It’s been a tough year for Netflix owners. A price increase and an ever increasing shift to Netflix Originals the headlines for the streaming service has all been a bit gloomy. With content coming and going from the service, we thought as we’re half way through the year to take a bit of a stock take of what has actually left so far in 2016. After a lot of looking, we could only really distill the TV series lost in a top 5 list.
Here is the top 5 series that have bitten the dust and have been removed from Netflix and where they’ve gone to.
5. Entire TED Talks Collection
Removed March 2016
TED Talks serves to provide talks that are both informative and inspiring and quite often both. Netflix for the past few years has been the home of many best of collections for TED Talks but this year Netflix has clearly decided that you’re better off being inspired elsewhere. 31 series in total were removed leaving Netflix null and void of any TED Talks. Here’s the full list of TED Talks that were removed in March.
So the good news is that TED Talks is non-profit meaning that their collection of content is readily and most importantly, freely accessible from their website and many are streaming on YouTube.
4. Curious George
Removed March 2016
Curious George has been around for decades and has been rebooted in many different formats. One of the most successful was the animation series pioneered by PBS. The series contained the curious monkey, George getting up to all kinds of mischief. It’s wonderfully animated and has stood the test the time and most importantly is a favorite among the kids. That then, makes it a real tough pill to swallow when we learned that every single season would be leaving.
Where is Curious George now? He’s gone off to Hulu exclusively along with brand new seasons.
3. Sesame Street
Removed January 2016
Another PBS favorite now that has frequently threatened to leave Netflix over the past few years but in 2016, it’s now gone for good. Many of us grew up with Sesame Street and new generations continue to grow up with Sesame Street too. It’s introduced to us to many iconic faces but the two that sticks out are Elmo and of course, Big Bird. Netflix didn’t have every single Sesame Street episode but it did have plenty of the series and a load of best of series.
In an effort to save on costs, Sesame Street has now moved over exclusively to HBO and HBO Now. This obviously means that there’s no room for a future return of our favorite Jim Henson puppets.
2. M*A*S*H
Removed April 2016
One of the oldest series on Netflix made its departure seemingly for nowhere during the April 2016 purge of the Netflix library. It also included the movie too which is no longer streaming on Netflix too. It was a long running series during the 80’s that focused on a series of medics during the war. It’s one of America’s most renowned shows in the last few decades and was a staple in CBS’s lineup on Netflix. The series is party available on CBS All Access but other than that, it’s hasn’t been made exclusive on another platform.
1. Doctor Who
Removed February 2016
The biggest and by far the biggest felt loss of 2016. The British show is among the countries best output of entertainment over the years and is loved by millions. The sci-fi series is all about a time travelling time lord who travels from place to place and time to time with a trusty companion. We’ve seen multiple Doctors over the years including David Tennant, Matt Smith and more recently, Peter Capaldi. Not only did Netflix lose the newest series, which up until it was lost did receive regular yearly updates of all the new episodes but they also lost the Classic Doctor Who collection too which was a trip down memory lane.
It was announced a month later that the show would become exclusive on Netflix rival, Amazon Prime which is now where it lives permanently.
