Entertainment Weekly

I'm getting Entertainment Weekly again. I used to get it. Why did I get it? I'll tell you. I got the door, and there was one of those people selling magazine subscriptions with a sob story and an earnest catch in her voice, plus I'm already a pushover when it comes to a woman with a clipboard, so I said "which one of these is going to give me VALUE for my commitment? Which one has not just movies, or not just music, or not just...books, I guess - but all of these things? Which one has instead of 12 issues per subscription, something a little more like FIFTY FUCKING TWO issues!? Dammit, that's gotta be Entertainment Weekly!"

I said all that to myself. I didn't say it out loud, to her. That might have been a little bizarre. She did look at me a little funny halfway through the long, awkward silence, though - I might have been moving my lips a bit.

Perhaps she could lip-read! Wow.

Anyway, having sprung for it (and another 2 magazines which I can't remember, maybe Vanity Fair was in there), having sprung for it I read it. I ended up getting into the habit of reading it, every week. Practically the whole thing - generally in one sitting. A little harmless "decompress" at the end of the week. It was an okay magazine, and I felt more informed about the entertainment people and entertainment issues that matter to me. By the 47th or 48th issue or so, though, my interest was flagging, and I didn't like the new format change, and I kind of petered out as far as actually reading the thing.

And then the subscription ran out, which was fine by me by that point. Flash-forward a couple years. Once again, Entertainment Weekly is showing up at the house! Why? My girlfriend didn't order it. I didn't order it. What the hell? Is it a free issue, to entice us with what we've been missing? No! It keeps coming! Week after week! It's been two months now.

I kind of like getting it again. The new format's not so bad. I just have a hard time dealing with change, in the initial phases. The writing is still harmlessly snarky in an enjoyable way. But I have kind of what you'd call a beef, with Entertainment Weekly: I like the show "30 Rock." I never watch tv except for NFL broadcasts or "The New Detectives," but I caught an episode of "30 Rock" in our room at the W in San Francisco while waiting for the gf to come back from her spa treatment, and it was good! I love the show! So when a week or two ago, EW casually referred to "[Tina Fey's] hit show '30 Rock'" I was psyched! I was glad it was a hit. I hadn't known it was a hit. I like it when people like the things I like, and when the public rewards quality with patronage. I felt good about having read that it was a hit.

But now, in the current issue, there's a big ol honkin' article on "30 Rock" where they champion the thing, just tout it to the rafters and give it the best recommendation they can. Yet in the course of doing so, they admit that the ratings have been poor - 137th place! What the fuck! Were they making fun of it, before? By calling it a "hit?" Were they making fun of Tina Fey? Were they making fun of me, the impassioned viewer?

Fuck you, Entertainment Weekly! Don't yank me around with your ironic "oh, but everyone in the know knows it's no hit so, kind of funny to say that it is, in our tossed-off, offhandedly blasé way." Don't be making fun of Tina Fey.

One more crack like that about "30 Rock" and I'm going to find out some way to cancel my subscription. Which might take some doing.