If you miss an episode of one of your favorite shows on NBC or ABC, you can view the most recent show in video format. If you missed seeing Marissa die on "The O.C." (What? She died?), youtube.com can provide you with a most likely fan-generated five-minute clip set to a Peter Gabriel song.
But most of the time, to keep up with television or really impatient people who can't wait for reruns, loyal fans still have to be more active and read about TV online for comprehensive coverage on missed episodes.
www.tv.com
This Website has episode guides for shows that don't have a sequential plot such as "Mythbusters" (the highest rated reality show on the site), almost every series on network or premium channels, entertainment news and a much-frequented forum.
User-submitted reviews (over 1,500 for "Lost" alone) show the oversaturation of the medium and could use some editing in number and content. Overall, the site is user friendly and unbiased in the breadth of shows it covers.
www.televisionwithoutpity.com
Less comprehensive than tv.com, TWoP has more of a critical eye. The site won't recap anymore "Road Rules" challenges because "in the age of MySpace and bling, cute and bratty seemed like the way to go, rather than interesting and multi-faceted," the site said.
Full of witty snark, the staff that writes the recaps includes almost every detail and leaves no cheap plot twist or reality TV "star" unscathed.
tv.ign.com
Blurring the lines between different types of media, the international gaming network provides reviews of different (American) shows, not just those that would interest gamers. These reviews are openly opinionated, and their usefulness varies based on the reviewer, as the reviews go past simply summaries.
Screenshots within the reviews use the potential of the Internet well, as does the forum and links to other shows.
None of these websites replaces watching the actual show, so springing for a series DVD is sometimes well worth the money, but for medium-brow shows, the Internet recaps work just fine.