Rerun Century
One-stop shopping for classical TV episodes
By BOB POULSEN
A new resource for streaming TV history to your computer or Chromecast is now available online. Completely free, the website is called RerunCentury and is a curated directory of the public domain television episodes uploaded to Internet Archive’s Moving Image Collection.
The concise interface sorts the thousands of classic TV videos at Internet Archive into guides based on show title and year of original broadcast. Video links are embedded at RerunCentury with no account required, and no video advertising apart from any historic commercials intact within the original broadcasts.
Over 170 shows and 1,300 episodes are indexed for streaming. For example, The Jack Benny Program has 49 free episodes available, originally broadcast from 1951 to 1963, and the suspense drama One Step Beyond has 53 episodes online.
Binge-watch 132 episodes of The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriett, presented in chronological order. Westerns, crime dramas, variety shows, sitcoms, and many other genres are represented.
Rerun Century also presents historic network TV primetime schedule grids from 1948–1999. Browse and search to find watchable shows, as well as to discover which series are available on DVD.
Another option, which is legal and encouraged, is to download the public domain episodes for later viewing via links which take users to the specific Internet Archive detail page for each video. Internet Archive’s mission is to disseminate the world’s information:
The Internet Archive is a 501(c)(3) non-profit that was founded to build an Internet library. Its purposes include offering permanent access for researchers, historians, scholars, people with disabilities, and the general public to historical collections that exist in digital format.
Sure, some recordings have defects, which must be tolerated for the sake of experiencing this historic era. But, hey, that’s showbiz! The quality of the writing, performances, even the camera work, is something of a national treasure. And it’s all free, with instant streaming on-demand.
Many shows, particularly the dramatic anthologies, are full of actors which remain well known today. Drama series include:
Armstrong Circle Theatre
Campbell Soundstage
Cavalcade of America
Climax!
Crossroads
DuPont Cavalcade Theater
DuPont Theater
Four Star Playhouse
Playhouse 90
Robert Montgomery Presents
Schlitz Playhouse of Stars
Stage 7
Studio One
Suspense
The General Electric Theater
The Philco Television Playhouse
The United States Steel Hour
In association with the website CastFrog, users have a method to stream episodes direct to Chromecast.
The site continues to add new episodes as more are posted to Internet Archive.
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