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MOVIES

The Internet Movie Database
http://imdb.com
Doesn't look like much -- essentially it's a search window and a bunch of lists -- but anyone who likes the movies will stick to this like gum on a seat. Search a title or person to get complete cast and crew lists. The name search lists everything the actor, director or other principal has done -- including TV work. You can find out, for instance, that Sally Field did a guest shot on Alias Smith and Jones and then call up the cast list for that 1970s series. And so on, to infinity.

Film.Com
http://www.film.com
This timely lowbrow fanzine provides some of what IMDb lacks: reviews of recent releases, a superficial filmmaker-of-the-week feature and "Cinecism," which consists of essays bemoaning the life of a chronic filmgoer. Film snobs should go elsewhere; this is a fun site for the mainstream crowd.

Reel
http://www.reel.com
You can rent ($2.80 per week plus shipping) or buy a copy of virtually any video. This is not for recent releases, but a great way to get your hands on obscurities and some great under-$10 deals.

Meta-Site:Cinema+Sites
http://www.webcom.com/~davidaug/Movie_Sites.html
A variety of resources of inconsistent importance and quality, but the organization is thorough and makes it easy to find the worthies.
-- Charles Bermant

TELEVISION

Television Best Bets on TV
http://www.reel.com/cgi-bin/reel.exe/~/thisweek.html#bestbetstv
A crib sheet to the movies playing on TV any given week. Unlike the lists in TV Guide and elsewhere, this one reflects Reel's own critics' views, so you don't need to wade through the usual direct-to-video bait that clogs most listings.

TV Search and Remind
http://www.student.net/tv
Half the time I'm not reading the TV listings to find out what's playing on every channel tonight; I just want to know if Seinfeld is a repeat tonight -- and if it is, if it's an episode that bears watching again. This page does just that, giving you plot summaries of particular shows when available. And if you register with the Student.Net site (disclosure: a friend of mine founded it), you can get a day-before e-mail reminder.

ClickTV
http://www.clicktv.com
TV schedules are as common as Pamela Anderson Lee shrines on the Web, and about as useful. But the newspaper doesn't have the search functions of this site, which lets you dig through the TV grid for specific actors and directors, revealing, for instance, that five movies featuring Alec Baldwin ran between May 15 and 20 in the D.C. area.

The Ultimate TV Show List
http://www.ultimatetv.com/UTVL
Statistics indicate that a sitcom can attract a fan Web page by the second commercial break of its premiere. How to find the sites about your show? Try this stupefyingly complete list, which was able to surface two sites about a show as old and obscure as the '80s comedy about a man and his gun, Sledge Hammer!
-- Rob Pegoraro