Without a Trace and CSI are good (Vegas, Miami is silly and NY is far too worthy). If you genuinely enjoyed My Name is Earl try Reaper, it's a lot of fun. West Wing is a little out of date but very good, and Heroes starts again soon, but is not to everyones taste. UK stuff is not much cop at the moment since Life on Mars finished.
Your friend may be using limewire, but the major terrestrial stations show their programmes for a week, but the BBC doesn't always show all of them. If you fancied signing up for something yourself, I would recommend LoveFilm, they have every film and television programme available, and a few that aren't. Prices start from �3.95 a month, no fees other than that, they even pay the postage. They have recently got into doing downloads, but haven't really looked into it.