It's Tuesday: And the world's still turning
Plus! Shows that mostly got it wrong...maybe? Issue #122
If you work anywhere in the media business, you’re forgiven if you’re feeling a little tired of all the “unprecedented times” we’ve been living in since, well, since March 2020.
In fact, there’s a small piece of me that kind of yearns for some of those pandemic times. Heck, I can figure out how to cut temporarily shuttered retail chains off of a newsstand distribution with my eyes closed and an unplugged Microsoft XP desktop. Revise a production schedule four times in one week? Why not eight times? Sweet talk a printer about finding paper? I can do that while walking shelter dogs in a blizzard. Talk a publisher and their CFO off of the ledge? With my foster dog’s muzzle strapped to my face. C’mon folks, give me something hard to work with.
But this year (And it’s only the third week of February 2024), it feels like it’s already been a year and a half. Non-stop layoffs. A seemingly dismal AAM Snapshot report. A new round of budget cuts. Is AI for real? Will it eliminate entire back offices? Will all the editors and writers get fired? Sure there’s a little sparkle here and there, but you really, really, really have to go and look for it.
But through all of this, we denizens of the magazine business keep at it. The ear worm that’s been buzzing around my head for the past few days is an old Steve Earle song he sings with his longtime friend and writing partner, Lucinda Williams, “You’re Still Standing There.” It’s an upbeat, jaunty kind of song full of catchy lyrics. But stop for a minute, listen carefully. It’s actually a song about being there for someone, but not wanting to be there. It’s about longing, loss and loneliness. The refrain:
“And the world keep turning round and round,
It leaves me hanging in the air…”
…was on replay this past week all while reading the news.
But in spite of all the doomsaying articles about AI, lost advertising revenue, declining circulation reports, we’re still making magazines. Publications are still being sold to new owners. Editors fight with owners and wind up moving on. And legendary editors retire and put out that perfect last cover.
So. How’s your 2024 going?
TV shows that are (sort of..) about magazines
I’ve always considered myself something of an introvert. But even introverted people are capable of socializing and interacting with others. In fact, we want to. But we want to do it on our terms.
There is nothing remarkable about the simple fact that human beings are social creatures who need to cooperate in order to survive. So it’s not surprising that today’s offices and co-working platforms are the modern day equivalent of the town square. It’s why they are often the source of material for television shows.
For many years the job of a journalist provided some serious fodder for TV shows and movies. Romantic comedies like The Devil Wears Prada, 13 Going on 30 and How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, all take place at Manhattan offices. So too did a whole slew of TV shows. I’ve always worked on the business side of the magazine world, but even I don’t have to tell you that televised depictions of magazine life aren’t exactly, ummm, accurate.
But they are fun!
So what about the TV shows?
Aside from The Bold Type, I initially couldn’t recall any of the shows I’ve listed until I did a few Google searches.
Below are four of the shows I found. I do recall watching The Naked Truth and Just Shoot Me. Do they bear a re-watch? I don’t know. Maybe?
Take a look, check out some of the links, tell me what you think and tell me what I missed.
one__The Bold Type (2017, Freeform)
From the perspective of friendships, there were things to like about this show that featured the lives of three young Manhattanites as they navigated corporate publishing life. Despite that, I kind of hate watched the show for its corporate conglomerate office tower, the fake. fabulous wardrobe closet, the unrealistic promotions of people barely out of college.
On the other hand, the show did get +9,000 bonus points from me in an episode a season or two in when stern but kindly EIC Jacqueline Carlyle sat all the department heads down to discuss how to handle the declining print magazine, Scarlet, turned to the unnamed head of Circulation and said, “We’re cutting your budget by 10%.”
He put his head down, said “OK.”
The show’s one shining moment of reality.
two__Ugly Betty (2006, ABC)
The American version of this series was based on a Columbian telenovela and it premiered on television the same year as The Devil Wears Prada showed up in movie theaters.
I’ve only seen an episode or two and a few clips. Like many other shows that take place in offices, most of the drama is the interpersonal kind, not the, “How do I fix this budget” kind. And that’s fine. It’s clearly another “fish out of water wins over the natives” kind of story. I think I may move Betty into my “to watch” queue.
On the plus side…
three__Just Shoot Me (1997 NBC)
After seeing the show’s name show up in my search, I recalled liking this Steven Levitan produced series a great deal when it first aired. The show’s opening scenes when journalist Maya Gallo (Laura San Giacamo) gets her revenge on the TV news anchor she writes for is a classic.
Blush Magazine is, of course, a “famous” fashion magazine in the best traditions of all TV network fashion magazines. Because the show is from the ‘90’s, some of the gags have not aged well. But personally, I kind of like the interplay between George Segal, who plays the publisher of Blush and the star, his daughter Maya Gallo (San Giancamo). They are both better actors than the material they were working with.
four__The Naked Truth (1995 ABC & NBC)
Before she was Madame Secretary, or Jenny Lerner, the MSNBC journalist, Téa Leoni was photo journalist Nora Wilde whose recent divorce reduced her to working for the tabloid stand-in for The National Enquirer, The Comet.
This is one of those shows that I kind of remember watching, but can’t, for the life of me remember anything about. I’ve rewatched the pilot, which is available on You Tube.
The first office scene between Téa Leoni, sleazy photojournalist Jonathan Penner, and Comet editor Holland Taylor is probably the best part of pilot. On the other hand, it’s kind of nice that pretty much every other sentence is a wonderful example of the 1990’s viciousness and misogyny that I don’t miss at all.
Your moment of magazine zen…
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