How to Watch Your Favorite TV Shows Online

While most families still gather around the television each week to watch the latest episode of their favorite show, a quiet revolution is afoot: free, online television. The NYTimes recently reported that 16% of households watched at least one show online in the past year; this number is double from the previous year. New viewers are discovering that watching TV online filters advertising, saves time and restores sanity to a busy household. And for families concerned about the content of a program, parents can now watch the show themselves and then show it to their children. After all their homework is done first, of course!

The major networks (ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC) all have the majority of their shows available on-line as do many of the smaller networks (CW, HBO, Comedy Central, Disney and others). You can find out which shows are available through the TV Squad link at the left. To watch a show online, go to the network's website, look for "full episodes" and sit back and relax. A typical offering includes the episode currently airing, stripped of all commercials except for four to six 30-second spots (which leaves your total viewing time under 45 minutes) that can be streamed at your convenience for at least a week from the show's first airing. Frequently, the entire season that has aired is available. The quality is solid on my DSL network: I can watch all my tv shows in a screen large enough to see the action clearly and some of the networks even offer full-screen viewing.