Print this Article
RSSBoston Herald
By SEAN L. McCARTHY
"Grey's Anatomy" or "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" - what must you see tonight, and what can wait until tomorrow?
How about both?
The brave new world of TV programming, combined with a little know-how, a broadband Internet connection and a digital video recorder, allows you to control your prime-time viewing habits as never before.
Take the nation's top two shows, which air against each other at 9 p.m. Thursdays.
If you'd rather watch "CSI" in real time, record "Grey's," or simply wait until 8 p.m. tomorrow, when ABC repeats it. Or you can watch "Grey's" online, with limited commercials, at www.abc.com.
But if you must see "Grey's" first, record "CSI" - or not. If you have Comcast On Demand, you have four weeks to watch the long- running CBS hit for free (until Wednesday for the season premiere, which aired Sept. 21).
All the networks continue to experiment with alternate viewing options, though, so here is the current breakdown, by network, of what's available where.
** ABC: At www.abc.com, full episodes are available the day after they first air, with limited commercials, for "Grey's Anatomy," "Lost," "Desperate Housewives," "Ugly Betty," "Six Degrees," "The Nine" and the upcoming "The Knights of Prosperity."
** CBS: Free on Comcast On Demand, full episodes of "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," "CSI: NY," "CSI: Miami," "Survivor: Cook Islands," "NCIS," "Numb3rs" and "Jericho."
Online at www.cbs.com, all those shows play on its Innertube player, plus the most recent episodes of "The Class," "How I Met Your Mother," "The New Adventures of Old Christine," "Shark" and "The Unit." The rest of the lineup gets brief video clips and previews.
** NBC: Online at www.nbc.com, full episodes of "Friday Night Lights," "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip," "Heroes" and "Kidnapped" are available. Veteran hit shows offer two-minute episode recaps.
** Fox: Its schedule temporarily derailed for baseball playoffs, the network uses its MySpace partnership to offer "Fox On Demand" at www.myspace.com/fox, with the latest episodes of "Prison Break," " 'Til Death," "Bones," "The Loop," "Justice," "Standoff," "Vanished" and "Talkshow With Spike Feresten."
** The CW: The season premieres of "Veronica Mars" and "Everybody Hates Chris" can be watched for free online at tv.msn.com.
For basic cable favorites such as FX's "Nip/Tuck," Bravo's "Project Runway" and Sci Fi's "Battlestar Galactica," you have to watch them when they air or catch the repeats.
Or, you could buy any of these shows - and a whole lot more - for $1.99 an episode on iTunes.
(c) 2006 Boston Herald. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.
