Like many of us who own iDevices, I enjoy watching TV shows on my iPhone and iPad. Comedy Central has made material from two of the network’s most popular shows, The Daily Show and The Colbert Report, available in two free apps.
Both apps highlight segments from the shows. The Daily Show Headlines includes The Daily Show in 60 seconds, On Topic, and Correspondents Explain. Also, TDSH has information on the guests appearing on that day’s shows and future shows. Information in future shows also has links to buy the guest’s materials and to other interviews. The Colbert Report app has features such as The Word, The Colbert Report in 60 seconds, and 5 x Five (five bits cut together about a celebrity or a celebrity couple).
TDSH and TCR have similar interfaces. You can select to find clips by most popular, quotes, featured, and most recent. The video quality is fine; playback did stutter a couple of times over Wi-Fi, but it wasn’t long enough to sour the experience. Clips are preceded by short ads, normally for other Comedy Central programs, and the apps make it easy to download other Comedy Central apps (I was taken to iTunes when I tapped on another app). You cannot watch full episodes using the apps. Instead, you are encouraged to download episodes from iTunes. However, when I tapped on “Download from iTunes,” nothing happened in both apps. I have iTunes on my iPad, but the prompt to buy from iTunes didn’t work. If you do want to purchase episodes on iTunes, the episodes for each show are $0.99 each or $9.99 for 15 episodes.
While buying the episodes on iTunes removes the commercials, other viewing options are available. You can watch them on TV, if you have Comedy Central, either live or recorded, but if you prefer your entertainment on the go, then I suggest Hulu Plus. Hulu Plus is $7.99 a month, and shows do have brief ads, but Hulu Plus is cheaper than buying the episodes on iTunes. You can watch The Daily Show and The Colbert Report using Hulu Plus, and if you miss an episode, up to eight current episodes are accessible. You get access to both shows which air four episodes a week, so two episodes a day times four nights a week times four weeks in a month equals 32 episodes a month. You can watch both shows and other programming on Hulu Plus, which has a great app for iPhone and iPad, for $7.99 a month compared to $19.98 for 30 episodes on iTunes.
Both apps are free and are available for the iPad and iPhone. While both are free, remember you cannot watch full episodes using the apps. I suggest using alternative means of watching The Daily Show and The Colbert Report.
