Joining the Entertainment Bandwagon TV Guide: More than Just Listings - For the TV Fan Department after department fills today‘s TV Guide magazine. A typical issue houses 11 departments just in the front of the book. By comparison, in 2004 eight regular departments ran in the magazine. In an issue from January 1968, the then-digest-size magazine was split into only five departments: Articles, Columns, Program listings, Reviews, and Teletypes (which included up-to-date information on upcoming programs and ins and outs on shows in both New York and Hollywood). According to Birnbaum, the departments expanded and changed due to the fast growing number of television viewers and the plethora of channels. ―When it was small, it was really just a listings magazine. If you wanted to find out what was on then, that was the magazine to read. There was some editorial content but not a tremendous amount of it,‖ says Birnbaum. Now, plenty of editorial content fills the book‘s pages. Flip through department after department today; the interior doesn‘t look much different than those of People or US Weekly. TV Guide magazine‘s mission statement says that it ―watches everything so readers miss nothing.‖ Today, the staff writes for the TV fan as opposed to giving investigative pieces as the magazine did during the Annenberg era. The magazine fills minds with stories and highlights on reality shows from MTV‘s The Hills to the weekly drama of American Idol. The magazine also keeps readers in touch with the lives of actors from hit shows like ABC‘s LOST. Birnbaum defends the new feel of the magazine, saying she wants to make TV Guide more current, fresh, and newsy. ―We want to make sure that we cover all the big shows that everyone‘s talking about and continue its evolution away from a listings magazine to a full entertainment magazine,‖ said Birnbaum. Before revamping its style to a larger magazine in 2005, listings comprised the majority of TV Guide. With listings becoming more obsolete due to on-air and on-line TV guides, the
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