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DO WE STILL MISS THE OLD TV-GUIDE MAGAZINES ?

gregg75

gregg75

I do. I know a lot of the retro schedules on here come from them. There is just something
about having your own local thing instead of a national one. It's like going from your local
paper to USA-Today.

I now get the national one which leaves a lot to be desired. Many cable channels are not
listed, but HBO and SHOWTIME get 6 listings by themselves. There is no HUB, GMC or a few
others. I like to see everything laid out on paper for the night instead of fumbling through
the cable guide and different time slots.

Seems like they could have done more to save the local editions. Now with technology, I'd
like to be able to tell them which channels I want (including locals and local-subs) and get
my "own" edition. That doesn't sound like it would be too much to ask for.......I'd even take
it online if I had to. The current TV Guide just seems like a step backwards.

Some have attempted to make a paper guide, but they're not that good. The one I now get
in the newspaper is only about 6 pages squeezed together and looks more like a puzzle than
a guide. The ones on the internet just list the show title and not what it's about.
 
Absolutely! The death of TV Guide was one of the worst things to happen to publishing. The new version is name-only the same; otherwise, it's pretty much like every other gloosy celebrity mag you can find out there.
 
Yes I miss the local TV Guide. When did they stop doing it. Admittedly I stopped getting it on a regular basis years ago. I remember looking for it and being very disappointed that it wasn't around anymore. Now I just used the internet.

The old TV guide had some good articles and reviews of TV shows.
 
Yes I do.The digest version was great.When they started to produce the big mag version,It starting to get boring.I got boxes and boxes Of TV Guides I moved over to my house from storage dating back to the 70's.I stop receiving the Guide years ago do to the internet TV listings I get for free .
 
I think most newspapers across the USA don't even provide a daily TV listing anymore. Nashville's newpaper, The Tennessean, only provides a TV listing in the Sunday paper, with just the schedule grid and NO information on what the episode is about or whether it's a repeat or new episode. I have found that most TV listing in Sunday's Newpapers leave a lot to be desired.
 
Actually, I think it really comes down to taking matters into your own hands these days, if you want the kind of reporting about television (all of it, not just the off-camera exploits of celebrities) that TV Guide used to do.

Anyone want to offer up a few sites to follow? This list is one big one for me, but I bet there's more...
 
I would think that with the emergence of digital subchannels (RTV, This TV, etc.) there would be
demand for local listings. Even local newspapers (remember those?) do a very cursory job anymore.
 
Definitely miss.

I took a recent gander thru the online weekly version of a TV section for a small-town east TX paper. I was stunned. That paper hadn't done anything with the local channels lineup in over 20 YEARS!! A long-time DFW indie which has since flipped to Telemundo was still listed in the guide, and no cable system in the county even carries that station anymore now that it has Spanish programming. New stations have come along (MyNet (flipped, originally was UPN), CBS (return on new station after no local CBS for well over 10 years), CW, and several new subchannels) but NONE are listed. If anyone down there wants to look up current/somewhat-complete channels and listings, they'd have to consult one of the online TV listing sites.
 
FreddyE1977 said:
I would think that with the emergence of digital subchannels (RTV, This TV, etc.) there would be
demand for local listings. Even local newspapers (remember those?) do a very cursory job anymore.
Click to expand...

To be honest I am not sure as to whom I miss the most. TV Guide or local newspaper listings. Between the old ads in TV Guide and the lineup in local newspapers..well...

For example in the early 90's the Martinsburg ( West Virginia..small town in the Eastern Panhandle ) Journal not only offered listings for stations in Washington and Baltimore but also Richmond, Hagerstown, Charlottesville, Harrisonburg, Harrisburg-Lancaster-York...and...DENVER !!!

Strange to see listings for both DC's WUSA right beside Denver's KUSA and BOTH are on channel 9.

For the record the reason behind this is that so many in the West Virginia mountains at the time had those big satellite dishes and often they had subscribe to the Denver stations and the Journal felt there was a need to serve them.
 
Mike Sheridan said:
I remember when the local papers carried RADIO listings next to the TV listings!
Click to expand...

The Mobile Press-Register had radio listings when I checked last year. Only radio programs related to sports were listed. The same newspaper still has daily TV listings (programs between 6:00 PM and 1:00 AM only and programs for other times are sent to newspaper subscribers by electronic mail) and a TV listings booklet published every Friday. The booklet was usually less accurate than the daily TV listings and it usually contained outdated information about local stations and cable and satellite TV networks.
 
It's a shame now for my 86-year-old grandmother, as she does not have internet access and does not have digital cable, so she has no way of knowing what is on TV. Our local newspaper no longer even has a TV supplement (which in its later years was full of mistakes).
 
when the newer ways to find out things and take care of things(like apply for things) replace the old ways it gets forgotten that people fall through the cracks.
 
M.J. said:
It's a shame now for my 86-year-old grandmother, as she does not have internet access and does not have digital cable, so she has no way of knowing what is on TV. Our local newspaper no longer even has a TV supplement (which in its later years was full of mistakes).
Click to expand...

True of my elderly relatives as well, but nevertheless, it was simply no longer viable.
 
It was actually better when TV Guide had some two dozen channels tops to have to list. Having too many channels to list is what caused the TV Guide to collapse under the weight of trying to include listings of almost 100 channels in it. I would suggest something like bringing the Guide back with listings for just the notable local channels and cable networks, no more than 30 channels total. Would something like this be workable? Discuss.
 
hipman2 said:
It was actually better when TV Guide had some two dozen channels tops to have to list. Having too many channels to list is what caused the TV Guide to collapse under the weight of trying to include listings of almost 100 channels in it. I would suggest something like bringing the Guide back with listings for just the notable local channels and cable networks, no more than 30 channels total. Would something like this be workable? Discuss.
Click to expand...

Looking back now had TV Guide still offered local TV listings would they had included listings available on those sub-channels? Antenna TV and RTV I guess it would be easier for them just to offer nationwide listings ( though that could change from market to market ) but what about those new affiliates that had popped up in recent years in places thanks to those sub-channels like Mrytle Beach, South Carolina ( NBC ), Winchester, Virginia ( ABC ) or Fort Collins, Colorado ( CBS )..wonder if they would be included as well? Somehow I have the idea that politics would prevent it such as Denver's KCNC..I doubt they would allow Cheyenne's KGWN's "Northern Colorado CBS 5 Fort Collins" to be listed in the Denver edition of TV Guide even if that was the local edition one could buy in Fort Collins.
 
hipman2 said:
It was actually better when TV Guide had some two dozen channels tops to have to list. Having too many channels to list is what caused the TV Guide to collapse under the weight of trying to include listings of almost 100 channels in it. I would suggest something like bringing the Guide back with listings for just the notable local channels and cable networks, no more than 30 channels total. Would something like this be workable? Discuss.
Click to expand...

No, it wouldn't. First, paper guides simply aren't relevant today to anywhere near enough people to justify the printing costs. But even ignoring that, the complaints every time a channel was dropped from the guide or wasn't added showed that such a solution was impractical.
 
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