It happens to the best of us. You end up working late, and while you’re gone the DVR hiccups, or you just plain forget to set it, and you miss your favorite show. Once upon a time, you’d be out of luck under those circumstances. But no more. Now you can watch the show you missed online.

With more and more people logging in with high-speed connections, online TV viewing has grown rapidly in popularity. Most of the major networks stream their prime-time lineups on their main websites, so if you miss the Monday night NBC lineup, for instance, you can go to nbc.com and catch up. Check the home page for whatever network features your show, and chances are good you’ll find what you’re looking for.

Most of the network streaming video is easy to use and of reasonable quality. Some of the networks require a small software download before you can view. Those that don’t often require the most recent version of Windows Media Player. Most are Mac compatible, but be aware you might have issues if you’re not on a PC.

Other sites have cropped up aside from the network home pages where you can catch up on your TV–a quick Google search brings up a wide number of options.

Hulu.com is one of the more popular of these. Recently featuring the premiere of Joss Whedon’s Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, Hulu offers easy streaming and relatively high quality but, like most other streaming options, is only available in the US. Streaming TV can also be found at AOL, Google Video, and, for members only, Netflix.

If you prefer to download your TV, there are several options available there, as well. The ubiquitous iTunes offers a wide selection of TV shows for download, as does Amazon Unbox. Both require software for download, but are compatible with both Mac and PC, and provide a higher quality viewing experience than any streaming video.

So, next time you miss your favorite show, hit the Internet. You’ll never have to fall behind your viewing again.