free TV

If you like free stuff, and you like South Park, you will like this: South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone are now streaming nearly every episode of the series online, plus clips and behind-the-scenes information. In a press release, Parker and Stone gave a typically flippant reason for the launch: "We got really sick of having to download our own show illegally all the time so we gave ourselves a legal alternative."

The site currently has 168 of the 169 episodes of South Park available. (I'm not sure which one's missing.) Because of various contract issues, new episodes will appear on the site right after they air and be available for seven days before being temporarily taken down; after 30 days, they'll be added back to the site for good. The episodes can't be embedded on other sites, but they can be shared on sites like Facebook.

There's clearly still some work to be done on the site (the episode guide feature is pretty buggy for me), but who am I to complain when there's more than a decade of South Park episodes to be watched at my leisure? Are there any old episodes you're particularly interested in checking out again?

Photo courtesy of Comedy Central

No, the fallout from the NBC vs. iTunes kerfuffle isn't over yet. Here's the latest: NBC will offer episode downloads free from NBC.com starting in October. Yup, I said "free."

There are a few caveats, though:

• The video will only work for a week after the episodes are broadcast.
• Only a limited number of shows will be available at the start, but at least they're generally good ones: "Heroes," "The Office," "Life," "Bionic Woman," "30 Rock," "Friday Night Lights," "Late Night with Conan O'Brien" and "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno."
• The content won't be available to Mac users (um, take that, Apple?)

After an initial trial run, NBC plans to upgrade the service with the option to subscribe to favorite shows — and, yes, to make the episodes available on Macs, too.

It seems like this should be a good temporary solution — except for people who have Macs or want to own episodes, that is. But at least there's a way for a lot of people without DVRs to watch both "Grey's Anatomy" and "The Office" now, and that's a good thing ... right? Can you see yourself using this service?

If you've been waiting all summer to see how Josh Schwartz does with the steamy, soapy "Gossip Girl," wait no more! The first episode of the show is being offered free right now on the iTunes Music Store. The show premieres Wednesday at 9 p.m., but why wait? If you download it, be sure to come back here and tell me what you think.

A number of other networks have also made selected pilots available for free, so for good measure, here's a list of what's out and how to find it:

• All four of NBC's pilots are available On Demand through many cable providers and can be downloaded through Amazon's Unbox service. All but "Bionic Woman" also can be rented at Blockbuster. "Chuck" is now online at Yahoo! TV.
• If you fly on American Airlines this month, you'll get a chance to watch the pilots for CBS' "Cane" and "The Big Bang Theory."
• Fox is streaming "Nashville" online ahead of its premiere tonight.

In the next week or two, I'm sure more shows will become available early for free. If you find one, let me know and I'll add it to this list!

Photo courtesy of The CW

No Showtime? No problem, if you want to see the first episode of the fantastic new "This American Life" TV show. Showtime has put the first episode online for free. No word on if they'll keep doing this, though the ad right below the video player encouraging people to subscribe to Showtime makes me think not.

While you're at it, check out the "What I Learned from Television" episode of the "This American Life" radio show. It's packed with goodies for TV junkies like me, but the best part comes in Act 3, just over 30 minutes in, when Ira Glass starts talking about his over-the-top love for "The OC." Also included: a performance of "California" by Mates of State. Love it!

Photo courtesy of Showtime

NBC recently promised to put episodes of its new spring shows online early, and they've now made good on the offer by posting the full pilot of "Raines." The Jeff Goldblum show about a detective who channels the dead victims of the crimes he investigates officially premieres on March 15, right after the debut of "Andy Barker, P.I.," another show you can watch online right now.

I saw a short preview of "Raines" a while back, and I wasn't sure what to make of it. On the one hand, Goldblum had a nice touch as the staid detective who thinks he's going nuts when the dead crime victims start appearing, and some of his dry one-liners made me laugh out loud. On the other hand, I'm not sure I dig the "Law & Order"-meets-"Six Feet Under" concept, no matter how well it's done. But I just might be curious enough to check out the pilot. To see a preview video, read more

Turns out, NBC really, really wants you to watch "The Black Donnellys." First, the network made the first episode of the show — which is bumping "Studio 60" off the schedule — available on Netflix back in January. Now, they've put the whole pilot online — for free — over at Yahoo! TV.

I'm glad to have the chance to see the show ahead of time, but how does NBC actually expect anyone to watch the premiere on Monday? Even if I like the pilot when I watch it online, I'm not going to tune in a second time when it's on TV. That's exactly what happened with "The Agency" — I loved the first episode, but now I have no reason to watch tonight.

Then again, this kind of move can generate buzz if the people who watch the pilot early tell their friends it's good. I'll check out the episode this week and let you know what I think. Have any of you seen it yet?

Awesome TV news flash: MSN is offering episodes of "Arrested Development" online - for free! Every few weeks, the site will feature episodes from the series, until all three seasons have been shown over the year. The one downfall: There are only three episodes or so at a time, and once the next episodes are posted. the previous ones come down. The upside: You could basically watch a different "Arrested Development" episode per week for an entire year, free of charge.

The site also has other offerings, including downloadable wallpaper calendars like this one, which show the dates when each of the episodes will be released on the site. And, of course, the shows themselves. I just watched the episode in which we're introduced to Tobias' "nevernude" condition, and it thoroughly brightened my Monday.

NBC doesn't usually put full episodes of "The Office" online, but for this week's episode, they've done something even better. A special producer's cut of "The Return" is available free on the show's official site. The 28-minute video includes some great jokes that didn't make it to air, including Michael suggesting Oscar decorate the back of his car with rainbow stickers and Andy getting sent away to management training — anger management, that is. It's definitely worth a watch.

I told you a while back about how to get a sneak peek of the "Extras" season premiere. Now I have better news: The whole first episode of the upcoming season — the one where Orlando Bloom trashes Johnny Depp and Andy (Ricky Gervais) starts filming his sitcom — is now available for free on the iTunes music store. Yup, free.

For some reason it's in the Podcasts section of the store — yeah, I don't get it either. You can get to it directly, or you can search for it in the iTunes store using these steps:

• Go to the Podcasts homepage in the store
• Under "featured providers," click HBO
• Click on the link that says "Extras"

It comes up with a "subscribe" link, just like regular podcasts — so I wonder if there will be more free episodes in the future? Here's hoping. If you want to catch it on regular TV, "Extras" starts this Sunday, Jan. 14, at 10 p.m. on HBO.

Christmas has come and gone, but ABC has a gift for you: As of Dec. 25, the network will be putting full seasons of five of its shows online. "Grey's Anatomy," "Desperate Housewives," "Ugly Betty," "Brothers & Sisters," and "What About Brian?" are all headed to the Web.

This is the first time "Brothers & Sisters" and "Brian" will be online at all, which one of the "Brothers & Sisters" writers' assistants jokes about on his blog. ABC usually keeps the most recent four episodes of "Desperate Housewives," "Ugly Betty" and "Grey's" on its media player. However, just as with NBC's free TV offer, the full seasons will only stay online till new episodes start again in January, so you'll have to watch fast.