News That You Can Choose

Not long ago, the answer to the question "What should we do tonight?" seemed fairly limited for most Americans. There was always television, of course, or a trip to the local movie house. But nowadays, with the boom in the U.S. entertainment industry and the proliferation of cable TV, VCRs, computers and compact discs, the possibilities can seem limitless. So limitless, in fact, that many Americans appear to suffer from information anxiety, the inability to choose from among the riches available.

Last week the Time Inc. Magazine Co. announced the launch of a new publication aimed at dispelling that confusion. Called ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY, it will cast an informative cultural net over the most notable new offerings in the realms of movies, television, videocassettes, recorded music and books, all reviewed and rated (from A to F) by the magazine's own critics as well as by guest reviewers. The new publication will also include articles on entertainment and culture, but it will concentrate on the fundamentals rather than on personalities, thus avoiding conflicts with the company's highly successful PEOPLE magazine. ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY, says Editor in Chief Jason McManus, "deals with products, not personalities." According to Jeff Jarvis, the new magazine's managing editor and a former PEOPLE television critic, "It will be brash and browsable. It will be as entertaining as the entertainment it covers."

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY, which will make its debut in February, has been two years in the planning. It is expected to start life with a circulation of 500,000, mostly subscribers, and hopes to grow to 1 million before turning a profit in four years. Publisher Michael J. Klingensmith estimates the cost of the launch at $30 million after taxes. The magazine is the company's first major start-up venture since TV-CABLE WEEK, a listings guide for cable-company subscribers, folded after just five months in 1983. Another Time Inc. magazine project, PICTURE WEEK, was tested in 1985-86 but never launched.