Time Inc. employees should just take a look at their late-to-the-show neighbors at Conde Nast and what it took them to finally cut down to a normal size. Bloated Conde Nast had to hire McKinsey & Co. to tell them what anybody with common sense could have told them for free over the past five years.
Entertainment Weekly has been losing as much traction as Jennifer Aniston's career. For years, the Reaper circles the building on Avenue of the Americas, taking Cottage Living and Southern Accents, wondering when they'll let go of EW and turn it into the web property it cries out to be.
It's like Kubler-Ross' stages of death, except Time Inc. refuses to move out of the denial phase. Ad pages are plummeting faster than Jon Gosselin's popularity with women. It's thinner than the last photos of I saw of Mischa Barton. Like its Premiere predecessor, it's quickly becoming old news. At least Hachette knew when to call it a wrap.
What will it take Time Inc. to come to their senses? A knock on the old noggin from the Reaper? Paying out fees to companies like McKinsey?
The Reaper predicts that when EW folds, it will be announced that it will become part of People magazine and its web site.
WWD says that it has "renewed energy under new managing editor Jess Cagle." I'm sure Jess Cagle is a very nice person, but even the well-loved good-looking Leonardo DiCaprio couldn't make the Titanic float again.
I hate the recent redesign. EW is not the same mag I loved when I started subscribing about 15 years ago. I finally let my sub run out this summer.
Posted by: J | October 09, 2009 at 01:56 PM
"Time Inc. employees should just take a look at their late-to-the-show neighbors at Conde Nast and what it took them to finally cut down to a normal size."
Yikes. Can't wait until more magazines fold - the writing on the web is just SO much better...
Posted by: okaythen | October 09, 2009 at 05:02 PM
Mischa Barton isn't that skinny though... I mean if you said Victoria Beckham, or even Angeline Jolie... now THAT would be a skinny magazine!
Posted by: Becka | October 09, 2009 at 08:35 PM
Oh noes! If the onomatopoeic "EW" shuts down, then what happens to the legions of basement-dwelling losers on staff who live solely to masturbate endlessly about "Star Trek", "Star Wars", and every half-assed movie adaptation of a half-assed comic book to come down the pike? What will they do when they have all the time in the world to plagiarize articles from other movie magazines and news sites and no venue in which to share them? For God's sake, think of the Cat Piss Men!
Posted by: Paul Riddell | October 12, 2009 at 10:24 AM
You marked EW for death a little over a year ago (Sept 2008), what makes you think it will really die this year?
Posted by: curious | October 21, 2009 at 12:34 AM
Dear Curious,
A lot less ads than 2008, a year they stumbled badly. A sense that Time Inc. may be watching its Conde Nast rivals being brave enough to cut long-standing titles.
This is a title that will always be marked for death until they croak. I do not foresee that time going on for very long.
Yours truly,
Grim
Posted by: Grim Reaper | October 21, 2009 at 05:03 PM
Lets face it, EW is past its prime. It actually used to be a great magazine in the 90s. I loved it in the 90s and now its just crap. Its time for it to go.
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