Entertainment Weekly to cease weekly publication (1 Viewer)

[Adam Lenhardt]

It will move to monthly publication starting in July. The publisher has also laid off 13 staffers as part of the reorganization, including some of the magazine's most experienced feature writers -- a seemingly penny wise, pound foolish move since a monthly magazine will be even more reliant on feature articles over breaking news stories.

More info from the Hollywood Reporter here.

The price for an annual subscription will remain $49.92, despite going from 40 issues to 12 issues.

I can't see me continuing to subscribe; I mainly get it for something to read on the can, and a monthly release won't give me enough content at a frequent enough interval for that purpose.

 

[David Norman]

That's not good. It's one of 3 current mag subscription I keep going for my wife and I think I have 2 years left on my current sub.

When ESPN the Mag went from twice a month to monthly, they doubled my subscription length to keep the # issues the same. Then just recently announced not only were they cancelling the print mag almost completely, they were taking away my ESPN Insider access which was the only reason I subscribed in the 1st place. Usually I just recycled the print mag the day it was delivered.

 

[Timothy E]

This is not very surprising as it has not been a true monthly magazine for some time now. In the last few years, they have skipped multiple weeks by releasing a "double" issue, as has been the case for each of the last 6 weeks.

 

[Robert Crawford]

As an AFI member I get my subscription through them, but I'm afraid this is the beginning of the end.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

I’d argue the beginning of the end was several years ago, when they laid off the majority of their professional writing staff in favor of bloggers. Owen Gleiberman for all of his idiosyncrasies was a professional critic. Chris Nashawaty is not.

 

[EricSchulz]

I was a subscriber from the beginning. I ended up dropping it many years ago because it started focusing on things

I wasn't interested in (Twilight, Harry Potter, all the superhero franchises) but also the shift to everything post-90's.

The Best Horror Movies EVER! (since 1990!). I understand that my generation and older (I'm 58) aren't who they are trying to attract

anymore but they also drove us away.

 

[Malcolm R]

I've also been a nearly life-long subscriber, but have become less and less thrilled over the past few years. There was a time when I would immediately read each issue cover to cover as soon as it arrived. Now, it may sit on the table for several days before I pick it up and skim a few sections. I don't expect I'll be renewing again.

I'm a little surprised as I believe in their recent publication numbers, they still claimed over a million subscribers per issue. Seems like they were doing OK. They will definitely take a subscriber hit with this change.

 

[Mike Frezon]

Most magazines are in trouble.

Entertainment Weekly made some big decisions to try and stay in business. But they weren't good decisions...such as this one:

I’d argue the beginning of the end was several years ago, when they laid off the majority of their professional writing staff in favor of bloggers. Owen Gleiberman for all of his idiosyncrasies was a professional critic. Chris Nashawaty is not.

Plus, they totally went overboard on whatever was hot at the time. It got to the point where I felt if I ever read something again about Shonda Rhimes I was going to scream.

I cancelled my subscription quite a while ago.

 

[The Drifter]

No surprise here - what does surprise me is that EW is still being produced at all. I used to read this quite a bit in the '90's & early-mid 200X's. But, since then I've been able to find all of this info. online.

 

[Bryan^H]

I subscribed in the early to late 90's. And I enjoyed it greatly. However, it has become increasingly painful to read. My sister has a sub, and I read just one issue a few months ago. I was floored at just how bad it was. Not only the blogging nature of the reviews, and articles, but it seems setup for people with A D D.

I actually shook my head and rolled my eyes a few times, and thought never again will I read an issue. Let it die.

I still enjoy Thrasher, National Geographic, and Time magazine. They still have their integrity, and I hope they stay in print.​

 

[bmasters9]

And worse, like I said in the annoyance thread, the insistence on the Weekly name retention, even after the switch to monthly-- baffles me beyond belief!

 

[Patrick Sun]

When their FB page became political a few years ago, I let it go. Never looked back. Not surprised it's dying.

 

[davidmatychuk]

And worse, like I said in the annoyance thread, the insistence on the Weekly name retention, even after the switch to monthly-- baffles me beyond belief!

They could just spell it "Entertainment Weakly", couldn't they? Seriously though, I find this very sad. In its prime, EW was a very enjoyable and edifying weekly round-up of everything current in every kind of entertainment. I used to recommend it to people in my role as a magazine retailing professional; even in what was to me a golden age of magazines, it was one-of-a-kind. I suppose that with the avalanche of online reading options (tailored just for you!) this was inevitable, and EW certainly hadn't been what it was in a long time, but there hasn't really been a substitute for that one magazine you could read cover to cover and feel like you were caught up on the entertainment world. There hasn't really been an online substitute for magazines either, but that's just my opinion as a magazine retailing professional.

 

[Jake Lipson]

The price for an annual subscription will remain $49.92, despite going from 40 issues to 12 issues.

That doesn't make any sense. That is such a significant reduction in content that most people would expect the price to reflect what you get.

the insistence on the Weekly name retention, even after the switch to monthly-- baffles me beyond belief!

That seems like a way to prompt confusion. I suspect it's because "Entertainment Weekly" is an established brand name, but when it doesn't appear weekly, it's definitely not going to live up to that name and expectation.

 

[Elizabeth S]

I've had free subscriptions for a while now but they are just piling up on the floor, along with others. Usually find my reading time devoted to novels nowadays. Still sad to see this happening to print magazines.

 

[DaveF]

How does a weekly print magazine survive in this world?
https://deadline.com/
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/
https://www.vulture.com/

I subscribed in the mid 90s and 00s. Then got free subscriptions from airline miles or such another five some years. Then I got tired of unread magazines piling and stopped completely.

My wife still follows EW on Facebook but they’re mostly off my radar except when they write something goes viral-ish.

 

[Dick]

More than the shrinking of this magazine, I still miss the quality of the first few years of PREMIERE magazine, before it kind of turned into EW with larger pages. Then, even those were downsized. Then, nothing. It was a good investigative and informative mag.

 

[bmasters9]

More than the shrinking of this magazine, I still miss the quality of the first few years of PREMIERE magazine, before it kind of turned into EW with larger pages. Then, even those were downsized. Then, nothing. It was a good investigative and informative mag.

I remember paging through that Premiere mag in many a doctor's office I went to-- it was a pretty interesting and engaging read.

 

[Malcolm R]

The monthly EW is pretty bad. I have just 4 issues remaining and will not renew.

 

[EricSchulz]

The monthly EW is pretty bad. I have just 4 issues remaining and will not renew.

They REALLY should have changed the name!