When you think Netflix don’t think just movies

I’d be willing to bet that if someone explained to you what Netflix is, the words DVDs and movies would be mentioned multiple times. I’d also be willing to bet that the phrase “television shows” is never mentioned.

That’s because most people aren’t aware that Netflix also offers television shows in addition to its giant movie collection. Missed the final season of Sopranos? Netflix has you covered. Wondering how each of the characters in Heroes discovered their powers? Netflix has you covered again.

To view the list of television shows available on DVD in Netflix just select Television as your genre when browsing DVDs. You’ll see a selection that looks something like this:

The best part is that Netflix offers an easy, 1-click Add All button to television seasons that ship on more than one DVD. This way you’re guaranteed to get every episode of a season in order which is important because no one wants to see the season finale of the Sopranos before the first episode that same season.

And don’t worry about running out of television shows to watch. Netflix currently carries television shows from the following networks: A&E, ABC, BBC, Bravo, Cartoon Network, CBS, Comedy Central, CW/WB, Discovery Channel, Disney Channel, Fox, HBO, History Channel, LOGO, MTV, National Geographic, NBC, Nickelodeon, PBS, Sci-Fi Channel, Showtime and TLC.

Those of you (like me) that don’t subscribe to cable or satellite will be thrilled with that collection. And a large percentage of you that do have cable or satellite probably don’t subscribe to both HBO and Showtime still leaving you with a large collection of shows to choose from.

You don’t have to wait for the DVD

Now I know what some of you are thinking. This is great but I still have to wait a year after a show airs for it to be released on DVD and available on Netflix. Not necessarily. Some shows like Heroes are available as soon as the day after the show airs on regular television using Netflix’s instant watching capability.

So next time someone tells you that Netflix is all about renting movies on DVD, give them a gentle reminder that it’s all about television shows too.