Entertainment Weekly, No More

When I was a kid in the '90s, who loved movies but didn't know anything about them, the publication that I would read cover to cover whenever I had the chance was "Entertainment Weekly." Issues were only available to me through the dentist's waiting room, mostly, and sometimes the hairdresser's. They weren't as informative as "Variety" or "Hollywood Reporter," obviously but I had to make do with what I could get. Unlike the other glossy pop culture magazines, it had bits of actual hard data that I couldn't get anywhere else, including weekly box office tallies and the ratings charts for prime time network television programs. There were home media, theater, and book sections. Until my parents started buying the Los Angeles Times regularly, "Entertainment Weekly" was often the only way I could stay remotely current on anything going on in the entertainment industry. The seasonal movie preview features were my favorites.

And now, a few decades later, "Entertainment Weekly" is becoming a monthly publication with a shift in focus towards its online content. The July 5th issue was the final issue of the weekly version. No, the name isn't changing. I can't help feeling a little sad, even though I haven't cracked open an issue in at least a year. It was always nice to see the magazine on the publication stands, even after their biggest selling point seemed to be endless variant covers for the "Twilight" movies. And it wasn't a good sign when their exclusive photos would be all over social media within hours of being published. With the way that the internet has decimated the print industry, I guess it's impressive that "Entertainment Weekly" held out against the inevitable for as long as it did. As of 2017, it still had a circulation of around 1.5 million.

Of course, "Entertainment Weekly" wasn't really a weekly magazine. Last year it cut its frequency from 38 issues a year to 34. Even at its height, the subscription was for 40 issues, advertised as 55 because of several "double length" special issues. Their behind-the-scenes troubles have been well documented, as the magazine bounced from publisher to publisher for years. It never really recovered from previous attempts at retooling that chipped away at its editorial distance and critical integrity. There was always an uneasy balance between catering to populist tastes and maintaining the quality of the entertainment journalism, and in recent years the magazine has gotten noticeably dumber and duller. I stopped collecting issues around the time when there was a drastic revamp in 2008, increasing font size and shortening articles noticeably.

Thirteen staff members were let go as part of the latest transition, including veteran critic Chris Nashawaty, who took over after the long-reigning Lisa Schwarzbaum and Owen Gleiberman were ousted in 2013 and 2014. I poked around on the "Entertainment Weekly" website to try and figure out which critics (if any) were still there, but the site is one of those dreadful things designed for mobile devices that has gigantic graphics plastered everywhere and navigation is a pain. Seriously, this recent trend of breaking up articles every paragraph with slow-loading ads and pictures is the worst. If online content is going be the main focus of the publication from here on out, you'd think that they'd spend a little time and effort to actually make it readable.

Oh well. Unlike other publications, I don't find I have much trouble saying goodbye to "Entertainment Weekly." It had its time and place, but the world has changed and there are so many, many sources of news and criticism available to me now. Occasionally they'll put out a really eye-catching cover, but otherwise it's off my radar completely these days. No doubt it'll stick around or a while yet in physical form, if only because the splashy cover stories and exclusives can be a good marketing platform. I haven't thought of it as real entertainment news for a long time, though. And I haven't read their reviews since Glieberman and Schwarzbaum left. I'll still page through "Entertainment Weekly" issues at the dentist's office - but maybe not if I have the option of reading TIME or Newsweek instead.
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