This Free Streamer is the Only Place to Watch ‘Inside the Actors Studio’

While it’s never been easier to watch most popular movies or TV shows, one downside of the streaming era is that some titles seem to vanish entirely from public access.

As I’m writing this, movies like “Moulin Rouge,” “Taxi Driver,” “Slumdog Millionaire,” “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” “Romancing the Stone,” “Vice,” “La La Land,” “Her,” “War Horse,” and “The Social Network” are not included in any streaming subscription.

Another gem that has all but vanished is “Inside the Actors Studio.” This landmark show was on Bravo nearly every day in the late ’90s and early 2000s. For 22 seasons, host James Lipton interviewed many of the biggest stars on the planet.

The guest list is remarkable: Robert De Niro, Matt Damon, Spike Lee, Alec Baldwin, Tina Fey, Tom Cruise, Billy Joel, Clint Eastwood, Johnny Depp, Gene Hackman, Al Pacino, Natalie Portman, George Clooney, Anthony Hopkins, Tom Hanks, Cate Blanchett, Dave Chappelle, Carol Burnett, Meryl Streep, Ian McKellen, George Carlin, Robert Downey Jr., Eddie Murphy, Jack Lemmon, Elton John, Hugh Jackman, Sean Penn, Brad Pitt, Steven Spielberg, Barbra Streisand, and Robin Williams. And that’s just scratching the surface.

Unfortunately, these wonderful interviews are mostly lost. But you can stream some of them for free on Freebie TV.

This odd streaming service has 16 episodes of “Inside the Actors Studio”:

• Robin Williams
• Bradley Cooper
• Will Smith
• 250th Episode
• Al Pacino
• Alfre Woodard
• David Oyelowo
• George Clooney
• Halle Berry
• Henry Winkler
• James Burrows
• Jennifer Lopez
• Jim Carrey
• Larua Dern
• Lupita Nyongo
• Paul Newman
• Willem Dafoe

Each episode is emblazoned with a logo for “Ovation Now.” That’s a defunct streaming service that was once affiliated with the Ovation TV channel. That channel is still available on DIRECTV, but “Inside the Actors Studio” is absent from the lineup.

Freebie TV is free. The interface is clunky. While you watch the episodes, there are sometimes irritating pop-up ads that intrude on the screen. But considering it’s the only way to watch the show, it’s a fair trade-off.

Freebie TV does have some classics like “To Kill a Mockingbird,” “His Girl Friday,” “North by Northwest,” and some hidden gems like “Tammy and the T-Rex” “Miami Connection,” and “Hell Baby.”