Michael Ausiello Leaves TV Guide

Many would call this man the face of TVGuide, with his quirky and light-hearted personality, stalking television and movie stars only to feed us, the buzz hungry consumer, all the best media gossip and scoop a magazine publication could offer. After eight years he is leaving TV Guide for none other than...wait for it...ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY, did someone say burned? I've said it multiple times on this blog, but Entertainment Weekly, as an entertainment magazine, simply pwns, and I look forward to reading Michael's articles on the new outlet. I've been a fan of TV Guide for years, especially their online department, but for a long time now things have been going downhill. Editors Daniel Manu and Angel Cohn left more than a year ago to Television Without Pity, and now Michael Ausiello. Honestly I don't think I have any reasons to visit their site anymore, except for Maitland McDonagh's movie reviews and some of Matt Mitovich's TV commentary. Deadline Hollywood Daily also reports that people behind the scenes of TV Guide have been leaving, so I guess it's only a matter of time before this ship sinks entirely.

I must say that my favorite element of TV Guide's online community was their extensive coverage of all television shows and movies, their Comic Con coverage, and their TV Guide Weekly podcast, featuring a panel of four or more of their best online columnists in which they would discuss the week in television as well as movie reviews. Their last podcast was a few months ago, and when that went down I had to look for new places to find my TV gossip. The magazine isn't horrible, it's just that it's not exactly "breaking news" when you can read it online before the magazine is even published. To tell you the truth the only thing I check frequently in it are the sudoku and crossword puzzles in the back.

I remember the early days of TV Guide, with it's Reader's Digest sized issue which featured nothing but extended TV listings. I remember looking through it to see what reruns I could catch or what movies were airing. This actually brings up a good point; are published magazines a thing of the past? Will small LAN or wi-fi spots take the place of newsstands and will magazine journalists find new jobs as ... bloggers?!?!? Only time will tell I guess.

The Balancing Act

To: Adonis, Lance, Ray
From: Nazer

It's saturday morning. Immediately after waking up, my hand takes on the role of a zombie and reaches for the Apple remote on my dresser. From there I bring up Lupe Fiasco's "The Cool" and listen as I contemplate actually getting up from my 9 hour slumber. 3 hours later I wake up, go to my computer and get lost in the typical daily computer activities: reading email, checking AIM messages, slickdeals, myspace, facebook, kotaku, deadspin, sartorialist, and so on.

The clock on my computer reads 2:00PM, and for whatever reason double cheeseburgers sound good, so I take a shower, fix up my Netflix envelopes and head to McDonalds. On the way I decide on what I want to watch while I eat. Some Battlestar Galactica in preparation for the Season 4 premiere in April? Maybe crack the shell and start AMCs Breaking Bad. Possibly do the ultimate fatty activity (which isn't very uncommon) of watching Anthony Bourdain's: No Reservations while stuffing my face with meat and cheese.

After returning to my dorm room I decide on continuing my journey with the Panthers football team with Friday Night Lights. Tim Riggins reunites with his brother Billy and they steal three thousand dollars from drug dealers while Smash gets arrested for assault. 3:00PM and I turn on my Xbox to finish some of those Portal levels that I couldn't beat last night, but before that I listen to the CNN Daily podcast. A plane in Houston lost its wheels when it landed, but thankfully no one was hurt.

5:00PM and I pick up the Entertainment Weekly magazine which features a Spring TV Preview, with stories on Desperate Housewives, House, Grey's, the almighty 30 Rock and more. Panic at the Disco's latest album "Pretty Odd" plays in the background while I read about Hulu.com, a sort of professional Youtube featuring television shows and movies streaming free on the web, but like ABC.com and others they feature 15 to 30 second ads in the middle of them.

The last page of each issue has a story written by an industry professional, and this issue had a piece by Diablo Cody where she talks about her time in Vancouver filming in a new movie. She talks about the similarities between her hotel and a showbiz-infested summer camp, and now here I am writing on the blog.

Seems like a pretty busy Saturday doesn't it? Television, music, video games, magazines, news, and I haven't even watched this copy of La Vie En Rose that I rented yet. It's apparent that my life has been consumed by the world of media driven entertainment, and to be brutally honest, I'm loving every moment.