For users both with and without Roku devices, the Roku Channel is an excellent resource for free movies and TV, with relatively minimal commercial interruption. As more and more paid subscription services start inserting ads, a free service like the Roku Channel becomes more appealing, with a comparable amount of ads for the enticing monthly fee of nothing.
Not having to pay to watch anything also allows for more freedom of discovery, to tune in to a random live channel or to hit play on an obscure movie with a cool poster. You can binge an entire series you never knew existed, or just sample something that sounds intriguing. If you’re looking for a TV show to cue up on the Roku Channel, here are three of the best shows you can stream right now for free.
'Bewitched'
Playful witch Samantha Stephens (Elizabeth Montgomery) is a trailblazer for female-led TV series in this entertaining 1960s sitcom. Samantha’s human husband Darrin (Dick York) is often exasperated with her magical endeavors, especially when they mess with his job as an ad executive. “Bewitched” is a portrayal of a loving marriage in which the wife holds all the power, and the husband acknowledges her superiority while also asserting his own self-worth.
It’s also just silly, goofy fun, as Samantha casts various spells that often backfire, and the show mixes typical suburban sitcom antics with the supernatural. Agnes Moorehead steals every scene she’s in as Samantha’s disapproving mother, and David White is amusing as Darrin’s frequently befuddled boss. The Roku Channel only has the show’s first four seasons, but that represents its best years, with 100-plus episodes of witchy wackiness.
Watch on the Roku Channel
'Whose Line Is It Anyway?'
For a generation who grew up watching Comedy Central, their introduction to improv comedy came through this long-running British series, in which performers like Stephen Fry, Tony Slattery and Josie Lawrence improvise scenes based on parameters presented by host Clive Anderson. “Whose Line” became an international sensation thanks to its Comedy Central airings, and the Roku Channel has all 10 seasons of the original British version, which began in 1988.
The rotating cast also features plenty of performers who later achieved wider fame via the American version of the show, including Colin Mochrie, Ryan Stiles and Wayne Brady, all participating in a freewheeling mix of games designed to showcase their quick wit and willingness to make themselves look silly. Within a handful of basic scenarios, they come up with endless ways to get the audience laughing.
Watch on the Roku Channel
'The Addams Family'
The creepy, kooky, mysterious, spooky and altogether ooky family first made the leap from page to screen in this 1960s sitcom. They’ve since appeared in multiple live-action and animated movies and TV series, but most of the lore about the morbid but loving family was established in the two seasons of this cheerfully macabre comedy, based on the comic strip by Charles Addams.
Stars John Astin and Carolyn Jones set the template for devoted married couple Gomez and Morticia Addams, along with Lisa Loring and Ken Weatherwax as their mischievous children Wednesday and Pugsley. This version of “The Addams Family” offers an appealing mix of good-natured comedy and goth gloominess that has been carried over into everything from Barry Sonnenfeld’s 1990s movies to the hit Netflix show “Wednesday.”
Watch on the Roku Channel
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