HOW TO: Watch Your Favorite Tv Shows Online For Free?

Now that streaming video has come such a long way from the days of painfully long pauses and repeated buffering, you no longer have to be home to catch your favorite tv shows on the night they air.

All of the major broadcast networks now provide a great selection of some of your favorite tv shows for you to watch online and most of them are available to be streamed onto your computer by the time you wake up the morning after its network broadcast. Did you miss Jack Bauer saving the world last night? Now you can watch him in action at Fox's website. Wondering if they've given us any more answers about the island's mysterious secrets on Lost? Surf on over to ABC.com. Need to know if Gil Grissom has caught the miniature killer yet? The answers are waiting for you at CBS.com. Will the Heroes keep New York from blowing up? Catch the latest episode online at NBC!

Fox and ABC provide the best user experience for watching streaming video, with both of them using proprietary plug-ins that require a very brief download. The picture quality at both sites is excellent. Both CBS and NBC have some catching up to do with their technology, so you might want to continue trying to see their shows when they air.

There are also some alternatives to consider if you prefer to download your favorite shows rather than streaming the video. Fast TV Downloads lets you search for and download virtually any tv show and then you can just watch it whenever you like without any sort of buffering problems.

Most of the networks are also streaming aired episodes of this season’s cancelled tv shows online as well and some of them are even adding the episodes that made it through production, but didn’t make it to broadcast. So if there was a show that you loved that no one else seemed to enjoy, you just might want to check that network’s website and see if they’ve made it available online. There’s a pretty good chance you’ll finally get to see it.

Of course, there is one drawback (that's always the case, isn't it?) If you're an overseas viewer, you won't be able to watch these shows online directly at the broadcast websites due to the way proxies are set up, but there are some alternatives for you as well.

One possibility you should check out is Satellite TV for PC. It provides access to over 3000 tv stations right on your computer. You don't need to be outside the US to use it either, so if this sounds like something you'd like, 3000 channels, you should check it out. If you prefer to download your tv shows, there is also Fast TV Downloads, so you can store your favorite shows right on your hard drive.