Huge news breaks this morning as Time Warner announces several big shows to be available on Netflix Instant Watch. Starting March 30, you’ll be able to get your fill of [adult swim] goodness from Robot Chicken, Aqua Teen Hunger Force, The Boondocks and Childrens Hospital. On top of that, they’ll also be bringing some buddies from Cartoon Network. You know, little shows you might have heard of called Adventure Time, Regular Show, Ben 10, Johnny Bravo, and Green Lantern.
This is certifiably huge. I’ve often lamented at the inability to pick up some of these shows from the beginning without shelling out mucho bucks on DVDs that usually do not contain complete seasons. This makes it incredibly hard when, say, your 4 year old son just wants to watch more Ben 10 but the only thing we have available is what space we can make on the DVR. Now this will be a problem of the past.
Hopefully this will also lead to more Time Warner (and therefore Warner Brothers) and [adult swim] content being available online via services like Netflix. Partial wishlist: Looney Tunes cartoons, Animaniacs, Tiny Toon Adventures, Batman: The Animated Series, Batman Beyond, Justice League and Justice League: Unlimited, Young Justice, Space Ghost: Coast to Coast, Cartoon Planet, Powerpuff Girls, Dexter’s Laboratory, Cow and Chicken, Ed Edd n Eddy, Black Dynamite, Squidbillies, Venture Bros, Metalocalypse, NTSF:SUV:SD::, Tom Goes to the Mayor, Tim and Eric Awesome Show Great Job, Frisky Dingo, Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law, Lucy: The Daughter of the Devil, Home Movies, Minoriteam, Sealab 2021, Stroker and Hoop, and 12 oz Mouse. Yeah. Partial list. It’s probably out of their hands to hope for Clone Wars, but with Disney striking their huge deal with Netflix and Cartoon Network making its move, we can hope we’ll see it show up on Instant Watch.
This will put an interesting experiment into the question of exactly how much streaming is taking a bite out of cable. Earlier this year, Nickelodeon noticed a drop in their ratings after many of their programs (Spongebob, Dora, etc) appeared on Netflix. However, I think Cartoon Network will find its rating more resilient, as many of their core audience are not, in fact, children, but (stoned) teens and 20-somethings who want to watch some Adventure Time at all hours of the day.
In related news, don’t forget to check out the Childrens Hospital spinoff Newsreaders, premiering Thursday night at midnight on [adult swim]. Newsreaders was originally an episode of Childrens Hospital done in the format of a news program, and now we’re getting an entire show. I’ve seen the first few episodes. Do not miss this. Hilarious.
So what else? What shows are you going to mini-marathon come March 30? Which shows not included here do you anxiously await?