Here’s a look at what media of interest is coming out in January 2026.
DVDs and Blu-rays
A full list is available here.
- The Woody Woodpecker and Friends Golden Age Collection (Blu-ray), Jan. 20
- Doctor Who: Tom Baker: Season 2 (Blu-ray), Jan. 20
- The New Fred and Barney Show (complete series) (Blu-ray), Jan. 27
Disney+/Hulu
A full list is available here.
- Wonder Man (Disney+ Original), Jan. 27
Sports
- NHL Winter Classic (New York Rangers vs. Florida Panthers), Jan. 2 at 8 PM ET/5 PM PT (TNT, TruTV, HBO Max)
Other
- The 2026 Rose Parade, Jan. 1 at 11 AM ET/8 AM PT (NBC, ABC, Fox, CNN, Pluto TV)
Netflix Originals departing in 2026
Netflix has released a list of Netflix Originals leaving the service in 2026. Among the shows receiving attention are the DreamWorks animated series, including the “She-Ra” reboot (leaving February 21). There’s the possibility that “She-Ra” and the other DreamWorks shows could end up on Peacock, their parent company’s streaming service. One show so far is confirmed: “The Epic Tales of Captain Underpants,” which debuts on Peacock the same day it leaves Netflix, January 9. So “She-Ra” could show up there in February (or eventually), as well?
As for physical media, “She-Ra” only has its first three seasons available, and only on DVD, despite being made and aired in HD. It’d be nice to see a show from the past decade actually be available in a high definition physical media format.
False advertising: Fred and Barney *don’t* meet the Thing
Coming to Blu-ray via the Warner Archive is “The New Fred and Barney Show.” This 1979 Flintstones spin-off ran for two seasons totaling 17 episodes. Its second season was combined with a cartoon based on Marvel’s Thing (from the Fantastic Four) as the package show “Fred and Barney Meet the Thing.” Later still, this was combined with “The New Shmoo,” a “Scooby-Doo” clone based on the Shmoo from “Lil Abner,” as “Fred and Barney Meet the Shmoo.”
Despite the title, Fred and Barney never actually meet the Thing, except in the introduction and a few bumpers. They did, however, eventually meet the Shmoo, as a backup segment in the “Bedrock Cops” segments of 1980’s “The Flintstone Comedy Show.” A YouTube interview with a Warner Archive employee states that since Warner Bros. doesn’t have the rights to the Thing or the Shmoo, they can’t release a Blu-ray based on those versions of its airings. It might also explain why there hasn’t been a DVD/Blu-ray release of “The Flintstone Comedy Show” or the Thing’s shorts (Marvel/Disney owns the Thing, but Warner Bros. owns Hanna-Barbera.)
“The New Fred and Barney Show” is a revival of the original series’ format, with Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm as toddlers. That said, it’s still a Saturday morning take, with plots based on campy monsters (versions of Count Rockula and the Frankenstone Monster appear) and 70s pop culture trends (one episode revolves around CB radios, while another involves a KISS parody). We also get late 70s “Stone Age” tech, such as microwave ovens (a dragon in a box spewing rings of fire at food) and the aforementioned CB radios (which apparently work like regular CB radios, though the plot involves Fred using a squirrel-powered “signal booster”).
One observation: the box art uses stock art from after the 70s for the Flintstones’ house, when spin-offs (like “The Jetsons Meet the Flintstones”) give it a satellite dish, keeping with real-life tech trends. This late 70s series showed Fred’s TV like most ones in real life at the time: the use of rabbit ear antennas to watch over-the-air broadcasts (said “rabbit ears” being a real rabbit, of course).
Here’s the opening credits:
Sports stuff
The annual NHL Winter Classic is being held on Friday, January 2 this year. The game’s being held as an outdoor game in Florida, versus the actual-cold-weather location of New York. (Today’s predicted high in Miami as of this writing: 80 F / 27 C, versus 32 F / 0 C in New York.)
Photo by Chris Liverani on Unsplash
