Catch your favorite TV shows on the Web

— -- How'd you like to watch The Simpsons,Saturday Night Live or even a full-length movie on your schedule? New sites allow you to do just this and the number of shows offered is steadily increasing. Like television, the shows online are advertiser-supported and free to the viewer.

There are drawbacks. You'll have to watch the shows on your computer's monitor. While there are ways to stream what's on your computer to your TV, most of us won't want to go through the technical hoops to do it. And, in most cases, you can't download the shows. Links for all of these sites are at www.komando.com/news.

Cornucopia sites

Unlike television, where programming is limited by network affiliation, several sites have deals to offer shows from different networks. For example, Joost features more than 20,000 shows.

You'll find prime-time and sports broadcasts, along with documentaries and music. There are shows from Comedy Central, CBS and MTV. Sony and Showtime also offer videos. Most are full-length shows. Others are clips or extras.

You can browse by channel or category to find a show, or use the site's search function.

You must download the Joost viewer to watch its shows. It works on Windows PCs and Macs. Expect to see about three minutes of advertising per hour, although this may increase. Joost also uses annoying pop-up ads.

Hulu is similar to Joost. You'll find full-length shows and clips from NBC, Fox, Bravo and Oxygen, among other networks. Some movies are available. You can browse alphabetically, by genre or by network. There's also a search box.

No software is needed for Hulu. You just click and watch online. You see about one-quarter the number of ads on Hulu as on television.

AOL's In2TV features a wide selection of classic shows. You'll find comedy, drama, sci-fi and other genres.

But In2TV isn't limited to the classics. It has partnered with major networks, mostly through Hulu, to offer recent videos. In2TV plays about two minutes of commercials per half-hour episode.