Fans of CBS’ new shows “The Mentalist” and “Eleventh Hour” are letting the network have it after full episodes were suddenly removed from cbs.com
“You’re losing viewers like me,” one “Mentalist” viewer warned the network on the program-specific message boards. Another griped: “Why tune in to CBS shows when the other networks offer full episodes?”
CBS provided no explanation for halting free stream versions of these shows, and doesn’t seem to have anyone moderating its fan forums to put out flareups. Sloppy on both counts.
“I don’t get why CBS is still showing full episodes for some shows but not others,” another fan asked.
Great question. Why any network is withholding full streams of any primetime show remains a mystery these days. There is a clear sense of entitlement out there among online viewers. Clips and “recaps” aren’t cutting it.
Networks, understandably, are experimenting with different programming models, but jerking around loyal online viewers without the least bit of communication is inexcusable.
An interesting hypothesis after reading through the complaints about “The Mentalist” and “Eleventh Hour”: Looks like a good number of viewers have trashed their VCRs but haven’t adopted DVRs, leaving them dependent on network online streaming when they miss an episode.
I am so frustrated and po’d. I have been trying to get full episodes of The Mentalist and The 11th Hour, to no avail. Seems that the network doesn’t offer them and the other sources are questionable [trojans, lead ons to other sites/offers, etc]. What to do? You would think that CBS would relish the additional watchers–I’ll sit through the commercials to watch the shows on line! Right now I’m ready to boycott all CBS shows.
Granted, CBS has the worst of the online video streamers, but I still looked forward to catching the Mentalist and Eleventh Hour every week. Our VCR was destroyed in a recent move and cutbacks in expenditures means we have no need for DVR/Tivo. With my work/study schedule I thoroughly love the convenience of watching episodes online. Does CBS even want these shows to succeed? Or is someone looking for an excuse to cancel and be rid of the production expenses so more “reality” TV may be aired? It makes no sense, especially when the network gives no explanation. Unfortunately I can’t catch these shows on TV, which is a shame because I’d watch Rufus Sewell read binary if it came to it. I’m sure CBS couldn’t care less what their audience thinks and it shows. Sorry, CBS, but I’m well over CSI so I’ll be over at the other networks watching full episodes of my favorite shows, most of which I wouldn’t even have heard of let alone tried had they not been available online.
Thanks for bringing this to the fore. The real culprit here is Warner Brothers Television. Note that they are also behind the removal of Big Bang Theory. I tackled the question of why WBT would do this to us (and more importantly, to themselves). It may have to do with rights and royalties issues that go beyond CBS and Warner. Remember, actors, directors, and producers want their fair share.
Yeah, what the other commenters said! I was flabergasted and feeling like I was having early onset altzheimer’s when I couldn’t find full episodes of The Mentalist and Eleventh Hour at CBS. Weren’t they there before??? The Mentalist is on opposite Fringe, so I watched Fringe thinking I’d watch The Mentalist online. Ha! New plan is to watch The Mentalist on tv and watch Fringe online the next day. Or maybe just not ever again watch The Mentalist because I’m disgusted with CBS. I guess “what’s wrong with them?!” is going to be a familiar refrain. As for the Eleventh Hour, I went to bed early and thought I’d watch it online. But Nooooooooo. It’s becoming clear to me there’s a reason it’s so hard to find where on the CBS website you can click to give them feedback. The recaps/clips are a stinky substitute. Hey CBS, scratch and sniff this!
What is with this? I go to a boarding magnet school so I can’t watch the Mentalist during the school weeks and most of my shows I have my parents Tivo, problem is they like another show more that runs in the time slot, so the only way I can watch this is online. I don’t care if there was the full number of ads online I just want to be able to watch the mentalist.
I too am severely annoyed that I cannot legally enjoy the mentalist!!!
CBS is really ripping us off. My excuse is that my tivo block for that time is already full and the biggest surprise of all? Its not on itunes or unbox!!!
I often work late so I thought that it was fabulous to be able to watch some shows on my computer. CBS has really annoyed me by pulling the shows. It would be different if they never aired them. But to remove them mid season only irritates people. CBS executes do you think?
11th hour is one of my top shows…. was one* since I can’t watch them now…. I watch all my shows online…
What a bone-headed move! I was just getting into the Mentalist when I had a power outage and missed an episode. I have decided to be very, very careful about adding new CBS shows to my watch list since I can’t catch up on missed shows. Or just do as I have been doing, wait to see if it makes it long enough to come out on DVD. The feedback link for CBS is http://www.cbs.com/info/user_services/fb_global_form.php (if anyone at CBS actually bothers to read the feedback). With all the complaining the broadcast networks do about Netflix, the Internet etc., you think the would be more concerned about keeping the customers they do have.
You guys are schizophrenic, and you’re frustrating your viewers. With the crazy “xx:01″ start and end times, network problems, sports overruns, horrible cable DVRs, and other issues, many of us rely on being able to watch the full episode of a primetime show here online – at least as a last resort. That’s been possible for some shows, but not for others – then you made what seemed to be a commitment to offer all primetime shows here – now they’re all gone.
We don’t get it. We’re watching your show. You’re showing us the commercials. Fair trade – or at least it seemed to be to us. What happened? Did you negotiate a bad deal with the advertisers? Did you find a way to make more money selling the episodes as straight-to-the-dollar-bin DVDs? Why do all of the primeime video web pages still say “Full Episodes” (or, in at least one case, “Full Episods”), when all that remains are clips?
Please return the full episodes to the web – or at least step up and say why you won’t make them available.
In an era of “choice overload”, we don’t understand why you’re making this difficult for us. We’d think you want to make your product consumable “on demand”, like your competition is so adeptly doing. You’re frustrating us, and it’s driving us even further away from you.
I think CBS has been acting ridiculous recently, both with removing full episodes from their website and with canceling fantastic shows like “Moonlight” without any apparent reason for doing so. It makes me so angry. I keep watching because I really like some of the shows, but I have to find the shows elsewhere online because I do not have access to a television any time I want because I’m in college. I think CBS needs to start listening to it’s viewers and do something about what everyone is complaining about. It’s getting to be really ridiculous!
I’ve never liked CBS.com because of this. I was very frustrated a few years ago when I realized they didn’t have full episodes of Ghost Whisperer. But here I am again really mad because I have just finished reading a textbook for a final I have on Tuesday and wanted to decompress so I could actually fall asleep and not be wired from studying and I was going to do that by watching the 11th Hour I missed last night due to problems with stupid Comcast cable where the channels were freezing up and then going black. I was on hold for a half hour waiting for some tech help! So I had to miss it and now there is no way to see it. So pissed!
i work the graveyard shift and do not have a recording device to tape the show. i can not inconvience others to tape the show(the mentalist)for me. i commute 50 miles to and fro. i have already missed two episodes. Do you want my rating? also still looking for the guardian episodes? i agree this is ridiculous!
The mentalist caught my interest from the very beginning. But since I have not been able to watch them on line (because of my schedule), I’ve decided to give it up. It will be available someday, online, for a couple of dollars per episode or totally free. Perhaps I could’ve been a fan but nothing kept me interested. Oh well.
I am so glad to see so many angry viewers complain about missing the complete episodes of
two of the best shows on CBS:The Mentalist and The Eleventh Hour. I think it is downright rude of CBS to pull the plug on full videos for these two shows without a word of warning. Just when I was applauding the network about this particular feature!I am terribly disappointed and of course, very disgusted!! Pretty soon most of the viewers will just move over to the other networks…Pray tell me, what is the reason?
I usually TiVo these shows and burn them to CD for my friends in Iraq, but a power outage stopped the last epsiode of The Mentalist 15 minutes in. I didn’t realize that the full episodes weren’t on the internet until I kept searching. It really sucks that they don’t make them available on line, so the guys could watch.
cbs is absolutely ridiculous, it hurts them to lose potential viewers b/c they can’t catch up on these shows. I watched the mentalist once because I got the night off, and went to catch up on the shows but no the episodes aren’t available legally anywhere… since I work during the time normally there is no way for me to catch up. I’m not sure if they’re just trying to up the dvd sales…which wouldn’t make any sense because if I haven’t watched any of the shows, I”m not going to buy the entire series!
I got hooked on The Mentalist, and watched it religiously as soon as the full episodes were released on the CBS website. After they took down the full eps, I started searching elsewhere, but its getting harder and harder to access them.
I don’t have a t.v., so channel’s websites are my numero uno way of staying current with shows. I have to say I get quite angry with CBS every time I check back and there are no new eps of the show, and no explanation as to why. Wish there was some way the viewers could make sure that CBS knew how displeased this is making such large numbers of their audience.
Darn! clips are useless
What’s wrong with CBS. They have the worst website. My favorite show was the Mentalist, now I can’t find it on CBS.com. ABC and NBC put their shows online, why can’t CBS? Why don’t they communicate with the viewers online? I am hating CBS now. I HATE YOU CBS for not showing THE MENTALIST online as well. It’s not like you’re not getting any advertising revenue or your losing out. You’re gaining and maintaining viewers and additional ad revenue. Doesn’t take a genius to figure that out. But if you have other reasons for not putting your shows online, then PLEASE TELL US!!!
I can’t even get the videos they do have on-line to show on my computer without frequent stops and starts. I don’t think it is my computer because it is top of the line processor with 4 gigs of ram and high speed internet. I have been doing some research on the internet but to no avail. Any ideas?
My parents told me about this show. I have never heard of it. I try to catch up on shows I dont get to see online so I know what is going on in the new season. CBS is the only primetime foolish station that doesnt let you view online. Now that I cannot catch previous episodes to catch up….I will never watch the show. Get with it CBS…you have absolutely nothing else to offer…I dont tune into CBS ever.
I taped it but thanks to President Bush I missed the last 15 minutes. And now CBS can’t help me out.
CBS, you can not live by CSI alone. Not everyone enjoys seeing decomposing corpses and bloody reenactments of murder and mayhem. I enjoy Numb3ers and NCIS and someone told me about The Mentalist, thought maybe I’d like it, but when I tried to familiarize myself with the show when lo and behold I am thwarted in my quest. I try not to assume it’s because the executives at CBS are deliberately trying to cut their own throats. There are very few shows on these days that are intelligently written with wit and heart. Why keep people from them? Reality TV is a boil on the butt of decent television and should not be the basis for all tv scheduling. And I’m still upset about Jericho, you gutless twits!
“Looks like a good number of viewers have trashed their VCRs but haven’t adopted DVRs, leaving them dependent on network online streaming when they miss an episode.”
I have a DVR! But that is useless when a football game runs over, so that only half of the episode is recorded. I can’t understand why CBS would, unlike other networks, fail to offer full episodes online after they are broadcast.
I record everything on two home DVR’s but sports screw everything up. With delayed starts I miss the ends of many of the CBS shows I love (including these two). So CBS, get with the program… why do we have to hunt around on crappy other sites to catch someone’s crappy screen capture version. (Of course there are no commericals on those versions… so I guess it isnt worth the cash you get from those 30 second spots). Basically your commercial loss, we will find the shows somewhere.
Just torrent it and F**K CBS.com 🙂
It’s really disappointing that CBS decided to pull the Mentalist episodes from their website. You can’t rely on DVR to know when the games will go over or whatever.
i am frustrated too! it doesn’t make sense that i can catch other shows from the other networks online…like all of them! (gotta love hulu) i just bought a new tv and i can’t afford tivo and the vcr just doesn’t cut it…especially when you want to watch it in HD…and when the vcr stops 15 minutes before the show is done. i’ve missed so many episodes of the mentalist and i want to catch up! it’s such a good show.
I’ve completely given up on CBS shows in general because they’ve ticked me off so much. Why in the world would I want to watch a 2 minute clip of an episode that I’ll never see??
I was going to start watching both The Mentalist and 11th hour to see if I could get into either of them now that ABC cancelled my favorite show ‘Life on Mars’. I’ve heard good things about them from friends so I looked forward to finding another ‘favorite’ show. I planned on watching all past episodes to catch up and see what the story is about. Well, guess not, I have no intention of bothering to start a show in the middle of a storyline so I won’t be tunning in to either of these shows. What’s wrong with these TV execs, they spend so much time mucking around with their shows that no one is going to be viewing anything!
For the life of me, I cannot understand why you are no longer allowing us to access episodes of “The Mentalist”. It has become one of my favorite shows; however, last evening I was at a meeting and had to tape the show. When I went to view it, the last 10 minutes (the “revealing” portion of the show) somehow did not get taped. I am disheartened to not be able to view those 10 minutes on-line. BOO! Although this is not a regular occurence with me, I question whether or not I shall continue to view the show. SAD!
They’re being really foolish. Like the Big 3 car companies…you go cheap for as long as you can, but then by the time you try to catch up to everyone else when your cheap non-updated method fails, it’s too late and you’ve lost potential customers. I never watched TV until ABC started streaming shows. Then I became a Lost devotee. Then I became a Heroes devotee on NBC. Now I faithfully watch 2 NBC shows, 1 ABC, and a new FOX show–all because they’re airing online. And now I’m subject to marketing and commercials I never would have seen otherwise. So hello, yes they’re making money on me. I was interested in the Mentalist, but sorry, no way was I going to invest in it mid-season or wait to rent the DVDs. Now there are too many episodes. They’re hamstringing themselves, and proving yet again that they’re totally out of touch with the younger demographic. Harper’s Island? Nope, not going to watch it on TV. I’m just too busy for normal TV.
CBS…..why do you always take off shows that are hits with the public. Now you have done it again with Eleventh Hour. Your are forcing the public to what other networks, because if we get interested in a particular show, you take it off. Please reconsider your options with 11th Hour. The plots are good and the actors are really good. It is comforting to watch without having all that vulgarity and nudity.
It’s because they can make so much money in selling the box sets that they pulled everything from the web so that no one can take from the web. They’ll be forced to have to buy the box sets from now on. Otherwise we could just take the stream from the server and have our own copies. But they want to make tons of money so they yanked them.
I agree with u all this is a bunch of bs. i dont watch metalist or 11th hour but i do watch big bang theory and for somereason my dvr isnt recording em when i set it to record the series. So i figured ill catch up on cbs website and get caught up. Well thats a no go now that u cant watch full ep’s there nor can u watch them anywhere else cuz all videos have been removed. I feel like i reverted back to the 70′s when u missed a show to bad. CBS all u are doing is pissing people off that want to watch your shows.
Why can’t I watch the Mentalist when sometimes I fall asleep? ABC lets me watch the shows I sleep through. I think you have quite a follwing but you are going to loose some of your faithful viewers. Hard working tax paying senior citizens need their rest; please don’t punish us!
Sorry, No Full Episode’s. CBS doesn’t have the streaming rights to The Mentalist which is produced by Warner Brothers Television and they won’t allow it. Warner Brothers has all the control. But, you can watch online. Check in to the forum for help where Not sure if this is valid info.
To anyone boo hooing about the lack of free streaming for some shows on network sites.. stfu. Be happy you have any at all because in Canada, where I live, they don’t allow us to watch ANYTHING on their sites. Oh woe is you…
If you want downloaded versions with good quality email me and i’ll tell you how. It’s safe and fast as long as you have proper anti-virus;
They are being ridiculous. I just dumped my cable and using my Roku to watch Hulu+ and Netflix . The only shows that I can’t get through them are CBS. I can watch those OTA but if I miss an episode, I guess I’m out of luck. Since I can’t timeshift now, I guess I won’t be watching much CBS. I figure that’s not too great of a loss in order to save over $60 a month (I no longer have to pay for Showtime and HBO to watch their original series, I can watch them one season late but also can start from the beginning on the ones I missed, so that makes it even more valuable than $60 to me).
This sucks! Why does cbs.com give you the option of selecting “full episode” to watch and gives you only a recap. Why would I want to watch a recap? I like to be surprised when I am watching something. Now the recap just took away my surprise. Shame on you, cbs.com!!!
I’m guessing they want you to buy the DVD version . . . when and if it is ever released!
For quite some time I’ve been confounded by CBS’s stupidity in not providing availability to their shows on HULU.
If you didn’t know, HULU is where EVEYONE ON PLANET EARTH watches the shows they either failed to record or didn’t have time to view. These episodes are available on HULU from ALL OF THE OTHER NETWORKS. Because of this idiocy I try to DVR the only two CBS shows worth watching: 2 Broke Girls and Person of Interest.
Now, a few nights ago my son wanted me to record some other show, so I missed the last airing of my Person of Interest. No problem…I thought…I’ll just watch it later with CBS’s crappy viewer on their crappy website, but at least I’ll be up-to-date with my viewing….right?!
Try to imagine my utter dismay when I found that there is no way to watch the last airing of your Person of Interest…not just the inconvenience of having to use your crappy viewer on your crappy website, but NO WAY TO WATCH IT AT ALL!
I thought the whole point of “TeleVision” was that you created shows that we / the public would watch?!
I guess I don’t understand this “new fangled” business model where you make shows and only a few retired and unemployed people get to see them, while the rest of us…who pay the bills…are just screwed?!
Advertisers should to be told…..with cable and satellite recorders we blow through commercials. But on-line you must watch each and every one.. It seams that CBS is not too bright but I know American businesses are!!!!
Admin note: Most of these comments were posted in the winter of 2008-2009. They were moved from the previous site in a redesign.