by Tim Delamatter

Created on: March 10, 2009

In 1990 a new Magazine hit the stands, it was called Entertainment Weekly or E.W., by it's corporate owners. It said it would cover all Entertainment in a non-judgmental way, giving equal access to Television, Broadway, Art, Books, and Pop-Culture trends. It would stay out of the gossip mongering that US Weekly, Variety, People, and the other Entertainment mags were famous for.

It was to be the critical review magazine. A magazine you could trust to find out what the product Hollywood made was like, not the people. It stated, all of its sections would contain something most would find useful for knowing what was on and why it was good or bad.

As a magazine, I think it has stayed true to it's statements, from the first press release, until now. It hasn't gone into trashing people, although sometimes bias is clear in an article,it usually stays neutral and only provides general details of whatever the subject is, that is being talked about.

Within the Magazine is the following Sections I like.

Bullseye... This is a new feature of E.W. They place movies, t.v. shows, books, whatever, however close to the bullseye they believe the project has come to it's stated purpose.

News and Notes....... Features the Pop Culture News, not commentary but news.

Spotlight..... Actors, Writers, Musicians, or Artists who have a project the magazine wants to highlight. Some are very interesting others are dull. It depends on the project being highlighted.

Feature Articles....... Usually Interviews of Celebrities. Informative, with little or no commentary.

The Must List...... Staff favorites of the Week in Entertainment.

Reviews........ Reviews of movies, DvD and Videos, t.v. shows, Music, what to watch, books, and Theater

The Back Page......... One final Article, usually an op-ed piece by one of the better writers on staff.

I have to state here that I am not an Entertainment junkie, I do not like over selling how amazing Hollywood is. E.W. doesn't do this, They stick to the business mostly and leave the gossip to other magazines. It is always fresh, usually unbiased, and normally thoughtful. When I first saw it on our kitchen table I wanted to throw it away, but I was bored one day, opened it up and figured out it wasn't all bad.

The readership as of 2008 was around 3 million people. This is big for a weekly Entertainment mag.

One of the most read issues is when E.W. gives out it's Entertainer of the year. The very first one was given to Bart Simpson, which in 1990 was startling. It is simple, yet informative approach has resonated with Middle Income Americans.

Learn more about this author, Tim Delamatter.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.