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In Canada, Netflix has taken a while to mature. The copyrights are different across international borders and our content has been a little slow on the uptake.
Last night I canvassed my Twitter crowd and asked if Netflix Canada had caught up. They said while it was still a little light, the children’s program was great. So I signed up for my free month trial and flipped the switch tonight.
The kid’s programming is very deep. All the popular characters you’d find on Treehouse are there and there’s a long list of animated and live action movies. My youngest saw Elmo as I was scrolling and asked for that.
I clicked in and there was no Elmo. This was a classic Sesame Street episode from 1971. Grover as a waiter serving alphabet soup. The aliens bemused by a phone. Oscar putting on a winter hat. And Luis, David, and Bob playing “one of these things is not like the other.”
Woah. It didn’t matter Elmo wasn’t around, my boys were riveted. Down went the iPads with the new Hoth levels for Angry Birds that they had been banging away at, and there attention was drawn in to Sesame Street.
My son’s have seen a little bit of Sesame Street, but not as much as I did growing up. It’s on middays and our oldest is at school, and our youngest has no TV until after 4. So seeing the Count sing a numbers song was greeted with “Vampire Guy!” glee from our youngest (he didn’t know his name.)
I cuddled up alongside my children, reminiscing with 45 second clips that were 40 years old. Sure, a dial phone may not be relevant in 2012, but the lessons about “above and below” and cooperation and the letter U were still on point. My boys laughed, clapped, and when it was over demanded “AGAIN!”
So I’ll be getting Netflix Canada. But not for the Max and Ruby, Caillou, Backyardigans, and Kung Fu Panda movies – I’ll be getting it for 40 year old episodes of Sesame Street.