Fresh off its invasion of Canada, Netflix recently announced a deal with NBC/Universal that will add a bunch of the entertainment company’s network and cable TV offerings to Netflix’s streaming service.
Starting this week, Netflix Watch Instantly users will have access to
* Episodes from every season of Saturday Night Live, including day-after broadcast of the upcoming 2010, 2011 and 2012 seasons plus hundreds of episodes from the first 35 years of SNL.
* More than 75 prior season episodes of Battlestar Galactica, as well as prior seasons of Destination Truth and Eureka.
* Every episode from the last season of 30 Rock, The Office and Law & Order: SVU, as well as earlier seasons of those shows renewed for streaming from Netflix under the current deal.
* All prior seasons — and eventually next year’s final season — of Friday Night Lights.
* All prior seasons of USA Network’s Psych, In Plain Sight, as well as all seasons of Monk.
Netflix and NBC Universal Announce Agreement to Stream Prior Season Cable and Broadcast TV Series New to Netflix Members [Netflix via Hacking Netflix]
More From Consumerist
-
Netflix Woos Disney In Deal To Show New Releases Starting In 2016
-
Judge Allows Closed-Captioning Lawsuit Against Netflix To Proceed
-
ABC To Begin Streaming Its Entire Broadcast Schedule Online (But You’ll Still Need To Have Cable)
-
Looks Like Blockbuster Won’t Get Its Bloody Revenge On Netflix After All
-
The End Of Saturday Mail Delivery Is Awesome For Netflix, Not So Much For DVD Customers
Nice!!!
Yes! BSG marathon here I come!
+1, +10, no, theres no amount of + that can describe this awesomeness, oh wait, barney stinson
Agreed. I’m one of those bad people that didn’t watch BSG until late in the game, so this is my way of being able to catch up.
I’m even worse, I started watching loved it, forgot about it and then picked it back up the last season. So excited for this
Family and I have been watching this with the 1 disc at a time method, and it’s been killing us when we have to wait for each disc to come in, this is an awesome deal!
Same here.
I started watching it after playing the awesome game ( http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/bsg/ ) and my wife got hooked as well.
Incredible series.
Thats game is so awesome. We play it once a month
I’m showing this to my husband, he loves flight simulators, thanks!
heres to hoping its all in HD… if not, well, its still an awesome lineup so im not gonna complain
Judge Judy in HD!
Yes I prefer the HD as well. I always try to watch the HD channels first hoping they will then have their streaming later show some of the other shows in HD that I chose to watch later.
Sweet. My love for Netflix grows.
I know. This is just great news. I love Netflix and was very happy when 30 Rock was streaming – it turned into one of our favorite shows, and one we wouldn’t have discovered if it weren’t on Netflix for streaming.
There has been a common misinterpreting of this press release regarding the SNL episodes – namely, it is said that “episodes from every season” of SNL are to be available, NOT “every episode of every season.” Checking either of your linked sources will confirm this.
This is correct. Thankfully, it means that we’ll be spared the horror of the complete 1980-1981 season.
ah now I have to brush up on which seasons of SNL are worth watching
General rule of thumb is start with your birth year and work backwards from their for watchable episodes.
*there
Saturday Night Live wasn’t even on in 1971…
Exactly
if you were born in the 80s. . .
Avoid the Joe Piscopo years if you know what’s good for you.
Belushi, Akroyd, Newman – best years ever. The rest of it since then has been shit.
Here’s to watching BSG…. again.
Love that BSG. I’m straight but I’d do Starbuck if I got the chance.
I love that I can now stream Stargate Atlantis and Stargate U. All hail Netflix.
I fell off the bus with Atlantis… not as appealing for some odd reason (had quite the love affair with SG-1). Giving SG:U a shot, and was happy to see it there. Just watched Firefly over again as well. Can’t seem to stop loving that show.
I own the box set to SG-1 so I can get my fix whenever I desire. As for Atlantis it was not the same but I still enjoy it and Stargate U has been decent so far. Little slow at times but I can’t wait for the new season to start.
Understandable… but I’d argue it deserves another shot. The show really started coming into it’s own around season 3 and got pretty good for seasons 4 & 5 when it was the only stargate on the air. I’m still pretty upset that they killed it off… it could have gone for at least another solid season.
I like SG:U and all.. but it’s a different show. I miss SG1 and SGA.
Hmmm… I thought the merger would nix some of this to save it for Xfinity on demand or their site.
Just great! Now I have to go change my pants again. Thanks for nothing, Consumerist.
I lost touch with BSG while on the air, now I can watch it from episode one !!
I got the box set last year. It’s so worth the patience it takes to watch every single episode.
Will never get sick of the Adama Maneuver. Or his speeches.
So say we all!
I now have NO reason to pay for Hulu Plus at all.
Does this mean I can watch the SNL episode hosted by Betty White, without, for example, the Jay-Z performances being cut, like on the SNL website?
I see posts about how awesome it is to have BSG, but more impoartantly – now I can catch up on Psych.
The post didn’t mention it – when will the deal kick in? Can I watch Psych on the way home from work today?
Kicks off next week.
now if they would only start offering shows and programs that i actually am interested in like history, history international, discovery etc… i’d be more enthused.
I’d be happy to get some Scripps programming. Specifically every prior season of Good Eats – building the collection isn’t cheap.
Pawn Stars is streaming, I think…that counts as History Channel, right?
If you’re looking for individual documentaries, try searching for those instead of by channel. There are a few great documentaries on Netflix.
yeah, if i could get DIY, history and national geographic, i’d cut my directv
There are more than enough documentaries and educational programming to keep me occupied for the next few years. There are lots of very good independent documentaries, as well as many programs from Discovery and PBS.
Battlestar Galactica? Ugh, why cant they get a GOOD show?
YOU BLASPHEMER!
Seriously, though. How can you dislike Battlestar Galactica? We’re talking about the new one.
Psst, the old one is on there as well for those who hate seeing Starbuck as a woman.
Starbuck as a man?! Blasphemy!
Yeah, I mean the new one. I suffered through the horrible miniseries when it first ran on Sci-Fi and walked away for many years. All that time I non-stop heard “Oh my god this show is the BEST THING EVER IN THE HISTORY OF TELEVISION EVAR!!!!!!111″
So I tried again thanks to Netflix. And I suffered through three seasons of crappy, depressing, bombastic episodes before I decided to walk away again. No thanks, I’ll stick to the original.
I loved that it was bombastic and depressing. I don’t think anyone expected a show about nuclear annihilation to be all ponies and rainbows.
It was the end of civilization, anyone who thinks it will be rainbows and unicorns and puppies needs to get some better glasses. It would be ugly, especially when you ad nukes and psychotic robots to the mix.
Some people just don’t have to go full Geek on. I hate Sci-Fi stuff. I never liked Star Trek, or any other silly space series that you KNOW is utterly false because the story line is just too far fetched..
Agreed. Watched the new BSG’s mini series and never looked at it again. Yet everybody babbles about how teh awesome it is. No. It’s just people who don’t know good TV from bad.
As for nuclear annihilation, so what? I’ve seen that used to better effect in many other TV shows, without all the clone claptrap and spiritual stuff tacked on.
The old “classic” BSG is still on the RTV network on Sundays and that is still enjoyable at least.
So I will finally be able to see the Sylvester Stallone episode of SNL including the Orange Julius sketch? My life is almost complete.
I want to see the one where John Belushi does the weather and talks about the various ways March comes in and goes out around the world.
Yay SVU!
Yay!
I *heart* Netflix even more, now.
I’ve always wanted to check out BSG, so I’m definitely going to be all over that. But Lost is expiring on October 1, and I’m in the middle of the first season right now. I hope they reach a renewal deal with ABC!
Ugh… that’s what I hate about Netflix.. stuff that expires like that. :/ Annoying!
I’ve never seen BSG, but I know how much people seemed to like it. Do you have to be a sci-fi fan to get into it?
Nope – it’s really more along the lines of a political drama more than space opera. It’s so worth your time, believe me.
Interesting; I’ll certainly give it a shot. Sounds like something I might enjoy.
The only sci-fi elements are that it’s a technologically advanced culture with spaceships and FTL travel and robots.
Instead of lasers they’re firing bullets and nuclear missiles and the Galactica interiors remind me more of an old gritty WWII-era Aircraft Carrier than say the smooth comforting interiors of a Federation starship from Star Trek. It’s almost Klingon in it’s edges.
You definitely don’t have to be a sci-fi fan to love BSG. My husband isn’t a big sci-fi person and he loves BSG. It has sci-fi elements, but I can’t really classify it as purely a sci-fi show. It would be like saying The Wire was just a cop drama – it’s an oversimplification. BSG is a show about what people do in the face of catastrophe and the exploration of what it means to be human and machine, and the blurring of the lines that we hold to as definition of our own humanity. It’s just a fascinating show. I encourage you to watch it. Just be sure to watch the miniseries first.
The creator refused to call it Sci-fi, even though it was on the Sci-fi channel
I look forward to three hours of laughs from all that SNL content.
cool
Did Netflix ever respond to any questions from the article posted at the end of August? (http://consumerist.com/2010/08/send-us-the-questions-you-want-netflix-to-answer.html)
Is this showing up in netflix USA already? I searched on netflix canada and I’m not seeing any of that content as available. Although they *do* have BSG from 1979-1980.
Am I getting the impression that Netflix is trying to make sure that Blockbuster is not only bankrupt, but they die, die, die???
Want to kill Netflix? make it more TV than movies. I will NEVER pay for TV, It’s just not that good, Important or worth it.
I’m not sure where to even begin with your statement. I understand the allure of cinema, and there have obviously been some great movies over the decades. But anyone who truly loves the art of visual storytelling should know that right now, the best things being produced are being done for TV. I can’t think of one movie in the last few years that absolutely blew me away.
But on TV, we’ve had The Wire, Breaking Bad, Mad Men, Friday Night Lights, The Shield, Six Feet Under, The Sopranos, etc., etc. And that’s not even getting into the comedies like Parks and Rec or 30 Rock, or the genre pieces like BSG & Lost.
Now if they would only include CBS and AMC I’d be happy. CBS is very careful of how many current episodes of programs such as The Mentalist, and AMC is of Mad Men.
Right now my TV is not working because of some home remodeling, and I would gladly pay to see an episode that I am missing.
What about streaming Parks and Rec?
I’ve never been able to figure out why I’ve always been able to stream The Office and 30 Rock (thrilled I’ve been able to, some of the best streaming content on Netflix) but not Parks and Rec considering that Parks and Rec, another NBC Thursday comedy and created by the creators of theOffice, has much weaker ratings and DVD sales so I would assume it would be much cheaper for Netflix to acquire.
I’ve wondered the same thing. I’m curious if it’s NBC or Netflix who are blocking that one from streaming. I’m -this- close to breaking down and buying the DVDs just so I can watch the episodes again.
Could also be an issue with the actual program rights – NBC is one of the production companies, but they may not own all the rights.
Me So Happy!
I’ve been getting the BSG DVDs via Netflix and working my way through the series recently and am loving it. Streaming will be much more convenient though! Yay! Although not all the episodes? What’s up with that? I hate it when one or two episodes of a show are not allowed to be streamed. It really breaks the flow! Still, this is awesome!
I looked at the BSG episode list and they did have 75 regular episodes. I just wonder if they said that since they’re not streaming the BSG movies or the web-only miniseries.
I hope Netflix doesn’t become all TV but it’s nice to see them adding stuff, even though I don’t watch network at all since LOST went off. I’m really considering dropping my satellite to save money, if I can scrape up enough for a Roku box. And a new router, since my G is getting wheezy.
Yes! Now I can finally watch the Ralph Nader hosted episode from 1977. According to writer Jim Martin “you will never see another human being so uncomfortable or ill at ease” than watching Nader on that show.
Could he possibly be worse than Hulk Hogan? Now I get to find out!
Nice job Netflix!
sweet
“More than 75 prior season episodes of Battlestar Galactica”
Wait. I thought it was over. Why would they feel it necessary to specify PRIOR seasons? So what if they aren’t streaming Caprica, that is a different show and so wouldn’t be considered a new season of BSG. Right? Right!