After Paris: A Look at Saturday's Newspaper Covers

Following Friday's awful Paris terrorist attacks, here are Saturday's Los Angeles Times (above) and New York Times (below) covers. Our hearts go out to the city of Paris and anyone affected.

Los Angeles Times Stops Pretending We Don't Know What Jonathan Gold Looks Like

I always thought it was kind of charming that the Los Angeles Times kept up the practice of hiding superstar food critic Jonathan Gold's face in the newspaper and in all of its marketing. After all, anyone who cares about food criticism or Jonathan Gold knows exactly what he looks like. As Gold became a well-known name, his face was everywhere.

Now, the LA Times is giving up the practice. I'll miss the Jonathan Gold silhouettes, but he says it's time to give up the ghost:

I regularly decline magazine profiles, corporate speaking gigs and reality show appearances. I once walked backward from a lectern after winning an award because I was afraid of being photographed. I have OpenTable accounts under many different names, a habit of paying bills — even large ones — in cash and a burner phone account, all in an attempt to keep my identity a secret from the chefs and staffs of restaurants I have reviewed.

But my identity is not secret.

I have been charmed into posing for a thousand food-festival selfies. A hundred waiters know my name. I have been called out in taquería lines from Pacoima to Bell Gardens. At chic restaurants, chefs nervously avoid my gaze. When he spotted me eating dinner, a Las Vegas maître d' once physically moved the table at which I was sitting from its cozy niche behind a pillar to a more glamorous spot in the middle of the room. I have become adept at pretending not to notice that a restaurant staff is pretending not to notice me noticing them noticing me.

Any real anonymity I may have once had ended in 2007 when an assistant at a publication I used to work for accidentally posted a photograph to the paper's website. The pretense of anonymity ends today.

I believe he's referring to this photo (below), taken at an LA Weekly toast to celebrate Gold's big Pulitzer Prize win:



Let's face it, Gold has such a distinct look that I don't know how he ever escaped notice when he ate at restaurants. But I don't think it impacted his reviews one bit. Now that he's free of the facade, I wonder if we'll see more JGold on TV and elsewhere.

The timing of the announcement comes as Laura Gabbert's L.A. food documentary, "City of Gold," premieres at Sundance. It also comes, Gold writes, as "the kabuki of the pose is a distraction." I can't wait to see "City of Gold," and congrats to Jonathan Gold for finally being free!

A Year in the Life of the Los Angeles Times: What Our Local Paper Did in 2014

I'm one of those old guys who still gets the newspaper delivered at home, and it's a habit that I'm proud to show my kids. (I don't think it's rubbed off on them yet, but at least they know newspapers are a thing.) When that LA Times bill comes every other month, I don't have a problem paying for it -- the LAT is a shell of what it used to be, and that's a sad fact of life in the modern print media era. But it's still an important utility, and one that as a journalist myself, I feel compelled to support. The LAT did a lot of good stuff this year, as this letter from editor Davan Maharaj attests.

Dear Readers,

As we embark on a new year, I want to take a moment to thank you for reading and to look back at the highlights of 2014.

Last year, the Los Angeles Times continued its tradition of delivering agenda-setting coverage of local, state, regional, national and international news. Our reporters and editors held officials accountable and touched readers. Our recent "Product of Mexico" series demonstrated The Times' vital role in the American conversation.

Thanks to our digital efforts -- which included a relaunch of our website that made us one of the first major news organizations to offer a fully responsive design -- we were more widely read than at any time in our 133-year history.

Your support made this outstanding journalism possible:

- We relaunched the California section as a showcase for our beat reporting, our analytical skills and our deft writing.

- We exposed how the LAPD understated crime statistics to make the city look safer, and prompted action to fix the problem.

- We exposed a culture of nepotism that helped relatives of L.A. County firefighters get coveted jobs on the force, prompting the fire chief to launch an overhaul of hiring procedures.

- We exposed a little-known scam: L.A. city employees who were abusing the city's generous injury leave policy - and costing taxpayers millions.

- We revealed how U.S. military veterans were exploiting the disability benefit system, including former soldiers older than 80 who were pulling down thousands a year because they were "unemployable."

- We delivered scoop after scoop on L.A. Unified's ill-fated, $1-billion iPad project, and by year's end the schools superintendent had been forced out and the FBI had launched a criminal investigation.

- In a series called "Grand Ambition," we chronicled the birth of a downtown skyscraper in richly reported and beautifully written pieces.

- We wrote gritty and poignant stories about the California drought, a public service that was not only journalistic but literary. One of my favorites is about two neighbors in the Central Valley, coming to terms with the drought and each other. And our maps showing the drying of the state since 2010 had more than 250,000 page views.

- We wrote lyrically and smartly about how immigration is changing the architectural face of our city.

- We brought the weight of our beat expertise to bear on the Los Angeles County supervisors and the L.A. Sheriff's Department. (Remember: It was earlier in 2014 that our reporting helped drive Sheriff Baca from office.)

- We reconstructed a federal investigation into the Native American artifact trade in Utah, capturing in vivid detail the tragedy of a sting gone bad.

- At great personal risk, our colleagues reported from Ukraine, Syria and Iraq, delivering, day after day, news, analysis and powerful features.

- We went where few journalists dared - into the Central African Republic - to give readers a series of powerfully illustrated stories that were heart-rending.

- In a two-part series, a lesson in the power of narrative, we reconstructed the last, fateful steps of the Granite Mountain Hotshots firefighting team in Arizona.

- Our Washington bureau delivered an illuminating series on the healthcare divide in America and revealing stories on the D.C.-California nexus.

- Image produced two 76-page lifestyle magazines, Travel enhanced its "Postcards From the West," and Jonathan Gold's 101 Best Restaurants guide, in digital and print, was a huge success, leading to two sold-out nights of our own event, Bite Nite.

- Our Calendar staff swarmed the downtown music festival Made in America. It also produced memorable coverage of Robin Williams' death, the Music Center anniversary and, of course, the Oscars.

- We did for our readers what the state couldn't do for its citizens - publish a searchable database of all 80,000 physicians participating in Covered California.

- We spotlighted how the nation's largest public pension fund voted to enable pension sweeteners, without calculating the burden on taxpayers, in a story about the 99 ways to boost pensions at public cost.

- We highlighted, with telling details (a small dinner party and "two bottles of good Pinot"), the cozy relationship between the PUC chief and the utilities he was supposed to regulate - leading to his announcement that he would step down.

- In a series of stories, and columns, we revealed how Tesla used government incentives to its advantage in California and Nevada.

- Our photographers roamed the globe, capturing images in Gaza while it was under attack, on "La Bestia" as it ferried Central American migrants northward, in an INS detention center in Texas, of anti-immigrant protesters in Murrieta, in Ferguson, Mo., and of drought-ravaged parts of California.

That's just a taste of what we published in 2014. I can tell you that we have a lot of great journalism in store for you in 2015.

Thank you for reading The Times and for being a subscriber. We appreciate you.

— Davan Maharaj, Editor

Daily News Finally Finds Its Missing "Los Angeles"

I've wondered for years why the Valley-based Daily News wouldn't put "Los Angeles" in its name. Perhaps that was answered for me when the Daily News pushed for Valley succession a decade ago. But nonetheless, when most people hear "Daily News," they probably think "New York Daily News." I would assume that the name "Los Angeles Daily News" would be a much better sales tool for the paper, and perhaps help distract from the fact that its circulation is less than 100,000.

Well, perhaps the paper is finally wise to the power of making it a bit more clear that you're located in the nation's No. 2 market. As part of the newspaper's recent redesign (above), it has finally started calling itself the "Los Angeles Daily News" in its nameplate.

Similarly, I don't know if you noticed, but within the last year, Santa Monica College's KCRW has finally started including "Los Angeles" in its station ID. Santa Monica is still KCRW's city of license, but the station now identifies itself as "KCRW, Santa Monica-Los Angeles." (By the way, when I was at KCSN, we always identified ourselves as "KCSN, Northridge-Los Angeles" -- which is odd, since Northridge is not a city.)

The Times' Deadline Problem

The Jerry Sandusky verdict came down on Friday at 10 p.m. Eastern -- 7 p.m. Pacific. That's a scramble for the East Coast newspapers to get something, anything on their front pages. For the West Coast, however, it was a breeze. Plenty of time to tear up P1 and get the biggest news of the day on the cover.

Except at the L.A. Times. As is well known by now, the LAT shuts the door on the "A" news section at 6 p.m., as Tribune uses the press to print other papers as well. The "LATEXTRA" section was created in order to catch late-breaking news, and indeed Saturday's LATEXTRA bannered the Sandusky news. But for folks glancing at the Saturday page one covers from all over the region, the news was strangely absent from the L.A. Times. Here's how other papers nearby covered it:



Above: the Bakersfield Californian, Daily Breeze, Daily News, Fresno Bee, Oakland Tribune and the Sacramento Bee.

Congrats Kings! How They Covered The Stanley Cup Win in Canada

Hockey is a religion in Canada, and it was kind of neat last night watching a chunk of the Kings game on CBC -- where the coverage was branded with the famous banner "Hockey Night in Canada." Here at the Banff World Media Festival (where I've been since Sunday), several Angelenos wondered whether they'd find a TV playing the game. Uh, no worries. Again, this is Canada.

Above, how the national The Globe and Mail covered the Kings' win. And below, the win on the front page of the Calgary Herald and Calgary Sun papers.

Still Fewer Laughs for the Sunday Funnies

I've been chronicling the shrinking Los Angeles Times comics pages for years (see a whole host of posts dating to 2003 here, and it always saddens me when the paper shrinks the already downsized section.

Remember when the daily paper boasted more than four pages of comics? And 12 pages of color comics on Sundays? Those days are long gone. And now, the L.A. Times announced that it will further shrink its 6-page Sunday Comics lineup to an even smaller 4-page feature. And in the process, two more strips will be excised: "Stone Soup" and "Home and Away."

Here's the announcement.

In an age when kids don't read the newspaper, I've always thought that unique features like the comics at least stood them apart from anything else. But hey, I was a weird kid, so what do I know.

And yes, I'm still bitter that the paper dropped "Sally Forth."

The Great Los Angeles Walk Gets Some Austrian Ink

I was contacted a while back by reporter Peter Fuchs, who wanted to write about the Great Los Angeles Walk for the Austrian newspaper Der Standard. The story's now out ("Schoene Beine in LA"), and even though I can't read a lick of German, I was excited to see my name and the Great Los Angeles Walk description buried in the text.

And, of course, there's reference that everyone can't resist making: Missing Persons' "Nobody Walks in L.A." Here's a highlight of the text:

„Nobody walks in L.A“. So singt in in den 80ern die New Wave Band „Missing Persons“. Auch heute gilt, dass man in Los Angeles nicht zu Fuß geht. Wer in der Stadt mit der höchsten Kraftfahrzeugdichte der Welt dennoch die meist holprigen Gehwege benutzt, erntet meist schiefe Blicke – und schiebt oft einen Einkaufswagen mit dem gesamten Hab und Gut vor sich her.

Darum fällt die Initiative des Journalisten Mike Schneider auf. Bereits zum fünften Mal organisiert er im Herbst 2010 den „Great Los Angeles Walk“. Die Idee ist einfach: Alle, die Lust haben, wandern mit Mike Schneider und seiner Frau Maria einen der großen Boulevards der kalifornischen Metropole entlang, und zwar vom Anfang bis zum Ende.

I also like the references to "Fokus rücken" and "Fährt man," which make me giggle. As well as the reference to last year's afterparty: "Restaurant Margaritas zu schlürfen." I do indeed like to schlürfen the margaritas.

Don't forget, this year's GREAT LOS ANGELES WALK 2011 is this Saturday at 9 a.m. And I'm excited to have just lined up a special guest to kick off the walk. Go to the Great Los Angeles Walk website for more details!

Bathroom Reading: Larchmont Bungalow's Old Newspapers

Spotted in the bathroom at Larchmont Bungalow: Old pages from the Los Angeles Times, Hollywood Citizen-News and Los Angeles Herald Express, among others. It's reason to take your time while doing your business.

Local Media: Worth $415 Million in April

(Flickr Pic by Tracy O.

Radio-Info's Tom Taylor reports on a new study from analyst Jim Boyle, who used Media Monitors data to figure out that agencies spent more than $415 million in April on Los Angeles-area TV, newspaper and radio.

Here's more:

The data shows this breakout – the top nine TV stations, led by KABC-TV’s $51 million, hauled in $285 million. The top two newspapers did $85 million, with the Tribune Company-owned L.A. Times doing $70 million.

The top 20 radio stations did $38 million. That list was led by CBS Radio’s modern rock KROQ at $2.94 million and Clear Channel CHR KIIS-FM at $2.48 million. A station Boyle identifies only as an “FM Spanish AC” did an impressive $2.24 million, and an “FM Mexican” station did $2.2 million.

Another way to slice the baguette is to look at total number of spots. The top 10 cable systems ran 223,500 spots in April. The top 9 local TV outlets ran 198,900. The two newspapers did a combined 2,800 ads. And the top 20 radio stations were clocked with 198,000 spots.

The Death of Bin Laden, As Seen on SoCal's Newspaper Front Pages

Daily News: "Bin Laden Killed"

We posted the front page of the L.A. Times yesterday; now here's a collection of more front pages from Monday, reporting the death of terrorist mastermind Osama Bin Laden.


Daily Breeze: "BIN LADEN DEAD"


Santa Clarita Daily Signal: "Bin Laden dead"


Orange County Register: "BIN LADEN DEAD"


San Bernardino Sun: "BIN LADEN DEAD"


Riverside Press-Enterprise: "BIN LADEN KILLED; 'JUSTICE DONE'"


Pasadena Star-News: "Bin Laden Dead"


Inland Valley Daily Bulletin: "BIN LADEN DEAD"


La Opinion: "Bin Laden esta muerto"


Press-Telegram: "Bin Laden dead"

And elsewhere in California:


San Francisco Chronicle: "U.S. kills Bin Laden"


San Diego Union-Tribune: "KILLED"


Palm Springs Desert Sun: "BIN LADEN DEAD"


Ventura County Star: "BIN LADEN IS DEAD"


Bakersfield Californian: "JUSTICE SERVED"

Osama Bin Laden's Death Dominates Front Pages

What a fascinating evening to watch unfold via TV and the Internet (particularly Twitter). The announcement of the death of Osama Bin Laden came early enough on the West Coast to impact primetime out here -- yet, surprisingly, not for long. ABC continued with live coverage until 10 p.m. PT, but NBC and CBS returned to their reality series at 9.

I'm wondering whether the L.A. Times, which generally puts late-breaking news on its LATEXTRA section, had to completely toss out its earlier A1 run in order to have an updated front page out there (above).

A few more thoughts I had, via Twitter:

That's what you get for renting your mansion out to "The Bachelorette," Osama!

Crossing Bin Laden off the list of contenders to replace Charlie Sheen on "Two and a Half Men."

Loving the shots on ABC News of the crowd outside the White House.

Folks who refuse to give Obama any credit are the same ones who would be first to trash the President had this mission failed.

Amazing Race pre-empted. But CBS News will go live to Phil Keoghan telling a pic of Bin Laden that "you've been eliminated from the race."

Above, the cover of this morning's New York Times.

Is The City of L.A. Cracking Down on News Vending Boxes?

I've often wondered if anyone at the city pays close attention to the newspaper vending boxes, particularly for sketchy publications, that quietly pop up around the city. This Sunday, I noticed two boxes outside the Silver Lake Trader Joe's with a note attached. The warning, via the city, suggests that these boxes are illegal and subject to being removed. (Other, legit boxes from the L.A. Times, LA Weekly and Daily News were untouched.) Have any of you noticed this around the city? Will readers of the skanky L.A. X-Press have a harder time finding their phone-sex-fix?

Here's a close-up look at the notice of violation tag:

Ron Kaye's Take On Glendale and Burbank: 'Paradise'

The Glendale News-Press and the Burbank Leader newspapers launched their new joint Sunday newspaper this week, and as promised, former Daily News editor-turned-community activist Ron Kaye is there on the front page with a new weekly column.

Kaye was a major booster behind the San Fernando Valley succession movement and now runs a blog in which he takes on Los Angeles politics and issues. So it was a little strange that he agreed to write a column geared toward Glendale and Burbank residents; those cities haven't been in his line of fire.

And sure enough, in his first column for the Sunday News-Press & Leader, Kaye still seems more interested in bashing Los Angeles than he does writing about actual Glendale and Burbank issues. Comparing the nation's second-largest city to two small/adjacent suburbs seems, well, not all that fair. Here's how his column starts:

The bumpy roads and broken sidewalks and overgrown trees end when you leave the city limits of Los Angeles and enter Burbank or Glendale — there should be signs saying, "Welcome to Paradise."

In contrast to the warring factions — business, civic, neighborhood groups — fighting over crumbs from the table of power in L.A., people along Olive Avenue in Burbank and Brand Boulevard in Glendale seem content as I chat them up. Most are unaware City Council elections are fast approaching — Burbank's first round is in February and Glendale's is in April — and those who do know seem little concerned about who wins.

It isn't apathy; people are happy with the way things are. After all, 94% in Burbank are satisfied with city services, according to a recent poll, and 90% in Glendale based on the last time the city asked.

Having fought for cityhood for the San Fernando Valley, and having worked hard to help make Los Angeles the great city it can be, I relish the opportunity explore smaller neighboring cities that seem to be thriving while L.A. is dying.

To be fair, Kaye addresses some of both cities' problems further down in his column. But I still wonder if he really has the interest in exploring the nitty-gritty issues facing Burbank and Glendale when he has much bigger fish to fry in his L.A. crusades. We'll keep reading.

Glendale News-Press and Burbank Leader Add a Sunday Edition

The Glendale News-Press and the Burbank Leader are getting back into the Sunday game.

Former Daily News editor Ron Kaye will be front and center in the new Sunday News-Press and Leader; the scribe, who has become an extremely vocal community activist, will write a front-page column for the new paper.

The News-Press and Leader are a part of the Los Angeles Times' Times Community News division; Times Mirror first bought the papers in 1993.

Since becoming smaller, community inserts distributed along with the Times, the papers haven't had a Sunday edition. (The Saturday News-Press has been branded the "Weekend" edition.)

Now, with the Sunday News-Press and Leader launch on Jan. 31, the News-Press will no longer publish a Monday edition. The paper will now run Tuesdays through Sundays. The Leader, which isn't a daily, will continue to publish on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

“Recent events, including our investigation of fraud in the affordable housing industry, reaffirm the importance of local, community-based reporting,” said Dan Evans, Editor of the Glendale News-Press and Burbank Leader. “We’ve already ramped-up our coverage online and adding a Sunday print edition—particularly with the voice of a community advocate like Ron Kaye—means we’ll be able to deepen our coverage and maintain our role as a watchdog, while also extending lifestyle and leisure features.”

L.A. Times Finally Lets All Subscribers Receive Its Magazine

For those of us in less desirable zip codes (apparently east of the L.A. River doesn't cut it?), just because we subscribe to the Sunday Los Angeles Times doesn't mean we get the Los Angeles Times Magazine.

Nope, since its rebirth as a monthly (having previously been scrapped), the L.A. Times Magazine has been zoned to certain zip codes only. Most of my friends on the West side get it... but, ahem, apparently Franklin Avenue HQ isn't in an upscale enough part of SoCal.

The Times announced Thursday that will soon change. The newspaper will now allow all Sunday paper subscribers to "opt-in" in order to receive the magazine. (I guess when circulation drops as low as it has for the L.A. Times, you gotta bolster those eyeballs somehow.) The paper will also be selling subscriptions to non-Times subscribers.

Here's what the paper says:

In the world of fashion, reinvention is a constant and today the Los Angeles Times announces fresh new looks for its most style-conscious publications: Image and LA, Los Angeles Times Magazine. Beginning in January, each will unveil design upgrades and increased online features reflecting enhanced fashion, beauty, shopping and style content. And LA will be more widely available across Southern California via opt-in and stand-alone subscriptions.

Image, dedicated to Southern California’s distinct perspective on fashion and style, will get a bright visual boost with a more photo-intensive layout and increased reporting on trends in the making, new products and sales.

In addition, beginning January 2nd, Image content will be featured in the glossy pages of LA the first Sunday of each month, while remaining a Sunday Times stand-alone section for the month’s subsequent weeks.

LA, which celebrates the gamut of Southern California’s vibrant and influential culture, will increase its fashion, style and luxury quotient with the added Image content. The elegant new print layout will also be reflected online with a refreshed latimesmagazine.com which will include timely news from “All The Rage.” In addition, a new LA-centric e-newsletter highlighting the magazine’s columns, feature stories and expanded digital content will debut in early 2011.

Sunday Times subscribers not currently receiving LA may opt in, free of charge, and readers interested in a stand-alone magazine subscription can sign up now at latimesmagazine.com/subscribe. Delivery will start with the January 2nd issue.

An American Tragedy: How A Bunch of Frat Boys Destroyed Tribune

David Carr's take on the management team that came in to run Tribune -- and further dismantled the once proud media company -- is already the talk of journalism.

Carr's piece, in Wednesday's New York Times, paints a crass environment championed by Sam Zell, Randy Michaels and crew. Lewd behavior is rewarded, sophomoric humor allowed and questionable business practices encouraged:

Less than a year after Mr. Zell bought the company, it tipped into bankruptcy, listing $7.6 billion in assets against a debt of $13 billion, making it the largest bankruptcy in the history of the American media industry. More than 4,200 people have lost jobs since the purchase, while resources for the Tribune newspapers and television stations have been slashed.

The new management did transform the work culture, however. Based on interviews with more than 20 employees and former employees of Tribune, Mr. Michaels’s and his executives’ use of sexual innuendo, poisonous workplace banter and profane invective shocked and offended people throughout the company. Tribune Tower, the architectural symbol of the staid company, came to resemble a frat house, complete with poker parties, juke boxes and pervasive sex talk.

Carr does a thorough job explaining the issues facing Tribune -- and notes that even as the company struggles to climb out of bankruptcy, senior management has still been handed hefty bonuses. It's as if simply stripping the Tribune Tower bare wasn't enough -- these guys felt the need to torch the place.

L.A. Times Revisits Its 2003 Editorial on the Iraq War

Is this an "Oops! Our bad!" moment? Nearly seven and a half years after the invasion of Iraq, the L.A. Times dusts off its editorial from March 2003, which was optimistic about the move:

As this nation enters war, we trust that the U.S. and British armed forces will be able to take advantage of their vastly superior training and technology to end the conflict soon with minimal casualties.

Ho ho ho. Oops. My favorite comment posted there:

stevits at 4:53 PM August 23, 2010
Great editorial, Times! Now I think I'll go throw up.

L.A. Times Brings Back TV Times -- At $2.99 a Month

After years of cutting back sections and downsizing the newspaper, the L.A. Times is taking the rare step of bringing a feature back: The "TV Times" insert.

But there's a catch: It won't come free with the paper. Folks who desire the "TV Times" will have to pay an extra $2.99 a month.

The L.A. Times cut TV Times all together in April 2007, after moving the section to Saturdays in 2006 (and forcing subscribers to opt-in).

That $2.99 is unusual, but perhaps the L.A. Times believes there's enough of a (mostly older, I assume) audience that still would like to buy a TV listings book. (Back in 2008, the paper said it still heard from "between 15 and 20 readers a week, demanding that the paper reintroduce it.")

TV Guide no longer publishes local listings, leaving a void in the market. For $2.99, the Times is promising a more robust book than the tiny, paper-thin TV Times that last appeared in the paper.

The new, 44-page TV Times hits newsstands on June 13, and home delivery in September. Here's what they have to say over there on Spring Street:

The Los Angeles Times will re-launch its TV Times guide on Sunday, June 13th via newsstands and retail outlets throughout Southern California. Being undertaken as a tiered roll out, with an opportunity for subscribers to opt-in now for home delivery beginning September 5th, the TV Times joins the paper’s Sunday line-up of news, opinion, entertainment, feature coverage and classifieds as a 44-page tabloid section.

The new TV Times turns up the volume on The Times' former 28-page book, last published in April 2007, to now offer 24-hour daily grid listings spanning morning, afternoon, primetime and late-night programming, four pages of alphabetized TV/cable/satellite movie listings, a full-page cover story, a TV-related crossword puzzle, episode highlights and synopses, and a dedicated sports programming page. Ad units are available on the front and back covers.

"It's great to be able to offer the TV Times to all who have missed it, especially in its new, robust form," said Los Angeles Times Assistant Managing Editor, Arts & Entertainment, Sallie Hofmeister. "And it’s a great addition to our line-up of entertainment news and information."

Prior to home delivery availability and effective immediately, The Times is extending a special 15% off opt-in rate to both current and new subscribers interested in receiving the TV Times. To activate the offer, readers can call 1-800-326-5500. Regular pricing for opt-in or a stand-alone TV Times subscription will be $2.99 per month.

"Our readers tell us they want a weekly TV book that covers around-the-clock programming," said Frank Horvath, Vice President, Audience and Membership for The Times. "With the launch of the new TV Times, we're letting them know we are listening."

Here's how the old TV Times looked, before it was scrapped in 2007:



UPDATE: Apparently the L.A. Times subscription folks haven't been given the news yet. From reader Donavan:

I forwarded your piece on the re-appearance of the TV Times to my mother--one of those 'elderly' people who really missed it when it went away. She reports:

I called the number in the article and was told to call Customer Relations. Called them, went thru the long recorded list to get to an actual person. She didn’t know what I was talking about and put me on hold for a long time. Came back and said as far as they knew the daily listing was all that was available. So it hasn’t trickled down yet. I definitely want it. Nothing on the net yet, either.

D'oh!