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Netflix “The Program”: My Experience Growing Up In Horror Story Setting

Author Aimee Thomas
In this photo illustration the Netflix logo is seen on September 19, 2014 in Paris, France.

I was born and raised in a small “city” in upstate NY called Ogdensburg. When I graduated high school, in 2004, the population was 11,511. It was a beautiful place to grow up. Winters were long but summers were the most beautiful place to be (summer only took place in July).

“The Program: Cons, Cults, and Kidnapping.” A crazy documentary dives into the dark world of boarding schools for kids who are misbehaving. All takes place in an unexpected place – my hometown, the small town of Ogdensburg, New York.

Academy at Ivy Ridge, a disciplinary boarding institution is the name of the school. You sent your kids there if they were going down the wrong path. Misbehaving at home and school, hanging out with the wrong people, drinking or smoking. The school was said to teach your children, help your children, and take care of your children. But instead, it was full of deceit, manipulation, and abuse.

Through intense interviews by and with survivors, “The Program” uncovers the many detailed layers of deception that the school showed the parents or caregivers of the teenagers who attended this school. The school was open from 2001-2009. I have no idea how it stayed open for that long. Most of the kids stayed there for about 2 years dealing with the abuse and dealing with psychological tactics by the employees of Ivy Ridge.

“The Program: Cons, Cults, and Kidnapping” is really sad to watch especially because I lived exactly 1 mile away from the school and was the same age as the kids that attended the school. To know that was going on behind those walls and we were all going about our day-to-day life not having a clue is sad. I’m glad that the documentary crew decided to release all of this information. Will the people pay? I don’t know but at least it is all out in the open and the kids that it affected can at least know their story was told.

Aimee Thomas is the morning show co-host of Aimee + Shawn on 102.7 VGS. She has been VGS since the birth of the station in 2022 and has been with Beasley Media Group for nine years doing mornings at various stations in the cluster. Before working in radio Aimee was a bartender at a local restaurant in Las Vegas when a local radio veteran thought she would be perfect in radio because of her crazy stories, knowledge of pop culture, and contagious laugh. Aimee loves writing about new recipes she creates in her kitchen, her favorite artists and actors, and being a mom of two boys.

Netflix Shares 2023's Most-Hours Spent on Films and TV Shows

Right before the end of the year, Netflix shared new information about their viewers. Since launching their weekly Top 10 and Most Popular lists two years ago, the streaming giant has been providing more information about what people are watching. On Tuesday (December 12), Netflix published their What We Watched: A Netflix Engagement Report, which is a comprehensive report of what people watched on Netflix over a six-month period (January to June 2023). They took into account the hours viewed for every single title they have as their original content as well as licensed content that was watched for over 50,000 hours, the premiere date for the content, runtimes, and whether a title was available worldwide.

In total, this new report covers more than 18,000 titles — representing 99% of all viewing on Netflix — and nearly 100 billion hours viewed. Over 60% of Netflix titles released in the first six months of the year simultaneously appeared on their weekly Top 10 lists. So, while this report is broader in scope, the trends reflected similarly mimic those in the Top 10 lists. For example, television series Ginny & Georgia, Alice in Borderland, The Marked Heart, Outer Banks, You, Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story, XO Kitty, and films Murder Mystery 2 and Extraction 2. Meanwhile, new series like The Night Agent, The Diplomat, Beef, and FUBAR generated huge audiences. Non-English stories garnered 30% of all viewing, and older, licensed titles were in demand from Netflix. 55% of viewing came from Netflix films and series, while 45% came from licensed titles, like Breaking Bad, The Walking Dead, and Suits.

Netflix said in their report that this would be bi-annual data that would show the engagement of their viewers. They claim that the information provided will “give creators and our industry deeper insights into our audiences and what resonates with them.” Take a look below at Netflix’s 7 Most-Viewed Items for the first half of the year:

  • 7. 'La Reina del Sur' Season 3

    Based on the novel by Arturo Pérez-Reverte, the series follows Teresa Mendoza, a naive woman and girlfriend of a Mexican involved in drug trafficking, who becomes the leader of a drug cartel. The third season of the series was released on December 30, 2022, not globally, and watched for 429,600,000 hours.

  • 6. 'You' Season 4

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3COY_HrMngc

    What we thought was going to be the final season was released in two parts: the first on February 9, 2023 and the second part on March 9, 2023. The season picked up from Joe (Penn Badgley) searching for Marienne (Tati Gabrielle) in London, but turns into Joe trying to turn a new leaf and stop killing — that is, until the “Eat-the-rich” killer strikes. The fourth season was watched 440,600,000 hours.

  • 5. 'Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story'

    This prequel series from the pandemic-popular Bridgerton was released on May 4, 2023. The story is loosely based on the rise of Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz to prominence and power in the late 18th century. The six-episode series was watched 503,000,000 hours.

  • 4. 'Wednesday' Season 1

    Jenna Ortega cemented her role as the titular character Wednesday in this comedy/horror series. Wednesday was released on November 23,2022. Fans watched 507,700,000 hours of the first season.

  • 3. 'The Glory' Season 1

    This Korean psychological revenge series was released on December 30, 2022. The story follows a young woman, bullied to the point of deciding to drop out of school, who plans the best way to get revenge. She becomes a primary school teacher, taking in the son of the man who tormented her the most. The first season was watched 622,800,000 hours.

  • 2. 'Ginny & Georgia' Season 2

    Our favorite dysfunctional family returned on January 5, 2023. The second season had that pesky private investigator connect more dots, but the mother-daughter duo had each other’s backs, even if the other didn’t know it. Season two was watched 665,100,000 hours.

  • 1. 'The Night Agent' Season 1

    Taking the top spot is the series based on the book of the same name by Matthew Quirk. While monitoring an emergency line, an FBI agent answers a call that plunges him into a deadly conspiracy involving a mole at the White House. The first season was released on March 23, 2023, and fans watched an astounding 812,100,000 hours!

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