TV Guide Magazine: They Say Bigger Is Better!

As long as I can remember, TV Guide Magazine has been a regular part of the household. The kids fight over it, and hubby is always looking for it. Of course, it is never where it is supposed to be! Last year, TV Guide Magazine took on a new and larger size and format. It's now the size of a regular magazine, has all the information you used to have, plus lots more!

TV Guide Magazine

With the new size, the magazine has probably cut down on the total number of pages, but you still get a lot more information with this new format. It is chock full of entertaining feature articles, tidbits about your favorite shows and highlights of shows you may have missed. This of course, is in addition to this week's television viewing schedule.

What's Inside?

The first three quarters of the magazine is devoted to feature articles, photographs, TV Guide polls, Feedback from readers, etc. You will find much more included with this new and larger magazine. Most issues contain at least 10 feature articles as opposed to the 4-5 in the previous format. Advertising is slim and that is something we all dream about when browsing through most magazines. You will only find a few ads throughout the entire magazine.

Departments

Moment Of The Week: Each issue opens with this department on the very first page. It highlights an event of the week, sometimes two.

Hot List: This section highlights 21 of the most popular programs that are considered "must have to watch shows" with a brief explanation of what happened last week, what is to come or just a recollection of the way the show left us last week...with a cliffhanger!

Breaking News

This section usually gives away a bit of storyline to a popular series. It just gives you enough to know that a character will return or someone will die, etc. It fuels your fire to get to the next episode so you can see if this is all true or not! Sometimes this section is more serious like a recent January issue focusing on the controversy of
"The Book of Daniel" airing.

Radar

This section is devoted to "Stuff We Can't Live Without" and features a star's favorite jeans, or something that can enhance a star's hair for instance. You will also find new and trendy items like surfboards, a baby sling or a new totebag.

Is It Just Me?

This is a column by Rochell D. Thomas and she asks several questions on about current shows and observations. For instance, "Shouldn't Cold Case Release a CD already?" This is followed by a brief discussion stating her views on the matter.

Previously On

I like this section, especially if you missed the previous episode. It gives a nice synopsis of the previous week's episode you you will be ready for the current week's viewing. There are usually about 4-5 shows highlighted each week.

Movie Guide

It is easy to find a good movie to watch! They are broken down by each day of the week. You can see all the movies showing on any day in one listing. There is also a very brief description of each movie.

Weekly Listings

The first listings you will see are the Daytime Listings. They are the same throughout the week and are only listed once.

Prime Time listings follow and are listed by TV Station and time of viewing. One new feature that I like about the new and larger TV guide are the special color codings they use. Here are the respective codes:

Lilac: News
Peach: Sports
Yellow: Movies
Mint Green: Specials

The TV listings are shaded with the above color codes to make is easy for you to see what type of programing is showing at any given time.

I want to point out that local listings are very sparse. TV Guide Magazine refers you to their website for complete local listings.

Langiappe

Each issue also contains a weekly Horoscope with celebrities highlighted for each astrological sign and a crossword puzzle featuring television and entertainment themes.

Subscription Rates

TV Guide Magazine is $1.99 per issue purchased at the newsstand. Subscription prices are about $20.00 for 26 issues. You can frequently get specials directly from their website located at www.tvguide.com

Recommendation

I really enjoy reading the weekly features in TV Guide Magazine. They are both informative and entertaining. The weekly features and photographs are my favorite part of the magazine. I can also find out what is coming on television without having to play the guessing game or flipping channels. I can plan ahead to watch a special or my weekly favorites. I love the new 8 1/2" x 11" format. It makes reading much easier and gives it more of a "magazine" feel. I give TV Guide Magazine 5 Stars!

© 2006 Birdfeather