Editing TV Guide (section)

===Annenberg/Triangle era===
{{More citations needed section|date=August 2018}}
[[File:Tv guide no1.jpg|thumb|170px|The first issue of ''TV Guide'' (April 3, 1953), featuring [[Desi Arnaz Jr.]], the younger of [[Lucille Ball]] (seen at upper right inset) and [[Desi Arnaz]]'s two children. Ball's pregnancy with Arnaz Jr. was incorporated into her ''[[I Love Lucy]]'' character's storyline, with his January 1953 birth coinciding with that of the fictional "Little Ricky" Ricardo.]]
The national ''TV Guide''{{'}}s first issue was released on April 3, 1953, accumulating a total circulation of 1,560,000 copies that were sold in the ten U.S. cities where it was distributed. The inaugural cover featured a photograph of [[Lucille Ball]]'s newborn son [[Desi Arnaz Jr.]], with a downscaled inset photo of Ball placed in the top corner under the issue's headline: "Lucy's $50,000,000 baby".<ref>{{cite web|title=TV Guide Magazine's 60th Anniversary: How Desi Arnaz Jr. Became Our First Cover Star|url=https://www.tvguide.com/news/tv-guide-magazine-60-arnaz-1063463/|author=Michael Logan|website=TV Guide|publisher=[[CBS Interactive]]|date=April 3, 2013|access-date=June 5, 2015|archive-date=May 20, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150520122320/http://www.tvguide.com/news/tv-guide-magazine-60-arnaz-1063463/|url-status=live}}</ref> The magazine was published in [[digest size]], which remained its printed format for 52 years. From its first issue until the July 2–8, 1954, issue, listings within each edition of ''TV Guide'' began on Friday and ended on Thursday; the July 9–16, 1954, issue began on a Friday and ended on the following Friday. Then, beginning with the July 17–23, 1954, issue, the listings in each week's issue changed to start on Saturday and end on Friday, which remained the listings format for all local editions until April 2004.{{citation needed|date=June 2014}} The formation of ''TV Guide'' as a national publication resulted from Triangle Publications' purchase of numerous regional television listing publications such as ''TV Forecast'' (which was circulated in the [[Chicago]] area and, upon its first publication on May 9, 1948, was the first continuously published television listings magazine), ''TV Digest'' (which was distributed in [[Philadelphia]] and [[Pittsburgh]], and was originally distributed under the title, the ''Local Televiser'', when it was first released on November 7, 1948), and the New York-based ''Television Guide'' (which had its title abbreviated to ''TV Guide'' on March 18, 1950).<ref>{{cite web|title=1946–1949 "TV Forecast": Telling the Public About What's On the Air|url=http://www.tvhistory.tv/tv_forecast.htm|website=TVHistory.tv|access-date=June 5, 2018|archive-date=June 11, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180611054355/http://www.tvhistory.tv/tv_forecast.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Pre-National TV-Magazine Launch Dates|url=http://www.tvhistory.tv/Pre%20Nat%20TV%20Guide%20Timetable.htm|website=TVHistory.tv|access-date=June 5, 2018|archive-date=November 6, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171106030443/http://www.tvhistory.tv/Pre%20Nat%20TV%20Guide%20Timetable.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref> Each of the cities that had their own local TV listings magazine folded into ''TV Guide'' were among the initial cities where the magazine conducted its national launch.

The launch as a national magazine with local listings in April 1953 became an almost instant success.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2018-03-14|title=TV Guide Magazine Is Still Here, and Is Doing Just Fine|url=https://archive.foliomag.com/tv-guide-magazine-still-just-fine/|access-date=2022-01-19|website=Folio|language=en-US}}</ref> However, the circulation decreased over subsequent weeks, even as the magazine's distribution expanded to five additional cities (Pittsburgh, [[Rochester, New York|Rochester]], [[Detroit]], [[Cleveland]] and [[San Francisco]]) throughout the summer of 1953. By mid-August of that year, sales of the magazine had dropped 200,000 copies below that of the first issue. ''TV Guide''{{'}}s fortunes began to turn around with the September 4–10, 1953, issue – the magazine's first "Fall Preview" issue – when circulation hit 1,746,327 copies; circulation levels increased steadily over time, to the point where ''TV Guide'' eventually became the most read and circulated magazine in the United States by the 1960s.<ref>{{cite web|title=National TV Guide – The First Years|url=http://www.tvhistory.tv/tv_guide1.htm|website=TVHistory.tv|access-date=June 5, 2018|archive-date=August 1, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180801221837/http://www.tvhistory.tv/tv_guide1.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref> The initial cost of each issue was 15¢ per copy (equivalent to ${{Inflation|US|0.15|1953|r=2|fmt=c}} in {{Inflation-year|US}}. The price per issue has gradually risen over the years, selling for $4.99 per copy as of {{currentyear}}). In addition to [[subscription business model|subscriptions]], ''TV Guide'' was sold at the checkout counters of [[grocery store]]s nationwide. Until the 1980s, the feature pieces included in each issue were promoted in a [[television commercial]]. Under Triangle, ''TV Guide'' continued to grow not only in circulation, but also in recognition as the authority on television programming with articles – the majority of which typically appear in the color section – from both staff and contributing writers.

[[File:Historic TV Guide logos.png|350px|thumb|left|Past logos used by the publication (l–r): 1953–1962, 1962–1968, 1968–1988 and 1988–2003]]
Over the decades, the shape of the ''TV Guide'' logo has changed to reflect the modernization of the [[television set|television screen]], eventually adopting a [[widescreen]] appearance in September 2003, and then to its current flatscreen appearance in September 2016 (different versions of the logo – the only cosmetic difference being the utilization of different typefaces – are currently used respectively for the magazine and the separately owned, CBS-managed digital properties). At first, the logo had various colored backgrounds (usually black, white, blue or green) until the familiar red background became the standard in the 1960s with occasional customizations being utilized for special editions.

The magazine was first based in a small office in downtown Philadelphia, before moving to more spacious national headquarters in [[Radnor Township, Delaware County, Pennsylvania|Radnor]], [[Pennsylvania]], in the late 1950s. The new facility had a large lighted ''TV Guide'' logo at the building's entrance. It housed management, editors, production personnel and subscription processors as well as a vast computer system holding data on every television show and movie available for listing in the popular weekly publication. Printing of the national color section of ''TV Guide'' – which incorporates television-related stories, and select feature columns such as program reviews – took place at Triangle's Gravure Division plant – which was known for performing some of the highest quality printing in the industry, with almost always perfect registration – located adjacent to the company's landmark [[Inquirer Building]] on North [[Broad Street (Philadelphia)|Broad Street]] in Philadelphia. The color section was then sent to regional printers to be wrapped around the local listing sections.

In addition to ''TV Guide'' and its flagship newspaper ''[[The Philadelphia Inquirer]]'', Triangle Publications also owned the ''[[Philadelphia Daily News]]''; ten radio and six television stations ([[WFIL|WFIL AM]]-[[WBEB|FM]]-[[WPVI-TV|TV]] in Philadelphia, WNHC [[WYBC (AM)|AM]]-[[WPLR|FM]]-[[WTNH|TV]] in [[New Haven, Connecticut]], KFRE [[KWRU|AM]]-[[KSKS|FM]]-[[KFSN-TV|TV]] in [[Fresno, California]], [[WNBF|WNBF AM]]-[[WHWK|FM]]-[[WBNG|TV]] in [[Binghamton, New York]], [[WFBG|WFBG AM]]-[[WFGY|FM]]-[[WTAJ-TV|TV]] in [[Altoona, Pennsylvania]] and [[WXBU|WLYH-TV]] in [[Lancaster, Pennsylvania|Lancaster]]–[[Lebanon, Pennsylvania]]), as well as ''[[The Daily Racing Form]]''; ''The Morning Telegraph''; ''[[Seventeen (American magazine)|Seventeen]]''; and various [[cable television]] interests. (It was under Triangle's ownership of WFIL-TV that ''[[American Bandstand]]'' came to popularity, which, in turn, led to host [[Dick Clark]] ascending to become a major television personality.) Triangle Publications sold its Philadelphia newspapers to [[Knight Ridder|Knight Newspapers]] in 1969, its radio and television stations during the early 1970s to [[Capital Cities/ABC Inc.|Capital Cities Communications]] (the television stations that are now known as KFSN-TV and WPVI-TV were subsequently acquired by [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]] through its 1986 merger with Capital Cities) and various other interests, retaining only ''TV Guide'', ''Seventeen'' and ''The Daily Racing Form''.

For the magazine's first 52 years of publication, listings information was displayed in a "log" format, a mainly text-based list of programs organized by both start time and channel, which was the sole method – eventually, primary once [[prime time]] [[Grid (graphic design)|grids]] were incorporated, and later secondary for the final two years of its inclusion of local listings – of displaying program information in ''TV Guide'' until the switch to national listings in 2005. This allowed for the display of full titles for each program as well as the inclusion of synopses for movies and most programs. Most listing entries in the log included program genres (and for national news programs, [[news presenter|anchors]]) after the program's title, while its running time (which was mentioned only if a program lasted a minimum of one hour – later 35 minutes – in length) was listed (in hours and minutes) in the synopses.

Channel numbers were set in a tiny round icon (known as a "bullet") at the beginning of the listing. This bullet was soon modified to be the shape of a TV screen, similar to the shape of the ''TV Guide'' logo. In most editions, stations serving a particular edition's immediate local coverage area were denoted with a white numeral for its channel number set inside a black TV-shaped bullet. Stations serving neighboring communities outside the immediate area, but which could also be viewed in the primary local area, were denoted with a black numeral inside a white TV-shaped bullet outlined in black (for example, in the [[San Francisco Bay Area|San Francisco]] edition, stations based in San Francisco or Oakland had their channel numbers listed as white-on-black TV-shaped bullets, while stations serving neighboring [[Sacramento, California|Sacramento]] or [[Salinas, California|Salinas]]/[[Monterey, California|Monterey]] (but could still be viewed in parts of San Francisco or Oakland, including their suburbs, as fringe reception) had their channel numbers listed as black-on-white icons). A particular listing could begin with as many as three or more channel bullets depending upon the number of stations in the immediate and surrounding areas broadcasting the same program at that particular time (usually different affiliates of the same network, based in the primary city as well as in neighboring areas). See the subsection "[[#Listings section|Listings section]]", in the "Editions" section below, for a detailed explanation.

Originally, the majority of programs listed in the log each issue featured brief synopses, except for local and national newscasts, and programs airing on certain stations in various timeslots. As other [[terrestrial television|broadcast]] [[television station]]s and [[cable channel]]s were added, due to set space requirements for the local listings section, detailed synopses were gradually restricted to series and [[television special|specials]] – usually those airing in evening "[[prime time]]" timeslots – as well as movies airing on broadcast television, while shorter synopses were used for programs seen on broadcast stations outside of the edition's home market and select cable channels; and only the title along with basic supplementary information (such as genre and/or program length) for most other broadcast and cable programs. In addition, black-and-white ads for programs scheduled to air on broadcast stations – and later, cable channels – during prime time (with local airtimes, and for broadcast stations, information for [[network affiliate|network-affiliated stations]] featured in the edition which were scheduled to air the advertised show) were included within the listings. Ads for major network programs were generally produced by the networks themselves (and often, the networks would run a full-page or even a [[Double truck|double-truck]] ad for an entire night of programming, or for a major movie or special, or for the season premiere of a [[Saturday-morning cartoon|Saturday morning cartoon]] lineup); ads for locally produced programs, including local newscasts, were produced by individual stations (network affiliates as well as independent stations). Such locally provided ads almost always used the distinctive logos used by particular stations (for example, the "Circle 7" logo used for many years primarily by stations either owned by, or affiliated with, ABC). (Black-and-white ads for general products, services and special offers, similar to those seen in other national magazines, were also placed in the listings section.)

A regular feature of the listings section was "Close-Up", usually a half-page segment, which provided expanded reviews of select programs airing each day (various editions of "Close-Up" were eventually used for different types of programs, from premieres of new series to shows airing on cable). Over time, other regular and recurring features (most of them television-related) were included alongside the listings including "Insider" (a television news and interview section in the lead pages of the color section); "Cheers and Jeers" (a critique page about various aspects of television programming); "Hits and Misses" (featuring brief reviews of select programs in the coming week, rated on a score from 0 to 10); "Guidelines" (a half-page daily section featuring highlights of five or six programs of interest); horoscopes; recaps of the previous week's storylines on network daytime [[soap opera]]s; a page reviewing new [[home video]] (and later, [[DVD]]) releases; dedicated pages that respectively listed select sporting events, children's programs and "four-star" movies being broadcast during that week; and crossword puzzles. Although its issues usually focus on different television-related stories week to week, ''TV Guide'' also incorporates recurring issues that appear a few times each year, most notably the "Fall Preview" (an issue featured since the magazine's inaugural year in 1953, which features reviews of new series premiering during the fall television season), "Returning Favorites" (first published in 1996, featuring previews of series renewed from the previous television season returning for the upcoming fall schedule), "Winter Preview" (first published in 1994 and later known as the "(year) TV Preview" from 2006 to 2009, featuring previews of [[midseason replacement|midseason]] series) and "The Best Children's Shows on TV" (first published in 1989 and later renamed the "Parents' Guide to Children's Television" in 1990, and finally as the "Parent's Guide to Kids' TV" in 1993, featuring stories and reviews on family-oriented programs).

Icons used for other means than identifying listed stations were first added to the magazine around 1956, using the words "SPECIAL" and "COLOR", each set in capital letters inside a rectangular bar, to denote [[television special]]s and programs broadcast in [[color television|color]], respectively. ''TV Guide'' modified all icons incorporated into the local listings section in May 1969, changing the font for the TV-shaped bullets identifying local stations from [[Futura (typeface)|Futura]] to the standard [[Helvetica]] and using similarly TV-shaped bullets marked with the abbreviation "C" to denote color programs (replacing the bar/text icons that had been previously used). As color programming became more ubiquitous, in August 1972, the magazine opted to identify programs originating in [[black and white]] (marked under the abbreviation "BW") within the listings section. In September 1981, listings began to identify programs presented with [[closed captioning|closed or open captions]] or with on-screen [[sign language]] interpretation.

Being an era when program episodes tended to be faithfully recurring from week to week, TV Guide listings would make note of alterations from the routine or a change in status: "[Gunsmoke is pre-empted]"; "(last episode of the series)", "Debut: ", "Special". Until the 1970s, double-feature or triple-feature movie presentations by a station would be listed at the starting time of the first feature: "MOVIE--Double Feature", then list the movies with numeric bullets in front of each title and synopsis; subsequent to 1970, the magazine listed each movie in its own time entry.

A day's listings continued well past midnight until the last station signed off following prime time programs of the calendar day before, possibly as late as 4:00&nbsp;a.m. The next day's listings could begin as early as 5:00&nbsp;a.m., or earlier.

====Addition of cable listings====
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The advent of cable television would pose challenges to ''TV Guide''. Cable channels began to be listed in the magazine in 1980 or 1981, depending on the edition; the channels listed also differed with the corresponding edition. Regional and national [[superstation]]s available on cable systems in the designated market of many editions were the only cable channels listed initially as well as, in certain markets, over-the-air subscription services transmitted over local [[Independent station (North America)|independent stations]] (such as [[ONTV (pay TV)|ONTV]]); local subscription television services were often listed as "STV Programming" or "Subscription Television" for the channel carrying the service, with the service listed separately or, in some editions, not at all. Cable-originated channels – such as [[HBO]], [[CNN]] (both of which the magazine originally promoted mainly in full-page advertisements), the CBN Cable Network (now [[Freeform (TV channel)|Freeform]]), the [[Alpha Repertory Television Service]] (ARTS, later succeeded by [[A&E (TV channel)|A&E]] through its 1984 merger with The Entertainment Channel) and [[Nickelodeon]] – were added gradually between the winter of late 1981 and the first half of 1982, depending on the edition.

To save page space, ''TV Guide'' incorporated a grid (a rowed display of listings for programs scheduled to air during the evening hours each night, primarily organized by channel) into the listings between 1979 and 1981, which was slotted at a random page within each day's afternoon listings. The grid originated as a single-page feature that provided a summary of programs airing during prime time (from 7:00 to 10:00&nbsp;p.m. or 8:00 to 11:00&nbsp;p.m. depending on the start of prime time within a given [[time zone]]) on the stations mentioned in the corresponding edition; by 1983, it was expanded to a two-page section – which began to take up roughly three-quarters of the two adjoining pages on which it was placed – that included programs airing during the [[dayparting|early access and late fringe]] periods (from 5:00 to 11:00&nbsp;p.m. or 6:00&nbsp;p.m. to 12:00&nbsp;a.m. local time), with the beginning and end of the magazine-defined prime time daypart (between 7:30 and 11:00&nbsp;p.m. or between 6:30 and 10:00&nbsp;p.m. local time on Monday through Saturdays, and between 7:00 and 11:00&nbsp;p.m. or between 6:00 and 10:00&nbsp;p.m. local time on Sundays) delineated by a thicker border. Channels listed in the grid were organized by broadcast stations, basic cable channels, and premium channels.

In 1983, depending on the edition, a new feature was added, the "Pay-TV Movie Guide" (renamed the "Premium Channels Movie Guide" in 1997), initially preceded the listings before being moved to the pages immediately following the Friday listings in January 1989, resulting in the national section – which had been cordoned into two sections, both preceding and following the local section – being consolidated into the first half of the pages comprising each issue. Preceding this addition, some editions carried The "Movie Guide", which also preceded the listings, provided summaries of films scheduled to air over the next one to two weeks on the cable channels included in both the log ''and'' grid listings (excluding those featured exclusively in the grids) as well as a first-page summary of the films scheduled to premiere that week (arranged by channel and sub-categorized by title). As the years went on, more cable channels were added into the listings of each edition. To help offset this, the May 11–17, 1985, issue introduced a smaller Helvetica font for the log, along with some other cosmetic changes; in particular, a show's length began to be listed after the show's title instead of at the end of its synopsis. That issue also saw advertising for local stations featured in the corresponding edition be restricted to certain special events, with most program promotions being restricted to those for national broadcast and cable networks.