What Not to Read about What to Watch

It the time of year again for a new season of television shows to debut.  In concert with the new season, some entertainment magazines offer previews about said season.  Usually, this is a quite thorough affair.  However, this year, it is anything but.  First up, TV Guide offered up its preview of new series.  Unlike previous years they organized the series by genre instead of by day.  I feel that this makes it more difficult to judge if a new series should be watched, as having to keep track of when a new show is coming on without a way to compare it to times for other series is complicated.  At least they returned to having a neutral cover again, instead of focusing on one series or having a collage of multiple shows or stars.  Most new network shows were featured, with other new series were mentioned in a calendar at the end or the feature.  Unfortunately, there wasn't any program grid either to help organize network information.  Two weeks later, the mag came out with its returning show guide.  This time, the cover focused on NCIS.  As it is a top-rated scripted program, one with a cliffhanger featuring the return of a presumed dead character, it made sense.  This time around, the shows were organized by day.  This format was much easier to read and comprehend.  Still no day-to-day grid for network programming though. Some cable and streaming shows were also mentioned, even though much of the latter do not have a standardized start day.  In comparison, Entertainment Monthly, make that Weekly, also has its fall television preview issue out.  For the least few years, it had dedicated the entire issue to the new season, giving each new and returning scripted series, and a few reality series, at least a brief synopsis for a new show or a recap for a returning show.  Not this time.  Not only did the preview not take over the entire issue, but not even each show was featured.  The main cover was dedicated to the new Jennifer Anniston vehicle The Morning Show, which will debut on Apple's new streaming service later this year (Disclaimer:  As I have mentioned previously, I own a Mac.  I will probably be getting some form of this service as part of the next upgrade in OS, probably with a free trial if not more.  I have yet to watch or pay for any streaming service, and I do not intend to start anytime soon.). In fact, the start of the article focused on streaming shows, as well as the new streaming services set to debut.  The rest of the article went in the standard daily format, with one new or returning series getting top-billing and other shows following suit.  However, not even half of the network and cable shows deserved to be mentioned.  The overwhelming majority were delegated to a calendar of start dates at the end of the feature.  A few had a brief comment with them, but that was it.  Friday (and Saturday, they combined the two) only had one show, out of the nine or so featured those days on the networks.  At least each day had a show from a different network featured.  The most obvious difference between these two magazines is that the series featured on the cover of one is only given a mention in the calendar of the other.  The audience for the two mags, as well as the reporters, are so far apart that what's important to one is not so important to the interests of the other.  I would have thought that there would be some greater overlap between them, and TV Guide will probably cover The Morning Show closer to its debut, but I still feel slighted.  My own tastes in television falls somewhere between these two extremes.  I am still disgusted about EW's change in publication. Maybe it's just the me and my lack of wanting to do my watching (and reading about watching) online.  I barely know when my favorite shows will be airing this fall.  Many have new times.  I am not sure if there are any new shows that I would want to watch.  I have a little more time to decide these things, but I still am not sure about what I will do.  I will see, I mean watch.