So I'm curious how many of us use on-line streaming to "catch up" to missed episodes? I didn't used to use it much, but this season I've found I'm watching maybe 25% of my TV that way. Then again, I don't currently have a DVR.

Also, which of us use it to watch OLD shows? I've found myself watching episodes of "Lou Grant", up on Hulu a lot, for example.

My big nonsense question: Why the heck do most of the current shows on Hulu have lame generic music over the end credits? The best theory I can come up with is that maybe, for the most part, it's because end credits don't really seem to exist on broadcast TV anymore. Instead, the end credits, if shown at all, tend to be combined with promos for something else. Which of course wouldn't be needed on Hulu.

I once spent an entire afternoon watching episode after episode of ALF once that got uploaded to Hulu. I felt like it was 1987 again and the world was a much better place.

I wish they would add full episodes of 227 up there. They only have 6 "minisodes", all of which I already have watched on, uhm, that other site.

I'd also like to see later episodes of Facts of Life, from when they started Over our Heads. Even though Mrs. Garret left towards the end, I always did enjoy Beverly and Andy as good additions to the rest of the girls.

I saw a Fancast ad on TV, so I went to check out the site to see if it would play for me better than Hulu. What's great was, when the video started, not only was the network chryon in the lower left hand corner of the picture (NBC - The Office) but a "Hulu" chryon was in the lower right. So, apparently Fancast just gets its videos from Hulu. Worthless.

And now that the Fancast ads have apparently been trying to take over TWoP, I'm sure I'll never use their service.

Fancast (owned by Comcast) gets its videos from multiple sources. Often its just the network's own website, repackaged. AOL does the same thing with much of their "full episode" content, I think. Both sites are "completely legal" as far as I know, because they only link to authorized sites though.

There are other sites I've stumbled across who claim they are "legal" because they don't actually host the files--they only index them. That's dubious logic though. The sites themselves may be legal, but the content isn't.

Hulu (owned half by NBC, and half by super-evil Rupert Murdoch's News Corp.) actually hosts everything themselves--although they often duplicate content also found on sites like NBC.com or FOX.com.

I used to play with Joost all of the time, but kind of gave up on it. They actually get a decent amount of Viacom content, but it requires a custom Windows-only app, and that pisses me off.

Then there are paid services like Amazon Unbox and iTunes. Ho hum. Even if I wanted to pay extra for TV, I refuse to EVER install that mondo-unstable resource hog iTunes on any computer I own. Ever.

Someone recently gave me a Neflix subscription as a gift. Apparently Nexflix has switched over to doing almost as much streaming as delivery. Still, I'm probably going to hold onto it and save it for the day I break down and buy a blu-ray player... and then actually get stuff delivered.

I've been watching a lot of shows this season online, especially for Monday and Thursday shows. I mostly go to the network websites, though I watched Chuck's premiere on Amazon.

Supernatural takes the longest to get posted on anything I watch online. I usually have to wait until Monday or Tuesday unless I'm willing to pay for it on Amazon or ITunes.

Netflix has some good stuff for streaming. I've watched a lot of Xena and Hercules on there. I just wish their player worked w/ Firefox. I hate having to open Explorer in order to watch something.

It's gotten to the point that I watch so little TV, and what I do watch is legally online, that I've dropped my cable subscription. (They're still pumping it into my house, even though they're not billing me, but that's another story.) I watch "Chuck" on the NBC site, "House" on Hulu, and news on the PBS site. (Or, more accurately, the "PBS Newshour" and "Washington Week" sites.)

I mostly use Hulu, though, for old shows--"WKRP in Cincinnati," "The Bob Newhart Show," that kind of thing.

I watched the first season of "Fame" (good times) and "Hill Street Blues". I'd never seen Hill Street before and I enjoyed watching it.

I also don't have DVR, so I will watch some shows a second time on their respective websites to see things that I missed that were mentioned on TWoP.

Joost update.

They no longer require that stupid custom app they used to. Working inside a web browser seems to bring them up to parity with the other major players.

Content seems to be a mixed bag. Stuff that's on Hulu like The Daily Show, but also a lot of random older stuff. A lot of animation, both domestic (a lot of old Transformers, some Space Ghost Coast to Coast and Brak show stuff) and anime (Naruto would be the big one).

One thing they have which is NOT on Hulu is Viacom stuff. CBS, WB, and CW in particular (The CBS Daytime soap shows, The Unit, Veronica Mars, some Smallville, some Ghost Whisperer spotted). I've also spotted a smattering of ABC shows from a few years back (Invasion, Prey).

This just in regarding CBS and streaming: they are partnering with Youtube. Per the article, they will probably be using a better quality than standard youtube uploads, initially it will be older content not currently airing stuff, and one consequence of the partnership may be that youtube will be much more vigilant about scrubbing illegal uploads of CBS/Viacom content.

This runs the risk of sounding like a rant by a woman 50 years older than I am, but I ask in all honesty: for those of you who watch programming online (and, thus, on your computer screen or monitor), don't your eyes object? If nothing else, don't you want to see things on a larger screen? I have a laptop, but have a docking station and external monitor both at home and at the office because I don't want the hours I spend on the computer for work and e-mail (and, you know, TWoP) to necessitate staring at a 15-inch screen. As an extension of that, I cannot fathom choosing to watch movies or television programs on my computer (or, worse yet, on my iPod or a similar device) instead of on a television screen. With the ready availability of VCRs, Tivo and the like, not to mention HDTV, I am just genuinely curious why one would want to watch their programming on a computer monitor.

Bastet, a lot of the time watching online does give me a headache and I'm only 19. Fortunately, I have a giant monitor and so when I can, I enlarge the picture. Plus I get a very clear picture on my monitor and since I have a TV tuner in my computer, I can save space by not having a TV. I love being able to watch content online because that way when I have an hour or two to kill in between classes but don't have enough time to go home, I can grab some lunch in our student union and watch TV.

As for iPods, yeah, it's kind of painful for long periods of time, but if you don't spend hours in a row watching stuff, it's not too bad. Plus, I can keep my computer's hard drive free if I get rid of older episodes that are posted online.

My only real complaint about posting online is that some networks are very slow to upload shows. Really the only network that I've gotten truly frustrated with was USA. They wait 8 days to upload their shows, I believe. (I know it's 8 days for Psych.) Well, when I'm at home and I don't have cable, online is the only place for me to watch. If I have to start seeing episodes out of order or missing episodes, then it brings a show from appointment TV to 'I'll catch it eventually' TV.

Bastet, I'm nearsighted, so its actually easier for me to watch on my 15.4" laptop screen because its closer to my eyes. I don't have to strain (even with glasses/contacts) to see the tv 10 feet away. Plus, my laptop is about 1 1/2 years old, while the tv is about 7 years old. There's a significant quality difference, especially because I can get HD programming online, and I cannot with my tv. Lastly, my tv, being so old, is square, so I don't have the proper picture. I get the full picture on my laptop.

Are either Gilmore Girls or Alias posted on any of these sites? I don't have those DVDs and I really want to re-watch certain episodes.

Nope, doesn't hurt my eyes at all. Well, after two or three days of nothing but the screen, yes. Anyway, I'm closer to the screen, so I can see better. My computer's speakers are better than the TV's. If I want to pause it and google something, I don't need to go to another room. I can use Google or Wikipedia while I watch.

I have a 17" laptop and a 19" monitor at work, so the quality of watching online TV shows and movies is just as good, if not better, than watching on my regular 20" old flat tube at home.

I prefer to watch current programs via my DVR, but old school programs are much easier to watch online since I probably am not going to spend the $ to buy the DVD's of Season 1 of Doogie Howser. I'd much rather watch them through Hulu. I'll sit through (3) 30 second commercials if I have to. I can usually only watch 1 or 2 episodes of anything in one sitting though, but mainly because of time constraints. Plus I'm usually more distracted when watching shows online, since I constantly pause to, well you guessed it, F5 a TWoP forum :)

My newish iMac came with a 20-inch monitor. My TV is 19 inches. Since everything I watch can be blown up to fill the screen, and since the computer rolls up beside me while the TV is across the room, it makes at least an even trade, even taking the lesser image quality that you get from streaming.

Thanks for answering my query, everyone; it's something about which I've always been mildly curious since my eyes hate having to be on the computer so much (even with all kinds of glare protection), so when this thread popped up I thought it would be a good place to inquire. I notice that almost all of you said your TV screen is smaller/just as small as and/or of lesser video quality than your monitor. Under those circumstances, I suppose I would be more inclined to watch programming online, although I still think it would hurt my eyes to be on the computer for that additional time. My monitor is large, but my TV screens are much larger, so I hate when something is only available online (e.g. clips or episodes of an old show that is not available on DVD).

Now back to your regularly-scheduled conversation ...

I have a 36" TV (older CRT model) in my living room and a 20" flat panel on my computer. Even though the TV in the living room is much larger, it "feels" like I'm watching a larger picture being closer to my computer.

I had nothing bigger than a 20" TV until I was 34 years old. Now that I have the 46" HD Plasma, sure the picture seems small on my 19" monitor. I wouldn't watch The Godfather on my computer, but it's good enough to catch up on episodes of Prison Break.

Unitl recently, that was similar to my set up (except my TV was only 32"). I watched all my DVDs on the computer screen, because not only was it close to me, but it was HD/widescreen, as opposed to my old TV. Now I have a large HDTV, so in the future, I'll be watching DVDs on it. However, I still have no problem with watching online content or DVDs on my computer.

On the other hand, I don't watch too much on my iPod, as that would bother my eyes after awhile. I use it more for music videos or concert videos, where I don't need to watch all the time.

Well, (depending on your computer and your TV) there's always the option of hooking your computer up to your TV and watching the web content on your TV screen.

I prefer to watch shows on the old-fashioned TV Set, but it has nothing to do with the monitor. I'd rather sit on the couch with the family and enjoy a show. Or relax in bed and watch something. Sitting alone at the computer desk in my uncomfy chair with headphones on isn't what I'd prefer.

However, slumping over the computer monitor is totally worth it to catch a show I missed, or content that isn't available on regular TV. I finally have a way to watch overseas shows like Ashes to Ashes which may not be on American TV for a long time, if ever, and aren't available on Region One DVD.

Surprised that no one has said this yet, but I don't have a television at all. I was supposed to have it, but when I moved into my new apartment it wasn't hooked up, and that was 15 months ago. So I'm heavily reliant on Hulu and the network sites (as well as that other Site Which Shall Not Be Named).

It's great, actually. In fact, lately I've been having some problems with the Comedy Central show sites, so I just skip over to Hulu and get my Stewart/Colbert fix. Life is better with only 10% of the regular amount of commercials.

This is me. I'm not comfortable watching TV shows on my computer because....I'm not comfortable. I like my big TV screen and my comfy couch and the ability get up and stretch out and switch positions and cuddle with my husband and daughter and my dogs. Computers don't allow for that.

I will put up with the computer discomfort to catch a show I missed.

That's kind of funny, because I was just thinking that that's one reason I like watching stuff on my computer. I don't have a TV in my room, so if I want to watch something in bed, I have to do it on my laptop.

We watch a decent amount of shows online. However, for the past several years, we have had our computer and tv hooked together. So, if I want to watch something that's online, I switch the tv to the correct video imput, grab the wireless mouse, and settle down on the couch to watch whatever on the plasma.

Okay, I adore that Hulu is free and that I really only have to watch less than five minutes worth of commercials for an hour-long show. But Hulu frustrates me because I have a very fast connection (college ethernet) and still the videos stop and start. Some of the time the advertisement will show and then the video won't load (and they're only too happy to show me the ads over and over and over again without the video ever working). This makes Hulu (and most other legal streaming platforms) really frustrating to use. I don't understand why they don't take a more YouTube-ian approach to things and use a system that allows the TV to load. Not only would it eliminate the stop-start problem, but it would also allow users with slower connections to watch via these websites, thereby bringing in more users, which I would imagine is one of their goals.

Hulu rules! I can catch up on House at work without having to download a player (aka, get busted by IT).

I'm on a residential DSL line (in other words... NOT that fast, for broadband) AND I use Wireless to a laptop and the only time I get the hurky jerkies with Hulu anymore is during peak net hours. And even then, not usually. And even then, starting the playback, then hitting pause right after each "commercial break", then going to the bathroom for 2 minutes and letting it cache stuff, makes it all work pretty cleanly.

It depends on the college, I suppose, but its my impression that while in THEORY their connections are faster than almost anyone's, in practice, there's often a lot of colluding data, a lot of competition for those pipes to the outside net, and so at times stuff like video streaming to dorm rooms can be quite horrible.

I've had problems with Hulu stopping and starting (although, not nearly as bad as NBC's player) but I seriously wanted to watch the last episode of Chuck the other night, so I went by. Sure enough, it started freezing up, so I paused it and walked away for a few minutes. When I got back, I realized Hulu has a new feature: Buffering!

Basically, it's like youtube. If you're fast enough to load and play at the same time, it'll do that. If it's not fast enough, pause it, go do something else for 2-3 minutes, and when you come back, the entire segment will be loaded and will play seamlessly. I know if feels like a step backward technology wise, but it makes me seriously happy. I can watch internet TV again!

ABC's player still works flawlessly for me. Don't know why there's such a difference.

NBC seems like it's hard on my laptop somehow. If I'm trying to watch something on it and play a game at the same time, my computer gets cranky. That doesn't happen with nearly any other streaming networks/sites.

One of the things I love about hulu is the availability of shows that aren't available through other sources (including DVD) at all. I'm especially thinking of Lou Grant, one of the greatest drama series ever made; I've loved revisiting it there, with every episode looking so good. Now if only they'd keep adding seasons there (they kind of stalled at Season 2).

I suspect that's exactly the reason. Shows have no need to devise end-credit music for broadcast. However, the ones that come out on DVD (which means most of the recent successful series) do have to create something for that spot -- have any of the shows with the "lame generic music" fallen into that category?

I've had trouble getting the player at abc.com to load. I think it's only been happening since I had my computer wiped. I probably need to download something, but I don't know what. It irritates me that hulu just takes you to the ABC player for ABC shows. Or at least it did last time I tried to watch one there.

It probably doesn't help that they roll out new player software you need to download to watch the episodes. God I hate ABC's player. I usually end up having to reinstall three times and use it in IE.

I came to this thread to talk about how much I despise ABC's player. They need to look at CBS's, which has the easiest to use player of any of the major networks.

We decided to get rid of cable last year, and I haven't missed it. Especially with the advent of Hulu, which I adore. I had a nice monitor, so we set that up in the living room with an old computer. That we can have family time, lie on the sofa, et cetera, and watch shows online. It also makes it easy to buy shows on iTunes (like Mad Men) that aren't online and I don't want to wait for the DVDs, and watch them on a nice monitor.

Between the interwebs and Netflix I'm saving almost sixty bucks a month.

That's interesting...ABC seems like the smoothest to me, while CBS was the worst. I only tried it twice to watch Jericho, and it sucked so bad that I never bothered again. Luckily I don't watch anything on CBS anyway.

Its interesting to hear about ABC, because like Lulu it is definitely the best player for me. I haven't tried watching anything at CBS because the only things I want to see are The Big Bang Theory and HIMYM, and those don't seem to be important enough for full episodes online. NBC is always terrible for me. Fox does ok, whenever I try.

Whoo hoo! Awesome Alec Baldwin "Hulu made mushy mush out of my brains" commercial during the Superbowl! And its continued to get major play, at least on NBC, since then.

I agree that the ABC player looks okay, other than that REALLY annoying thing where it leaves full screen to play its commercials.

I've just come to accept that I have to have that idiotic "Move Media Player" add-on plugged into my Firefox install now. Grrr. I just don't see why the hell its necessary, since straight up Flash seems to be "enough" for everyone else.

Here's what I don't get- why does The CW.com not show full episodes of Smallville? I've missed virtually all of season 8. Is there anywhere online I can catch up?

That's weird. The CW was posting full episodes of Smallville online earlier this season.

Warners and a couple of other production companies are no longer allowing full episode streaming. I first found out about it through trying to get a CBS show. I think Smallville may be one of the shows effected.

The thinking seems to be they'll get more viewers on the original run and more purchasers of the DVDs or iTunes if they do it that way.

That's just stupid. How am I supposed to know if I want to buy the DVD set if I don't know if the episodes suck? Well, suck more than the usual Smallville standard. ;)

Ah, but if you knew the eps sucked, why would you buy the DVDs? That's probably their reasoning.

But there are plenty of sites that have recaps, reviews and summaries. You can use them in your favour. :)

A few Smallville eps are available at TheWB.com (currently, they're eps 3.19 - 4.01), but the site doesn't seem to be carrying current season episodes for shows still on the air (One Tree Hill - second season, Chuck - first season, and Smallville). The NY Times did a piece on the site last month.

Here's the list of current shows (many are web-only, but I didn't feel like checking each title):

• A Boy Wearing Make Up
• Angel
• Babylon 5
• Blue Water High
• Buffy The Vampire Slayer
• Celebutantes
• Childrens' Hospital
• Chuck
• Dangerous
• Everwood
• Firefly
• Friends
• Gilmore Girls
• High Drama
• In Living Color
• Jack & Bobby
• Jeannie Tate
• Joni & Susanna
• JPOD
• MADtv
• Meet Me In The Graveyard
• One Tree Hill
• Pink
• Prom Queen
• Pushed
• Roswell
• Smallville
• Sorority Forever
• The Loop
• The O.C.
• Veronica Mars
• Whatever Hollywood

* * *

And, now for something completely different...

The Pentagon has its own channel, aptly named the Pentagon Channel (not to be confused with the American Forces Network). It's available on some cable and dish providers. All of the Channel's shows are government produced, which means that the shows are "in the public domain" so the Channel doesn't have to worry about protecting revenue and such. Some of the Pentagon Channel shows are available at pentagontv.feedroom.com or if you'd prefer podcast videos (.m4v), those are available at the Pentagon Channel's website or iTunes.

For food buffs, there's The Grill Sergeants, which is a cooking show that feels like an old school Food Network show (live to tape), that still has its rough edges, but seems like a refreshing change from what FN currently airs. And, for those looking for more diversity, the main host is African-American.

Other shows with broader appeal include a fitness series, Fit For Duty, and a documentary series, Battleground.

Hmm. Just saw a variant of the Superbowl 'We're Aliens" commercial, but with Eliza Dushku substituting for Alec Baldwin. Interesting.

Hulu has apparently grown to the extent that it serves up more video to end users than any online entity other than YouTube, Yahoo and Myspace. But since the exclusive part of the original deal between NBC, News Corp. (FOX) and Hulu lasts only two years, there's some debate whether or not Hulu can hold onto its new dominance.

A big "hee" at the new third version of the commercial. The latest "alien"? Seth McFarlane. Tossing out Family Guy impressions like candy and having an animated tentacle come out of his stomach.

Really the "because we're aliens" tagline is actually kind of lame. But the commercials still work. It's time for another NBC star though. We've had two FOX stars and only one NBCer so far.

From both nets, the two co-owners of Hulu, though I've been thinking about what stars would most amuse me in these commercials.

FOX/NEWS CORP.: TOP of the list has to be House's Hugh Laurie. He would kick ass in one of these.

NBC/UNIVERSAL: Really up there would be Chuck's Adam Baldwin. He'd TOTALLY kill it. I mean big time.

also:

NBC/Universal owns USA Network. So I think Monk would fall into the bailiwick of franchises that could be referenced by these commercials. And Tony Shalhoub would be another one who'd ROCK one of these.

NBC/Universal ALSO owns Bravo. As a good change-up from all the actors, they could use Bravo Realty Show folks. Heidi Klum would have been the best, but Bravo's lost her services. So I guess it would have to be Padma, or maybe Tabitha.

News Corp. owns FX, of course. LOTS of possibilities there. It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia's Danny DeVito would be the BEST one. But Nip/Tuck's Julian McMahon can do over the top too. Or from Sons of Anarchy? Katey Sagal or Ron Perlman.

I'm a fan of the ads, too. (Shame that the service still isn't available in Canada, though. I guess we're just an afterthought in their invasion plans. Ah, well....)

Some of the actors I wouldn't be surprised to see in the ads would have to include Conan O'Brien (to give his takeover of The Tonight Show just the teeniest bit of hype), David Hasselhoff (to pimp old Knight Rider reruns and America's Got Talent), and Amy Poehler (to promote both her new show and old SNL sketches).

And as entertaining as all of those would be, I'd love to see Jamie Pressley do one of these ads. Seems like something she'd have a lot of fun with.

Thanks for the info, ScribblerGuy.

I'm in Canada, and we don't get Hulu (nor can we watch anything from NBC, CBS, ABC or the CW). But for some reason I can watch The Grill Sergeants via this Pentagon link.
I love food shows.

On-line, I have watched a lot of episodes of shows at both the US and Canadian Food Networks, as well as both versions (US and Canadian) of HGTV. I watch a few shows at the GlobalTV site, and more at
the CTV site. CTV has links to the Canadian Comedy Network, MTV Canada (I used to watch The Hills), and some other stations there. I know I watched a Tom Cruise interview on The Hour on CBC on-line, but I do not really know what else you can watch on there.

I am still pissed that I cannot find Location, Location, Location on any on-line service. I think I found it at BBC4 once but it was only for the British Isles. What about your Commonwealth friends. heh

The way NBC is going, they'd probably have Chin-O do an ad first. One where the evidence that he's an alien has to do with his chin opening up and projecting a robotic arm out of itself, or something like that.

I might need to watch Eliza Dushku in the new Hulu ad in slow motion. Not that much, just a few hundred times.

This appears to be more of a site redesign rather than anything truly new, but anyway... drum roll... YouTube has added a "Shows" tab in their main navigation which takes you to a listing of officially uploaded TV shows (as well as Internet-only shows, it seems). For media coverage, here's articles from the Washington Post and LA Times.