Who says you have to wait for midnight to have a New Year’s countdown? Netflix, with a short “All Hail King Julien” special episode, is giving parents the chance to start the holiday early with their kids. In fact, the site is giving subscribers the opportunity to have their family New Year’s whenever they want and get the kids to bed for the adult festivities.

According to research cited in a Netflix press release Monday, “more than a third of U.S. parents (34 percent) admitted to starting the [New Year’s] party early to fool their kids into thinking it’s midnight, citing their kid’s or their own bedtime as the reason.” Additionally, 36 percent of parents said they would go as far as to search for a television countdown in another time zone in order to fool their kids.

In response, Netflix released a 4-minute special episode of its original series “All Hail King Julien,” based off the popular character from the DreamWorks animation “Madagascar” movies. The special, called “King Julien New Year’s Eve Countdown,” features a dance and sing-along while counting down the moments until 2015. Planning on using the episode to get the kids to bed early? Netflix has you covered. At the end of the special King Julien (Danny Jacobs) asks, “Is it almost midnight yet? Who cares, it's midnight somewhere!”

In the Netflix press release, a fake quote from the titular character reads, “I was totally bummed when I heard that some of my favorite little party people aren’t allowed to stay up until midnight for the biggest party of the year, but then I realized I’m king, I make the rules! So move over, Ryan Seacrest, I’ve got my very own on-demand countdown party on Netflix. That means the New Year’s Eve party is always on - just how it should be! What better way to ring in Julien-uary?”

The special is available by going to the “All Hail King Julien” home page on Netflix and clicking the “trailers and more” section. If parents are lucky, their kids will be fooled and in bed right on schedule.

Will you watch the Netflix special with your kids? Tweet your thoughts to @Ja9GarofaloTV.

RELATED STORIES
Netflix