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There’s a ridiculous amount of TV content out there waiting to be streamed during your downtime — and a lot of it won’t cost you one shiny penny.
TVLine already offers a premium streaming guide, which delivers a rundown of subscription rates, original series and select library content offered by established, new and forthcoming streamers. We also publish a monthly list of TV shows and movies coming and going on Netflix.
But now, as you are probably seeking out even more things to watch, we have assembled a comprehensive guide to free alternatives to Amazon Prime, Apple TV+, Disney+, Hulu and the aforementioned Netflix — including broadcast network apps with surprisingly stacked libraries, and oddities you’ve heard of but never explored, such as Crackle, Tubi and Vudu.
In addition to currently airing series, the Alphabet Network’s library includes 40+ titles…
COMEDIES: 8 Simple Rules, The Neighbors, Reaper, Rodney, Samantha Who, Ugly Betty
DRAMAS: Army Wives, Body of Proof, Brothers and Sisters, Dirty Sexy Money, Eli Stone, Felicity, Legend of the Seeker, October Road, Perception, Raising the Bar
ONE-AND-DONES: The Astronaut Wives Club, Benched, Betrayal, Family Tools, FlashForward, GCB, Happy Town, Killer Women, Lucky 7, Malibu Country, Man Up!, Manhattan Love Story, Mixology, My So-Called Life, Night Stalker, No Ordinary Family, Off the Map, Once Upon a Time in Wonderland, The Protector, Red Band Society, Red Widow, The River, Scoundrels, Trophy Wife, Zero Hour
The formerly Sony-owned streamer offers over 60 library titles; seasons of classic series are typically offered on a rotating basis…
COMEDIES: 10 Items or Less, 227, 3rd Rock From the Sun, All in the Family, Archie Bunker’s Place, Barney Miller, Breaking In, The Critic, Dr. Ken, The Facts of Life, I Dream of Jeannie, The Jeff Foxworthy Show, Just Shoot Me, Malcolm & Eddie, Men at Work, My Boys, NewsRadio, One Day at a Time (1975), Parker Lewis Can’t Lose, The Partridge Family, Roseanne, Sanford, Silver Spoons, S.W.A.T. (1975), Til Death, What’s Happening!, What’s Happening Now!!, Who’s the Boss?
DRAMAS: Charlie’s Angels (1976), Fantasy Island, Hawthorne, Huff, Odyssey 5, Sheena, T.J. Hooker, The Unusuals, VIP, Zorro
ONE-AND-DONES: Bad Teacher, The Beast, Big Day, The Blacklist: Redemption, Brothers, Charlie’s Angels (2011), The Dana Carvey Show, The Ellen Show, Houdini & Doyle, Kidnapped, Last Resort, Marry Me, The McCarthys, The Michael J. Fox Show, The Mob Doctor, Mr. Sunshine, Pan Am, The Player, Rake (US), Thief, The Tick (2001), The Unusuals, Welcome to the Family
The CW has an alternate streaming service that offers an eclectic array of former CW series, international imports and short-lived faves…
COMEDIES: Everybody Hates Chris, Gavin & Stacey, Girlfriends, The Game, Schitt’s Creek
DRAMAS: The Carrie Diaries, House of Cards (UK), The L.A. Complex, Pushing Daisies, Supernatural: The Anime Series
ONE-AND-DONES: Alcatraz, Birds of Prey, Constantine, Forever, Hellcats, Intruders, Moonlight, Privileged, Ringer, The Secret Circle, Time After Time, The Tomorrow People
That website you use to look up an actor’s TV and film credits also offers a deep bench of recent-ish hour-long dramas, as well as a handful of comedies…
COMEDIES: Alf, Bewitched, Corner Gas, Dr. Ken, The Middle, The Patridge Family, Psych
DRAMAS: 21 Jump Street, The A-Team, Almost Human, Chicago Fire, Columbo, The Commish, Degrassi: The Next Generation, Dallas, Desperate Housewives, Dominion, Everwood, The Following, Fringe, Hart to Hart, Heroes, The Incredible Hulk, Leverage, Lie to Me, Nikita, Pacific Blue, Private Practice, Revenge, Revolution, The Rifleman, The Rockford Files, Silk Stalkings, Starsky & Hutch, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Warehouse 13, White Collar, Wiseguy
ONE-AND-DONES: Invasion, My So-Called Life
In addition to currently airing series, the Peacock Network’s library includes 50+ titles…
COMEDIES: Charles in Charge, The Munsters Today, Punky Brewster (1984), Saturday Night Live, Saved by the Bell, Saved by the Bell: The New Class, Up All Night, Whitney, Will & Grace (1998)
DRAMAS: Amazing Stories (1985), Battlestar Galactica (2004), The Bionic Woman (1976), Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, The Equalizer, Friday Night Lights, Heroes, House M.D., The Incredible Hulk, The Invisible Man, Knight Rider (1982), Life, Lipstick Jungle, Miami Vice, Midnight, Texas, Night Gallery, Quantum Leap, Shades of Blue, The Six Million Dollar Man, Smash
ONE-AND-DONES: Allegiance, American Gothic (1995), Bent, The Black Donnellys, The Cape, Crowded, Darkroom, Dracula, Emerald City, The Event, Go On, Guys With Kids, Heroes Reborn, Kings, Knight Rider (2008), Kolchak: The Night Stalker, Outsourced, Peacemakers, Prime Suspect (2011), Raines, The Starter Wife, State of Affairs, Telenovela, Vanishing Son, Voyagers!, Young Hercules
If you’re looking for scripted series, the ViacomCBS-owned service offers few on-demand titles you won’t find on a competing service. What it does offer that others don’t is over 250 live, linear curated channels that encompass entertainment, news, sports and lifestyle programs…
COMEDIES: 3rd Rock From the Sun, The Addams Family, Cybil, Getting On (UK), Grace Under Fire, Grounded for Life, Hearts Afire, The Lucy Show, The PJs, Raising Expectations, Roseanne
DRAMAS: Being Erica, Crime Story, The Dead Zone, Flash Gordon, Leverage, Primeval, Queer as Folk (UK), Robin Hood
This AVOD service, which was recently acquired by Fox Corporation, currently offers the deepest bench of classic TV shows…
COMEDIES: 3rd Rock From the Sun, The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet, Alf, The Andy Griffith Show, Anger Management, The Beverly Hillbillies, Car 54, Where Are You?, Cybil, The Danny Thomas Show, Dennis the Menace, The Dick Van Dyke Show, The Donna Reed Show, The Doris Day Show, Family Affair (1966), Father Knows Best, Fridays, Grace Under Fire, The Greatest American Hero, Grounded for Life, Here’s Lucy, The Honeymooners (Lost Episodes), The Inbetweeners, The Jerry Lewis Show, Life With Elizabeth, The Little Rascals, The Man Show, The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis, The Merv Griffin Show, The Mothers-in-Law, Mr. Bean, The Patty Duke Show, Peep Show, Petticoat Junction, Raising Expectations, The Red Skelton Show, Retired at 35, Shameless (UK), Tales From the Cryptkeeper, Teachers (2001), That Girl, Wilfred (Aus)
DRAMAS: 1-800-Missing, 21 Jump Street, Being Human, The Commish, Dark Shadows, The Dead Zone, Degrassi: The Next Generation, Haven, Highlander, Highway to Heaven, Hunter, Kingdom (2007), Merlin, Pacific Blue, Queer as Folk (UK), The Real McCoys, Route 66, Silk Stalkings, Wildfire
ONE-AND-DONES: Blade: The Series, Camelot, The Firm, The Goode Family, Partners (2014), Running Wilde, The Weird Al Show, Women of the House
The Walmart-owned streamer offers a limited selection of scripted series…
COMEDIES: The Addams Family, Blue Mountain State, Car 54, Where Are You?, Dead Like Me, Father Knows Best, The Greatest American Hero, Grounded for Life, Hearts Afire, I Dream of Jeannie, The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis, Mr. Bean, Roseanne
DRAMAS: 21 Jump Street, Being Human, Crime Story, Highlander, Hunter, Leverage, Merlin, Queer as Folk (UK), The Real McCoys, Shameless (UK), Silk Stalkings, Top Boy, Wiseguy
ONE-AND-DONES: The Mob Doctor, Women of the House [pmc_inline_gallery]
IF YOU’RE A CORD-CUTTER WHO WANTS LOCAL PROGRAMMING… Locast.org
IF YOU’RE A CORD-CUTTER WHO WANTS THE NEWS… ABC News, CBS News, NBC News Now
IF YOU’RE A PROUD LIBRARY CARD HOLDER… Hoopla, Kanopy
IF YOU’RE MISSING BASEBALL… PBS is streaming Ken Burns’ Baseball for free.
IF YOU’RE IN NEED OF A FREE 30-DAY TRIAL…
Acorn TV (Code: FREE30)
CBS All Access (Code: GIFT)
Showtime (No code necessary!)
Shudder (Code: SHUTIN)
Sundance Now (Code: SUNDANCENOW30)
Urban Movie Channel (Code: UMCFREE30)
Great list, thanks so much!
CW Seed: I remember Privileged being so enjoyable!
ABC: Felicity feels out of place here but I suppose it’s because Buena Vista produced (Disney owned). Wasn’t it on Hulu not too long ago? Appears to have been pulled.
PlutoTV is one of my go-tos. Many of their “live”, curated channels run the same movies and episodes over and over again (I think I’ve seen the first 5 seasons of Midsomer Murders at least 10 times by now), so it makes good background noise when you’re working from home. I use a Roku, and I can watch IMDB TV through the Amazon Video channel (an Amazon Prime account is not needed to use it). The regular CW streaming channel has some of the same content as CW Seed (I’ve seen episodes of Hellcats on there), and new episodes of shows are available at midnight after they’ve aired.
My big thing on PlutoTV is classic Doctor Who. There are huge gaps in what they have vs. what’s available. But what they have is pretty good.
People might like the old shows and won’t go back to the current shows. 😚
Which I think the older ones are better anyways.
For anyone that has Roku, they have the Roku channel and it’s got a huge variety of shows. They have classic sitcoms too, but I was over the moon thrilled when I saw they had the entire series of Cold Case and the entire series of Without a Trace. I finished Cold Case (months before the quarantine) and am already on season 4 of Without a Trace.
Can you get free streaming ABC channel on that? Or do you have to pay…
I believe you can download ABC on Roku and stream shows, but some may require a log in. I know you need a log in to watch ABC live. But I don’t think you can watch ABC live on the actual Roku Channel.
Thanks Tim. I can get shows live. Just extremely hard to get GH after the fact. In fact not at all for me. Occasionally I like watching it.
YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!!! I’ve been looking for Cold Case…thx a million for posting this. 🙏
From someone who watched WOT back in day, S4 is the last good season. S5 starts to introduce some stupid storylines and the show as a whole was starting to get stale. (I stopped watching after S5) So take that as you will.
I was a teenager when all these shows had their run on TV, and I feel like I remember not tuning into Without a Trace toward the end of its run. So from what I remember, I must’ve thought the story lines were getting preposterous as well. But since I am currently home I will probably tune in for a little bit more. I may end up finding something else.
Thank you so much for these! It’s great to have so many (free) options.
Why should we have to give our credit cards for a free trial? Yes, I know why so we can be hooked in. Let’s revolt. Free should be free with no credit cards.
Any tips for Canadians?
What about Buffy? Or Charmed?
Buffy is on Hulu.
The WB’s Charmed is on Netflix US
I would recommend Buffy, but ONLY if it is in its original 4:3 aspect ratio. Fox did a butcher job in converting to 16:9HD. There are lots of articles on how they destroyed the show. You have been warned!!
If you watch it on Hulu it is in the original aspect ratio.
Any idea when season 2 of 9-1-1 will hit Hulu? I’ve filled in most of the blanks but c’mon!
I think its there already
Oddly Hulu has season 1 and all the episodes so far of season 3, but nothing from season 2.
They had the episodes as they were airing but they expired one by one. I’m thinking one year after the finale? Or maybe after season 3 has aired.
If only some service would start playing classic soaps. I know Santa Barbara’s music rights are Byzantine and expensive, but I have to have hope for both that and Another World and Guiding Light.
You could probably find fan-favorite episodes/storylines on YouTube. People post stuff like that all the time on there. :-)
Yeah. I see bits and pieces but it’s not the same. They get taken down for copyright infringement and they’re heavily edited (especially SB) to ficus on just some storylines. It’s like looking at a scrapbook—brings back happy memories but not like being there.
If anyone is looking for a sitcom that had humor ahead of it’s time, I strongly suggest “The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis”. For drama, “Route 66” holds it’s own against anything current. :-)
I thought all the ones listed were free. But be when I looked up Brothers & Sisters that was listed under ABC on OnDemand not 1 episode was free. Was I wrong & supposed to go somewhere else to look for it?
Did I just not fully read it right? Did it say it’d be on its app? I think it did. I’m sorry for 1 of my many moments in my life of stupidity.
Great work in putting together this list ! Thank you ! I’ll be streaming all weekend during the house-confinement out here in California. : )
Just FYI. For those who may still have a cable-TV subscription via Comcast,etc., or use over-the-air antenna, there are still a number of channels that show vintage television series (check your local cable listings): COZI-TV, Me-TV, GetTV, UpTV, WGN, TV-One, H&I, Start-TV, TVLand, Decades, and FETV.
Enjoy!
One addition to the list… Buzzr-TV, which spans the decades of game shows from the 1950s to the 1980s with an emphasis on Goodson-Todman Productions.
I wish *somebody* would stream the original Chuck Barris-hosted ‘Gong Show’; I’d love to see that again.
Good point – may be an issue with ownership rights to the show… Barris Productions (I believe) still owns the rights to the show, but perhaps they could partner with someone like Sony Productions on distribution. I think The Gong Show was once on the GSN channel a while back.
Most of the broadcasted shows can be found the next day on their websites, but they only last a week or two. So it’s fine if you missed the latest episode but it could be a problem if you’re trying to catch up.
Thanks for this list. PlutoTV has my Leverage. :)
You guys really need to learn what your Xbox can do.
Anybody know where I can stream CBS series Cold Case? Saw it over holidays at my parents on StartTV but it is not on my cable system.
Solie.org aka Uncle Earl’s TV offers over a hundred different classic tv shows.
Looking for 1971-1972 tv series Getting Together starring Bobby Sherman. Any ideas where I can get a copy of it.
So confused. So I am watching Pluto and during a commercial they say “Watch Classic TV for all you old favorites, for free, on Classic Tv”… So I gave it a shot , I tried I Love Lucy, came in at the end of the episode. So 2 minutes later, the same one comes on, so I then said into my remote, Honeymooners, Jackie Gleason was oh so thinner and Alice was not the one I knew, looked like she could take Jackie very easy in a throw down,, So that went off too… This morning I get a internet bill asking if I enjoyed the show? Wth,,, I’ll pay it, but not before I let others know what kind of scam they are pulling with Comcast Xfinity here in Jacksonville Fl.
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