TV Guide Review

Most people use the television listings from their local newspaper to keep informed about what's on TV and at what time. But for those who prefer, there is one publication that provides television listings and comes tailor- made for individual regions around the country. The magazine is TV Guide, a weekly publication for those who like television and the small- screen stars that make it popular.

Magazine Commentary:

TV Guide is a magazine whose primary purpose is to keep readers informed about television shows and when they will be shown in your local area. It's one of the few magazines that is designed based the local television viewing area for readers. The television listings reflect the channels, times, and schedules of each local area around the nation.

Most people grab a copy of TV Guide or start a subscription strictly for the purpose of looking up television listings. This is the main function of this magazine, but there are other items in each issue besides television times and channels. TV Guide also offers some articles each week that are based on television for your reading enjoyment. These stories can be about actors and actresses, a specific show or network, upcoming shows and rising stars, or a controversial issue about television in general.

With the television listings, I find them fairly easy to follow. Each day includes a grid listing and an hour by hour listing. The grid listing covers the prime time hours from 7pm to 11pm and it presents a table with the network name down the left hand side of the page with hours listed across the top and the television programs listed in the appropriate slots. This is the place I usually look first because there are specific channels I prefer and I find it best to turn directly to my favorite channel and then view the program lineup. For others, there is a separate listing that is organized by time, showing a listing of television shows that are scheduled to begin at that specific time, in chronological order. The grid method usually shows a little more detail for each show while the hour by hour listing shows less detail but is faster and easier to read.

The television listings in this publication are simple enough and while they could stand to be improved, they accomplish their intended task. But the articles in TV Guide leave much to be desired. First of all, most of them are very short- usually only a page or two in length. Second, they seem to have degenerated over the years and at present they are nothing more than glorified tabloid trash. It's difficult to take most of them very seriously at all. They are written with very little thought and almost zero depth, much like a tabloid gossip publication. TV Guide wants to keep readers informed about new shows, movies, new Hollywood stars, and the like, which is why it includes these articles. I try to skim through them as fast as possible, paying attention only to the facts (like what the show is about, who stars in it, etc.) and moving on to the rest of the magazine.

Once you take away the articles, what you are left with is nothing more than a listing of television shows in your local area. In essence, TV Guide is, at this point, no better than your Sunday newspaper's television guide section. This is another thing about this magazine that makes it difficult to justify purchasing. If one is already subscribing to the Sunday paper, then there is a good chance he/she already has an adequate guide for looking up television programs. TV Guide might offer a few more movie reviews and more advertisements, but the weak articles make it no better than the television guide you probably already utilize each week when you buy the Sunday paper. Thus, I don't see much point in buying this publication.

Bottom Line Viewpoint:

TV Guide provides a fairly useful means of keeping track of what's scheduled on television. But I don't like the magazine's small size and I don't like the silly and often useless articles that fill the pages of each issue. The price is low, but I still cannot recommend TV Guide. Save yourself the money and just continue to use your local newspaper or the internet to access television programming in your area. You will get what you need without having to shuffle through all the mind- numbing articles that fill each issue of this magazine.