The 15 Best Movies and TV Shows to Stream on Tubi for Free

Since Fox acquired Tubi in 2020, the free, ad-supported streaming service — the only big one whose viewers are mostly over 50 — has acquired a massive catalog of TV shows and movies (1,000 titles in the horror category alone). And all of that free content, plus the fact that you don’t need a subscription to watch it, has made it one of the most popular streamers on the market, besting better known rivals like Peacock, Max, Paramount+ and Apple TV+ in total viewing time. If you don’t mind sitting through commercials, Tubi offers a ton of gems, particularly older, classic films and TV shows (everything from North by Northwest and Doctor Zhivago to Leave It to Beaver and The Carol Burnett Show). Here are our picks for some of the best for bingeing.

Broadchurch (2013-17, 3 Seasons)

This remarkable British detective show provided a breakout role for future Oscar winner Olivia Colman, 50, as a detective sergeant in a small seaside Dorset town with a suspiciously high murder rate. David Tennant, 53, plays the standoffish detective inspector who leads the murder investigation in the first season, the killing of an 11-year-old who seemed to have ties to everyone in town. Over three seasons and multiple cases, the two strike up an uneasy rapport that’s fascinating to watch.

Watch it: Broadchurch

The Carol Burnett Show (1967-78, 11 Seasons)

Is there any sketch comedy show that is more beloved than this one? Carol Burnett, 91, established herself as one of TV’s biggest stars over the course of 11 side-splitting seasons, creating legendary characters like working-class homemaker Eunice Higgins and the curtain-rod-wearing Starlet O’Hara in a parody of Gone with the Wind. It’s enough to make you want to tug on your earlobe in satisfaction.

Watch it: The Carol Burnett Show

Columbo (1971-2003, 16 Seasons)

Columbo broke the mold for detective shows, revealing whodunit in the very first scene and then following Peter Falk’s rumpled cop digging up clues and needling suspects with just one more question until he cracked the case. The show, whose stylish third episode in 1971 was directed by a newcomer named Steven Spielberg, 77, also popularized the idea of stunt casting A-listers like Janet Leigh, Vincent Price and Faye Dunaway, 83, at a time when movie stars rarely deigned to do TV.

Watch it: Columbo

 

The Dick Van Dyke Show (1961-66, 5 Seasons)

This pioneering comedy starring the legendary Dick Van Dyke, 98, still holds up after more than half a century. Not only did it introduce the world to Mary Tyler Moore, who played Van Dyke’s wife, but it also successfully blended domestic life with workplace drama of a very meta nature. The late, great Carl Reiner, who created the show, also played the very high-maintenance host of a TV comedy show where Van Dyke works as a writer.

Watch it: The Dick Van Dyke Show

Doctor Zhivago (1965)

Director David Lean followed his 1962 hit Lawrence of Arabia with another sweeping epic, this one set in Russia during the upheaval of World War I and then the Russian Revolution. Omar Sharif and Julie Christie, 84, sizzle as the star-crossed lovers, who keep being torn apart by circumstance despite the swells of Maurice Jarre’s infectious and Oscar-winning musical score.

Watch it: Doctor Zhivago