The Best Free TV Series You Can Watch On YouTube

You may not know it, but YouTube has assembled an excellent catalog of free TV series. It may not be as massive as the site's line-up of movies available for streaming, but its hit-to-miss ratio is seriously impressive. It also specializes in some TV niches we particularly like, reaching beyond what's currently airing to offer audiences classic, groundbreaking television and cult series from a wide variety of genres and eras. We're happy that YouTube's streaming library has given us such a good excuse for talking about some of our nostalgic favorites that we could watch time and time again.

Not all of these shows are available on YouTube in full: Some may only have a couple of seasons, like a kind of sampler. All of them, however, have enough available to be well worth your time, especially since the only "cost" is sitting through a couple of ads. So sit back and get ready to start assembling a watch-list of some of YouTube's best shows.

ALF stands for Alien Life Form, and it's the nickname that the bewildered Tanner family slaps on Gordon Shumway, the stranded alien who moves into their laundry room. Picture a puppet that looks like an aardvark and comes with a little bit of an attitude. You'd have one too if you were one of the only survivors of your home planet and your new hosts keep refusing to let you eat their cat.

As you would guess from the above, "ALF" serves up both surreal sitcom hijinks for the whole family and a soupcon of darkness and anarchy for the adults. ALF's cynicism, acerbic wit, and inability to stay out of trouble — even when he's ostensibly trying to lie low and avoid the dreaded (but clearly not super-observant) Alien Task Force — may make him a terrible houseguest and eventual adopted family member, but they also make him undeniably entertaining ... at least if you're not the one who has to clean up after him. The fourth wall saves us a lot of hassle and gives us the chance to appreciate this unique, bizarre puppet show for all its many virtues.

"Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction" is a quirky and engaging show that's of its time in the best possible way: Like most cheese, this has only gotten better with age. We hereby invite you to kick back with hosts James Brolin (Season 1) and Jonathan Frakes (Seasons 2-4) and bask in some tales of mystery, coincidence, and the paranormal. The twist? Each episode provides several stories, and some of them are true — or at least have some kind of documentation behind them — and some are pure fiction. You guess which, and the answers are revealed at the end of each episode.

This is just plain fun, from the interactive angle to the frequently over-the-top acting to Jonathan Frakes' twinkling good humor, dramatic timing, and deliberately groan-worthy puns. "Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction" wants to show you a good time, and it completely succeeds. It's earned its lingering cult status. Bloody Disgusting writer Felix Vasquez Jr. nicely sums up the show's appeal as its ability to offer stories that were "a mixture of clever and scary, with segments that really hit home, whether they were based on fact or not."

Carol Burnett is a comedic treasure, and her variety and sketch show "The Carol Burnett Show" is one of the best the genre has to offer. When she received the coveted Mark Twain Prize for American Humor, The Washington Post called her "the first lady of variety." It also cited her numerous honors, which include 25 Emmys and the Presidential Medal of Freedom. She was a game-changer and a huge influence on women in comedy.

So if you want proof that the game needed changing, think about this: "The Carol Burnett Show" almost didn't happen. In an interview (qtd. Playbill), Burnett explained that while CBS wanted to give her a show, they didn't want to give her this show — you know, the one with the 25 Emmys. They told her, "It's a man's game, comedy variety." Would anyone really tune into a sketch show with a woman's name in the title?

Clearly they would, and they did — and thanks to YouTube, we still can. "The Carol Burnett" show remains colorful, hilarious, and chock full of legendary sketches and characters.

"The Dead Zone" retools one of Stephen King's best novels into a fun, long-running science fictional procedural, mixing episodic plots with longer arcs that have higher — and potentially world-ending — stakes. Anthony Michael Hall plays Johnny Smith, who wakes up from a post-accident coma to find that years have gone by, his fiancée has married someone else, and his occasional hunches have turned into a full-blown psychic gift that will define the rest of his life.

While Johnny tries to heal and rebuild some semblance of a life, he's also drawn into using his newfound visions to help people. Hanging over everything is the prospect of total doom: Shaking hands with the unstable, ruthlessly amoral up-and-comer Greg Stillson tips him off that Stillson gaining power could mean the end of the world.

Clever standalone stories and an irresistible overarching plot make "The Dead Zone" thoroughly engaging, but the strong ensemble cast may deserve most of the credit for the show's six seasons: In addition to hall, the series includes character actors like David Ogden Stiers of "M*A*S*H" and fan favorites like Nicole de Boer of "Deep Space Nine."

If you want to have a peaceful life, don't move to a town called Eerie. Marshall Teller, however, didn't get much of a choice: He's still a kid. He thinks his biggest problem with relocating to Eerie will be dealing with homesickness and adjusting to a small town life.

Instead, Marshall is confronted with ghosts, Elvis, immortality Tupperware, and a retainer that lets its wearer read dogs' minds — and that's just the tip of the iceberg. Along with his friend Simon and the mysterious, amnesiac Dash X, Marshall attempts to solve Eerie's mysteries ... or at least get the rest of the town to admit that something is going on here.

"Eerie, Indiana" is a nostalgic treat — a kind of "Stranger Things" precursor with some kid's show wackiness added in for extra flavor. With five episodes directed by horror-comedy master Joe Dante himself, it's unsurprising that the series gives you both laughs and genuine scares. Plus, if you haven't watched the show since you were a kid, you might be surprised by how well some of the horror holds up to adult viewing: As Collider's review explains, the show eschews a lot of the obvious monsters and instead "pokes fun at the cult-like aspects of multi-level marketing, unethical advertisement, and even the arbitrariness of daylight savings time," concerns that only amplify as you get older. After all, who isn't afraid of Daylight Savings Time?

"Father Ted" is one of the crown jewels of Irish comedy, with a comfortable spot on best-of-all-time lists. The series concentrates on three hapless, mildly disgraced priests — Father Ted Crilly, Father Dougal McGuire, and Father Jack Hackett — whose bishop has stashed them on a remote Irish island as a kind of exile. No more trips to Vegas for poor Father Ted: He's stuck making the best of life on the gray, dilapidated, but perversely whimsical Craggy Island. Needless to say, even there, he doesn't manage to stay out of trouble. (That's good for us, because it makes for much more entertaining viewing.)

The series continues to have an especially huge cultural impact in Ireland, even though it's over 20 years old. As The Irish Times chronicles, certain "Father Ted" jokes — like a protest sign reading "DOWN WITH THIS SORT OF THING" — have long since become durable memes. The humor isn't the only part of the show that's lasted, either. The series has a real knack for handling serious cultural and philosophical matters with a light, deft touch that the Irish Times calls "playful and surreal." It's as smart as it is funny, and it rewards rewatching.

Lighthearted and endearing, the '80s superhero show "The Greatest American Hero" serves up plenty of comic book-style satisfaction alongside goofy, gentle humor.

Ralph is a goodhearted teacher who does his best by his students and his son. His normal life gets a lot less normal when aliens intervene and entrust him with a distinctive superhero suit. The mission they give him is simple: Harness the suit's gifts to help humanity, and partner up with Bill Culp, a tough but distinctly eccentric FBI agent. The suit, on the other hand, is complicated ... especially since, in a twist we can unfortunately relate to, Ralph immediately loses the instruction manual. He spends the whole series trying to figure out its myriad powers, making haphazard progress.

Ralph and Bill are joined by Ralph's girlfriend, lawyer Pam, and together, the three of them take on a wide variety of problems and mysteries — including the legacy of the suit and the purpose of the aliens behind it.

If you like your cooking shows to feature cutthroat challenges, genuine artistry, classically over-the-top reality series shenanigans, and plenty of yelling, you will be delighted to learn that "Hell's Kitchen" is free on YouTube. The show features the legendarily vitriolic chef Gordon Ramsay slowly winnowing down a field of competitors for a new head chef position, testing them on their skills, palates, speed, restaurant service, and ability to withstand explosive and profane rants about how their improperly prepared Beef Wellington could kill a diner.

It's definitely a show that enjoys delivering plenty of raucous, consciously outrageous spectacle, not all of which has anything to do with cooking. Think of it as "The Great British Bake-Off" on Opposite Day. Let's be honest, though: Sometimes we want some gratuitous drama and bleeped-out screaming served up alongside our perfectly creamy risotto. This is reality TV at its brashest and loudest, and it's compulsively watchable.

"Kitchen Nightmares" is a kind of cooking show with a twist. Chef Gordon Ramsay — widely known for his foul mouth and explosive temper, though there's definitely more to him than that — visits failing restaurants and, over the course of an episode, attempts to guide them through the kind of major changes that could save their business. Sometimes that comes down to improving the food, but just as often it's about inspiring the owners and solving behind-the-scenes drama.

Ramsay is confident that he can handle all of that. New York Times reviewer Gina Bellafante admits, "The thrill of watching Mr. Ramsay is in witnessing someone so at peace with his own arrogance." That satisfaction is there even when you don't want it to be. The underlying message of "Kitchen Nightmares" — that struggling businesses are just missing elbow grease and some tough love speeches — is one that Bellafante profoundly dislikes, but she still has to concede that Ramsay is "undeniably hypnotic." At the end of the day, it's just hard to resist the allure of watching things get fixed and problems get solved.

The acclaimed series "Line of Duty" is an unusual police procedural that changes the usual perspective of the genre. On most cop shows, internal affairs departments — which investigate corruption and criminality within the police itself — are distrusted and derided. In "Line of Duty," they take center stage and do heroic work in ferreting out individual, systemic, and conspiratorial misconduct. The series boasts a massive and incredibly talented cast, which adds to the sense of realism and immersion. The series touches on social drama issues, but it never stints on action or suspense. It's one of the best shows around when it comes to thoughtful thrills.

The show has collected a vast library of award nominations and wins, and even years into its run, it continues to garner critical praise. Of Season 6, which premiered in 2021, Empire wrote, "['Line of Duty'] rewards you handsomely: with superbly executed wall-to-wall action; hugely compelling, constantly changing characters; and a precise script that always punches above its weight, even when it's insanely dense with mind-mangling acronyms." The acronyms aren't too big a drawback for us, and we doubt they will be for you either. When your pulse is pounding this much, it's hard to mind if the occasional bit of terminology goes over your head.

"Midsomer Murders" has already had over 20 seasons, and it's still going strong. It can be intimidating to start such a long-running show — even when no season features more than eight episodes — but luckily, YouTube is ready to start you off gently by featuring the first six seasons for free.

In these seasons, you'll be treated to snarky, gentlemanly Detective Chief Inspector Tom Barnaby and crass but loyal Detective Sergeant Gavin Troy, who investigate murders in the county of Midsomer — a place that would be idyllic if its citizens weren't always dropping like flies, something the show occasionally gives a tongue-in-cheek acknowledgement of. These are well-constructed British countryside mysteries with fun mysteries in the vein of Agatha Christie's Miss Marple books and shows like "Inspector Morse," and they often have an appealingly light tone.

The early seasons are hampered by producer Brian True-May's outdated and offensive ideas of what an English country village "should" look like, but after True-May's departure, the series began assembling a more diverse cast.

The classic Western series "The Rifleman" stars Chuck Connors as Lucas McCain, a Civil War veteran who, after the loss of his wife, takes his young son and moves to a ranch near the small New Mexico town of North Fork. He's too honorable — and too devoted to the idea of making a better life for his son — to let trouble in North Fork stand, so he's often drawn into assisting Marshal Micah Torrance, defending the town, and taking moral stands where necessary. The show explores questions of father-son relationships, violence, guilt, redemption, and the legacy of the Civil War while sticking to a story-driven episodic structure that keeps everything entertaining.

The show has a lot that will draw in even casual Western fans. It was created — and sometimes directed — by Sam Peckinpah, one of the masters of the genre; Peckinpah is joined by other legendary directors like Richard Donner, and the behind-the-camera skills give the series a lot of polish and power. Its simple focus on storytelling, empathy, and well-realized characters means it's aged well. Kim Morgan at DVD Talk summed it up thusly: "A classic for a reason, 'The Rifleman' still plays fantastic after all these years. Though a series like 'Deadwood' is obviously edgier, there is something about 'The Rifleman' that gives it an extra punch."

Before Roger Moore followed in Sean Connery's footsteps and took up the mantle of James Bond, he played another capable problem-solver with charm to burn: Simon Templar, "The Saint." For over 100 episodes, the witty, wealthy, and sophisticated Templar steps in to solve crimes, protect international relations, and accomplish any number of ludicrously challenging feats. It's probably not going too far to say that the Saint saves the world and looks good doing it.

While "The Saint" never offered especially strong characterization and often resorted to stereotypes when building supporting characters, Moore's breezy charisma helps make up for weaknesses in the writing. Templar's debonair competence is ideal for a certain kind of laid-back comfort viewing: Just rest and let him take care of everything.

Life is hard enough, after all. As Slug Mag says, "The Saint" is a great viewing choice if you just want a chance to de-stress and escape into a '60s fantasy-land: "If you can appreciate dated themes of goodies vs baddies, 1960s style and, of course, Roger Moore's swagger, this may be a fun blast from the past for you."

We live in a kind of Golden Age of true crime documentaries, but long before Netflix and podcasts got in on the game, there was "Unsolved Mysteries" and its eerie, instantly recognizable theme music. YouTube offers three seasons of the long-running show, and if you can resist the siren call of that kind of binge watch, you have more willpower than we do.

Of course, "Unsolved Mysteries" covers more than true crime. The show — mostly hosted by the inimitable Robert Stack, whose deep voice manages to evoke both serious news and tales told around a campfire — also explores reports of the paranormal, from UFOs to alleged miracles to unsettling ghost stories. Its crime stories arguably did the most to shape its legacy, however, since the show would solicit help from its audience ... and that help sometimes made a difference and contributed to solving the show's mysteries. Because the series occasionally updates viewers on progress made on cases in previous episodes, watching "Unsolved Mysteries" still has an engagingly collaborative feel to it.

Yes, some of the reenactments are arguably cheesy, and the show has a sensationalist streak. Once we hear that theme music kick in, though, none of that matters: After all these years (and a Netflix reboot), the original "Unsolved Mysteries" is still a giant in the world of true crime TV.

"Wiseguy" was so far ahead of its time that in 1996, when reviewing the show's reunion movie, The New York Times had to put the word "arc" in quotes when describing how the series often had stories play out over several episodes: It was still an unusual enough concept that audiences needed it defined.

"Wiseguy" didn't just help pioneer serialized TV storytelling, it also uses it for a real emotional and narrative purpose. Lead character Vinnie Terranova (Ken Wahl) is an undercover agent, repeatedly asked to infiltrate criminal organizations — often at considerable personal risk — until he gets an opportunity to take them down. The series excels at showing the kind of spiritual toll this takes on Vinnie, who has to befriend and get close to people his job requires him to betray and who often has to watch trouble and consequences simmering for a while before he can do anything about it. The show's arcs are crucial to putting the viewer in his shoes.

The different storylines are also varied and memorable, with Vinnie taking on a mob boss he can't help liking, a dangerously off-kilter billionaire arms dealer, and a corrupt record industry executive. The show also offers an incredible supporting and guest cast that includes Jonathan Banks, Kevin Spacey, Stanley Tucci, Tim Curry, and Glenn Frey.

There are some shows that push the medium forward but don't last in their own right. "Wiseguy" — fun, well-characterized, and rife with complex moral dilemmas — isn't one of them.