Free fun at home courtesy of HBO, IMDb, Fender, Golds Gym, the Met and more
It is not easy to stay sequestered for what seems akin to perpetuity. However, there is free fun and even edifying opportunities available, which will make staying home more pleasant until the coronavirus abates.
HBO
If you ever wanted to experience or revisit the groundbreaking series “The Sopranos,” now is your chance. HBO is streaming 500 hours of free programming, including David Chase’s brilliant, compelling and award-winning series.
The hilarious Julia Louis-Dreyfuss vehicle “Veep,” the dark and surprising “Six Feet Under” and David Simons’ exceptional “The Wire” should keep viewers hooked. “Succession,” “Silicon Valley” and “True Blood” (who doesn’t love Anna Paquin?) also are offered. And 20 Warner Bros. films, such as “Crazy Stupid Love” and “Forget Paris,” are included, and the same goes for several entertaining documentaries.
Pluto TV
Pluto TV is offering free films such as the James Bond catalog.
Focus Features
Focus Features is livestreaming movies each day at 5 p.m.
IMDb
IMDB has added the first five seasons of the clever “Schitt’s Creek” to its menu. The gripping “Friday Night Lights” and the amusing “The Middle” also are part of the lineup.
Amazon
Amazon is streaming a bunch of kids shows. Classics such as “Arthur,” “Caillou” and the “Dangerous Book for Boys” are available.
Amazon (again)
Amazon is offering a free 90-day HD subscription, which means you will have a 50 million song library. Unlike Sirius XM, Amazon requires folks to sign up. You will be billed at the end of the period unless you cancel.
Sirius XM
(siriusxm.com/offers/free-listen)
Music fans and talk radio heads will love Sirius XM’s offer. The house that “King of All Media” Howard Stern built is providing free streaming between now and May 15 through its web portal and mobile apps. All of the regular channels and Stern’s shows are included.
Fender
Perhaps the coolest freebie is provided by Fender, which is offering guitar lessons for three months on the house. Acoustic, electric and ukulele lessons are offered. No need to drop your credit card numbers. However, the promotion is limited to the first 100,000 folks who sign up.
One of the greatest “Twilight Zone” episodes of all time features Burgess Meredith as the lone survivor of a global catastrophe. The voracious reader sees it as an amazing opportunity to indulge in his passion: reading. Well, the coronavirus will not last forever, but it is a great time to do some serious reading.
RBDigital
Several magazines courtesy of RBDigital are free. Check out an array of publications ranging from Men’s Health and Reader’s Digest to Wired.
Libby
Courtesy of the Libby app, you can pick up some free ebooks.
National Theatre
For lovers of the fine arts, the U.K.’s National Theatre streams a different play every Thursday. The streams are on the National Theatre at Home YouTube channel.
Andrew Lloyd Webber
(youtube.com/theshowsmustgoon!)
“The Shows Must Go On,” which also can be found on the YouTube Channel, is streaming Andrew Lloyd Webber musicals. Each show will be available weekly.
The Met
(metopera.org/user/information/nightly-met-opera-streams)
The New York Metropolitan Opera is streaming a different encore Live in HD performance each day. Each performance begins at 4:30 p.m. and remain available for 20 hours. You can watch the streams in a browser, or use one of the Met Opera on Demand streaming apps available for Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV and Roku devices.
Gyms are closed, and some folks are wary of the outside world. You still have to work out. The good news is that there are several fun ways you can stay in shape while at home.
FitPass
There is a free 90-day trial of the FitPass app, which thanks to Echelon offers a variety of live and on-demand classes. There’s cardio, core workouts, Pilates and more available. The app works for Android and iOS.
Peloton
Download the Peloton app for a free 90-day trial that supplies access to several live and on-demand classes such as strength training, high-intensity interval training, yoga and meditation. The app works for Android and iOS.
Golds Gym
Golds Gym is offering free access to its app, Goldsamp, until the end of May, where more than 600 audio and video workouts, along with DJ mixes, should pump you up.
NHL, NFL + NBA
It has been a difficult adjustment for many without the distraction of sports. Some of the leagues are dropping their subscription fees to their paid streaming services. The NHL is making all games played during the suspended 2019-20 regular season available to stream on demand.
Additionally the league launched “NHL Pause Binge” (nhl.com/subscribe) on its website and YouTube channel. The NBA and NFL are supplying similar options through NBA League Pass (nba.com/nba-fan-letter-pass-free-preview) and NFL Game Pass (nfl.com/gamepass).
Class Central
If you want to learn about something other than how the coronavirus is progressing, why not try some adult education? The eight Ivy League schools are offering hundreds of online courses to the public for free. Thanks to Class Central, a list of more than 400 classes are available.
Subjects as varied as Machine Learning for Data Science and Analytics from Columbia University and HOPE: Human Odyssey to Political Existentialism from Princeton University to the Science of Well-Being from Yale and Gamification from the University of Pennsylvania are offered.