Netflix to Stream Supernatural

Netflix, Warner Bros. Television, and the CW have signed a deal to stream CW shows instantly on Netflix for U.S. customers.

Supernatural will start in January 2012. This season will be available in the fall, and future seasons will be added in a "commensurate window." It sounds like they won't be streaming current episodes in any ongoing season; those will stay on the CW's website.

Surviving the Hellatus

It used to be—or at least it seemed to me—that the hellatus mainly applied to Supernatural. I could get through it because, as long and lonely as the six to eight weeks off in midseason are, that wasn't universal. The other TV shows I watch used to be all staggered. Some started late in the season, so they went longer. Early cancellations mean shows finish out their run, maybe when they normally would have gone into repeats, and new shows premiere early.

This year, though, I seem to be facing a bigger entertainment desert. Almost all the shows I watch are finished and not coming back until late January. So I need to find some ways to fill in the gaps. Here's my plan:


1. Spend time with out-of-town family!
My brother, sister-in-law, and three-year-old nephew are coming to town for a few days next week. That will fill a few evenings! :)

2. Finally catch up on The Event.
I like Sean. (I think that's his name.) I want to see why he's such a target. Otherwise, there isn't another character on the show I really care about. That's the main thing missing. On FlashForward, I cared about almost everyone, even when they were bad. Anyway, I'm six or seven episodes behind at this point, so I'll have time to catch up.

3. Doctor Who!!!
For the first time, I'll be watching a Doctor Who Christmas special live, or close to it. He's smack in the middle of the Supernatural hellatus, and will be a welcome diversion.






4. Catch up on other shows
I'm mostly caught up, but Undercovers piled up a little, and there are a few shows I watch with my husband that we haven't been coordinated for.

5. Return of Leverage
Leverage only has three episodes, but that's an evening and a half covered! :)

7. Give The Cape a try
I wasn't too excited about this when I first read the synopsis back in May. But Summer Glau has a regular role, as does someone else I read that I now can't remember or find. Huh. Anyway, loving an actor doesn't make a show worth watching (Ref. No Ordinary Family), but it makes it worth trying. :)

8. Rewatch Season 5
I usually start at the beginning and rewatch all the seasons during the summer, but I started late this year, and ran out of time before this season began. I'm through season 4. Season 5 will keep me from going into withdrawal. :) Rewatching every episode so many times might seem excessive, but I love seeing little things—lines, actions, symbols—that feed into what goes on down the line, whether they were intentional at the time or not. Like Dean talking about the hole inside him after hell, and how that connects to Sam's decision not to seek his soul's return.

9. Put Netflix to its intended use
I had the DVD for Love and Basketball for more than three months before I watched it. I've been a little better with Entourage. After that, I really don't know what's in my queue. I'll try to burn through a lot of disks and Wii streaming during the break. Boost my stats for 2010 and get a good start to 2011.

10. Reading
I never stop, but during hiatus, I'll spend more evenings just reading, a cup of hot cocoa at my side and a kitty on my lap.

11. Okay, okay, I'll probably write, too.
After four years of working at home, I had my day structured nicely, and evenings were always for relaxing. Now that I have an outside day job plus freelance work into the early evening, my brain decides I'm done around dinner time. Writing late is problematic. But if I have no TV enticing me to just lie down on the couch and chill, maybe I'll increase the word count on my works in progress.

How about you? What will you fill this hellatus with?

Thank you, Netflix!

If it wasn't for the wonders of the little red envelopes in my mailbox, I might not have become the big Supernatural fan that I am. I know -- horrors! You see, it was the summer of 2006, and I was depressed. I'd been writing with the aim of publishing my novels for 11 years, and still nada. I was at the point of giving up, so I largely took the summer off to do my best imitation of a slug on my couch.

Many of my fellow writers would often sing the praises of a show I had missed when it was on -- Buffy the Vampire Slayer (stick with me -- we'll get to Supernatural, I promise). So, I borrowed the first season from a friend, Jody Wallace, and thought, "Hey, I'll watch an episode a day."

Wrong. I blew through the entire first season in like 2-3 days and went back to Jody to borrow seasons 2 and 3. And when I got to a season she didn't have, I went out and bought it. Suffice it to say that very quickly watched all seven seasons of Buffy and all five seasons of the spinoff, Angel.

I still wasn't quite ready to start writing again, so I joined Netflix, went looking for other fun paranormal shows and (queue the Hallelujah Chorus), rented the first season of Supernatural. LOVED it!

Thus began my love affair with my now-favorite show. I finished watching that first season just in time to become a devoted weekly watcher as Season 2 debuted. My fan status grew to where I bought the first season for my very own (as I have with all seasons since), I started listening to a Supernatural podcast, cruised YouTube for fan vids, read blogs related to the show, bought Supernatural T-shirts and eventually came up with the idea for this group blog where some writer friends who I knew were also big fans of the show and I could wax poetic about all things Winchester. And to think it might not have happened without Netflix or my summer of despair. :)

As I finished watching that first season on DVD and launched into the second season live, a funny thing happened. My desire to write and my excitement about creating new stories came back. I wrote a paranormal young adult novel that went on to win the Golden Heart, the top award given to unpublished romance manuscripts by Romance Writers of America. I have high hopes of seeing that book sell and make it to bookstore shelves. It's currently with my editor, so fingers crossed! If I hadn't gotten that burst of inspiration, I might have finally thrown in the towel. I'm so thankful I didn't because one year later, I finally sold my first novel and have gone on to sell five more. So I guess you could say I owe my career to Joss Whedon, Eric Kripke and Netflix.

Now, questions for you:

1. How were you introduced to the show? Were you a devoted follower from the Pilot episode?
2. Have you ever gone back and found a show you loved but had missed through the wonders of Netflix, Blockbuster or other DVD option?