Maybe you don't have a TV. Maybe you don't want to pay for cable, or rent a satellite dish. Maybe you don't like accommodating the odd and conflicting schedules of competing armies of shows, or maybe you just slip out of sync every once in a while. Sometimes you can't watch what you want to watch, and it would be nice to just be able to catch up online, preferably for free. Here's how to do that.
The Free Sites
Hulu
Free, ad-supported, and sanctioned by NBC, ABC and Fox, Hulu hosts a tremendous range of mainstream comedy shows. Most content is hosted within a day; some, like Fox's, is variously delayed. There's also of massive back catalog of off-the-air shows, from NewsRadio to Arrested Development, and British Sitcoms, like Peep Show and Black Books. You'll find:
-30 Rock
-The Office
-It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
-Modern Family
-Louie
-Parks and Recreation
-Community
-The League
-How I Met Your Mother
-Glee
-The Simpsons
-Futurama
-Family Guy
-The Cleveland Show
-Saturday Night Live
-Late Night With Jimmy Fallon
-The Tonight Show with Jay Leno
ABC
ABC.com's own content generally mirrors what they allow streamed on Hulu, albeit streamed through a different player and, often, a bit more catalog depth. You'll find:
-Modern Family
-Scrubs
-Jimmy Kimmel Live!
-The Middle
NBC
NBC's website is altogether more ambitious that other networks', with a stable of online-only content to supplement its broadcast shows. As far as the latter goes, though, you'll find:
-30 Rock
-Community
-Parks and Recreation
-The Office
-Chuck
-Last Call with Carson Daly
-Late Night with Jimmy Fallon
CBS
CBS wasn't game for Hulu, and is generally fairly stingy in what it posts online, especially when it comes to sitcoms. That said, you can still (sometimes) watch full episodes of:
-The Late Show with David Letterman
-The Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson
Fox
Often posted with a long delay, Fox's full length streaming episodes include:
-Family Guy
-Glee
-The Cleveland Show
FX
Their schedule isn't sprawling, nor is their website. But the depth of available episodes is nice:
-Archer
-It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
-The League
-Louie
Comedy Central
The Daily Show and Cobert Report, among others, were available on Hulu until recently, but Comedy Central reined in online distribution, electing to handle it (mostly) in-house. Most of the channel's shows are chopped up and hosted in small pieces (see Tosh.0, Ugly Americans), but there are small but worthwhile handful of exclusive full eps:
-The Daily Show
-The Colbert Report
-South Park
Adult Swim
A lot of Adult Swim's programming seems tailor-made for the internet, and their streaming episode selection is appropriately generous:
-Children's Hospital
-Metalocalypse
-Delocated
-Aqua Teen Hunger Force
-Superjail!
-Robot Chicken
-The Venture Bros.
-Tight Bros. (Coming soon)
HBO Go
Since this web service is only available to HBO subscribers with Verizon FIOS of Comcast internet connections, it's a stretch to call it "free". But it's a great resource, and contains nearly every show in their current and past lineups.
Showtime
It's a meager sample of free full-length episodes, but it's enough to get you started on current seasons of quasi-comedies like Weeds and Nurse Jackie.
Paid Content
iTunes
It's hard to beat iTunes' selection and ease of use, not to mention price: As of September, a large selection of their shows are available for rental for a buck, which is half the price at which they were previously sold (only ABC and Fox are doing the $0.99 rentals at the moment). The episodes also play on your iWhatevers. You'll find:
-NBC's full lineup
-ABC's full lineup
-CBS (extensive catalog)
-FX
-IFC (Kids in the Hall: Death Comes to Town; The Whitest Kids U'Know)
-Comedy Central (Daily Show/Colbert; Tosh.0; Futurama)
-Adult Swim
-HBO (Eastbound and Down; Curb Your Enthusiasm)
Amazon Unbox
Amazon's VOD service isn't compatible with as many devices as iTunes, but its catalog generally mirrors its larger counterpart. In response to iTunes' new show rental prices, Amazon lowered a bunch of their show purchase prices down to a dollar. You'll find:
-ABC
-NBC
-CBS
-Comedy Central
-Fox
-FX
-HBO
Anything missing here? (Read: There are things missing here!) Post your favorite legal streaming sites in the comments. One good resource for finding streaming TV shows online is Clicker.com, if what you're looking for isn't in the above list.
John Herrman is a lovable ginger who writes about technology at Gizmodo, amongst other places.
Is that a show I don't know? "Gay"? I would be interested in watching that. For free. On the Internet.
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This is seriously the most helpful thing ever. Thanks!
CBS.com streams HIMYM eps the day after airing. Last season, I think Hulu & ABC streamed CougarTown, but didn't stream The Middle.
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Someone should have checked this for errors. Hulu has Futurama clips, but not episodes. I don't believe that Futurama is streamed anywhere on the internet, even on the Comedy Central website.
We're calling Last Call with Carson Daly a comedy now?
Some of the shows you listed as being available on HULU only feature clips, and not full episodes. (i.e. Futurama)
Some Hulu shows are only available seasonally, so they aren't currently populated with full episodes. You're right about Futurama though.
It's not free, but Netflix is such a great service that I hardly watch anything other than their streaming service. Shows that aren't on there I can just get the discs shipped.
[...] Where (On the Internet) To Watch Every Comedy This Season | Splitsider Maybe you don't have a TV. Maybe you don't want to pay for cable, or rent a satellite dish. Maybe you don't like accommodating the odd and conflicting schedules (tags: tv video internet media shows reference free) [...]
[...] Read the whole article and list here. [...]
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[...] Where (On the Internet) To Watch Every Comedy This Season | Splitsider [...]
So in other words, your article is telling people to go to the network sites to see the network's shows.
Brilliant reporting.
[...] http://splitsider.com/2010/09/where-to-watch-every-comedy-online/ [...]
Another great service that works and streams a ton of free content is Boxee. Plus this fall they are coming out with a Boxee Box which will run on your TV. You can get most of these shows right there. I know we streamed Chuck, Big Bang and SciFi shows through it as well.
[...] Splitsider, The Awl’s little brother, lists where you can watch this season’s TV comedies online [From: Splitsider] [...]
OK that looks like fun!
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[...] of the inaugural articles is titled “Where (On the Internet) To Watch Every Comedy This Season.” The article has a long list of TV comedies you can watch online, mostly through free services like [...]
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[...] Splitsider, The Awl’s little brother, lists where you can watch this season’s TV comedies online [From: Splitsider] [...]
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