easier guide. I don’t like having to sift through Anime and shit from the 80′s when looking through he NEW to netflix.
I’m loving the HBO Go app and Just started the Wire today. Yes, I haven’t seen the wire yet. Makes me quite the outcast on this site.
[www.youtube.com]
I’d recommend using Instantwatcher or their app. Much easier to see what’s new, what’s popular, what’s expiring, etc…
yes! if you don’t spend time on their website setting up your queue, you’re screwed. (and you forgot to mention 10,000 taiwanese/korean soaps.) Hulu is so much more user friendly!
well then maybe you should spend time on their webste setting up your queue, since it’s so super easy and convenient that way.
They also seem to have added the Syfy channels ‘Lost Girl’ which I have really be enjoying.
I have no idea how everyone isn’t all over Underbelly. It ranks up there with the best of crime dramas, only with somehow more nudity and random bloodshed (thanks, Aussies?). Anyway, it’s amazing show and Season 2 is astoundingly good (each season is unrelated to the others).
Underbelly is fantastic. I have seen seasons 1and 2. Haven’t watched 3 yet.
I enjoy Longmire. Its staid, and by the numbers – I think it appeals to my desire to drive a full size Ford Bronco.
This is good to hear because honestly, this site has always lacked a suitable amount of Yvonne Strahovski gifs.
West Wing is a good get for Netflix. Especially if they put it as available for Netflix Instant.
Already there.
Dustin,
You liked ‘Take This Waltz’? Really? I promise you that I’m not trying to get into a pissing contest; I couldn’t stand it, and have been curious what so many people liked about it. Thanks man, keep up the good work.
Don’t write off Political Animals just yet. It had Ripley and Mance Rayder!
Dare I say the West Wing is overrated?