It might surprise Gen Zers out there, but before binge-watching was a thing, we had to actually figure out what was on TV in the coming week. And there was a weekly magazine that helped you do that. If you asked someone to pass the clicker, chances are it came with the latest issue of TV Guide tucked underneath.
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First published in 1953 (which is surprising, given only 9% of American homes had a TV in 1950), TV Guide became almost as much a part of the television experience as the actual programs it covered.
Iconic TV Guide Covers – Three’s Company, Magnum P.I.
Did you even have a coffee table if there wasn’t a TV Guide on it?
In addition to the channel listings and recommendations, the little digest magazine (it was a smaller-sized publication until October 2005) also featured some hard-hitting takes on popular culture — and some pretty fabulous covers, ranging from iconic photos to illustrations by Richard Amsel, who drew more covers than any other artist. You can see two examples at the top of this article.
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M*A*S*H Finale Special Edition TV Guide
It’s almost hard to recall a time when all TV was an event, because if you missed it, you had to wait until it was maybe rerun during the off-season, or never see it again. This made sitting on the sofa with a pen and marking what you wanted to watch in the upcoming week a crucial activity (my family used different colored markers to show who wanted to watch what when, though that didn’t really stop the inevitable sibling squabbles).
Did TV Guide Know Who Shot J.R.?
With their weekly publishing schedule, TV Guide had an advantage over many monthly magazines in that they could launch covers almost perfectly in sync with the event television of the time, whether that was the M*A*S*H finale, marked by a special edition fold-out cover (seen above), or teasing the “Who Shot J.R.?” craze (which oddly didn’t actually appear as text on the cover, unlike so many other magazines).
Who Shot JR? TV Guide Cover
Whether you saw it as a tool to organize your TV viewing schedule or a celebrity magazine meant to be collected (and piled precariously in the corner of your room), there’s no doubt that TV Guide holds a place in every classic TV fan’s heart.
Let’s revisit some of the most iconic TV Guide covers that captured unforgettable moments from the ’60s, ’70s, and ’80s.
LOOK: These TV Guide Covers Will Take You Back to a Golden Age of Television
From “Who Shot J.R.?” to the tearful goodbye on the final episode of M*A*S*H, TV Guide — and those unforgettable covers — were once a treasured part of every TV lover’s routine.
Gallery Credit: Stephen Lenz
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From Diff’rent Strokes to Gilligan’s Island, several of the most iconic TV shows in history now have only one surviving main cast member. Keep scrolling to see who remains from these beloved programs.
Gallery Credit: Stephen Lenz
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