Free TV shows on television were born much in the same manner as those radio shows of old. First, radio was the venue for playing music and broadcasting the most recent news. Later, there were good old chats, the commentaries and the talk shows. Then, entertainment like songs and stories dramatized for radio arrived and stayed.

When television came into the scene, the network owners pretty much followed a similar time-tested formula. Only this time, the number of categories was almost doubled since there was a significant detail included in the medium – the visual element.

One of the biggest come-ons for watching free TV shows is the availability of several varieties of these free shows. Each category is designed to cater to everyone’s taste. Here are some of the more popular and important ones.

News. Even in the early days of TV, broadcasting the news was of paramount importance. Prestige and the continuing reputation of networks depended largely on how they handle and disseminate the news. This time, they are spiced with the added moving visuals in contrast to photo stills in newspapers and simple descriptive narrations in radio broadcasts.

TV serials and series. Series are drama stories that vary weekly but headlined by the same group of characters. The featured stories or situations might be on particular locales (hospital dramas) or occupations (police action-dramas).

Serials are ongoing stories of a number of characters, where every week’s episode picks up the narrative thread left off from the preceding week. This isn’t a popular primetime format in the U.S. right now, except in daytime soap operas. (Soap operas got their nickname since they were mainly sponsored in the early days by soap manufacturers.)

Another variety is the miniseries, a continuing story aired on limited number of episodes. The more notable successes were Rich Man Poor Man and Roots.

Sitcoms. These are basically comedy shows headlined by comic actors in comic stories about everyday lives. The characters in these 30-minute-long shows usually deal with odd, uncomfortable and mostly comic situations.

Specials. As the term implies, a special is an important one-time show aired with much fanfare and can interrupt or temporarily replace any regular program. They can be a big movie, a documentary, a musical event, an awards show like the Oscars, a live event like a presidential oath-taking, a big sporting event, or coverage of an important cultural event.

Talk shows. These are shows where people talk about various topics initiated by the host. Sometimes, they feature a panel of guests to help discuss the issues at hand. One other feature is the taking in of live phone calls from viewers. Talk shows may also be comic all throughout, with comedy hosts and celebrity guests talking about current entertainment issues or about the guest celebrities themselves.

Game shows. These are popular shows usually shown on daytime where there is a real contest with big prizes and rewards. To spice up the games, celebrities are usually included as players either playing against themselves or against ordinary contestants. (Spelling Bee was the first TV game show.)

Reality shows. This relatively new show concept is supposedly unscripted and unrehearsed. They have non-actors interacting with one another, dealing with invented challenges (like ‘surviving’ in an island), or competing with each other for some rewards (affection of one other person, big money, etc.) They often focus on interpersonal conflicts and also the varying emotions of the participants as well as the resulting “real-life drama”.

Other alternatives. Nowadays, there too exist the so-called specialty stations or channels whose programs cater to a particular group of audience. Examples would be cable stations like Animal Planet, Nickelodeon, National Geographic, ESPN, Discovery and more.

For the average viewer, these are bonanza days of viewing free TV shows. You can pick and watch any program you like at any hour of the day, seven days a week. Unfortunately, one has to live one’s life as well – eat, sleep, and work.

To learn want more about televisions visit our website about TV where you will find additional information and content.