Free (or really cheap) source of historical daily TV listings?

[obfusciatrist]

I've got a stupid little research project that would really be assisted by having a resource where I could find what exactly was on primetime network TV for a given date in the past.

I'm aware of the Wikipedia pages (such as this one) but that just shows the general announced schedule for a season without specifics on specials, cancellations, filler, summers, etc.

Regional will be fine, the small variations that might come up through that (local pre-emptions) is an acceptable level of noise.

So, is there anything short of going to the library and looking at TV Guide or old newspapers on microfilm available to me?

I am potentially willing to pay but it would have to be a flat fee since at this point I don't know how many days I'll need to do it for (potentially near a thousand).

Ideally this would go back as far as possible but even a few years (I am surprised that such recent history does not appear to be easily available) would be helpful.

[gaffa]

I've asked about this before, with no luck. Every place that has TV listings throws them into the bit bucket once that time has passed. One would think that this would be invaluable to the police for skewering alibis "Me and the wife were home watching Springer at that time!" "Springer was on two hours earlier. Try again."

[Zsofia]

Originally Posted by gaffa

I've asked about this before, with no luck. Every place that has TV listings throws them into the bit bucket once that time has passed. One would think that this would be invaluable to the police for skewering alibis "Me and the wife were home watching Springer at that time!" "Springer was on two hours earlier. Try again."

The cops call us at the library. We have the paper on microfilm and we look it up for them.

[infinitii]

I was looking for something like this a while back as well. This wasn't prime time, but back in the late 90s, Cinemax had a Cinemax Vanguard on Wednesday nights, where they would show independent and foreign films and was my film education at that period in my life. I would LOVE to be able to find a listing of all the movies they showed as part of that during my formative years, but no luck yet.