The Death Agony Of America's Biggest Magazine - Gawker Comments

The Death Agony Of America's Biggest Magazine

foolinthepool — Fri, 02 May 2008 09:41:02 EDT

The format was always a little too busy for the way my brain works, but it makes me sad anyway that it's dying off. And I love Lucy, too. Sometimes when in need of a good laugh I just think about her wearing that lampshade when they were in Paris and Ricky tricked her into thinking it was couture. She still got the last laugh.

foolinthepool

The Death Agony Of America's Biggest Magazine

Muscato — Fri, 02 May 2008 06:47:48 EDT

I feel skeevy, yet nostalgic, when I realize that my main TV Guide memory has to do with an underwear advertisement that featured, I believe, Pete Rose. Let's just say that Grandma spent a long time trying to find that issue and would have missed a Beverly Sills concert on PBS if she hadn't kept the Sunday paper...

Muscato

The Death Agony Of America's Biggest Magazine

Cory — Fri, 02 May 2008 00:19:29 EDT

@Gayyker: Usually once a semester. They get it on a fancy, old timey reel too! Not, like, low quality RealPlayer files!

Which is actually surprising because we're such a computer science school.

Cory

The Death Agony Of America's Biggest Magazine

zibby — Thu, 01 May 2008 19:58:13 EDT

@Lucia Toledo: I hear ya. My old man steadfastly refused to pay for TV Guide when "The Same Thing" came with The Courant every weekend. We might have been out of luck on The Courant too, but it happened to be my paper route.

zibby

The Death Agony Of America's Biggest Magazine

htotheomo — Thu, 01 May 2008 19:22:26 EDT

@I Don't Get It: National Geographic?

htotheomo

The Death Agony Of America's Biggest Magazine

lowbrown — Thu, 01 May 2008 18:50:43 EDT

i haven't seen one of these in a long time, but we subscribed and i do remember it was a great place to find columbia house cassette titles to select from. 10 tapes for a penny! i would like to send out one last cheer and one last jeer to TV guide.

lowbrown

The Death Agony Of America's Biggest Magazine

Mr-Busy — Thu, 01 May 2008 18:25:50 EDT

...it jumped the shark when they changed its shape... bring back what it was... and it will be festivus for allofus once again.

Mr-Busy

The Death Agony Of America's Biggest Magazine

Gayyker — Thu, 01 May 2008 18:01:08 EDT

@Cory: Your SCHOOL shows porn?

Gayyker

The Death Agony Of America's Biggest Magazine

whitekidinflatbush — Thu, 01 May 2008 17:47:06 EDT

At our house, it came every Monday. I would come home and all the neighborhood kids would hang out in the driveway while I would instantly flip to next week's ad for Melrose Place to see what the rating would be; TV14-DL meant that I could skip it, but TV14-S meant that I had to watch, no arguments.

whitekidinflatbush

The Death Agony Of America's Biggest Magazine

Lucia Toledo — Thu, 01 May 2008 17:21:31 EDT

In our house, TV Guide was considered a luxury, since the Sunday papers also gave weekly listings, albeit in hard-to-read and messy-to-keep form. I had to go across the street to my aunt's house for the lovely experience of scanning conveniently-formatted listings for specials, movies, and episode descriptions. And I got cookies there, too.

Lucia Toledo

The Death Agony Of America's Biggest Magazine

Cory — Thu, 01 May 2008 17:16:10 EDT

@Gayyker: I always get weirded out when I see TBA because my school shows (straight) porn under the TBA title.

Cory

The Death Agony Of America's Biggest Magazine

Ed — Thu, 01 May 2008 17:15:57 EDT

We never subscribed but one summer day in 1981, my mother came home with a copy that the cashier had accidentally put in her bag instead of the previous customer.

Miss Piggy was on the cover, on a floatable chaise raft in a swimming pool. I belioeve she was even interviewed.

That was some hard-hitting journalism.

The Death Agony Of America's Biggest Magazine

SecureLocation — Thu, 01 May 2008 17:00:28 EDT

No question that Rupe got a haircut on TV Guide. He's written the whole investment down by now so it probably doesn't hurt as much as if you or I blew $3 Billion on a bad purchase. As you point out, at one time the magazine was a cash geyser. At its peak it sold 7 million copies a week at the newsstand. But this is one brand that really could live on as a website with TV listings and reviews.

SecureLocation

The Death Agony Of America's Biggest Magazine

JuneBuggy — Thu, 01 May 2008 16:57:57 EDT

More shocking: that not one media reporter picked up on this story sooner. The mag has been suffering a slow death for three years now. Say what you will about the content, the mag is a classic instantly recognizable brand and its departure is a significant reminder of the changing landscape of magazine publishing.

JuneBuggy

The Death Agony Of America's Biggest Magazine

Gayyker — Thu, 01 May 2008 16:55:07 EDT

I was always kind of weirded out whenever I saw a TBA listed in the TV guide. It was always on some skeevy channel like The Superstation. Get your act together in time for publication!

Gayyker

The Death Agony Of America's Biggest Magazine

SneakingThroughTheAlleyWithLalley — Thu, 01 May 2008 16:49:27 EDT

But isn't just an evolution? I thought their online effort was relatively popular?

@Knucklehead Babylon: Thank you for taking me right back to 6th grade lunch. I dumped someone after 2 hrs once because I passed him a note and he didnt reply because he was too busy trading pogs.

I heard that he's joined up w/ the gays.

SneakingThroughTheAlleyWithLalley

The Death Agony Of America's Biggest Magazine

dweeb — Thu, 01 May 2008 16:42:50 EDT

Making Christmas trees out of Vanity Fair will just not be the same.

dweeb

The Death Agony Of America's Biggest Magazine

ljnd2 — Thu, 01 May 2008 16:39:42 EDT

@I Don't Get It: OMG, I used to throw this at my sister all the time.

ljnd2

The Death Agony Of America's Biggest Magazine

depardoo — Thu, 01 May 2008 16:36:48 EDT

This and Reader's Digest.

depardoo

The Death Agony Of America's Biggest Magazine

PickleTitsTurner — Thu, 01 May 2008 16:36:09 EDT

Let's be honest, the quality of the writing had declined over the years.

Mr. Denton,
How much would you sell/trade Gawker for. A bajillion dollars, that Honus Wagner baseball card, unlimited wishes, what would it take?

PickleTitsTurner

The Death Agony Of America's Biggest Magazine

DaeSu — Thu, 01 May 2008 16:35:57 EDT

When I was a kid my sister and I would actually fight over it when it arrived in the mail. (Yes, my parents had a subscription for years.)

Haven't picked one up in well over a decade or two, but I'll miss it when it's gone.

DaeSu

The Death Agony Of America's Biggest Magazine

Knucklehead Babylon — Thu, 01 May 2008 16:31:51 EDT

Oh but the collectability of back issues will skyrocket. Just like Pogs!

Knucklehead Babylon

The Death Agony Of America's Biggest Magazine

Greg Johnson — Thu, 01 May 2008 16:29:45 EDT

Big ups! Somewhere, Frank Costanza weeps.

(I love Lucy, too.)

Greg Johnson

The Death Agony Of America's Biggest Magazine

Martita — Thu, 01 May 2008 16:27:24 EDT

I guess this means print media really is dead. RIP, TV Guide.

Martita

The Death Agony Of America's Biggest Magazine

MrJames — Thu, 01 May 2008 16:27:00 EDT

I love Lucy.

MrJames

The Death Agony Of America's Biggest Magazine

I Don't Get It — Thu, 01 May 2008 16:26:28 EDT

Au revoir to the most throwable magazine ever.

I Don't Get It

The Death Agony Of America's Biggest Magazine

TheHonJudgeSmails — Thu, 01 May 2008 16:26:05 EDT

I buy TV Guide for the irony.

TheHonJudgeSmails

The Death Agony Of America's Biggest Magazine

intothelight — Thu, 01 May 2008 16:24:40 EDT

damn, there goes the only crossword puzzle i could ever finish.

intothelight