On the box: Netflix welcomes SA, at last, to a cornucopia of shows

15 January 2016 - 02:28 By Yolisa Mkele

Last week a chunk of the South African population ululated at the news that global streaming service Netflix had arrived. Although there are already a number of streaming services available, such as Showmax and Vidi, neither can hold a torch to Netflix in terms of selection and original content.There's a glitch. The Netflix on offer in the US will not be the same as the one available to us.There will be less available viewing and, due to various licensing agreements, shows like House of Cards and Orange is the New Black will still need a DStv subscription. Furthermore, series like Game of Thrones and Downton Abbey weren't Netflix shows to begin with and so they aren't carried. So, while Americans are swimming in content, we can still wade knee-deep.NARCOSThe Golden Globe-nominated drama was one of the best television series to come out of 2015. It chronicles the rise and fall of the Genghis Khan of drug kingpins, Pablo Escobar (Wagner Moura) in delicious detail.DAREDEVILUnlike the ill-fated Ben Affleck lead movie, Daredevil the series is actually good. In it Matt Murdoch (Charlie Cox), a blind lawyer with significantly heightened senses and some nifty kung fu abilities, goes up against crime kingpin Wilson Fisk (Vincent D'Onofrio) in a good- versus-evil battle where you're never sure who is on which side.JESSICA JONESAnother of Netflix's Marvel creations Jessica Jones is the gritty story of a private investigator trying to drown her past in cheap whisky. Fortunately for viewers, her past can swim and soon catches up with her in the form of a villain who believes in a conscience.MARCO POLOThe adventures of Marco Polo the explorer and the intrigues he encounters as he meets Kublai Khan and becomes one of the first Westerners to see China.MAKING A MURDERERA teeth-clenching 10-part documentary detailing the story of Steven Avery, a man who spent 18 years in prison after being wrongfully prosecuted for sexual assault.In 2003 Avery was exonerated after DNA evidence proved that it was someone else. Two years later Avery was arrested and later convicted of murder...

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