The Internet has become an enormous repository of information on television, among other things. Caveat emptor has never been more appropriate, since the Web is huge, unsupervised and mostly unedited, and the information you're looking for may be hard to find, sketchy or simply wrong. (Some people don't care if details are wrong, but we do.) But sometimes it is also quite good, and there are article-length and even book-length treatises on shows with particularly enthusiastic fan bases, like sci-fi and teen shows. So while there is no Complete Directory on the Web, there are a lot of good sites, and in the following section we offer some that you may want to try as a “first stop.” Use them to look for more detail on your favorite shows and to keep up-to-date between editions of The Complete Directory.
One method is of course simply to type the name of a show into one of the major search engines, like google.com or msn.com, but get ready for a long night as you will probably get thousands of “hits” to weed through. Some search engines (like yahoo.com) have their own TV areas, but we've found the following more useful.
Www.wikipedia.org has exploded in the past few years to become the leading one-stop repository of general information on the Web, and the articles on TV series and networks can be quite informative. It is fan-supported (mostly), but there is apparently real editing and despite the knocks it has taken we've found it generally accurate. Quality and detail can vary enormously, with barely a line on some historically important shows and virtual scene-by-scene analysis on others. Not always the place to go if you want a quick synopsis. It can also be rather dry (the wiki “style”), but if it's facts you want, it's definitely worth checking. We give it an A-.
Www.tv.com (formerly tvtome.com) is a useful site with information on thousands of shows, many with episode guides. Even though this is now a commercial site, the information basically comes from fans, so the quality of information (and the spelling) can vary considerably. It's probably weakest on casts (Who was a regular? Which seasons were they on?) and on older shows, but the coverage of contemporary TV is pretty good and overall we'd give it a B+.
Www.epguides.com, one of the original TV fan websites (founded 1999), specializes in episode guides but has been somewhat overshadowed by wikipedia and tv.com (to which it often links). Like the others, it is strongest on recent TV and high-profile nostalgia. C+.
Www.imdb.com is a giant database of information on TV, movies and other entertainment media. It is huge but generally more superficial (and considerably less accurate) than the previous sites. It can be useful for tracing an actor's career. We give it an A for comprehensiveness, C-for accuracy.
Www.sirlinksalot.net is a particularly unruly site, and rather hard to navigate (at this writing), but it is unparalleled in its links to information on reality shows. Although it will take some work, if you're a reality fan you should check this one out. B+ (for reality shows).
Www.tvguide.com, seemingly the new home of the venerable magazine, is of course an excellent guide to what's currently on (and when it will rerun if you missed it), and it also has brief but useful pages on many programs. A for schedules, C for program history.
Other sites of varying quality include http://tviv.org, www.tvrage.com, www.starseeker.com, www.zap2it.com (links), www.realitytvworld.com, and www.classic-tv.com.
Most broadcast and cable networks have their own websites, but they are primarily promotional sites designed to get you to watch; canceled series are deleted almost immediately.
Broadcast Networks:
ABC: www.abc.com
CBS: www.cbs.com
CW: www.cwtv.com
FOX: www.fox.com
ION (formerly PAX): www.ionline.tv
NBC: www.nbc.com
MyNetworkTV: www.mynetworktv.com
Cable Networks:
In past editions we have listed cable network sites, but these change so frequently—and are so obvious—that it's probably easier if you simply type the name of the network you want into your favorite search engine (google, yahoo, msn, etc.). Ninety-nine percent of the time the site will pop right to the top of the results page. Most are pretty obvious (discovery.com, mtv.com, usanetwork.com, etc.) but all of them have multiple “redirects,” so even if you type something slightly off you'll probably get there. They want you to find them.