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Saturday, August 21, 2021

Watching Free Classic TV on Roku

Last month my sister and I bought ourselves a Roku and we have just begun to explore the classic movie and TV treasures to be found with this device. We first discovered the apps and then started unearthing all the channels within the Live TV stations....there are hundreds of them! 

For those of you who are unfamiliar with what a Roku is, it is a small device that you place near your television set and it allows you to stream films, tv shows, and live TV channels through your internet connection. Many new smart television sets come with Roku already installed, but since we own an older "dumb" television we bought a Roku Express player ( $24.99 ). You simply plug it into a power outlet and then attach the HDMI cable to your TV and presto! you'll have a neverending supply of stuff to watch. 

As with most streaming services, the films and tv series that are offered are not permanent. For example, Green Acres may be available for the spring/summer season and then it gets replaced with The Waltons. Right now, many of the apps are offering mystery/horror-themed films for the Halloween season. We won't even touch on the films, right now we want to share a list of what apps feature what television series to make it a little bit easier for you to navigate if you happen to have a Roku - or are thinking of buying one. 

Note: We missed a number of series, so we'll update this post as we come across "new" titles. 


Classic TV Series You Can Watch with No Subscription Services


PEACOCK TV 


Peacock is the new kid on the block direct from NBC but has a really nice selection already. It features some shows that other streaming apps don't offer so it is well worth adding to your homepage. 

1950s Series

  • Father Knows Best
  • Dennis the Menace

1960s Series

  • The Munsters
  • Alfred Hitchcock Presents
  • Alfred Hitchcock Hour
  • Leave it to Beaver

1970s Series

  • The Carol Burnett Show
  • The Rockford Files
  • Little House on the Prairie
  • Columbo
  • Good Times

1980s Series

  • Unsolved Mysteries
  • Cheers
  • Highway to Heaven
  • Murder, She Wrote
  • The Ray Bradbury Theater
  • Saved by the Bell
  • Punky Brewster
  • Cheers

1990s Series

  • Sliders
  • Downtown Abbey
  • Frasier
  • Everybody Loves Raymond
  • The Jeff Foxworthy Show


THE ROKU CHANNEL


The Roku Channel has a very large selection of programs as well as some great movies to watch. And if you don't feel like watching a program "on demand" you can tune into its Live TV app and browse nearly 200 channels such as the Western channel, the Sci-Fi channel, the Classic TV channel and even The Carol Burnett Show Channel. If you want to watch it right now ( even without buying a Roku ) just head on over to their website: https://therokuchannel.roku.com/

1950s Series

  • Father Knows Best
  • The Rebel
  • Car 54, Where are You
  • The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis
  • Fury
  • The Lone Ranger
  • The Cisco Kid
  • Annie Oakley
  • Tombstone Territory
  • Tales of Wells Fargo
  • Dick Tracy
  • Decoy
  • Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp

1960s Series

  • Dennis the Menace
  • Bewitched
  • The Real McCoys
  • The Munsters
  • Alfred Hitchcock Presents
  • Alfred Hitchcock Hour
  • Leave it to Beaver
  • Peter Gunn
  • Danger Man
  • The Patty Duke Show
  • Green Acres
  • Flipper
  • The Donna Reed Show
  • Peter Gunn
  • The Outer Limits
  • The Saint
  • Route 66
  • The Beverly Hillbillies
  • The Flying Nun
  • That Girl
  • The Naked City
  • My Favorite Martian
  • The Dick Van Dyke Show
  • The Rifleman
  • Petticoat Junction
  • Hazel
  • I Dream of Jeannie
  • Thunderbirds
  • Supercar
  • The Addams Family

1970s Series

  • The Carol Burnett Show
  • The Rockford Files
  • Little House on the Prairie
  • Thriller
  • Starsky and Hutch
  • S.W.A.T
  • Magnum P.I
  • Charlie's Angels
  • Benson
  • The A-Team
  • Movin' On
  • UFO

1980s Series

  • Unsolved Mysteries
  • Xena
  • Highway to Heaven
  • Hart to Hart
  • Murder, She Wrote
  • The Ray Bradbury Theater
  • Saved by the Bell
  • The Johnny Carson Show
  • Hunter
  • Cagney and Lacey
  • Silver Spoons
  • Quantum Leap
  • Alf
  • Airwolf
  • The Greatest American Hero
  • T.J. Hooker
  • The Facts of Life
  • Coach

1990s Series

  • Touch by an Angel
  • Hawkeye
  • Sliders
  • Downtown Abbey
  • Frasier
  • Beyond Belief
  • Mr. Bean
  • Cybill



TUBI

Tubi is one of the mega-players and offers over 20,000 episodes of classic shows to watch, all for free ( there are commercials of course but not nearly as many as you'll find watching MeTV or Antenna TV ). 


1950s Series
  • Four Star Playhouse
  • Foreign Intrigue
  • Adventures of Jim Bowie
  • Our Miss Brooks
  • Mister Peepers
  • Tales from Wells Fargo
  • The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show
  • Lights Out
  • The Life of Riley
  • Date with the Angels
  • The Adventures of Sir Lancelot
  • Hawkeye
  • The Adventures of Robin Hood
  • Frontier Doctor

1960s Series

  • Scooby Doo, Where Are You?
  • Thriller
  • I Dream of Jeannie
  • The Donna Reed Show
  • The Flintstones
  • The Andy Griffith Show
  • Family Affair
  • My Living Doll
  • The French Chef
  • The Adventures of Batman ( animated series )
  • Petticoat Junction
  • The Mothers-in-Law
  • The Prisoner
  • Bewitched
  • The Dick Van Dyke Show
  • Underdog
  • My Favorite Martian
  • The Beverly Hillbillies
  • Gidget
  • Route 66
  • The Saint
  • Pippi Longstocking
  • The Flying Nun
  • The Doris Day Show
  • Secret Agent Man
  • Stingray
  • The Dick Cavett Show
  • Professor Balthazar
  • Captain Scarlett and the Mysterions
  • Fireball XL5
  • The Lucy Show
  • At Last the 1948 Show
  • Davey and Goliath
  • The Merv Griffin Show
  • Ultraman
  • The Glen Campbell Hour
  • The Westerner
  • The Joey Bishop Show
  • The New Three Stooges
  • Cool McCool
  • Joe 90
  • Tate
  • The Secret Service
  • Krazy Kat
  • Batman
  • Rowan and Martin's Laugh-in
  • Space Angel

1970s Series

  • The Partridge Family
  • Sapphire and Steel
  • Charlies Angels
  • Fantasy Island
  • Dark Shadows
  • Archie
  • Hammer House of Horror
  • Captain Caveman and the Teen Angels
  • The Addams Family ( animated series )
  • Space: 1999
  • Soap
  • Tales of the Unexpected
  • Emmerdale
  • The Sandbaggers
  • The New Adventures of Flash Gordon
  • Police Woman
  • CPO Sharkey
  • Ultraman Ace
  • The Johnny Carson Show
  • Thriller
  • Battlestar Gallactica
  • Buck Rogers in the 21st Century
  • Logan's Run
  • The Jeffersons
  • The Rockford Files
  • That's My Mama
  • Grady
  • Maude

1980s Series

  • The New Scooby Doo Mysteries
  • Designing Women
  • Jem
  • Ace Crawford, Private Eye
  • Tim Conway Comedy Hour
  • Mr. T
  • Family
  • Hart to Hart
  • Columbo
  • Alf
  • The Transformers
  • V
  • 221
  • What's Happening Now
  • My Two Dads


1990s Series

  • Hercules
  • Xena
  • Mr. Bean ( animated series )
  • Zorro
  • The Nanny

7 comments:

  1. I have a Roku, but I haven't really managed to use it for more than streaming Disney+ and Amazon Prime. I see I'm going to need to investigate its possibilities more! Although I don't have time to watch most of what D+ and Prime offer as it is, alas...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, by all means start exploring! But fair warning, once you start the discoveries seem endless....especially when new channels keep getting released!

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  2. I've loved my Roku for years! And don't forget the Pluto TV app, which has channels that show classics like Mission: Impossible and The Love Boat 24/7. Shout TV also has some good stuff.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, I just discovered PLuto last week! I'll be adding to this list as I find apps/channels. The Mission Impossible one is irrestible ( as is the Julia Child channel ).

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  3. Wow!! I had no idea all of this was available. My sister has a roku, and we've only seen all these terrible low-budget movies. I can see I'm going to have to show them how to dive a little deeper! This is a wonderful post. thank you!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Check out the Roku Channel link above and you can see a little bit of what they offer without having to own a Roku. There are a lot of channels!

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  4. If you want to download these movies from Pluto TV, you can follow the detailed steps in this tutorial: How to Download Videos from Pluto TV?

    ReplyDelete