Another step into the world of technology

We have discovered a new advantage to the Wii that we bought for the Misses. It is one of those things that most of my friends say "Oh yeah, we knew all about that" when I tell them what we have done. Uh, so why didn't you tell me?!

We have discovered streaming through the Wii from Netflix!

It is so awesome to be able to watch movies when we want, to catch up on shows that we missed while in France, AND ... TO WATCH TOP GEAR!!!

This show was a dirty little pleasure while we lived in France. We lucked into a British satellite system which allowed us to watch a whole range of British television shows. The programming on cbeebies was better than PBS. I got hooked on the original version of MasterChef and my husband insisted we watch Top Gear.

I really didn't like it for the first few months. Then I started to understand the humor, and the background information. I had watched enough of the news programs on the BBC that I knew who or what they were talking about. As an American I understood a lot of the jokes made at our expense (and agreed with a few). I got to the point where I looked forward to watching this show, and was even a little bummed when we missed it (never fear, off-season reruns are as bad there as here).

And we won't even talk about my withdrawal when we moved back.

There is nothing like this show in the US, probably due to the fact that about 90% of the show would be banned by the FCC for language or content. These guys are rude, obnoxious, irreverent, and totally hilarious! This is a $1.5 billion-a-year "property" which is watched by around 350 million people each week in 170 countries (all according to 60 Minutes on Sunday night).

I am happy to be back among the ranks of Top Gear watchers. We pop in a DVD in order to watch the most recent season, or pull up an older episode to stream while my husband rides his stationary bike. We laugh, we catch up on "current events," and we even learn a little about cars we will never be able to afford.

So if you ask me if the $9.99 a month for Netflix is worth it to me, I will answer you with a resounding "YES!" and a request that you not call between 8 and 9 PM as we will be watching Top Gear! :)