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fugitives
Posts Tagged “
TV Guide
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fugitives
magazines
Can We Interest You In A TV Guide?
TV Guide, one of America's biggest magazines, was sold a few days ago. Now it's for sale again! Well, not the parts of the brand that have some actual value (the website and the cable program guides and on-demand technology). Rather, new owner Macrovision is looking for a sharp business entity that would like to take the print magazine off of its hands. Cheaply, no doubt! And to the skeptics who might say that buying the money-losing print version of TV Guide without the accompanying web brand would be like buying a cow without milk, consider this: the new editor is looking to achieve "topicality and newsiness, urgency." By doing things like reviewing YouTube videos! More »
in memoriam
The Death Agony Of America's Biggest Magazine
The death of the quintessential TV listings magazine is a shabby affair. The rumor we floated yesterday—that editor-in-chief Ian Birch and other staff are being laid off—appears indeed to be true. The new owners, Macrovision, is thought only interested in the TV Guide's online and electronic program guides; the print edition is loss-making and may be shut down if a buyer can't be found, according to Deadline Hollywood. The magazine—which could not cope with the proliferation of programming in the 1980s and 1990s and further lost relevance when viewers began to use the program guides supplied by their cable provider—will not be mourned. But let's at least pay some respect to its history. More »
TV Guide
Anyone have news on the bloodshed at TV Guide in the wake of the merger of its parent company? We're hearing editor-in-chief Ian Birch, executive editor Steve Sonsky and managing editor Lois Draegin have all been dismissed from the TV listings magazine, but no confirmation. Email tips.
media bubble
• And, says Greg Mitchell, as the Times's handling of the domestic-spying story increasingly seems to be another major management fuckup at the paper, George W. Bush proves he is the true Teflon president. [E&P]
• Bigtime journalists aren't paid enough, argues Slate's Daniel Gross, who, charmingly, hasn't yet realized that of course we'll never make enough to live like real human beings anywhere in New York City. [Slate]
• Redesigned TV Guide, which now looks basically nothing like TV Guide, is doing great numbers. But they may not be great enough. [WWD]
• Carl Icahn, who hasn't been happy with Time Warner management in a while, ain't at all happy with the proposed TW-Google deal. [NYP]
• Radar published what might have been the best sentence of magazine writing this year: "In 2004, a man playing Pluto was run over and killed by a 'princess float' in the Share a Dream Come True parade at Disney World's Magic Kingdom." Plus Peter Carlson's other "wild and wacky" magazine moments from 2005. [WP]
Media Bubble: Even Without Trains, There Is Still Media
• Bush summoned Sulzberger and Keller to Washington earlier this month in a last-ditch attempt to get them not to run the domestic-spying story, reports Jon Alter. [Newsweek]• And, says Greg Mitchell, as the Times's handling of the domestic-spying story increasingly seems to be another major management fuckup at the paper, George W. Bush proves he is the true Teflon president. [E&P]
• Bigtime journalists aren't paid enough, argues Slate's Daniel Gross, who, charmingly, hasn't yet realized that of course we'll never make enough to live like real human beings anywhere in New York City. [Slate]
• Redesigned TV Guide, which now looks basically nothing like TV Guide, is doing great numbers. But they may not be great enough. [WWD]
• Carl Icahn, who hasn't been happy with Time Warner management in a while, ain't at all happy with the proposed TW-Google deal. [NYP]
• Radar published what might have been the best sentence of magazine writing this year: "In 2004, a man playing Pluto was run over and killed by a 'princess float' in the Share a Dream Come True parade at Disney World's Magic Kingdom." Plus Peter Carlson's other "wild and wacky" magazine moments from 2005. [WP]
tv guide
TV Guide Conveniently Hands Out Pink Slips
On Tuesday, it was reported that girly celeb-ish television rag Inside TV was folding so that its publisher, Gemstar, could focus on the company's "considerable core assets." Gemstar also publishes TV Guide, but apparently that mag isn't included in the core assets: we hear that the company cut 6 staffers (running the gamut in position) from the struggling television bible on the same day as the Inside TV bloodbath. More »
inside tv
'Inside TV,' Out
TV Guide, as we all know, is dying. No on needs a weekly magazine of TV listings any longer. Solution? As of April, it was: Launch Inside TV, a woman-oriented celebrity-ish mag. More »
maureen dowd
• And Maureen should go away for a while, too. [MW]
• Republican senators want another investigation of a leak to reporters. You know, because the last one worked out so well for their party. [WP]
• Anna Wintour may or may not be out to kill The Devil Wears Prada film. [Radar]
• Teen People lands racist teenie-boppers Prussian Blue, who apprently think — wrongly — they'll be getting editorial control. Isn't it fun to pull one over on Nazis? [NYP]
• Memogate producer Mary Mapes was right and everyone else was wrong, insists Memogate producer Mary Mapes. [WP]
• Less demand than expected for lunch with Rupert Murdoch. Which is fine news indeed. [Guardian]
• HBO documentary chief likes both highbrow and porn, and, likely, she'll soon snag Ted Koppel. [NYP]
• Apparently, Esquire had cool covers in the sixties. [MB]
• Meet Judy Miller without traveling to Sag Harbor — only $375! [HuffPost]
• As a kid, New Yorker essayist Adam Gopnik used to sneak out after bedtime — to read. Which is somehow unsurprising. [S.F. Chronicle]
• 135K paid users have signed up for TimesSelect. As if you can't get more than enough Maureen for free these days. [E&P]
• Anderson Cooper does the self-deprecating shtick well, too. [Philadelphia Inquirer]
• Prediction: New ABC anchors will be Elizabeth Vargas and Bob Woodruff. Peter, however, would have wanted Charlie Gibson. [Newsday]
• Because one is never enough, negotiations continue at the Times continue over another fired reporter. [Media Mob/NYO]
• No one wants to read TV Guide offshoot Inside TV. [WWD]
Media Bubble: Please Go Away, Maureen
• Are Men Necessary? is "a very odd, occasionally entertaining mish-mash of politics and sex, biology and Cosmopolitan-ology, gravity and wit, insight and carelessness." We don't care what it is; we'd just like to stop hearing about it. [NYO]• And Maureen should go away for a while, too. [MW]
• Republican senators want another investigation of a leak to reporters. You know, because the last one worked out so well for their party. [WP]
• Anna Wintour may or may not be out to kill The Devil Wears Prada film. [Radar]
• Teen People lands racist teenie-boppers Prussian Blue, who apprently think — wrongly — they'll be getting editorial control. Isn't it fun to pull one over on Nazis? [NYP]
• Memogate producer Mary Mapes was right and everyone else was wrong, insists Memogate producer Mary Mapes. [WP]
• Less demand than expected for lunch with Rupert Murdoch. Which is fine news indeed. [Guardian]
• HBO documentary chief likes both highbrow and porn, and, likely, she'll soon snag Ted Koppel. [NYP]
• Apparently, Esquire had cool covers in the sixties. [MB]
• Meet Judy Miller without traveling to Sag Harbor — only $375! [HuffPost]
• As a kid, New Yorker essayist Adam Gopnik used to sneak out after bedtime — to read. Which is somehow unsurprising. [S.F. Chronicle]
• 135K paid users have signed up for TimesSelect. As if you can't get more than enough Maureen for free these days. [E&P]
• Anderson Cooper does the self-deprecating shtick well, too. [Philadelphia Inquirer]
• Prediction: New ABC anchors will be Elizabeth Vargas and Bob Woodruff. Peter, however, would have wanted Charlie Gibson. [Newsday]
• Because one is never enough, negotiations continue at the Times continue over another fired reporter. [Media Mob/NYO]
• No one wants to read TV Guide offshoot Inside TV. [WWD]
media bubble
• TV Guide to slash rate base, pull back on listings, increase lifestyle and entertainment coverage — that is to say, to become like every other magazine. [AP via Newsday]
• In terms of prison fabulosity, Judy Miller's no Martha Stewart. [Newsday]
• Two Source execs charged with attempted murder. Oy. [Vibe]
Media Bubble: It's Better to Live in the City Where You're Editing the Editorial Page. Who Knew?
• Michael Kinsley likely to stop running Los Angeles Times editorial page. Displaying his legendarily razor-sharp analytic skills, Kinsley says: "This living in Seattle and editing the editorial page is not an ideal arrangement." [NYT]• TV Guide to slash rate base, pull back on listings, increase lifestyle and entertainment coverage — that is to say, to become like every other magazine. [AP via Newsday]
• In terms of prison fabulosity, Judy Miller's no Martha Stewart. [Newsday]
• Two Source execs charged with attempted murder. Oy. [Vibe]
