Using scores from Metacritic, Miller-McCune weighted the critical scores of actors' movies with the relative size of their roles in those movies. The final list shows that everyone who was in Lord of the Rings is an awesome actor with great taste in projects, with Elijah Wood topping the list and Viggo Mortenson and Ian Holm (the British geezer who played Bilbo Baggins) making the top four, too. Philip Seymour Hoffman is as serious an actor as you think he is, and Jessica Alba is as big a hack. Bottoming out the list was Freddie Prinze, Jr., followed by someone named Eddie Griffin and a tragic Matthew Lillard who had so much potential, once. Here's an abridged sampler:

Equally interesting was scatterplot showing the relative niceness and consistency of America's 25 most prolific movie critics. We discover that the Chicago Tribune's Michael Wilmington drinks the kool-aid more than any other critic, followed by the Chicago Sun-Times' Roger Ebert's perennially upraised thumbs. The meanest critic in America is the Austin Chronicle's Marc Savlov, who gives low scores but deviates regularly. On the other hand, TV Guide's Maitland McDonagh gives low scores and has a relatively low standard deviation from her mean score, meaning she's always stone cold.

[Miller-McCune]

Oh ho, TV Guide president Scott Crystal says that the ASME guidelines banning things like ads on the cover of magazines should be "blown up." Actual, factual ASME response quote: "Oh, criminy." If we can't depend on TV Guide to uphold the highest ethical editorial standards, who can we depend on? What's next, magazines that suck? [Pic: Adrants]


Journalism students are worried they may not be able to find jobs when they graduate. ZOUNDS. Perhaps part of the problem is journalism professors, who continuously say things like this: "If it gives you goose bumps when you're sitting across from somebody, because you're getting them to tell you what's really on their mind so you can share that with other people, I'd say go for it." Sir, that is the job description of a fast food cashier.

Borderline insane CNN personality and Twitterer Rick Sanchez will be hosting an awards show next week, in Brooklyn, for the best Twitterers. The sheer volume of useless Twitterclusterfuckery to come out this ceremony will be unmeasurable by man or god.


Even though Congress delayed the mandatory national switch to digital cable until the summer, "dozens" of TV stations are still planning to turn off their analog signals on Feb. 17. This will be a good opportunity for old people to read a book, for four months.

How mad are they? Mad enough to totally drop the CW and MTV from their channel lineup for no real reason! The Philadelphia Inquirer's David Hiltbrand noticed the weird omission and checked in with Scott Crystal, TV Guide's CEO and president. "There are now hundreds of channels on television and we can only accommodate approximately 70 in our primetime grids," he e-mailed. "In the past few weeks, the following networks have not appeared in the grids: MTV, CW, DIY and TV Guide Network." Damn, even TV Guide Network! Must have been an awkward office Christmas party.

But why would TV Guide drop those high-profile networks from its scheduling grids while retaining, say, QVC? According to Variety, it's because the home shopping network is a major advertiser—which might also explain why the extra room in the grid has been filled by an expanded listing for MyNetwork, broadcast networks' laughable baby cousin who no one talks about. Also, Variety speculates, maybe the magazine is now read exclusively by old people who can't figure out why their set-top box remotes are not emitting money when they try to stick their ATM cards in. If that's the case, will any of them notice that there are no upcoming times listed for The Hills and Privileged? They will not, preferring instead to use the magazine as a TV dinner coaster and an occasional reminder of when The Bonnie Hunt Show is on.

• TV Guide drops CW, MTV listings [Variety]

Sheen's bump was the sharpest by far, according to the report, which also noted a measly 10% jump for Simon Cowell, whose American Idol duties now nab him an even $50 million per year. CSI star Petersen went up $100,000 per episode since 2007, while Law & Order: SVU's Mariska Hargitay ($400,000) and Closer star Kyra Sedgwick ($275,000) were the top earners among women on network and cable TV respectively. Congrats to them. Meanwhile, Charlie Sheen makes $800,000 per episode of Two and a Half Men.

Oprah still made more money than God, with her production company as a whole generating $385 million in revenue in 2007 (up from $260 million in '06) and Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane bringing up the rear among moguls with a $100 million deal guaranteed through 2012. And did you hear about Charlie Sheen? $800,000 per episode? For Two and a Half Men? Is this the same Two and a Half Men with Jon Cryer and that kid? The cringeworthy one? Also in syndication? Just making sure.

$800,000. Is that, like, in pesos?

• TV STARS' SALARIES: WHO EARNS WHAT? [TV Guide]

"There's more of a need for this magazine than ever, given the explosion in the number of TV channels," said Debra Birnbaum, a TV Guide editor who was promoted to editor in chief on Tuesday.

[STIFLED LAUGHTER]

The new TV Guide editor, Ms. Birnbaum, 37, has been a top editor of TV Guide, the celebrity magazine Life & Style and Inside TV, a short-lived spinoff of TV Guide. She said her mission was to continue TV Guide's transition to being an entertainment magazine and a critical filter for viewers overwhelmed by choices. And she said she wanted to include Web sites like YouTube.

Yes: because when savvy online users want to know what to watch on YouTube, they turn to TV Guide's print version. Not to TVGuide.com, which will be owned by another company.

Interested buyers contact Macrovision now!

The title was an instant success when it launched in 1953 and at its peak in 1970, with almost 20m readers, its circulation was by some margin the largest of any magazine. In 1988, the parent company went for an astonishing $3bn to Rupert Murdoch's News America—one of the Australian media mogul's most disastrous deals, as it later become evident. The electronic operations and the brand may retain some value; but the print title is essentially worthless except as an object lesson for a publishing industry under assault by technological change.

Included in the TV Guide cuts was one longtime senior editor (for whom one of us has done freelance work) who just happened to be taking a six-week personal leave, starting next week, to care for her ailing father. Timely downsizing, that.

Earlier: Inside TV, Out

As of today, it's: Close Inside TV and instead focus on the company's "considerable core assets."

The final issue will be published Thursday, and we're hearing about 40 staffers will be out of work.

UPDATE: Gemstar confirms that the magazine's staff is being let go.

Gemstar to Stop Publishing Inside TV [BizWeek]