Entertainment Weekly

Lore & Background

Formed as a sister magazine to People, the first issue of Entertainment Weekly was published on February 16, 1990. Created by Jeff Jarvis and founded by Michael Klingensmith, who served as publisher until October 1996, the magazine's original television advertising soliciting pre-publication subscribers portrayed it as a consumer guide to popular culture, including movies, music, and book reviews, sometimes with video game and stage reviews, too. In 1996, the magazine won the National Magazine Award for General Excellence from the American Society of Magazine Editors.

EW won the same award again in 2002. In September 2016, in collaboration with People, Entertainment Weekly launched the People/Entertainment Weekly Network. The network is 'a free, ad-supported, online-video network [that] carries short- and long-form programming covering celebrities, pop culture, lifestyle, and human-interest stories'. It was rebranded as PeopleTV in September 2017.

Beginning with the August 2019 issue, Entertainment Weekly transitioned to a monthly issue model. Bruce Gersh, president of the Meredith entertainment division, which includes both EW and People, said that the cutback in print would be accompanied by deeper 24/7 digital coverage. Entertainment Weekly would still produce weekly digital 'covers' and push into podcasts, and planned events and experiential offerings with stars and festivals.

JD Heyman, deputy editor of People, replaced Henry Goldblatt as editor. As a result of the change, about 15 people were cut. Previous owner Time Inc. spent $150 million developing EW after its February 1990 launch, and was rewarded for its patience when the magazine made a six-figure profit at the end of 1996, and in its peak years was cranking out $55 million in annual profit. Though still profitable before the switch to being monthly, EW was squeezed in recent years as celebrity coverage exploded across all platforms, and print advertising shrank.

While still called a 'weekly' before the switch, it was publishing only 34 issues a year. Meredith, after completing its $2.8 billion acquisition of Time Inc., considered selling the title, along with several others, but was convinced to keep EW in part because it was so intertwined with top money-maker People. On August 2, 2021, the site of the Greek edition of the magazine was launched, Greece being the first country outside the U.S.

Reader's Guide

The magazine features celebrities on the cover and addresses topics such as television ratings, movie grosses, production costs, concert ticket sales, advertising budgets, and in-depth articles about scheduling, producers, showrunners, etc. By the time print publication ceased, the magazine was published once per month, although the legacy name Entertainment 'Weekly' is still used. Layout: Entertainment Weekly follows a typical magazine format by featuring a letter to the editor and a table of contents in the first few pages, while also featuring advertisements.

Layout

While many advertisements are unrelated to the entertainment industry, most ads are typically related to up-and-coming television, film, or music events. News and notes: These beginning articles open the magazine and as a rule focus on current events in pop culture. The whole section typically runs eight to ten pages long, and features short news articles and several specific recurring sections: 'Sound Bites' usually opens the magazine.

It is a collage of media personalities, actors, presenters, or comedians, alongside their recent memorable quotes in speech bubble form. 'The Must List' is a two-page spread highlighting 10 things (books, movies, songs, etc.) that the staff loves from the week; it usually features one pick from EW readers. 'First Look', subtitled 'An early peek at some of Hollywood's coolest projects', is a two-page spread with behind-the-scenes or publicity stills of upcoming movies, television episodes, or music events. 'The Hit List', written each week by critic Scott Brown, highlights 10 major events, with short comedic commentaries by Brown. Typically, some continuity to the commentaries exists. This column was originally written by Jim Mullen and featured 20 events each week, and Dalton Ross later wrote an abbreviated version. 'The Hollywood Insider' is a one-page section that reports breaking news in entertainment. It gives details, in separate columns, on the most-current news in television, movies, and music. 'The Style Report' is a one-page section devoted to celebrity style.

Because its focus is on celebrity fashion or lifestyle, it is graphically rich in nature, featuring many photographs or other images. The page converted to a new format: five pictures of celebrity fashions for the week, graded on the magazine's review 'A'-to-'F' scale. A spin-off section, 'Style Hunter'

From Industry Review to Celebrity Fixture: The Long Road to Us Weekly

Us Weekly did not arrive fully formed. In 1977, the New York Times Company launched a bi-weekly publication simply called Us, conceived as an industry news and review magazine in the vein of titles like Premiere or Entertainment Weekly. The early years were financially rough — the title operated at a loss until it posted its first profit in 1980, the very year it was sold to Macfadden Media. Ownership shifted again in 1985 when Jann Wenner brought the magazine into his Wenner Media umbrella, the same company behind Rolling Stone and Men's Journal.

By 1991, Us had settled into a monthly cadence, still focused on trade-style coverage of the entertainment world. For over two decades, the publication occupied a niche that felt more like a professional journal than a consumer magazine. That identity, however, was about to be dismantled entirely, setting the stage for one of the most dramatic reinventions in magazine publishing history.

The 2000 Rebrand: A New Voice for Celebrity Culture

In 1999, Wenner Media announced a sweeping overhaul: the monthly Us would become a weekly, and its editorial DNA would be completely rewritten. The new direction was a direct response to the commercial success of Entertainment Weekly and People, both of which had carved out lucrative celebrity-news territories.

Jann Wenner articulated a distinct philosophy — the magazine would remain "celebrity-friendly" rather than gossipy, and he told The New York Times that he intended to be "nice to celebrities," noting that many of his own friends worked in entertainment. The transformation took effect in March 2000, when the title officially became Us Weekly. Bonnie Fuller, who served as editor-in-chief from 2002 to 2003, then redesigned the publication into the modern celebrity newsweekly readers recognize today, introducing signature features like "Stars Are Just Like Us." Janice Min assumed the editor-in-chief role in July 2003, further cementing the new identity and driving what would become one of the fastest-growing magazines in the industry.

Ownership Whirlwind and the Road to McClatchy

Us Weekly's corporate history reads like a case study in magazine-industry consolidation. After Wenner Media acquired the title in the mid-1980s, the company formed a partnership with The Walt Disney Company in February 2001, giving Disney a fifty-percent stake. That arrangement lasted until August 2006, when Wenner Media bought back Disney's share and regained full control. The next major transition came in March 2017, when American Media Inc. purchased the publication.

The change in ownership triggered a leadership shakeup: editor James Heidenry stepped down and was succeeded by Jennifer Peros, while chief content officer Dylan Howard assumed oversight. American Media itself was later rebranded as A360media in October 2020, and in December 2024 it merged with the McClatchy local-news company to form the McClatchy Media Company. By April 2026, the magazine's New York headquarters had been shuttered, roughly half of its fifty-person staff were laid off — including the entire social-media and Spanish-language teams — and the remaining employees shifted to fully virtual work.

Signature Sections and Cultural Resonance

Us Weekly built its identity around a constellation of recurring features that gave readers a structured, almost ritualistic window into celebrity life. "Just Like Us" showed stars performing mundane, everyday activities — a concept the magazine credited to a Sesame Street segment about animals. "Who Wore It Best?" invited readers to vote on which celebrity pulled off an outfit better, while "Fashion Police" enlisted well-known comedians to mock or praise the week's most notable red-carpet looks. Other staples included "Hot Stuff" for Hollywood gossip, "The Record" for life events like births and divorces, and "Us Musts" for recommended films and television. By 2017, the magazine's paid circulation exceeded 1.95 million copies per week, with total readership surpassing fifty million. Tina Brown called it "a genius magazine" in a 2007 New York profile, and a New York Post piece that same year noted profits as high as ninety million dollars annually, with readership climbing 191 percent over five years.