Celebrating Canadian TV on Netflix...

Last week, I calculated my hours spent watching TV this year by using an app created by the brilliant designer Alex Cican.

Apparently, for someone who claims to “never watch TV,” I spent 9 days 8 hours and 48 minutes binge watching shows like Breaking Bad, Orange is the New Black, Suits, Downton Abby and Community among others. Most of which I’ve watched on Netflix!

THAT’S IT I said to myself. I’M DONE! No more TV for this lazy chick who wasted over nine days of her life this year on GARBAGE when I’m a designer and could be writing awesome apps like Alex!

Except that…I’m a Netflix #StreamTeam blogger and, the thing is…it was 9 glorious, fabulous, wonderful days of amazing TV…not quite strewn together in such a hunk of lazy lumpiness unless you count the entire weekend I spent watching season two of Orange is the New Black and besides…I didn’t have the kids and it was raining and I really needed the mental break!

TV, while I don’t watch it the way I used to watch it, provides an absolute escape from all of the rest of the clutter going on outside. It provides a welcome break and I have to say…it’s not mindless watching when you choose to binge watch a program…it’s calculated watching! A show is chosen with great thought, then viewed at a time when there’s nothing else that needs to be done (except maybe for laundry…but laundry always needs to be done.)

This month, in honour of July 1st’s Canada Day, Netflix challenged us to watch Canadian shows…shows written by Canadians, produced by Canadians or acted by Canadians. They gave us a list that included shows for big kids like:

Or shows for little kids like:

I looked at the list and looked a little more…and despite a fabulous list of children’s shows…many of which I didn’t know had Canadian roots…in my head I was screaming “I CAN’T POSSIBLY WATCH ANOTHER EPISODE OF CAILLOU!”

Been there, done that. Got the t-shirt. And the panties.

Seriously, Spider-Man rocked the Caillou shirt and Bones absolutely adored her Rosie panties!

The thing is…my kids are a little older and their tastes in shows are more in line with mine. But…when they were babes and down for a nap, it was on more than one occasion that I found myself sitting in front of the TV mindlessly watching a children’s show!

So…I emailed our #StreamTeam guru explaining my dilemma (plus the kids were away so I didn’t want to watch age appropriate shows anyway). I asked for a few more choices and she responded with complete understanding and a new choice of shows.

I scrolled down the list…Martin Short movies…a couple of Jim Carrey flicks…don’t know that guy…never heard of her…hey I didn’t know The Fly was made by a Canadian or that One Week was shot in Canada! Then, my eyes stopped on a complete series…Arrested Development…starring TWO Canadian actors, Michael Cera and Will Arnett, both from Ontario.

I’d been told I would love it. And, with 22 minute episodes of mindless laughter, I could fit a few of them into my schedule over the next few weeks (I’m already six episodes in and it’s fabulous moments of ridiculous humour!)

I ran it through my new fancy app to see how much time I’d waste and it came up with 1 day, 10 hours, 0 minutes…that’s 34 hours! To myself. In front of a TV. With not a care in the world…no need to think of design work, or laundry, or momma worries…no need to do anything else but sit there and tune out.

Sounds absolutely glorious to me!