Watching TV Shows Online

[Mr Light]

So this season I finally have high speed internet so I'm looking forward to watching TV shows online rather than having to watch them live.

As I understand it, ABC and FOX and NBC and CW have all their shows on Hulu, but CBS doesn't. I just checked out the CBS website and they had new episodes of NCIS and NCIS LA but aside from that just soaps.

So... is CBS not going to show their comedies? I'm thinking Mother, Men, Big Bang...

Also, how quickly do they upload the shows? The next day? And do they keep the four most recent episodes on, is that it?

 

[SinglePurpose]

CBS has full episodes of some older shows online as well but you're right, I've never seen one of their sitcoms online.

The shows I've watched from NBC, ABC, and Fox all put the episodes up the day after they air. I know towards the end of Battlestar Galactica they put their episodes up a while later (I'm thinking it was a week after they aired).

Also, I'd recommend looking at Netflix if you don't already have it. $9 a month gets you unlimited streaming of all their movies and TV shows plus 1 DVD at a time. Their movie collection is ok but not great but they have a really good back catalog of TV shows.

 

[Sakrysta]

In the past I've watched episodes of HIMYM on CBS.com. It was several months ago, though, when I was looking for something to watch, so I don't really know if the episodes that were available at the time were current.

I know that Medium episodes were posted the next day last year. I hated that it moved to CBS though. I'm forever forgetting to watch it, and they only keep two recent episodes online. I miss when it was on NBC and Hulu just dumped the new episodes in my queue for me.

ALSO, you might try watching on Fancast.com or using Boxee's player. Each streaming player has its own little quirks, especially if your internet connection is finicky (as mine is, and I suspect I'm not the only one).

Fancast is about 50/50 on remembering where I left off if I get interrupted, and it often freezes in fullscreen if I enlarge during the pre-show commercial.

CBS often forgets where I am if the connection is interrupted.

I haven't used Boxee much yet, mainly because the laptop I have connected to my tv doesn't run it very well. It does seem to run well on my netbook, though, so I keep intending to try it more extensively at some point. It might be a good option for you if your system works well with it. It seems to do a good job of corralling available online content from multiple sources all in one place.

 

[Bob The Skutter]

I don't know if it's the same in the US but in the UK MSN video/bing video has some older shows. I know you're in the US and this is no good to you but for anyone in the UK there's quite a few online streaming sites now.

MSN Player
BBC iPlayer
ITV Player
4oD
Demand Five
SeeSaw
BlinkBox
Also LoveFilm (UK equivalent of Netflix) has streaming videos too.

Also anyone with a Windows Media Center can download Tunerfree MCE and it will allow you to stream videos from various sites, including Hulu in the US and most of those I've listed for the UK.

 

[Spot's Meow]

Unfortunately Big Bang Theory is one of the few shows you won't find online. Just make sure you watch it live or record it.

 

[Starbreaker]

I'm thinking Mother, Men, Big Bang...

Perv.

 

[doubleohfive]

Unfortunately Big Bang Theory is one of the few shows you won't find online. Just make sure you watch it live or record it.

For some reason, one of the producers has gone on record as absolutely, definitely not wanting this show distributed online.

 

[Starbreaker]

It hurts ratings and DVD sales supposedly. Modern Family execs don't want their show on Hulu, but ABC disagreed.

 

[acs12798]

Part of the problem with Big Bang, 2.5 Men and Mike and Molley(most likely) is that its produced by Time Warner but aired on CBS so its not completely there decision. It would need to be allowed in CBS's contract for the show. On top of that, due to his success if Chuck Lorre doesn't want it on website, he can make sure CBS's deal don't allow it. Episodes of HIMYM have previously been online(new episode on CBS, some old ones on lifetime) but not sure if that is coming back.

 

[Sakrysta]

They're welcome to live in the dark ages if they want, I suppose. If I can't try something out online, there's almost no chance I will ever watch it, much less buy the DVDs. More and more people are moving away from broadcast television.

 

[Spot's Meow]

It hurts ratings and DVD sales supposedly. Modern Family execs don't want their show on Hulu, but ABC disagreed.

I find that funny about Modern Family, because the only reason I even heard of the show was an email from ABC saying that there was an online pre-screening available. I checked it out and loved it. If I had just been flipping through channels there's probably no way I would have stopped on it.

 

[Sakrysta]

FYI, HIMYM's first 6th season episode showed up in my Boxee queue listing CBS.com as the source, so, I'm assuming that means at least those will be posted this season.

 

[Starbreaker]

It hurts ratings and DVD sales supposedly. Modern Family execs don't want their show on Hulu, but ABC disagreed.

I find that funny about Modern Family, because the only reason I even heard of the show was an email from ABC saying that there was an online pre-screening available. I checked it out and loved it. If I had just been flipping through channels there's probably no way I would have stopped on it.

Same here!

 

[Mr Light]

Does anybody know why it's now Sunday morning and Smallville and Supernatural have yet to appear on Hulu? They have the last 4-5 of the previous season. Is there a longer delay for the CW shows or something?

 

[Wynterhawk]

Unfortunately Big Bang Theory is one of the few shows you won't find online. Just make sure you watch it live or record it.

You can watch The Big Bang Theory online. I'm watching it right now. It's on Project Free TV. You can probably do a search and find it in a few other places.

 

[acs12798]

A lot of shows these days are on 8 day delays now rather than 1 day. I think almost all CW shows are on 8 day delays, but they are not the only ones. For example House is on an 8 day delay as well.

 

[Bob The Skutter]

Unfortunately Big Bang Theory is one of the few shows you won't find online. Just make sure you watch it live or record it.

You can watch The Big Bang Theory online. I'm watching it right now. It's on Project Free TV. You can probably do a search and find it in a few other places.

I took a look, it doesn't appear that is a legal site though.

 

[Wynterhawk]

Ah... well, disregard my comment, nothing to see here.