Netflix Update: What's Leaving in March 2015

In which I report on the upcoming changes to Netflix.

With another month come and gone comes another turnover of Netflix programming.  By this point in time, the change seems to be pretty par for the course: a sizable (although not deal-breaking) chunk of quality programming is leaving while a mixed bag of quality is brought in to replace it (although more on this last part later).  For right now, these are some of the movies and tv shows that you can no longer expect to find through Netflix's streaming services:

March on Netflix is facing up to be a punch right in the childhood.  Their cache of Golden-Age Cartoon Network shows are all expiring this month: including Cow and Chicken, The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy, Dexter's Laboratory, Samurai Jack and Johnny Bravo.  Ben 10 - a show which always had far better creature design than writing - is also on the chopping block, as is Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends and Robot Chicken.

The biggest show leaving this month, however, is unquestionably Adventure Time.  Like My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, Adventure Time has an oddly adult appeal to it.  The occasionally awesome, occasionally terrible, invariably weird animated series' departure is bound to upset its many die-hard fans who will have to take solace in its omnipresent syndication on cable television and recently announced film adaptation.

Neither this nor the previously mentioned shows, however, are scheduled to be removed until the end of the month, which gives fans plenty of time to revisit their favorite episodes and story arcs.  And who knows, maybe the same eleventh hour wheeling and dealing that saved Doctor Who can extend these shows' shelf lives as well.

Horror fans also have a lot to bemoan about with March, as a lot of classic and schlocky favorites are set to leave the streaming service throughout the month.  Se7en - a terse thriller starring Morgan Freeman, Brad Pitt and Kevin Spacey about a murderer who dispatches his victims according to the deadly sin that they most strongly identify with - is considered by many to be the best film that renowned director David Fincher ever produced.  Light-hearted creature features like Anaconda and Arachnophobia are perfect gateways into the genre for younger viewers, and their absence makes the horror increasingly off-putting and inaccessible to the general public.  Cultural landmark The Blair Witch Project - whose verisimilitude caused many viewers to believe that it was actually found footage snuff film about of a group of teenagers who got lost in the woods - is also set to depart at the beginning of the month.

Comedy doesn't seem to be faring any better.  Dumb and Dumber, which was brought on not too long ago, is set to leave by the end of the day, making it increasingly obvious that its inclusion to Netflix wasn't meant for genre fans, but as a marketing tool to promote its misfired sequel.  Cool Runnings - an inaccurate-if-fun recreation of the trials and tribulations of the first Jamaican bobsled team - is set to leave alongside, Romy and Michelle's High School Reunion, Flubber and a host of Muppet movies.

Fans of esteemed classics will likewise lose out on opportunities to see The Graduate - rightly seen as emblematic of the sexual revolution of the sixties.  The well-aged shocker House on Haunted Hill will likewise exit in March, as will the well-regarded original Fright Night.  The full list of exiting titles (alongside their date of departure) are listed below.

Leaving March 1
3 Ninjas: Kick Back (1994)
Air Bud (1997)
Anaconda (1997)
Arachnophobia (1990)
Brokedown Palace (1999)
Cheech & Chong’s Nice Dreams (1981)
Cool Runnings (1993)
Desperado (1995)
Dumb and Dumber (1994)
Emma (1996)
Evita (1996)
Fireproof (2008)
Freaky Friday (2003)
Fright Night (1985)
Girlfight (2000)
Honey, I Shrunk the Kids (1989)
Jackass: Number Two (2006)
Lords of Dogtown (2005)
Old Yeller (1957)
Ordinary People (1980)
Out of Time (2003)
Pretty in Pink (1986)
Rachel Getting Married (2008)
Riding in Cars with Boys (2001)
Robin Hood: Men in Tights (1993)
RoboCop 2 (1990)
RoboCop 3 (1993)
Saving Silverman (2001)
Se7en (1995)
Swiss Family Robinson (1960)
The Baby Sitters Club (1995)
The Blair Witch Project (1999)
The Graduate (1967)
The Possession (2012)
The Sweetest Thing (2002)
Troop Beverly Hills (1989)

Leaving March 2
Uptown Girls (2003)

Leaving March 3
The Preacher’s Wife (1996)

Leaving March 5
The Muppet Movie (1979)

Leaving March 11
Flubber (1997)

Leaving March 12
The Grey (2012)

Leaving March 15
House on Haunted Hill (1959)
Muppet Treasure Island (1996)

Leaving March 16
The Tale of Despereaux (2008)

Leaving March 22
Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion (1997)

Leaving March 30
Adventure Time: Season 1-*4
Ben 10: Season 1-*3
Childrens Hospital: Season 1*-2
Codename: Kids Next Door: Season 4-*6
Cow and Chicken: Season 2
Dexter’s Laboratory: Season 3-*4
Dude, What Would Happen?: Season 2
Ed, Edd ‘n’ Eddy: Season 3-*4
Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends: Season 2
Johnny Bravo: Season 2
Regular Show: Season 1-*4
Robot Chicken: Season 1*-2
Samurai Jack: Season 2
The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy: Season 3*-4

Leaving March 31
Legends of the Fall (1994)

So which exiting shows and movies are you going to miss most?  What, if anything, should replace them?

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