Franklin Avenue

Extreme Makeover
TV Guide, what have you done?

The magazine's redesign, out on newsstands today, goes too far in some places -- and not far enough in others.

Let's start with what bugs me the most: TV Guide's new logo. (I know, I'm a nerd. Sorry. But while the rest of you were collecting comic books, action figures or dolls growing up, I was collecting TV Guide.) Bad, bad, bad. It's shorter and wider. The word "GUIDE" takes up way too much room, while the word "TV" has been shrunk. A new logo was not necessary at all.

And insult to injury: Under the new logo, the magazine prints its new creepy tagline: "We See Everything." Huh? Define everything, oh omniscient TV Guide, because you have my home address.

Inside, much of the glossy page layout relies on an unattractive blue-red-yellow color scheme. The bright yellow is used to highlight words and paragraphs, as if this were a term paper.

Speaking of the glossy section, I can appreciate that it seems more newsy. But it's also more wordy. Too much grey, broken up by too many small department logos with uninspiring colors.

As for the program listings, TV Guide has expanded its primetime grids, which was necessary in this age of 500 channels. But it has also eliminated the weekday listings in place of one grid for use over the entire week. Several channels, as a result, are listed as airing "Various Programs." (That's a problem if it's Wednesday morning, and I want to see what's on Comedy Central. "Various Programs" doesn't cut it.)

On the plus side, I can appreciate this week's Fall Preview cover -- an homage to a classic 1957 cover with the colorful image of a single eye.

Overall, I can live with the new redesign. Except for the new logo. The strange tagline. And the overuse of the "highlighter yellow."