I haven’t shared my thoughts on a Fall Preview issue of TV Guide since 2019. Back then, the magazine had a circulation of roughly 1.2 million. Today, TV Guide circulation is just over 900,000 subscribers. I only think about TV Guide when September rolls around and the annual Fall Preview issue arrives. For the first time ever, I wasn’t able to find TV Guide in stores and had to buy my copy of the 2024 Fall Preview issue on eBay.
There’s a small column on the table of contents page that looks back at the 1994 Fall Preview issue of TV Guide and the negative preview the magazine gave Friends.
The Fall Preview section of this year’s issue runs 20 pages. First up are new shows from the broadcast networks, beginning with ABC and continuing through The CW. Some new shows, like ABC’s Doctor Odyssey, are given two full pages. Others, like Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage on CBS, get a small box or column. There are no Editors’ Choice picks or other recommendations this year. There are a total of 16 new shows preview. After the broadcast networks come previews for PBS.
Next up are previews for shows on 11 different cable channels and streaming networks, including Hallmark+, HBO, FX, Netflix, Prime Video, Paramount+, and Hulu. The Fall Preview section ends with a network prime time grid, which wasn’t the case with the 2019 Fall Preview issue.
There’s nothing in this Fall Preview issue you can’t easily find online with a few clicks. TV Guide likely survives in 2024 mostly due to familiarity. There are hundreds of thousands of people who like TV Guide, have liked TV Guide for decades, and will keep liking TV Guide until the magazine finally folds. If I didn’t collect Fall Preview issues, I wouldn’t go to the trouble of buying a copy of the 2024 Fall Preview issue on eBay. But I do collect them and I will continue to collect them as long as TV Guide continues publishes them. I think it’s telling that the advertisement on the inner front cover is for a digital specialty network and not a new show on one of the broadcast networks. ABC does have an advertisement for its new show High Potential on the back cover so somebody in the ABC promotional department considers TV Guide worth advertising in.
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2 Replies to “Thoughts on TV Guides 2024 Fall Preview Issue”
It’s probably been 20 years since I bought a TV Guide Fall Preview issue. I stopped when I realized I’m watching very little “new” TV. I’m loyal to a few PBS series, the local TV news, the annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, and not much else. I suspect my brain only has a certain number of TV shows I can get interested in, and I’ve maxed out that number. I do go to YouTube and search for series that were broadcast before I was born, such as 1950s Dragnet (I’m fascinated by the “high tech” ways of solving crimes, such as using punch-card computer data), plus I’m interested in most everything I can find that was broadcast on the DuMont TV Network. Alas, now watching TV shows has shifted over into my “studying history” hobby!
I have to wonder if the print magazine will survive the decade. I don’t think the company will fold but switch more to their online site and become digital only. They also have digital subscribers and I wonder if they’re including those in their numbers. But although they’re dropping, they still have a high enough production count to make money from the printed copies. I would expect though that most are for direct subscribers and not so many for newsstands (if one could even find one nowadays).
I stumbled across their editorial calendar and it indicates when the preview issues are coming out: https://www.tvguidemagsales.com/
It’s probably been 20 years since I bought a TV Guide Fall Preview issue. I stopped when I realized I’m watching very little “new” TV. I’m loyal to a few PBS series, the local TV news, the annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, and not much else. I suspect my brain only has a certain number of TV shows I can get interested in, and I’ve maxed out that number. I do go to YouTube and search for series that were broadcast before I was born, such as 1950s Dragnet (I’m fascinated by the “high tech” ways of solving crimes, such as using punch-card computer data), plus I’m interested in most everything I can find that was broadcast on the DuMont TV Network. Alas, now watching TV shows has shifted over into my “studying history” hobby!
I have to wonder if the print magazine will survive the decade. I don’t think the company will fold but switch more to their online site and become digital only. They also have digital subscribers and I wonder if they’re including those in their numbers. But although they’re dropping, they still have a high enough production count to make money from the printed copies. I would expect though that most are for direct subscribers and not so many for newsstands (if one could even find one nowadays).
I stumbled across their editorial calendar and it indicates when the preview issues are coming out:
https://www.tvguidemagsales.com/