While the phrase “watch TV shows online for free” may look like the subject line of the latest nuisance to infiltrate your email inbox, today’s broadband internet subscribers can, in fact, watch TV shows online without paying a penny for them. And, we’re not talking about illegal TV show downloads using bittorrent websites or file-sharing programs like Limewire; we’re talking about watching streaming TV shows straight from the network websites themselves.
Now, maybe this isn’t something to be proud of, but I’m a television connoisseur; prime-time is my time to unwind. Sports don’t thrill me and I couldn’t care less about spending an hour with Oprah or Dr. Phil, but set me up with the idiosyncratic scene transitions from David Caruso, A.K.A Horatio Caine or the white-knuckled thrill ride that the Unit sends me on, week after week, and I’m doing fine.
The thing is, I do have a life beyond TV – and in all honesty, anymore I don’t always have the opportunity to sit down in front of the tube to catch the latest and greatest that the networks have to offer for my viewing pleasure. However, that doesn’t mean that I have to miss out on my favorite TV shows if I happen to be busy during their prime-time slots. For as much as the media-giants have fought online distribution of their content, some of these corporate conglomerates have changed tunes and are whistling a new song; the song with the lyrics telling us that we get to watch our favorite TV show for free; legally, no less.
My personal favorite, though there are no new shows being aired due to the writers’ strike, is the Daily Show with Jon Stewart; you can catch the entire archive of this Comedy Central show on the Daily Show website:
http://www.thedailyshow.com
More Free Streaming TV Shows
http://www.cbs.com
To catch any of the 3 CSI’s, The Unit, Cane, NCIS, Numb3rs or a number of other TV shows aired by CBS, you can head over to their website and catch the last few episodes online.
http://www.fox.com/fod/
Maybe your “thing” is House, Family Guy, Prison Break, Bones, Mad TV, Kitchen Nightmares or Cops. If so, you can visit the Fox Network website and watch the latest episodes there.
http://www.nbc.com
Of course, you can’t forget about Chuck, Life, the Bionic Woman, The Office, Las Vegas and Scrubs; these TV shows and more can be found on the NBC website.
http://www.cwtv.com/cw-video
For those who happen to like Gossip Girl, One Tree Hill, Girlfriends, Aliens in America or Beauty and the Geek, you can head on over to CWTV and get your fill of these shows and more.
http://www.scifi.com/pulse/
The SCIFI Channel is now offering select shows for streaming on their website.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/view/
PBS Frontline has a nice selection of documentaries and news that they’ve archived on their website.
Now, this list is not comprehensive by any means, but it’s a great resource to have in the event that you happened to miss your favorite show and haven’t purchased your own TIVO yet. Or, if you happen to be in the situation like I am in; my wife loves House and doesn’t care for the Unit – so on Tuesday nights, she wins and watches House and I catch the latest episode of the Unit at my convenience.
As a broadband internet subscriber you have options when it comes to catching your favorite TV shows, and it has nothing to do with illegal downloads, either. If you’ve got some spare time on your hands and want to relax for 20 or 40 minutes, why not take advantage of the generosity of the network stations and watch some streaming TV online; after all – it’s free.
