Television

It's fairly easy to get TV show tickets for a live studio audience, and better yet, tickets are free. But you'd better make sure you have buckets of time to spare. Due to the high volume of requests for tickets, it's usually a long wait before you can snag a TV show studio seat and clap along with "applause" signs.

Typically, you can request tickets to a variety of live TV shows -- from game shows like The Price is Right to talk shows like Live With Regis and Kelly, Late Show with David Letterman, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and Ellen. While single-camera comedies are all the rage today, there are still some sitcoms that tape in front of a live TV studio audience.

TV show tickets are often available from an online inquiry form, or in some cases, a hot-line number. When applying, you must have specific dates in mind of when you want to attend. Travel and accommodations aren't included with your TV show tickets, so be sure your request is timed to when you'll be in the local area where the show is taped,

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Who says the funniest and most dramatic and entertaining shows are on cable channels that require a monthly subscription fee and a major credit card? Since entertainment production on the Internet doesn't have the uncaring chain of command of a television production company, the cream of the crop can literally rise to the top. Some series that got their start on the Internet have developed cult followings and managed to make their own mark in Hollywood and beyond and will pave the way for the medium, both on and off the Internet.

Now the Internet is a veritable cornucopia of thought-provoking comedies, enthralling dramas and imaginative animations and the only thing that are required to watch them are a broadband connection, a computer and maybe a few days off from work. Here are the best of the best.

The Guild - What happens when a group of regular online RPG players get together in the real world? You get a smart, hip and hilarious web series that has captured a worldwide audience and found success both artistically and financially. The series, written and created by actress Felicia Day of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog fame, aims to break the geek stereotype by giving the series' "gamers" real lives that intersect in all sorts of unpredictable and hilarious ways. It has become so successful that the series has won numerous awards,...

Before Guy Fieri, they were just diners. Before Rachael Ray, "Yum-o!" was hardly a food description. And before Paula Deen, down-home cooking was mostly reserved to church cookbooks and southern grandmothers.

Then the Food Network came along.

The TV Food Network (TVFN), as it was first known, went live on November 23, 1993. Appropriately enough, its launch was during the belly-bulging, food-centric week of Thanksgiving.

Reese Schonfeld, co-founder of CNN, teamed up with the Providence Journal Company as president of Pacesetter Communications to lead the original charge in programming.

Included in the original programming was Mr. Caviar Dreams, himself, "Robin Leach Talking Food," and a nightly newscast "Food News & Views," hosted by Rudy Giuliani's then-wife, Donna Hanover and prominent food and wine critic, David Rosengarten.

When cooking shows had previously been limited to public television (à la "The French Chef" with

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