>Find out when the TV shows you care about air. Whether you want to know when to tune in live or or know when your shows have aired so you can find them online, FollowShows is an aptly-named website where you can quickly check to see a schedule of only shows you choose to follow. Even better, FollowShows offers you both a custom iCal calendar and RSS feed for keeping track of your favorites, meaning you can plug FollowShows into your calendar or RSS feed reader.

In ancient times keeping track of your favorite shows was simple, because there was only one TV channel and all it ever showed was I Love Lucy and Leave It To Beaver. Or something. I was born in the 80's and am not altogether clear about the early history of television.

My point, if I have one, is that newspaper inserts and magazines like TV Guide aren't very useful in a world with hundreds of TV channels and thousands of shows – most of which are only followed by a devoted core audience. A modern TV guide would cut through the crap you don't care about and only show you when the shows you care about are on. FollowShows is that modern TV guide.

Using FollowShows

Head to FollowShows to get started; you'll need to make an account. Once you do you can start browsing shows and adding them to your favourites list.

You're going to want to add shows, because this service is basically useless if you don't. Search if you need to, but remember, it's only really worth adding shows that are still on the air.

Once you've added all the shows you know of you can see a calendar of when what is on:

You can also use the service to keep track of which episodes of which show you've watched, if you want. It also includes the obligatory social service so you can keep track of what your friends watch. Check this out if you care; I don't.

RSS & iCal!

There are a few unlikely treats to be found in the settings menu:

That's right: you've found links to a custom iCal calendar and an RSS feed. You can easily add the iCal calendar to Google Calendar, Microsoft's Outlook and (appropriately enough) Apple's iCal:

The RSS feed can quickly be added to Google Reader or any other feedreader. You'll be updated the day an episode will broadcast.

Only interested in the RSS feed? FollowShows was built by the team behind MyTVRSS, a site that makes an RSS feed of your favorite shows. You could use it instead, but be warned: the RSS feed will include an ad for FollowShows.

You can import feeds from MyTVRSS to FollowShows, if you ultimately decide to switch to the "full version". Both are free.

Conclusion

Will this app change your life? Almost certainly not. It will, however, help you better keep track of the TV shows you use to waste your time.

Do you have a creative use for the iCal or RSS functionality of FollowShows? Share it in the comments below, along with any other thoughts. Also feel free to link to other sites for keeping track of what's on TV when.