The HBO series The Nevers, created by Joss Whedon, has been through a lot. First, Whedon left the series halfway through production and before the show even premiered on HBO. Then, midway through the series, the supernatural period drama sort of sat in limbo. Six episodes remained unaired. Eventually, we learned that The Nevers was canceled and removed from HBO Max. Now, all of The Nevers Season 1 is airing on Tubi for free, including the previously unseen episodes—but in the most confusing and inconvenient way. Here’s how and when you can now watch The Nevers.
Why is this important? Shouldn’t we be celebrating Whedon’s defeat after everything that’s come to light about him and his work? You can if you want. I did, a little. Personally, I chose to quietly watch The Nevers for the story and the cast, giving it my minimal and measured support. But either way, those six unaired episodes are ones Whedon is not directly responsible for. He’s not listed as a producer. If you watched the series, or read about it, and got the ick from the plethora of all-too-familiar Whedon-y tropes and characters you’re not alone. Call me morbidly curious, but I want to see if they do any course correction. If you’re also morbidly curious like me, but didn’t watch The Nevers, watching it for free on Tubi does the least damage. (Plus, if you did watch the series, you know that the last episode that aired on HBO had quite the set of twists.)
What is Tubi?
Tubi is a free app that you can access via browser or Smart TV. It has unavoidable commercial breaks. You can register with your email address, but there’s no subscription required.
Tubi’s FAST channel set-up
Tubi has On Demand content but The Nevers can be found on one of the app’s FAST channels called “WB TV Watchlist”. These operate more or less like cable or network channels. If you’re impatient and/or get lost on Tubi, you can just type “The Nevers” into the search bar on the app or in a browser and it will take you right to WB TV Watchlist.
How to watch The Nevers with Tubi’s bizarre schedule
The annoying thing here is that you kind of need to be available when it’s on. Over three days in February, The Nevers marathon will air on WBTV in the middle of the afternoon. Here’s the schedule below. The (seemingly very random) times shown are Eastern Standard Time. FWIW, the first Whedonless episode is 107, aptly titled “t’s A Good Day.”
If you missed it, the next time The Nevers will go into “rotation” on Tubi is March 1, 2, and 3. When? I reached out to Tubi and received simply “the afternoon” as a response. So I went to the app and clicked through myself and can confirm that they will start with the pilot at 4:11 PM EST. I won’t be doing this for future rotations but as a general FYI, you can see the FAST Channel’s schedule a little over 24 hours in advance by looking at the TV Guide on the app.
This is, in my opinion, a bad way of distributing television. Thank goodness for commercial breaks, TBH, because you can’t pause. There’s no way to DVR the episodes or save them for later. I’m all for appointment viewing, but usually—for basically the entire history of television—those appointments are on the hour, or on the half-hour, and not in the middle of the work day in the middle of the work/school week.
Will The Nevers ever be on demand?
That’s a big old question mark for the time being. There are unconfirmed rumors about it ending up on the Roku App. Part 1 of Season 1 was released on Blu-Ray and DVD, so maybe the back half of the season will be too. Until then, clear your afternoons I guess.
(featured image: HBO)
