WEBVTT - 9 Prime-Time Secrets of TV Guide 0:00:14.520 --> 0:00:18.200 You're listening to Part Time Genius, the production of Kaleidoscope 0:00:18.400 --> 0:00:23.880 and iHeartRadio. Guess what Will? 0:00:24.320 --> 0:00:25.040 What's that Mango? 0:00:25.680 --> 0:00:28.600 So the term fake news has been around for a 0:00:28.640 --> 0:00:32.240 long time, but it really entered the public consciousness in 0:00:32.360 --> 0:00:35.440 nineteen ninety two, and that is thanks to a hard 0:00:35.520 --> 0:00:38.640 hitting article in one of America's most important and beloved 0:00:38.680 --> 0:00:41.040 magazines Do you know which one? All? Right? 0:00:41.200 --> 0:00:43.720 Nineteen ninety two, which in my head is much more 0:00:43.760 --> 0:00:45.720 recent than it actually is. Like, it's hard to wrap 0:00:45.720 --> 0:00:48.480 my head around the fact that that was like thirty six, 0:00:48.640 --> 0:00:50.919 thirty five, thirty four years I've lost track of man 0:00:51.000 --> 0:00:53.599 thirty three years ago, right, yeah, a lot of years. 0:00:53.640 --> 0:00:55.040 So I'm going to go with that many years ago. 0:00:55.080 --> 0:00:58.240 I'm going to go with was it Time or Newsweek? 0:00:59.440 --> 0:01:01.680 You know? And that's a good guess, But it was 0:01:01.800 --> 0:01:06.000 actually TV Guide? Oh wow, yeah, it's not stunning. So 0:01:06.200 --> 0:01:09.840 in the February twenty second, nineteen ninety two edition, there's 0:01:09.880 --> 0:01:12.399 a journalist named David Lieberman, and he wrote a cover 0:01:12.440 --> 0:01:15.560 story under the headline fake News, and in it he 0:01:15.600 --> 0:01:19.160 criticized the widespread use of something called video news releases, 0:01:19.319 --> 0:01:22.360 or vnrs, and these were short videos made to look 0:01:22.440 --> 0:01:25.880 like regular news segments, but they were produced by PR firms, 0:01:26.120 --> 0:01:29.120 and they were sent out to all the TV news stations, 0:01:29.200 --> 0:01:32.440 who sometimes aired them as though they were real stories. Now, 0:01:32.800 --> 0:01:36.600 Lieberman acknowledged that the information in these vnrs could be accurate, 0:01:36.800 --> 0:01:39.920 but he said news programs should label them so viewers 0:01:40.000 --> 0:01:43.040 know that what they're watching isn't an independent news report, 0:01:43.240 --> 0:01:46.560 just a glorified press release. The article sparked a lot 0:01:46.560 --> 0:01:49.440 of conversation, and at first the PR industry tried to 0:01:49.440 --> 0:01:52.400 push back, but thanks in part to TV guys journalism, 0:01:52.720 --> 0:01:55.960 in June of nineteen ninety two, the Public Relations Service 0:01:55.960 --> 0:01:59.440 Council formed a committee to develop better standards for disclosure 0:01:59.560 --> 0:02:02.800 in VA and ours. And for the record, nobody paid 0:02:02.840 --> 0:02:03.960 me to tell you that story. 0:02:04.840 --> 0:02:08.280 I'm glad to share that. I do appreciate your integrity, Mango. 0:02:08.680 --> 0:02:11.560 And speaking of news that definitely isn't fake, today we've 0:02:11.560 --> 0:02:14.600 got eight more facts about TV Guide, the little magazine 0:02:14.639 --> 0:02:17.320 that made a big impact on American culture. So let's 0:02:17.400 --> 0:02:41.120 dive in. Hey their podcast listeners, welcome to Part Time Genius. 0:02:41.200 --> 0:02:43.520 I'm Will Pearson and as always I'm joined by my 0:02:43.560 --> 0:02:45.919 good friend mangesh Hot Ticketer and over there on the 0:02:45.960 --> 0:02:49.840 booth wearing a Safari vest stuffed with remote controls. This 0:02:49.919 --> 0:02:51.760 is one of the best I've seen from him. That's 0:02:51.800 --> 0:02:53.680 our Palin producer, Dylan Fagan. 0:02:54.120 --> 0:02:56.560 And don't forget he's got that Safari pit helmet with 0:02:56.600 --> 0:02:58.200 an ten on pomp as well. 0:02:59.200 --> 0:03:02.320 That is that's really impressive. So I think we all 0:03:02.360 --> 0:03:04.320 know where he's going with this one, right, Like he's 0:03:04.320 --> 0:03:08.720 a literal TV Guide Incredible work is always Dylan. 0:03:09.560 --> 0:03:12.600 So will I know. This episode was my idea and 0:03:12.840 --> 0:03:15.040 I just wanted to explain why I've been thinking about 0:03:15.040 --> 0:03:18.320 TV Guide a lot recently. So I was just on 0:03:18.560 --> 0:03:21.200 this super fun podcast as a guest, and it's called 0:03:21.560 --> 0:03:25.880 TV Guidance Counselor, and basically the host Ken has people 0:03:25.919 --> 0:03:28.880 come on and he sends you this old issue of 0:03:28.919 --> 0:03:31.880 TV Guide, like a random old issue, and you go 0:03:32.040 --> 0:03:34.200 through the week together and you pick the things you 0:03:34.240 --> 0:03:37.160 would have watched in primetime and just discuss it. And 0:03:37.240 --> 0:03:40.600 it is so fun, and you know, it's a great 0:03:40.640 --> 0:03:42.520 concept for a show. But it made me realize that 0:03:42.560 --> 0:03:46.160 TV Guide is this almost this incredible record of pop 0:03:46.200 --> 0:03:49.680 culture and media and politics and so much more. And 0:03:50.000 --> 0:03:52.480 also it had recipes from stars in there. Do you 0:03:52.480 --> 0:03:53.040 remember those? 0:03:53.320 --> 0:03:55.960 I definitely remember this. Of course we've talked about my 0:03:56.560 --> 0:03:59.520 grandmother many times on this show before. I have a 0:03:59.600 --> 0:04:02.680 strong association of TV Guide because there would always be 0:04:02.760 --> 0:04:05.680 TV guides on her coffee table and I would try 0:04:05.720 --> 0:04:08.680 to convince her every day to stop watching Wheel of 0:04:08.720 --> 0:04:10.920 Fortune and it was time to try out something else. 0:04:10.960 --> 0:04:13.160 But it never really worked. But I always loved thumbing 0:04:13.160 --> 0:04:14.360 through those old issues ed. 0:04:14.400 --> 0:04:16.200 She had all the options right in front of her, 0:04:16.279 --> 0:04:20.080 but she refused so many options. Channel. But you know, 0:04:20.240 --> 0:04:21.719 I was looking at it and I was wondering, like, 0:04:21.800 --> 0:04:24.680 why do you really want to eat like David Hasselhoff's 0:04:24.760 --> 0:04:28.760 cop salad or like Suzanne Summer's vegetarian lasagna or whatever. 0:04:28.800 --> 0:04:32.160 But then I read that the magazine editorial was basically 0:04:32.160 --> 0:04:34.760 trying to encourage you to make these really easy and 0:04:34.880 --> 0:04:37.200 quick meals that you could eat in front of the TV. 0:04:37.880 --> 0:04:40.880 And it's kind of brilliant, right, Like everything relates back 0:04:40.920 --> 0:04:45.080 to TV, which is so editorially smart. But you know, 0:04:45.320 --> 0:04:47.320 I'm glad we're doing this topic, and I'm curious where 0:04:47.320 --> 0:04:47.640 you want to. 0:04:47.640 --> 0:04:49.720 Start, all right, So I feel like we should go 0:04:49.800 --> 0:04:51.560 back to the very beginning like we like to do, 0:04:51.600 --> 0:04:53.440 and that takes us to New York City and then 0:04:53.560 --> 0:04:56.440 nineteen thirty so I know, I proved I was really 0:04:56.440 --> 0:04:59.000 bad at math earlier, but this is almost one hundred 0:04:59.080 --> 0:05:02.080 years ago now. A young man named Lee Wagner got 0:05:02.080 --> 0:05:04.920 a job at a magazine publisher where he managed subscriptions 0:05:04.960 --> 0:05:08.719 for several titles focused on movies and celebrities, and later 0:05:08.800 --> 0:05:11.359 he worked for the publisher of Look, which at the 0:05:11.360 --> 0:05:13.520 time was one of the most read magazines in the 0:05:13.640 --> 0:05:16.719 United States. So Wagner knew the ins and outs of 0:05:16.720 --> 0:05:19.960 publishing at the time, and he was convinced that television, 0:05:20.200 --> 0:05:23.159 then in its infancy, was about to be the next 0:05:23.200 --> 0:05:26.040 big thing. So he takes this leap of faith and 0:05:26.080 --> 0:05:30.200 he launches his own magazine. It was called The Television Guide, 0:05:30.480 --> 0:05:33.599 which initially just covered programming in the New York City area, 0:05:33.960 --> 0:05:38.039 and the first issue appeared on June fourteenth, nineteen forty eight. 0:05:38.160 --> 0:05:41.480 The cover featured the silent film star Gloria Swanson. 0:05:41.800 --> 0:05:44.280 That's kind of funny, right, Like he's embracing this new 0:05:44.360 --> 0:05:47.480 medium by putting a silent film star on the cover. 0:05:48.080 --> 0:05:50.400 Yeah. I didn't actually think about that, but that is 0:05:50.440 --> 0:05:53.160 pretty funny, Well, Gloria had seen the writing on the wall. 0:05:53.240 --> 0:05:56.040 She was actually trying to break in the TV by 0:05:56.080 --> 0:05:59.680 hosting a variety show called the Gloria Swanson Hour, which 0:05:59.720 --> 0:06:02.600 was ansel just a year after that. But the magazine 0:06:02.640 --> 0:06:05.279 that featured her ended up being a bit more successful 0:06:05.279 --> 0:06:08.200 than that. Of course, sales increased and he was able 0:06:08.200 --> 0:06:11.599 to expand the magazine, creating these regional editions for New 0:06:11.600 --> 0:06:15.839 England and Washington, DC, really specific to those markets. 0:06:16.120 --> 0:06:17.960 And I'm going to pick up the thread here because 0:06:18.080 --> 0:06:20.400 i did a little research about what happens next. So 0:06:20.600 --> 0:06:24.080 in nineteen fifty three, Walter Annenberg, whose name you might 0:06:24.120 --> 0:06:27.440 recognize from his foundation and the University of Southern California's 0:06:27.520 --> 0:06:31.440 journalism school, he bought the Television Guide and folded into 0:06:31.520 --> 0:06:35.520 his company, Triangle Publications. And his story's kind of interesting. 0:06:35.560 --> 0:06:39.280 So in the twenties he was this rich kid playboy 0:06:39.400 --> 0:06:43.240 who dated movie stars and drove fast cars, and then 0:06:43.400 --> 0:06:45.919 the stock market crash of nineteen twenty nine happens. He 0:06:45.960 --> 0:06:48.479 basically made a bad bet and loses a lot of 0:06:48.520 --> 0:06:51.520 his money. So his dad pulls him into his publishing 0:06:51.560 --> 0:06:54.200 business in Philly, where he gives them kind of this 0:06:54.360 --> 0:06:57.760 fake job, right, He's just like signing checks and doing 0:06:57.800 --> 0:07:02.480 as little work as possible. His dad goes to jail 0:07:02.760 --> 0:07:06.680 for tax evasion and Walter has to step up, and 0:07:07.320 --> 0:07:09.680 it turns out he's actually pretty savvy. He invests in 0:07:09.720 --> 0:07:12.280 two things. One is in a racing journal called the 0:07:12.360 --> 0:07:14.720 Race and Form, which is for horse betting, and he 0:07:14.760 --> 0:07:17.200 basically realizes that people are betting on horses all over 0:07:17.240 --> 0:07:20.600 the country, and you can make this journal for them 0:07:20.960 --> 0:07:23.000 all across the country so that they could pay attention and 0:07:23.000 --> 0:07:26.320 bet on whatever races. And the other is Television Guide, 0:07:26.400 --> 0:07:29.480 which is kind of a similar idea where he decides 0:07:29.520 --> 0:07:33.240 to combine all these other regional TV listing magazines. So 0:07:33.600 --> 0:07:36.080 there's one in Chicago, there's one New York, there's one 0:07:36.160 --> 0:07:39.520 DC And as part of this change, the name got 0:07:39.560 --> 0:07:43.000 shortened to TV Guide and the new version appears on 0:07:43.200 --> 0:07:46.200 April third, nineteen fifty three, with a cover photo of 0:07:46.200 --> 0:07:48.920 one of the years most talked about TV stars, and 0:07:48.920 --> 0:07:51.840 that is Desi Arnez Junior, who is just two and 0:07:51.920 --> 0:07:53.360 a half months old at the time. 0:07:53.760 --> 0:07:55.640 Actually, I think I've heard about this, So they wrote 0:07:55.720 --> 0:07:58.360 luci Oball's real life pregnancy into the plot of is live. 0:07:58.440 --> 0:08:01.160 Lucy right, Yeah, that's right, And at the time this 0:08:01.320 --> 0:08:04.119 was really rare. It was considered bad taste to show 0:08:04.280 --> 0:08:07.880 or even talk about pregnancy on TV, and in fact, 0:08:07.920 --> 0:08:10.800 CBS wouldn't let Lucy use the word pregnant on TV. 0:08:10.880 --> 0:08:14.520 She could only say she was expecting, which is so funny. 0:08:14.440 --> 0:08:16.440 Huge difference. 0:08:17.200 --> 0:08:20.080 But the storyline was a huge hit, and Lucille Ball 0:08:20.200 --> 0:08:23.560 time the episode so that the on screen birth corresponded 0:08:23.560 --> 0:08:26.320 with their own planned c section. This is in January 0:08:26.360 --> 0:08:29.200 of nineteen fifty three. Now, the episode where she gives 0:08:29.200 --> 0:08:32.360 birth became the most washed TV program up to that 0:08:32.440 --> 0:08:33.640 point in the country. 0:08:33.880 --> 0:08:36.640 So when TV Guide relaunched, they actually wanted to lead 0:08:36.720 --> 0:08:38.600 with the real star of the show, which was of 0:08:38.640 --> 0:08:39.920 course the baby. 0:08:40.200 --> 0:08:43.920 Right, and it was baby Dozy's first cover appearance, so 0:08:44.000 --> 0:08:46.960 it was huge news. In fact, Lucy and Dozi Senior 0:08:47.040 --> 0:08:50.000 had a deal to give exclusive photos to Life and 0:08:50.080 --> 0:08:53.000 Look magazine, the two biggest magazines of the country. But 0:08:53.400 --> 0:08:55.920 Desi Arnez Senior agreed to meet with an editor from 0:08:55.960 --> 0:09:00.679 TV Guide and apparently the conversation went really well. Desi 0:09:00.720 --> 0:09:02.800 actually had the baby photos on his desk and when 0:09:02.800 --> 0:09:04.319 he got up to use the restroom. He told the 0:09:04.440 --> 0:09:07.120 editor that if you know, some of those pictures were 0:09:07.160 --> 0:09:09.360 missing when he came back, it would be okay. So 0:09:09.559 --> 0:09:12.400 TV Guide managed to get the scoop that way, and 0:09:12.679 --> 0:09:16.360 today the issue is a real collector's item. Mint condition 0:09:16.440 --> 0:09:18.880 copies have sold for as much as one thousand dollars. 0:09:19.600 --> 0:09:23.199 Of course, Annenberg, like most other magazine owners of the time, 0:09:23.280 --> 0:09:25.600 had plenty of quirks. He ran his magazine like a 0:09:25.600 --> 0:09:29.200 fiefdom and like For instance, there was one time he 0:09:29.240 --> 0:09:31.960 was so irritated that the Phillies had scheduled a game 0:09:32.080 --> 0:09:34.120 at the same time as one of his charity benefits 0:09:34.360 --> 0:09:36.480 that he kept their listings out of the magazine for 0:09:36.520 --> 0:09:37.640 a while his punishment. 0:09:38.040 --> 0:09:38.679 Oh wow. 0:09:39.520 --> 0:09:42.320 And according to a book on TV Guide's history called 0:09:42.400 --> 0:09:45.400 Changing Channels, he also had this thing against a few celebrities. 0:09:45.440 --> 0:09:49.920 I'm not exactly sure why, but Imagene Coca, Sammy Davis Junior, 0:09:50.040 --> 0:09:53.760 Jajrea Gabor, and Dinnah Shore were banned from the early 0:09:53.840 --> 0:09:56.040 TV Guide pages. That is so weird. 0:09:56.080 --> 0:09:58.440 I mean, can you imagine not liking Sammy Davis Junior 0:09:58.559 --> 0:10:00.440 Actually a few of those celebrities for the that matter. 0:10:01.080 --> 0:10:03.760 Yeah, I know, it's really bizarre, but he definitely made 0:10:03.760 --> 0:10:06.719 a smart play with TV Guide. People thought Annenberg was 0:10:06.760 --> 0:10:08.680 an idiot for buying a magazine that gave out the 0:10:08.720 --> 0:10:11.920 same TV listings that you could find in your local paper. 0:10:12.400 --> 0:10:15.520 But he believed TV would be a centerpiece of American life. 0:10:15.600 --> 0:10:17.840 And this was back when there were only thirty percent 0:10:17.840 --> 0:10:20.760 of homes in the country at TVs. And he wrapped 0:10:20.760 --> 0:10:23.680 his listings in this smart editorial package and sold in 0:10:23.760 --> 0:10:27.839 grocery store checkouts, and it really worked. Apparently, Annenberg and 0:10:27.880 --> 0:10:31.280 his editors would send a guy with the schoolyard bell 0:10:31.400 --> 0:10:34.440 through the office hallways to ring it loudly every time 0:10:34.480 --> 0:10:37.280 the circulation rose by an extra one hundred thousand people, 0:10:37.720 --> 0:10:40.000 and it happened so much that the bell broke in 0:10:40.000 --> 0:10:41.560 the early years. 0:10:41.600 --> 0:10:44.880 So funny. All right, Well, let's talk about the magazine 0:10:45.000 --> 0:10:47.800 changing hands and how much it actually sold for, which 0:10:47.840 --> 0:10:51.120 is three billion dollars, Like, can you believe this? That's 0:10:51.160 --> 0:10:54.520 the price Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. Paid to acquire TV 0:10:54.559 --> 0:10:58.600 Guides publisher Triangle Publications. This was in nineteen eighty eight. 0:10:58.679 --> 0:11:02.680 Three billion dollars. That is actually about eight billion dollars 0:11:02.720 --> 0:11:06.600 in today's money. And the Triangle portfolio included other titles 0:11:06.600 --> 0:11:10.840 like seventeen Magazine, the Daily Racing Form, but TV Guide 0:11:10.960 --> 0:11:13.800 was the crown jewel of all of those. Back then, 0:11:13.840 --> 0:11:16.520 it had the largest circulation of any magazine in the 0:11:16.600 --> 0:11:20.720 United States. It was over seventeen million readers. But media 0:11:20.760 --> 0:11:24.160 critics and network executives had concerns about the sale, though. 0:11:24.400 --> 0:11:27.560 That's because Rupert Murdoch owned the Fox Network, and people 0:11:27.600 --> 0:11:30.440 wondered if TV Guide would start favoring Fox shows in 0:11:30.480 --> 0:11:33.000 its coverage now. It didn't help that the week after 0:11:33.040 --> 0:11:36.400 the acquisition, a new issue of TV Guide appeared with 0:11:36.480 --> 0:11:39.560 a cover story about Fox's show twenty one Jump Street. 0:11:39.920 --> 0:11:41.720 But it turned out that that story had been in 0:11:41.800 --> 0:11:44.880 the works for months. It was all above board, Mango, 0:11:45.000 --> 0:11:46.760 They've been talking about this show for a while. 0:11:47.160 --> 0:11:50.400 That's amazing. So TV Guide didn't just cover the best 0:11:50.440 --> 0:11:54.000 of TV. It also covered the worst, and the magazine 0:11:54.040 --> 0:11:58.160 launched the j. Fred Muggs Award to recognize each year's 0:11:58.200 --> 0:11:59.840 silliest gaffes and gimmicks. 0:12:00.480 --> 0:12:02.800 And so who was j Fred Muggs? Like, was he 0:12:02.840 --> 0:12:03.600 a real person? 0:12:04.840 --> 0:12:09.080 No, he was a real chimpanzee. Oh, of course this 0:12:09.160 --> 0:12:11.160 is true. He was a regular on the Today Show 0:12:11.160 --> 0:12:14.280 for several years in the nineteen fifties, and apparently it 0:12:14.320 --> 0:12:17.240 was a desperate attempt to boost low ratings. But the 0:12:17.280 --> 0:12:20.000 thing is it worked right like people tuned in ad 0:12:20.080 --> 0:12:23.240 sales went up. Producers estimated that the stunt brought in 0:12:23.400 --> 0:12:26.040 over one hundred million dollars, which is wow. 0:12:26.360 --> 0:12:28.560 All right? So who were some of the unlucky recipients 0:12:28.600 --> 0:12:30.520 of the Jfred Muggs Award? 0:12:31.000 --> 0:12:33.720 So there are a few doozies in there. In nineteen 0:12:33.760 --> 0:12:37.959 eighty seven, CBS News anchor Dan Rather won the Quote 0:12:38.120 --> 0:12:42.400 John McEnroe Cup for Petulance under Fire after he stormed 0:12:42.440 --> 0:12:44.880 off because a US Open match was delaying the start 0:12:44.880 --> 0:12:45.840 of his newscast. 0:12:46.360 --> 0:12:46.760 Wow. 0:12:46.800 --> 0:12:49.959 So when the tennis match ended and stations switched back 0:12:50.000 --> 0:12:53.240 to the news, there were six minutes of nothing. Isn't 0:12:53.280 --> 0:12:54.000 that incredible? 0:12:54.440 --> 0:12:55.120 That is wild. 0:12:56.480 --> 0:12:59.199 Heraldo Rivera also won a Suckers Award for his two 0:12:59.200 --> 0:13:02.320 hour live special The Mystery of al Capone's Faults, in 0:13:02.360 --> 0:13:04.680 which he and a team of construction workers dug up 0:13:04.720 --> 0:13:07.440 the basement of a Chicago hotel only to find a 0:13:07.440 --> 0:13:10.360 few empty bottles and I kind of love this one. 0:13:10.400 --> 0:13:13.840 In nineteen eighty six, TV Guide gave Ted Turner the 0:13:13.880 --> 0:13:17.280 Mickey Mouse Coloring Book Award because he'd colorized famous black 0:13:17.280 --> 0:13:19.240 and white movies like The Maltese Falcon. 0:13:19.880 --> 0:13:23.240 We love the names of these awards. Sounds well deserved. 0:13:23.440 --> 0:13:25.000 All right, Well, Mage, I know you talked about a 0:13:25.080 --> 0:13:27.960 nineteen ninety two fake news story at the very top here, 0:13:28.000 --> 0:13:30.760 But it turns out TV Guide had its own fake 0:13:30.800 --> 0:13:33.959 news scandal just a few years earlier and involved Oprah 0:13:34.000 --> 0:13:36.439 Winfrey and a pile of money. And I'll tell you 0:13:36.480 --> 0:13:40.640 all about it right after this break. 0:13:53.200 --> 0:13:55.120 Welcome back to Part Time Genius, where we're talking about 0:13:55.200 --> 0:13:58.120 TV Guide. That's right, it's a whole episode about a 0:13:58.160 --> 0:14:02.640 magazine of television listings. But as is so often the case, 0:14:02.640 --> 0:14:04.720 if you look a little bit more closely, there are 0:14:04.720 --> 0:14:07.160 some fascinating stories in there. And you know, well that's 0:14:07.160 --> 0:14:09.080 what we love to do here, right, We dig deep 0:14:09.120 --> 0:14:11.079 and find gems underneath the surface. 0:14:11.360 --> 0:14:14.160 That is exactly right. And actually, if you love surprising 0:14:14.200 --> 0:14:17.040 facts and unusual stories as much as we do, I 0:14:17.040 --> 0:14:19.400 hope you'll subscribe to the show on your favorite podcast 0:14:19.440 --> 0:14:21.520 app and leave us a nice rating when review It 0:14:21.560 --> 0:14:24.360 actually really helps us out, and more importantly, it makes 0:14:24.440 --> 0:14:27.440 Dylan very happy. Lookay, Mango, he's actually smiling. 0:14:27.080 --> 0:14:30.680 Back there, finally smiling. Okay, well, so you left us 0:14:30.720 --> 0:14:34.360 on a real cliffhanger before the break, fake news, Oprah Winfrey, 0:14:34.600 --> 0:14:35.400 pile of money. 0:14:35.640 --> 0:14:39.120 Go all right, okay, this is a good cues. All right. Well, 0:14:39.160 --> 0:14:42.160 it was August of nineteen eighty nine and TV Guide 0:14:42.160 --> 0:14:45.640 put Oprah on the cover. Now, the headline read Oprah 0:14:45.760 --> 0:14:48.720 the richest woman on TV. That was question mark there 0:14:49.040 --> 0:14:52.760 how she amassed her two hundred and fifty million dollar fortune. 0:14:53.040 --> 0:14:55.160 So take a look at this cover, Mango, and tell 0:14:55.200 --> 0:14:58.320 me what you see. 0:14:57.400 --> 0:15:02.240 On Oprah looking very glamour. She's wearing a sparkly gown 0:15:02.480 --> 0:15:05.720 and showing a little leg and she's sitting on a 0:15:05.840 --> 0:15:08.760 huge pile of buddy. It's eye catching. But you know, 0:15:10.240 --> 0:15:12.200 I have to say, there's something a little off about 0:15:12.200 --> 0:15:12.880 this image. 0:15:13.240 --> 0:15:16.320 There is something actually very off about this image because 0:15:16.680 --> 0:15:21.120 it's not Oprah, well not entirely Oprah. It's Oprah's head, 0:15:21.560 --> 0:15:25.120 but the body belongs to nineteen sixties actress and dancer 0:15:25.240 --> 0:15:27.320 and Margaret. How weird is that, Mango? 0:15:27.440 --> 0:15:29.760 So they photoshopped her head on someone else's body. 0:15:30.080 --> 0:15:33.240 No, this is nineteen eighty nine. Photoshop didn't become widely 0:15:33.240 --> 0:15:36.960 available until nineteen ninety. Someone at TV Guide had to 0:15:37.120 --> 0:15:41.720 physically cut these images together. This is like third grade 0:15:41.720 --> 0:15:44.240 work on our part. So the pile of money is 0:15:44.360 --> 0:15:47.560 also fake. In the original an Margaret photo, she's sitting 0:15:47.640 --> 0:15:50.680 on some kind of barrel or a round table. Now, 0:15:50.720 --> 0:15:52.960 TV Guide might have gotten away with his trickery, except 0:15:52.960 --> 0:15:56.280 the guy who designed an Margaret's sparkly dress saw this cover. 0:15:56.640 --> 0:15:59.960 He recognized his whole creation, and he alerted the media. 0:16:00.320 --> 0:16:04.040 Oprah was, of course furious. Her spokesperson released a statement 0:16:04.080 --> 0:16:06.800 that said quote, Oprah would not pose on a pile 0:16:06.840 --> 0:16:08.720 of money like that, nor would she pose in that 0:16:08.800 --> 0:16:13.640 revealing address, And Margaret's publicist said she was shocked. So 0:16:13.960 --> 0:16:16.920 it's a pretty wild When it was a bona fide scandal, 0:16:17.240 --> 0:16:21.400 people took it very seriously. The La Times wrote, here, 0:16:21.480 --> 0:16:23.680 let me find this quote. It says the incident is 0:16:23.680 --> 0:16:27.040 by no means trivial. It should have responsible journalists and 0:16:27.080 --> 0:16:30.560 the entire reading public steaming mad and genuinely concerned about 0:16:30.560 --> 0:16:32.400 the media's commitment to truth. 0:16:33.040 --> 0:16:33.160 Now. 0:16:33.160 --> 0:16:35.680 The piece pointed out that images have a unique ability 0:16:35.720 --> 0:16:39.920 to convey accurate information, like how photojournalists helped show the 0:16:39.960 --> 0:16:43.359 reality of Vietnam. And you know, as The Times concluded, 0:16:43.720 --> 0:16:46.160 if the public has to wonder if an image is real, 0:16:46.320 --> 0:16:47.760 it loses its power. 0:16:48.280 --> 0:16:51.320 That's so funny, right, there's something almost like quaint about 0:16:51.320 --> 0:16:51.800 that today. 0:16:51.880 --> 0:16:52.840 Yeah, no kidding. 0:16:53.240 --> 0:16:56.040 You know, not only are so many things like photoshop, 0:16:56.080 --> 0:16:58.840 but also with AI out there. You see all these 0:16:58.880 --> 0:17:01.080 images of people, your celebrities and them they've got like 0:17:01.160 --> 0:17:05.439 six fingers whatever. So here's another problem. One. Did you 0:17:05.480 --> 0:17:08.439 know TV Guide played a role in a landmark federal 0:17:08.480 --> 0:17:12.080 fraud case. I did not, So this is true. It 0:17:12.160 --> 0:17:15.159 had to do with these diet pills called Regimen that 0:17:15.240 --> 0:17:18.400 were heavily advertised in print and on TV from nineteen 0:17:18.440 --> 0:17:21.480 fifty nine to nineteen sixty four. Now, the ads made 0:17:21.480 --> 0:17:24.399 all these outlandish claims that the pills would make you 0:17:24.480 --> 0:17:27.400 lose weight without changing your diet. The company that made 0:17:27.440 --> 0:17:29.359 them even hired women to go on programs like The 0:17:29.400 --> 0:17:32.520 Today Show in American Bandstand to talk about how Regimen 0:17:32.680 --> 0:17:35.879 changed their lives. But in fact, all of these women 0:17:36.040 --> 0:17:39.800 had been put on unhealthy, restrictive diets, which is what 0:17:39.880 --> 0:17:42.600 made them lose weight, not the pills. Now, the FDA 0:17:42.680 --> 0:17:46.359 opened an investigation. Eventually, New York State brought criminal charges 0:17:46.400 --> 0:17:50.800 against the drug company, its president, and notably the AD 0:17:50.840 --> 0:17:54.000 agency that helped create the campaigns. The case ended up 0:17:54.040 --> 0:17:56.399 going to a federal jury trial, and in nineteen sixty 0:17:56.440 --> 0:18:00.359 five everyone involved was found guilty. And this was actually 0:18:00.359 --> 0:18:02.520 the first time an ad agency has ever been found 0:18:02.560 --> 0:18:05.080 guilty of fraud for promoting a client's product. 0:18:05.840 --> 0:18:08.680 Wow, that is actually really insane. But how was TV 0:18:08.760 --> 0:18:09.440 Guide involved? 0:18:09.800 --> 0:18:13.480 So attorneys for the defendants challenged the decision, and one 0:18:13.480 --> 0:18:16.160 of their main arguments was that TV Guide had prejudiced 0:18:16.200 --> 0:18:19.679 the jury. Shortly before the trial's conclusion, the magazine ran 0:18:19.720 --> 0:18:22.320 a big article about the case under the headline quote 0:18:22.359 --> 0:18:26.280 the diet pill Fraud All America Watched. It was actually 0:18:26.320 --> 0:18:29.280 an excerpt of a forthcoming book about the weight loss industry, 0:18:29.320 --> 0:18:32.280 and it was written by this journalist, Peter Widen, and 0:18:32.520 --> 0:18:35.840 one of Widen's sources was Martin Pollner, the assistant US 0:18:35.920 --> 0:18:39.800 attorney who prosecuted the regiment case. But the courts denied 0:18:39.840 --> 0:18:42.159 the appeal, and that decision was careful to note that 0:18:42.200 --> 0:18:45.960 TV Guide was not responsible for the outcome of the trial. Apparently, 0:18:46.000 --> 0:18:48.640 jurors had followed instructions not to follow any media about 0:18:48.640 --> 0:18:51.960 the case while it was pending. And besides, Wyden's article 0:18:52.000 --> 0:18:54.840 relied on information that had already been made public at 0:18:54.840 --> 0:18:56.920 that time. But it just goes to show that TV 0:18:56.960 --> 0:18:59.960 guide has popped up in almost every corner of American 0:18:59.880 --> 0:19:01.560 life over all these years. 0:19:02.000 --> 0:19:04.800 That's really true. And actually, here's another example. So in 0:19:04.840 --> 0:19:08.320 the nineteen eighties, teachers were encouraged to use TV Guide 0:19:08.359 --> 0:19:11.560 in the classroom. So I found this article in an instructor 0:19:11.640 --> 0:19:15.240 magazine that actually laid out the whole lesson plan. Teachers 0:19:15.280 --> 0:19:17.600 were supposed to ask the kids to bring in copies 0:19:17.640 --> 0:19:20.640 of TV Guide and use it to teach them the 0:19:20.720 --> 0:19:23.600 hour minute format of writing time, you know, and the 0:19:23.640 --> 0:19:26.960 difference between AM and PM. Of course, so after the 0:19:27.040 --> 0:19:29.600 kids mastered that, the next step was to learn how 0:19:29.600 --> 0:19:34.439 to read and interpret TV listings. Sample lesson questions included 0:19:34.840 --> 0:19:37.560 and likes to watch Hollywood Squares on Thursday night. What 0:19:37.680 --> 0:19:41.600 time does it start? And here's another one, Jan likes 0:19:41.600 --> 0:19:44.479 to watch The Brady Bunch each weeknight at six thirty pm. 0:19:44.680 --> 0:19:46.040 What channel does she watch? 0:19:46.640 --> 0:19:49.760 It's so tricky, but I got to make sense by 0:19:49.800 --> 0:19:52.520 the times, you know, Obviously, times have changed since then, 0:19:52.600 --> 0:19:55.760 and TV Guide has changed too, So for the first 0:19:55.800 --> 0:19:59.119 fifty two years of its life, the magazine was digestized 0:19:59.240 --> 0:20:01.680 about the size of the paperback book, but in two 0:20:01.680 --> 0:20:04.760 thousand and five it switched to a larger, more standard 0:20:04.800 --> 0:20:07.800 magazine format and reduced the amount of listings in order 0:20:07.840 --> 0:20:10.920 to make room for more celebrity news. So previously the 0:20:11.000 --> 0:20:13.640 ratio had been about seventy five percent listings twenty five 0:20:13.640 --> 0:20:16.600 percent other stories, but with the format change, that ratio 0:20:16.800 --> 0:20:20.639 got inverted. But perhaps the biggest change was the elimination 0:20:20.720 --> 0:20:24.200 of the Guide's one hundred and forty regional editions. Instead, 0:20:24.240 --> 0:20:27.480 it shranked to just one national edition with schedules marked 0:20:27.520 --> 0:20:31.679 in either Eastern or Pacific time. Parent company Gemstars so 0:20:31.720 --> 0:20:34.840 I did declining readership and ad sales, but at its 0:20:34.880 --> 0:20:38.320 peak in the nineteen seventies, TV Guides circulation was around 0:20:38.359 --> 0:20:42.159 twenty million, which is just unfathomable to me, especially you 0:20:42.280 --> 0:20:44.960 and me as as people who used to run a magazine. 0:20:45.119 --> 0:20:48.040 But by two thousand and four it dropped to nine million, 0:20:48.240 --> 0:20:50.359