Magazine Review: TV Guide

Stars: 3 out of 5
Pros: Interesting articles that take you behind the scenes with your favorite stars.

Cons: You weren't actually thinking of using this as a guide, were you?

The Bottom Line:

Useless as a guide

Interesting articles

Should just change the name

I Read It for the Articles Because This is a Lousy TV Guide

Many of my friends find it hard to believe, but I didn't grow up watching TV. We had one, but it was seldom on. That's one reason I developed my love of reading.

When I graduated from college and was out on my own for the first time, naturally, I got a TV and indulged in as many of the programs I had been missing as I could. And when it came to figuring out what was on when, there was nothing better then TV Guide.

Unfortunately, that changed a few years back. They decided to upgrade their magazine. It's now standard magazine size and has full color pictures on almost about every page. It looks great, but it's much less useful then it used to be.

Cheers

Now don't get me wrong, I still love the articles. If you are a TV fan (and I think I qualify), there's lots of good stuff here. I absolutely love their fall issues previewing new show and discussing what will happen on returning ones. Year round, they feature letters to the editor (what magazine doesn't) and give readers a chance to ask questions about where else they may have seen an actor (Have these people never heard of IMDB?) or if and/or when their favorite show will be back.

They've got several pages of breaking news about anything and everything going on in the world of television from who has been cast in what show, new shows that are coming soon, and brief news stories about things happening behind the scenes on current shows. Their list of the top twenty shows is usually a week old because of press issues, but it's interesting as well. Their behind the scenes pictures are always fun and interesting. And I may not always agree with their Cheers & Jeers section, but I love seeing what they think was good and bad in TV in the past couple of weeks.

Then come the articles. Every week they feature two or three interviews with stars talking about their life on and off the small screen. They will often devote space to a hot show interviewing several members of the cast and crew and even potentially getting spoiler information for us. But don't worry. Those spoilers are always clearly marked and never reveal too much - just a few sentences on the upcoming four or five episodes. The only real failing in the articles are their blinders. They seem to focus on the top rated shows or critics favorites to the exclusion of struggling, lesser known shows. I realize they write about what sells magazines, but I wish they could give a little space to a few of those lesser known gems.

Jeers

The problem with the magazine is they seem to have forgotten what their name means. If you want to find out information about what is actually on TV, good luck.

Now don't misunderstand, they've got great information for you on prime time shows. Each of the seven days gets a two page spread with a grid showing what's on during a three hour window. Movies and sports are highlighted in a different color. New shows are highlighted, so it's easy to see what you need to catch your favorites. Additionally, each day gets two more days that highlight shows on genre including the network and air time. If you want to find something in prime time, you've got it made.

But what if you want to watch TV during non-prime time hours? You're better off looking up the info on line.

Weekdays get a two page grid to cover noon to prime time. And that's for all TV stations. No local listings. No network listings. Just cable offerings. And, as you might imagine, they don't include the movie stations. And if a station regularly shows a movie, they won't tell you what it is just that a movie airs. Basically, this grid is useless unless the show you want is on at the same time every day. In which case, you don't need it.

But let's say you are home and want to watch TV during the day on the weekend. Don't even think about looking for any information here. There is absolutely nothing. I could almost understand not having good listings for weekdays since so many people work during that time. But to have nothing for weekend days? That's inexcusable.

Looking for movie listings? Good luck. They highlight five movies a day at the start of the listing sections, but no where is there a comprehensive listing of what movies are airing when. Any movie I catch on TV is almost an accident now. As I mentioned earlier, they do list movies that air during prime time on their daily grids, so that is something. And the movie channels get a listing for overnight airings (weeknights only) at the back. But the only non-premium channel listed back there is American Movie Classic. Since I don't pay for HBO, Showtime, or the others, that grid is basically useless.

Furthermore, there is no local information. Local stations aren't listed anywhere. PBS info gives you the most likely time, but since each station is different, that's not reliable. And they've removed the channel conversion charts, so you need to look elsewhere to learn where to actual find the channel you want to watch on your local cable.

Watch or Change the Channel?

I eventually did let my subscription to TV Guide expire because it was pretty much useless.  I miss the guide they used to provide, but I can get the information from the articles on various websites, so why pay money for it?