Users
The Pluto app is free, and has all the delight that streaming services lack.
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This is One Thing, a column with tips on how to live.
I am not being hyperbolic when I say that I believe cable television is one of the greatest inventions of our modern era. For many years—even as each day on planet Earth brought with it yet another streaming service—I refused to cut the cord.
I cherished afternoons with random episodes of Law & Order: SVU playing in the background as I wrote. On a Friday night, I’d tune into E! Movies We Love; it didn’t matter if I could only catch the middle of Bride Wars or Hitch before I headed out for the night, it was a thrill to discover something I loved was on TV. Shelling out for cable felt particularly fruitful during awards season, when cableless friends would join me on the couch for viewing parties, and during the holidays, when one of my roommates and I would wrap gifts and bake cookies with Hallmark playing in the background.
Roommates were key to my cable situation, though, in that we all split the bill. When I moved into my own apartment in January 2021, and took on all the little expenses of living alone, I could no longer justify the cost. Luckily, I have found something to fill the void: the Pluto TV app, which, in its ad-supported version, is completely free.
The app, which is available on streaming devices, smartphones, and web browsers, mimics much of the functionality of cable, with programming that follows a timetable, rather than being available on demand, as is the case with streaming services. Content is demarcated by categories like “Movies,” “Comedy,” “Classic TV,” “Sci-Fi,” “Reality,” and “Season’s Greetings,” for those longing to fulfill their Hallmark and Lifetime Christmas movie cravings. Within those categories, there are a multitude of channels from which to choose. Some are offshoots of networks like Comedy Central or TV Land, while others are dedicated entirely to reruns of a single show, like Blue Bloods or I Love Lucy. While Pluto has a selection of news and sports channels, big network TV events are not available. But that’s fine—for me, the point isn’t to be able to tune into anything specific, it’s to tap into the joy of flipping through channels.
While Pluto TV won’t be showing a new episode of Abbott Elementary each week, using it is the most fun I’ve had watching TV in a long time. It’s given me the (spontaneous!) opportunity to watch old favorites like Catch Me If You Can and classics I’ve never gotten around to seeing, like The Carol Burnett Show. Recently, at the conclusion of Anchorman 2, I felt genuine anticipation over what film might “air” next. I still dream of having the disposable income for real cable again—that’s when I’ll know I’ve “made it.” In the meantime, Pluto TV frees me from the indecision that comes with staring into the deep well of Netflix offerings, and allows me to simply watch TV.
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