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TV Guide Network (formerly known as TV Guide Channel, Prevue Channel, Prevue Guide, and Electronic Program Guide) is an American cable network owned by Lions Gate Entertainment Corporation.

At the bottom third of the screen, TV Guide Network provides a scrolling grid, or "scrid" for short, listing all channels available to the viewer coupled with the titles of the television programs and films those channels are currently showing. Appearing in the top three-quarters of the screen is the network's programming, currently consisting mostly of reruns of television series from the 1990s and 2000s; prior to 2012, TV Guide Network programming focused on programs featuring movie previews and celebrity news. The majority of the network's audience consists of channel surfers looking to see what's on, and what's coming on next, on their respective cable and satellite systems' channel lineups.

Although its bottom-screen program listings grid continues to be the major feature of the channel, TV Guide Network has attempted to reposition itself as a destination channel for television news and information through its original series and specials. This is because internet-based TV listings sites and the on-screen interactive program guides (IPGs) built directly into most of today's cable and satellite set top terminals, as well as into digital video recorders like TiVo, have mostly obviated the need for a dedicated TV listings channel by providing the same information in a speedier manner, and often in much more detail and with greater flexibility. TV Guide offers its own IPG software for digital cable boxes, called TV Guide Interactive. It is visually similar in its presentation to the TV Guide Network's bottom-screen program listings grid.

TV Guide Network is only available from within the digital tiers of certain cable providers in some markets. As its programming is considered non-critical, many cable providers also use the TV Guide Network's channel space as a default Emergency Alert System conduit for transmitting warning information applicable to their local service areas, or as channel space for a regional sports network's "RSN2"/"RSN+" alternate feed for sports right conflicts.

A gridless version of the channel, featuring all of its programming full-screen, is offered to cable and satellite operators providing only digital television service and whose digital set top receivers already include integrated IPGs; though some digital cable providers use the scrolling grid version even if they use IPGs integrated within set top boxes.

History[link]

1980s[link]

Electronic program guide[link]

Electronic Program Guide (EPG Sr.)

Launched in 1981 by United Video Satellite Group, the TV Guide Network began its life as a simple electronic program guide (or EPG) software application sold to cable system operators throughout the United States and Canada. Known simply as the Electronic Program Guide, or the EPG for short, the software was designed to be run within the head end facility of each participating cable system on a single, custom-modified consumer-grade computer supplied by United Video. Its scrolling program listings grid, which cable system operators broadcast to subscribers on a dedicated channel, covered the entire screen and provided four hours of listings for each system's entire channel line-up, one half-hour period at a time. Because of this, listings for programs currently airing would often be several minutes away. Additionally, because the EPG software generated only video, cable operators commonly resorted to filling the EPG channel's audio with music from a local FM station, or with programming from a cable TV-oriented audio service provider such as Cable Radio Network.

EPG Jr. unit featuring an Atari 130XE.

By 1985 and under the newly formed Trakker, Inc. united of United Video Satellite Group, two versions of the EPG were offered: EPG Jr., a 16KB EPROM version which ran on various Atari models including the 130XE and 600XL, and EPG Sr., a 3½ bootable diskette version for the Amiga 1000. Raw program listings data for national cable networks, as well as for regional and local terrestrial stations, was fed en masse from a Tulsa, Oklahoma mainframe to each EPG installation via a 2400 baud data stream on an audio subcarrier of WGN by United Video. (United Video was WGN's nationwide satellite distributor.) By cherry-picking data from this master feed for only the networks its cable system actually carried, each EPG installation was able to generate a continuous visual display of program listings customized to its local cable system's unique channel line-up. (Data describing the unique channel line-up each EPG was to display also arrived via this master feed.)

Both the EPG Jr. and EPG Sr. allowed cable operators to further customize their operation locally. Among other functions, the listings grid's scrolling speed could be changed, and local text-based advertisements could be inserted. Each text-based advertisement could be configured to display as either a "scroll ad" (appearing within the vertically scrolling listings grid between its half-hour cycles)^[1] or as a "crawl ad" (appearing within a horizontally scrolling ticker at the bottom of the screen).^[2] If no advertisements were configured as "crawl ads," no bottom ticker would be shown on-screen.

The on-screen appearances of both the Jr. and Sr. versions of the EPG software differed only slightly, due primarily to differences in text font and extended ASCII graphic glyph character rendering between the underlying Atari and Amiga platforms.^[3]

Because neither version of the EPG software was capable of silent remote administration for its locally customizable features, cable company employees were required to visit their head end facilities in order to make all necessary adjustments to the software in person. Consequently, EPG channel viewers would often see its otherwise continuous listings interrupted without warning each time a cable company technician brought up its administrative menus to adjust settings, view diagnostics information, or hunt-and-peck new local text advertisements into the menus' built-in text editor.^[4]

The Atari-based EPG Jr. units were encased in blue rack enclosures containing custom-made outboard electronics, such as the Zephyrus Electronics Ltd. UV-D-2 demodulator board, which delivered data decoded from the WGN data stream to the Atari's 13 pin Serial Input/Output (SIO) handler port. (The EPG Jr. software's EPROM was interfaced to the Atari's ROM cartridge port.)

Split-screen electronic program guide[link]

By the late 1980s, a software upgrade "option" was offered by United Video for the Amiga 1000-based EPG Sr. This updated version featured a program listings grid identical in appearance to that of the original EPG Sr. version, but confined it to the lower half of the screen. In this new split-screen configuration, which was the forerunner to Prevue Guide (below), the upper half of the screen displayed static or animated graphical advertisements and logos created locally by each cable system operator. Up to 64 such ads were supported.

Locally created text-based advertisements were still supported too. However, they now appeared in the top half of the screen as well, support for showing them within the listings grid as scrolling ads, or beneath it as crawling banner ads, having been removed. Although most cable systems kept the original, full-screen EPG in operation well into the early 1990s, some systems with large numbers of subscribers opted for this upgraded version of EPG Sr. in order to exploit the revenue potential of its graphical local advertising capabilities.

The Atari-based EPG Jr. was never afforded this split-screen upgrade and fell out of favor during the late 1980s as cable systems migrated to the full- or split-screen Amiga 1000-based EPG Sr., and later to the Amiga 2000-based Prevue Guide (below). However, the EPG Jr. remained in service as late as 2005 on a few small cable systems, as well as on a number of private cable systems operated by various hotel chains and certain housing and apartment complexes.

Prevue Guide[link]

In 1988, the Trakker, Inc. unit of United Video Holdings was renamed Prevue Networks, Inc. The split-screen version of the EPG Sr. software was further updated and renamed "Prevue Guide," with the slogan "We Are What's On". Now running on the Amiga 2000, it displayed a split-screen listings grid visually identical to the upgraded EPG Sr.'s, but also supported – along with up to 128 locally inserted top-screen graphical advertisements – the display of video with accompanying sound in the top half of the screen.^[5] Primarily promos for upcoming TV shows, films, and special events, these videos appeared in either the left or right halves of the top portion of the screen, coupled with supplementary information concerning them in the opposing halves (program title, channel, air date and time).

Prevue Guide Amiga 2000 unit (decommissioned).

Making the video integration possible were the Amiga 2000's native video compositing capabilities. All video (and associated audio) content was provided live by Prevue Networks, Inc. via a special analog C-band satellite backhaul feed from Tulsa, Oklahoma. This feed contained a national satellite listings grid in the bottom half of its picture (strictly as a courtesy for the era's C-band dish owners), with the top half of its picture divided horizontally in two, both halves showing promos for unrelated telecasts on different networks. (Sound for each half was provided in mono on the feed's left and right audio channels, respectively.) Within each cable system's head end facility, meanwhile, the Amiga 2000-powered Prevue Guide software overlaid the bottom half of the satellite feed's video frame with its own, locally generated listings grid. It also continuously chose which of the two simultaneously available promos in the top half of the satellite feed's picture to let local cable subscribers see, patching its audio through to them while visually blocking out the other promo. During periods where both of the satellite feed's simultaneous promos were for cable networks not carried by a local cable system, the local Prevue Guide software blocked out both, filling the entire top half of the screen with a local text or graphical advertisement instead.

The satellite feed's national scheduling grid was never meant to be seen by cable subscribers. On occasion, however, when a cable system's local Prevue Guide software crashed into Amiga Guru Meditation mode, subscribers would be exposed to the satellite feed's full video frame, letting them see not only the two disparate promos simultaneously running in its upper half, but perhaps more confusingly, the satellite transponder-oriented national listings grid in its lower half.^[6]

Commercials, often for psychic hotlines, and featurettes produced by Prevue Networks, Inc., such as Prevue Tonight, voiced by network announcer Larry Hoefling^[7] (1989–1993), were also delivered via this satellite feed. For commercials, the top half of the feed's video frame would be completely filled out, with local cable system Prevue Guide installations letting it show through in full. The satellite feed also carried a third audio channel containing Prevue Guide theme music in an infinite loop. Local Prevue Guide installations would switch to this audio source during the display of local top-screen advertising, and when they crashed. Prevue Guide could additionally signal cable system video playback equipment to override the Prevue Networks, Inc. satellite feed entirely with up to nine minutes of local, video-based advertising per hour. Few cable systems utilized this feature, however, oweing to the need to produce special versions of their local advertisements wherein, as with the satellite feed itself, all action occurred only within the top half of the video frame.

Other features of Prevue Guide, unavailable in the earlier full- and split-screen EPG Sr. versions, were colorized listings backgrounds and program-by-program channel summaries. Between its already colored grid lines, which alternated blue, green, yellow, and red with each half-hour listings cycle, each cable operator could choose to enable either red or light blue (rather than black) background colors for multiple channels of its choice. These backgrounds were usually used to highlight premium movie channels and pay-per-view services. Additionally, program-by-program channel summaries with light grey backgrounds, for up to four channels of each cable operator's choice, could be included within the scrolling grid. Appearing between each four-hour listings cycle, the names of channels (rather than times) would scroll up and slide into the grid's header bar one at a time, each followed by up to four hours worth of program-by-program listings for that channel alone.

Prevue Guide could also display graphical "Prevue Weather" logos, accompanied by local weather conditions, within its scrolling grid. These inserts were available to cable operators for an additional fee and appeared after each four-hour listings cycle.

By the early 1990s, United Video began encouraging cable systems still using either the full- or split-screen versions of the Amiga 1000-based EPG Sr. to upgrade to the Amiga 2000-based Prevue Guide. Active support for the Amiga 1000-based EPG Sr. installations was discontinued in 1993.

Like the Amiga 1000-based EPG Sr., Prevue Guide also ran from bootable 3½ diskettes, and its locally customizable features remained configurable only from the local keyboard, subjecting viewers to the same on-screen maintenance-related interruptions by local cable company employees as before.^[8] (Silent remote administration of locally customizable features would not be added until the "yellow grid" appeared shortly after the beginning of the TV Guide Channel era, when the Amiga platform was fully abandoned.) To support Prevue Guide's new, satellite-delivered video and audio, each Amiga 2000 featured a UV Corp. UVGEN video/genlock card for the satellite feed's video and a Zephyrus Electronics Ltd model 100 rev. C demodulator/switching ISA card for manipulating the feed's audio. Also included were a Zephyrus Electronics Ltd. model 101 rev. C demodulator ISA card for the WGN data stream, and a Great Valley Products Zorro II A2000 HC+8 Series II card (used only for 2 MB of Fast RAM with SCSI disabled).^[9] The 101C fed demodulated listings data at 2400 baud from a DE9 RS232 serial connector on its backpanel to the Amiga's stock DB25 RS232 serial port via a short cable. The 101C also featured connection terminals for contact closure triggering of external cable system video playback equipment.

1990s[link]

Prevue Channel[link]

Beginning in late March 1993, Prevue Networks, Inc. overhauled the Prevue Guide software once again, this time to modernize its appearance. Still operating on the same Amiga 2000 hardware, the old grid's black background with white text separated by colored lines gave way to a new, embossed-looking navy blue grid featuring 90 minutes of scheduling information per channel. Arrow symbols had been added to listings whose start or end times stretched beyond that timeframe, and for viewer convenience, local cable operators could now configure the grid's scrolling action to momentarily pause for up to four seconds after each screenful of listings. Additionally, local cable operators could enable light grey sports and movie summaries within the grid. Appearing between each listings cycle, these showed all films and sporting events airing on any channel during the next 90 minutes. The light grey program-by-program summaries for individual channels, red and light blue channel highlighting, and graphical "Prevue Weather" forecasts that were previously available to cable systems as optional grid features and inserts remained available in the same manners as before. Closed captioning, MPAA movie rating, and VCR Plus+ logos were additionally introduced by this version of the software, and unlike in prior versions, large graphical Prevue Guide logos appeared within its grid, between listings cycles. The old, synthesized interstitial music that had been used since 1988 was also replaced with a more modern piece called "Opening Act", from the defunct James & Aster music library.

By late 1993, Prevue Guide was re-branded "Prevue Channel", and an updated channel logo was unveiled to match. Beginning in early 1994 and up until its first couple of years as the TV Guide Channel, the network licensed production music (first at 1 min. length, later at 15 and 30-sec. lengths) from several music libraries for use as interstial music. In 1996, the Prevue Channel logo was given a new eye-like design, and two years later, the classic Dodger-like font face its logo had incorporated since 1988 was replaced with Univers, though Sneak Prevue continued to use the original typeface until its demise in 2002. In 1997, Prevue Channel became the first electronic program guide to show Canada's and the United States' formalized TV Ratings symbols. They appeared alongside program titles within the listings grid, as well as in the supplementary scheduling information overlays accompanying promo videos in the top half of the screen.

During the mid-1990s, Prevue Networks, Inc. also expanded beyond its Prevue Channel operation. In 1996, Prevue Networks introduced their first set top terminal-integrated digital IPG, Prevue Interactive, designed for the General Instruments DCT 1000. It was launched as part of TCI's first digital cable service offerings. In 1997, Prevue Networks and United Video Satellite Group also launched Prevue Online, an internet web site providing local TV listings, audio/video interviews, and weather forecasts. Another web site, PrevueNet, was co-launched to provide more history and useful information for the Prevue Channel, as well as for Sneak Prevue, UVTV, WGN Chicago, and WPIX New York.

The new navy blue grid version of the Prevue Channel software was as crash-prone as previous ones. Flashing red Amiga "guru meditation" errors (with the raw satellite feed's dual promo windows and national satellite listings grid showing through from behind them) remained a frequent sight on many cable systems throughout the United States and Canada. While Prevue Networks' software engineers released regular patches to correct bugs, it simultaneously became clear that an entirely new hardware platform would soon be needed. New Amiga 2000 hardware was no longer being manufactured by Commodore, which filed for bankruptcy in 1994, and Prevue Networks began resorting to cannibalizing parts from second-hand dealers of used Amiga hardware in order to continue supplying and maintaining operational units. During periods where Amiga 2000 hardware availability proved insufficient, newer models such as the Amiga 3000 were used instead.^[10] However, as those models' stock cases would not accept the company's large existing inventory of Zephyrus ISA demodulator cards, only their motherboards were used, in custom-designed cases with riser card and backplane modifications.

Towards the end of the decade, in 1998, Prevue Channel's programming was entirely revamped. New short "shows" were introduced to replace Prevue Tonight, FamilyVue, and Intervue. These included Prevue This, Prevue Family, Prevue Sports, Prevue TV, Prevue News and Weather, and Prevue Revue. They each lasted only a couple of minutes, but every show happened twice every hour.^[11]

TV Guide Channel[link]

In February 1999, United Video Satellite Group, the parent company of Prevue Networks, Inc., bought TV Guide for $2 billion in stock and cash. At midnight on February 1, 1999, new graphics were in place, officially renaming Prevue Channel "TV Guide Channel". In early October, Gemstar International Group Ltd. purchased United Video Satellite Group. Finally, throughout December of that year on cable systems nationwide, a new yellow grid began replacing the navy blue grid that had presented channel listings to viewers for the past six years. The old navy blue grid was completely phased out by early January 2000.

TV Guide Channel unit (WinNT PC-based).

With the arrival of TV Guide Channel's yellow grid, all remaining vestiges of Prevue Channel had been eliminated: its Amiga-based hardware infrastructure was decommissioned, and purpose-built, Windows NT/2000 PCs employing custom-designed video/audio expansion cards were installed. With this new infrastructure additionally came the ability for local cable companies to perform silent remote administration of all their installations' locally customizable features, making live, on-screen guide maintenance interruptions by cable system technicians a thing of the past.

The yellow grid also eliminated the optional red and light blue background colors local cable operators were formerly able to assign various channels of their choices. In their place, universal, program genre-based background colors were introduced. Sporting events appeared with green backgrounds, and movies on all networks were given red backgrounds. Pay-per-view events additionally appeared with purple backgrounds. The light grey backgrounds which had formerly appeared in channel- and program genre-based summaries were also eliminated, with the aforementioned red, green, and purple color coding now applying to those summaries as well.

Despite its elimination from the American television market, the Prevue brand continued to be seen in Canada in the form of various Prevue Interactive services, most of which were simply re-branded versions of TV Guide Interactive products.^[12]

2000s[link]

A few years after Prevue Channel completed its transition to TV Guide Channel, the programming it featured changed drastically. Full-length shows were added, moving away from the typical model of showing television previews and other information. Starting in 2005, Joan Rivers and her daughter Melissa Rivers began providing coverage for televised awards ceremonies such as The Emmy Awards and The Academy Awards. In 2007, the mother-daughter duo were unceremoniously dropped by TV Guide in favor of Lisa Rinna. Later, in 2007, Rinna was joined by fellow Dancing with the Stars alumni Joey Fatone. On July 29, 2009, TV Guide announced that Rinna and Fatone had been replaced by Hollywood 411, presented by The Bachelor host Chris Harrison and Dancing with the Stars judge Carrie Ann Inaba.

Also with the transition from Prevue Channel to TV Guide Channel, the nature of the service's scrolling listings grid began to change. During broadcasts of the channel's original primetime series as well as during red carpet awards ceremony coverage, programming started appearing almost entirely full-screen, with a transparent, non-scrolling, two-line version of the channel's regular listings grid occupying only the extreme bottom of the frame. Semi-regular stylistic re-designs of the grid also occurred, and support was added for showing locally inserting provider logos and graphical advertisements within it. Starting in 2004, light blue backgrounds began to appear on listings for children's programming, complimenting the red, green, and purple background colors already applied to listings for films, sporting events, and pay-per-view programming respectively.

Because of Gemstar-TV Guide's dominant position within the television listings market, listings for TV Guide Channel's own original programming began to appear on the topmost lines of most TV listings web sites to which the company provided listings data, regardless of which channel number any given cable system carried it on. This also became the case with the print version of TV Guide.

Rather than purchasing TV Guide Channel carriage rights, some services such as IO Digital Cable and Bright House Networks created their own scrolling listings grids, with IO's occasionally interrupted by full-screen commercials, and otherwise featuring banner ads accompanied by music. Bright House Networks' version featured a video inlay of a local news station instead of banner ads, with its overall on-screen presentation otherwise matching that of IO's.

DirecTV did not begin carrying the TV Guide Channel until 2004, and began carrying it in an entirely full-screen format (without the bottom listings grid) in 2005. This was also the case with DISH Network, which aired the network in full-screen format to avoid duplication of its set top receiver-integrated IPG, also provided by Gemstar-TV Guide.

TV Guide Network[link]

On April 30, 2007, Gemstar-TV Guide announced that beginning June 4, 2007, TV Guide Channel would be re-branded "TV Guide Network". According to its press release, the move was intended to reflect "the continued evolution of the Channel from primarily a utility service to a more fully-developed television guidance and entertainment network with a continued commitment to high quality programming."

On May 2, 2008, Gemstar-TV Guide was acquired by Macrovision (now Rovi Corporation). Macrovision, which purchased Gemstar-TV Guide mostly to boost the value of its lucrative VCR+ and electronic program guide patents, later stated that they were possibly looking to sell both TV Guide Network and the TV Guide print edition's namesake to other parties. On December 18 of that year, Macrovision announced^[13] that it had found a willing party for TV Guide Network in One Equity Partners. The transaction included tvguide.com, with Macrovision retaining the IPG service.

At the beginning of January 2009, the print edition of TV Guide quietly removed its listings for TV Guide Network (along with its listings for several other networks) over what the magazine's management described^[14] as "space concerns". In actuality, the two entities had been forced apart by their new, individual owners, with promotions for the network ending in the magazine, and vice versa. TV Guide magazine journalists also no longer appeared on TV Guide Network. The top-line "plug" for the network did, however, remain intact on the web sites of internet-based listings providers using TV Guide's EPG listings.

On January 5, 2009, Lionsgate announced its intent to purchase TV Guide Network and TV Guide Online for $255 million. Lionsgate closed the transaction on March 2, 2009, paying cash.^[15] The following April, Lionsgate announced plans to revamp the network into a more entertainment-oriented channel, including plans to discontinue the bottom-screen scrolling program listings grid that has been a part of the channel since its inception in late 1981;^[16][17][18] by late 2011, 75% of the systems carrying the channel were showing its programming in full-screen.^[19] Following the announcement, Mediacom announced that it would be dropping the network.^[20] Time Warner Cable has also dropped the network in Texas.^[21]

2010s[link]

On July 1, 2010, TV Guide Network's scrolling grid was given an extensive facelift; the grid was shrunk to the bottom one-quarter of the screen, the channel listings were reduced from two lines to one (with the channel number now being placed to the right of the channel ID code), the color coding for programs of specific genres (children's shows, movies and sports, etc.) was removed, synopses for films were dropped and the grid now stops scrolling for four seconds with every four channels displayed. Despite the change, the non-scrolling grid (which is the same height as the restyled scrolling grid) continued to be used for primetime programming for a time.

Twenty-three days later, on July 24, TV Guide Network introduced a new non-scrolling grid used for primetime programming, which was later dropped with providers using the scrolling grid during primetime programming. On August 3, 2010 the scrolling grid was changed once again, with the scrolling grid stopping at each channel, and the channel listings became two lines once again (in some areas, the grid is still three lines wide thus cutting off half of the second listing). On October 17, 2010 the scrolling grid was changed to black, and channel listings are one line, although some cable systems are still using the previous grid.

In 2011, TV Guide Network dramatically overhauled its programming, abandoning most of its original shows and switching its focus to reruns of programming primarily from the 1990s and 2000s.

In January 2012, upon Lionsgate's acquisition of Summit Entertainment, it was announced that the channel was for sale.^[22]

Color schemes[link]

Genre color coding[link]

On TV Guide Network until July 1, 2010 and currently in Gemstar-TV Guide's set top box-integrated IPG service (TV Guide Interactive), program genres are indicated on-screen by color:

• Normal Programming: Gray (in IPG, dark blue)
• Children's Shows: Light blue
• Sports Programming: Green
• Movies: Red on regular channels, purple on pay-per-view channels (in IPG, purple on all channels)

On TV Guide Network itself, during the weeks prior to the Emmys, shows that have been nominated were also highlighted in gold. The same gold highlighting could be seen during the lead-up to the Oscars, except only for movies that have won in the past. Titles for other special shows, like those that are a part of Discovery Channel's Shark Week, had a bubbly-water graphical scheme. During the lead-up to Halloween, horror movie titles featured spiderwebs in their schemes, and Holiday movie titles listed during December were blue and snow-covered. Similar important shows and/or premieres have had other special graphical schemes added to their grid cells.

Due to a restructuring of TV Guide Network's scrolling grid on July 1, 2010 that saw the grid being shrunk to the lower third of the screen, grey is now used as the color code for all programming and genre-based color coding can now be seen exclusively in IPG.

Grid color history[link]

On the EPG/Prevue Guide/Prevue Channel/TV Guide Channel/TV Guide Network channel, the following colors have been used for the listings grid:

• Black (during the Amiga-based EPG and Prevue Guide years prior to mid-1993)
• Navy blue (during the Amiga-based Prevue Guide, Prevue Channel, and TV Guide Channel years of 1993-2000)
• Yellow (during the TV Guide Channel years of 2000-2003)
• Blue (during the TV Guide Channel years of 2003-2004)
• Teal (during the TV Guide Channel years of 2004-2005)
• Grey (during the TV Guide Channel and TV Guide Network years of 2005–present)

Between the late 1980s and 1999, local cable operators could configure listings for certain channels to appear with alternate background colors (their choice of red or light blue). Light grey backgrounds were additionally used for channel- and program genre-based listings summaries, when enabled by local cable operators. Beginning with the yellow grid in 1999, all such coloring was discarded in favor of program genre-based coloring which affected all channels and summaries. Listings for movies featured red backgrounds, pay-per-view events bore purple backgrounds, and sporting events featured green backgrounds. Starting in 2004, light blue backgrounds were additionally applied to listings for children's programming.

Programming[link]

Current shows[link]

• Ugly Betty (2009–present) - Acquired repeats
• Nail Files (2011–present) - Original reality series about the owner of a Los Angeles nail salon.
• Weeds (2010-present) - Acquired repeats
• Ned & Stacey (2011-present) - Acquired repeats
• Samantha Who? (2011-present) - Acquired repeats
• Designing Women (2011-present) - Acquired repeats
• Dharma & Greg (2011-present) - Acquired repeats
• Wilson Phillips: Still Holding On (2012-present) - Original reality series about the personal lives of 90s female pop trio Wilson Phillips.
• Caroline in the City (2012-present) - Acquired repeats
• Early Edition (2012-present) - Acquired repeats
• The Guardian (2012-present) - Acquired repeats

Former shows[link]

• America's Next Producer (2007) - Competition series where the winner received a $100,000 prize and development deal with TVGC.
• Celebrity Says! (2008) - Man on the street game show where interviewees attempted to guess what a celebrity said during a red carpet interview. Hosted by Dave Holmes.
• Curb Your Enthusiasm (2010-2011) - Acquired repeats.
• Hollywood 411 (2008–2011) - Entertainment newsmagazine program hosted by Chris Harrison; varied over the years between a daily and weekly presentation.
• Hollywood Showdown (2006–2008) - Acquired repeats from PAX/Game Show Network run.
• Hollywood 411 on Set (2009) - Set visits and behind-the-scenes info on the latest movies, profiling three each show.
• Idol Chat & Idol Tonight (2006–2009) - Official discussion of the week's events on American Idol. Hosted by Kimberly Caldwell and Justin Guarini (Rosanna Tavarez was a former co-host from 2006–2008, and Manny Streetz was a guest correspondent in 2007)
• InFANity (2007–2010) - One hour program devoted to a detailed history and interviews with stars of one primetime series. Hosted by Lisa Joyner.
• Look-a-Like (2004–2010) - Makeover program involving people wanting to look like certain celebrities.
• Making News: Texas Style (2007–2008) - Follows news anchors at TV stations in the state of Texas. During the first season, the anchors of Odessa, Texas, CBS affiliate KOSA were featured (some episodes also featured an anchor at the market's NBC affiliate, KWES). The second season followed anchors at the duopoly of WJCL and WTGS, the ABC and Fox affiliates (respectively) in Savannah, Georgia, as well as long-dominant CBS affiliate WTOC and NBC affiliate WSAV, from time to time). The second season was called Making News: Savannah Style.
• Punk'd (2009-2011) - Acquired repeats.
• Reality Chat (2006–2009) - Discussion show about reality television. Hosted by Rosanna Tavarez and Sadie Murray (Kimberly Caldwell was a former co-host from 2006–2008)
• TV Watercooler (2006–2009) - A weekly recap of TV's noteworthy shows and moments. Hosted by John Fugelsang and Teresa Strasser (Debra Wilson was a former co-host in 2006)

Slogans[link]

Prevue Guide and Prevue Channel[link]

• Just what you're looking for. (1988–1992)
• We Are What's On. (1992–1995)
• Prevue...See what's on (1995-1997 secondary)
• Prevue First! (1998–1999; secondary)
• Before you view, Prevue! (1993 to 1995; alternate, 1995–1999; primary)

TV Guide Channel/Network[link]

• Change the way you channel (1999–2001)
• Don't miss a thing (2001–2004)
• Original shows, original channel, TV Guide Channel. (2004–2007)
• America's Television Headquarters (2007–2010)
• Original shows, original network, TV Guide Network (2007–2010; secondary)
• Eat. Sleep. Watch. (2010–present)

Sneak Prevue[link]

In 1991, Prevue Networks spun off another network exclusively for pay-per-view programming, Sneak Prevue. The channel was also driven by Amiga 2000 hardware, and its software was as crash-prone as the Prevue Guide software itself. TV Guide Network ceased operations of Sneak Prevue in 2002.

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: TV Guide Network

• Official website
• PrevueNet in the Internet Archive

TV Guide

Editor-in-Chief	Debra Birnbaum
Categories	Entertainment News
Weekly
Total circulation (2011)	2,024,092[1]
First issue	April 3, 1953
Country	United States
Based in	Radnor, Pennsylvania
Language	English
Website	www.tvguide.com
ISSN	0039-8543

TV Guide is a weekly American magazine with listings of TV shows.

In addition to TV listings, the publication features television-related news, celebrity interviews, gossip and film reviews and crossword puzzles. Some issues have also featured horoscope listings.

History[link]

Prototype[link]

Lee Wagner (1910–1993) was circulation director of McFadden Publications in New York in the 1930s—and later for Cowles Media Co.—distributing movie celebrity magazines. In 1948, he printed The TeleVision Guide for the New York area. On the cover was silent film star Gloria Swanson, star of her short-lived "Gloria Swanson Hour." Wagner later added regional editions for New England and Baltimore-Washington areas. Five years later, he sold the editions to Walter Annenberg's Triangle Publications, but remained as a consultant until 1963.^[2]

Annenberg/Triangle era[link]

The national TV Guide's first issue was released on April 3, 1953. The cover featured a photograph of Lucille Ball's newborn son Desi Arnaz, Jr.. A small photo of Lucy was also placed in the top corner under the title of the issue which read: "Lucy's $50,000,000 baby".

TV Guide as a national publication resulted from Walter Annenberg's Triangle Publications' purchase of numerous regional television listing publications such as TV Forecast, TV Digest, Television Guide and TV Guide. The launch as a national publication with local listings in April 1953 became an almost instant success with the magazine becoming the most read and circulated magazine in the country by the 1960s. The initial cost was just 15¢ per copy. In addition to subscriptions, TV Guide was sold from grocery store counters nationwide. Until the 1980s, each issue's features were promoted in a television commercial. Under Triangle Publications, TV Guide continued to grow not only in circulation, but in recognition as the authority on television programming with articles from both staff and contributing writers. Over the decades the shape of the logo has changed to reflect the modernization of the television screen. At first, the logo had various color backgrounds (usually black, white, blue or green) until the familiar red background became a standard in the 1960s with occasional changes to accommodate a special edition.

Under Triangle Publications, TV Guide was first based in a small office in downtown Philadelphia until moving to more spacious national headquarters in Radnor, Pennsylvania in the late 1950s. The new facility, complete with a large lighted TV Guide logo at the building's entrance, was home to management, editors, production personnel, subscription processors as well as a vast computer system holding data on every show and movie available for listing in the popular weekly publication. Printing of the national color section of TV Guide took place at Triangle's Gravure Division plant adjacent to Triangle's landmark Philadelphia Inquirer Building on North Broad Street in Philadelphia. The color section was then sent to regional printers to be wrapped around the local listing sections. Triangle's Gravure Division was known for performing some of the highest quality printing in the industry with almost always perfect registration.

Triangle Publications in addition to TV Guide owned The Philadelphia Inquirer, Philadelphia Daily News, 16 radio and television stations (WFIL AM-FM-TV Philadelphia, PA, WNHC AM-FM-TV New Haven, CT, KFRE AM-FM-TV Fresno, CA, WNBF AM-FM-TV Binghamton, NY, WFBG AM-FM-TV Altoona, PA and WLYH-TV Lancaster/Lebanon, PA) The Daily Racing Form, The Morning Telegraph, Seventeen, and various cable TV interests. It was under Triangle's ownership of WFIL in Philadelphia that Dick Clark and American Bandstand came to popularity. Triangle Publications sold its Philadelphia newspapers to Knight Newspapers in 1969, its radio and television stations during the early 1970s to Capital Cities Communications and various other interests retaining only TV Guide, Seventeen Magazine and the Daily Racing Form. Triangle Publications was sold to News America Corporation in 1988 for $3 billion, one of the largest media deals of the time.

News Corporation era[link]

The advent of cable TV was hard on TV Guide. Cable channels began to be listed in TV Guide in 1980 or 1981, depending on the edition. Channels were also different, depending on the edition. Each channel was designated by an oblong bullet of three letters; for example, ESN represented ESPN and NIK represented Nickelodeon. To save channel space, some cable channels (mainly pay channels) had an asterisk by them, which meant that it was only listed in the evening grid (and later the Pay-TV Movie Guide). Channels like Cinemax and Disney initially started only in the grids, but later expanded to the listings as well.

As the years went on, cable channels were added. To help offset this, the issue of May 11–17, 1985 introduced a smaller font with some other cosmetic changes; a show's length was listed after the show's title—not in the description as it was previously. Another listings change took place in 1996; the show's title was no longer listed in all-uppercase, but mixed case as well.

To commemorate the 50th anniversary of TV Guide as a national magazine, in 2002 the magazine published six special issues:

• TV We'll Always Remember (April 6–12): Our Favorite Stars Share Fifty Years of Memories, Moments and Magic
• 50 Greatest Shows of All Time (May 4–10): The Ultimate List of the 50 Best TV Series. (Just Try to Guess What's No. 1!)
  • Note: This was the only one to be presented on television itself and referenced in the book TV Guide: Fifty Years of Television, considering the magazine's purpose to present weekly listings of regularly scheduled series.
• Our 50 Greatest Covers of All Time (June 15–21): Fabulous Photos of Your Favorite Shows and Stars Plus: Amazing Behind-the-Scenes Stories
• 50 Worst Shows of All Time (July 20–26): Not Just Bad! Really Awful - And We Love Them That Way!
• 50 Greatest Cartoon Characters of All Time (August 3–9): Funny! Clever! Drawn to perfection! They're the tops in toons!
• 50 Sexiest Stars of All Time (September 28–October 4): Charisma, Curves, Confidence, Charm! Could We Be Having Any More Fun?

Because most cable systems published their own listing magazine reflecting their channel lineup, and now have a separate guide channel on the remote that opens up to available programming, a printed listing of programming in a separate magazine became less valuable. The sheer amount and diversity of cable TV programming made it hard for TV Guide to provide listings of the extensive array of programming that came directly over the cable system. TV Guide also could not match the ability of the cable box to store personalized listings. TV Guide's circulation went from almost 20 million in 1970 to less than three million in 2007.

By 2003, there was also a list of cable channels (also broadcast channels in some editions) that were listed in the grids only. From its inception until 2003, TV Guide offered listings for the entire week, 24 hours a day. Beginning with the June 21, 2003 issue (in just a few select markets), the 5am–5pm Monday–Friday listings were condensed down to four grids: 5am–8am, 8am–11am, 11am–2pm, 2pm–5pm. If programming differed from one weekday to the next, "Various Programs" was listed. This change became permanent in all TV Guide editions beginning with the 2003 Fall Preview issue. Beginning in January 2004, the midnight–5am listings (and also 5am–8am on the Saturday and Sunday listings) did not include any out-of-town broadcast stations, just the edition's home market. Starting in June 2004 in most editions the channel lineup page showing the stations for each local edition was dropped. Starting in July 2004 the overnight listings were taken out entirely, replaced by a grid that ran from 11pm–2am and had the edition's home market broadcast stations, with a handful of cable stations. It also listed a small selection of late-night movies on some channels. The daytime grids also changed from the 5am–5pm listings, to 7am–7pm. In early 2005 more channels were added to the prime-time and late night grids. The magazine also changed format to start the week's issue with Sunday listings, rather than Saturday listings, which had previously changed from beginning with Friday listings.

On May 18, 2005, TV Guide launched TV Guide Talk, a weekly podcast available for free. The podcast was headlined by TV Guide reporter/personality Michael Ausiello, and was co-hosted by his co-workers, Angel Cohn, Daniel Manu, and Maitland McDonagh. The podcast was discontinued in 2008 with Ausiello's move to Entertainment Weekly. TV Guide was purchased from News Corporation in 1999 by United Video Satellite Group, parent company of the Prevue Networks, which itself was later purchased by the maker of the VCR Plus+ device and schedule system, Gemstar-TV Guide International, partially owned by News Corp.

Gemstar era[link]

On July 26, 2005, Gemstar-TV Guide announced that TV Guide would change in format from its digest size format to a larger full-size national magazine that will offer more stories and fewer TV listings. All 140 local editions were also eliminated, being replaced by two editions, one for Eastern/Central time zones and one for Pacific/Mountain. The change in format was attributed to the increase in the Internet, cable TV channels (like TV Guide Network), electronic program guides and digital video recorders as the sources of choice for viewers' program listings.

The new version of TV Guide went on sale on October 17, 2005, and featured Ty Pennington from Extreme Makeover: Home Edition on the cover. The listings format, now consisting entirely of grids, also changed to start the week's issue with Monday listings rather than Sunday listings.

In September 2006, TV Guide launched a redesigned website with expanded original editorial and user-generated content not included in the print magazine.

On December 22, 2006, TV Guide introduced the magazine's first ever two-week edition. The edition, which has Rachael Ray on the cover, was issued for the week of December 25, 2006 to January 7, 2007. In early 2008, the daytime Monday-Friday and late night grids were eliminated from the listings section, and the television highlights section was compressed into a six-page review of the week, rather than the previous two pages for each night.

With the acquisition of Gemstar-TV Guide by Macrovision on May 2, 2008, that company, which purchased Gemstar-TV Guide to mostly take advantage of their lucrative and profitable VCR Plus and electronic program guide patents, stated they wanted to sell both the magazine and TV Guide Network, along with the company's TVG horse racing channel to other parties.

OpenGate Capital era[link]

On October 13, 2008, Macrovision sold the money-losing magazine to equity fund OpenGate Capital for $1.^[3] As part of the sale, however, the companion website was retained by Macrovision^[4] (who then sold it to One Equity Partners^[5][6]), with all editorial connections between the magazine and website severed, including the end of Matt Roush's presence on TVGuide.com.^[7] The editorial content of the magazine was launched on a new site, TVGuideMagazine.com, which didn't feature TV Guide's listings in any form. However, TVGuidemagazine.com was shut down on June 1, 2010 and TV Guide Magazine and TVGuide.com entered into a deal to restore content from the magazine to the TVGuide.com website,^[8] which Lionsgate bought along with the TV Guide Network in January 2009.^[9]

In January 2009, the magazine cut several networks from the grid listings, including DIY Network and MTV, citing "space concerns"; however, two cuts, those of The CW and TV Guide Network,^[10][11] were seen as suspicious and arbitrary, as the guide carries several channels which have the same schedule night after night or are low-viewed and could have easily been cut, while several Fox networks continue to be listed due to agreements with the former News Corporation ownership. It is likely that the network's removal from TV Guide listings was related to the "divorce" of the website and network from the magazine.

In early February 2009, the listings for The CW and MTV were readded after much protest to the magazine's email addresses, with the listings for several low-viewed networks removed as a consequence.^[12] The other listings were slowly re-added, until TV Guide Network's schedule returned to the listings pages in June 2010 with their logo prominent within the grids as part of the deal with Lionsgate's TV Guide division mentioned above.

U.S. TV[link]

In 1998, the TV Guide brand and magazine was acquired by United Video Satellite Group, parent company of the Prevue Channel (now TV Guide Network). Like its predecessor, the original TV Guide Channel scrolled TV listings on the bottom portion of the screen. Until around 2002, the programs on the TV Guide Channel generally only lasted from 30 seconds to a minute, and thus usually appeared once to twice per hour. For instance, a show might appear at 12:25 and again at 1:55. However, over the early 2000s, the channel's focus shifted to full-length programs featuring celebrity gossip and movie talk.

In May 2007, Gemstar Media, a subsidiary of Gemstar-TV Guide Inc., renamed the TV Guide Channel to the TV Guide Network, stating that the new name reflects a new direction towards more original content and entertainment features in addition to its traditional listings function.

Today, TV Guide Network runs programs such as the weekly entertainment news magazine, The 411, and red-carpet event coverage (originally hosted by Joan and Melissa Rivers). In mid-2007, the mother-daughter duo were unceremoniously dropped by TV Guide in favor of both Lisa Rinna and Joey Fatone, whose popularities had been on the rise in the wake of their recent appearances on Dancing With the Stars.

To further distinguish itself from other television guides, TV Guide re-branded itself as TV GUIDE Magazine. The original name is now capitalized and "Magazine" always follows.^{[citation needed]}

Listings Pattern History[link]

• Friday to Thursday: April 3, 1953—July 15, 1954
• Saturday to Friday: July 17, 1954—April 9, 2004
• Sunday to Saturday: April 11, 2004—October 15, 2005
• Monday to Sunday: October 17, 2005—present

[edit] Other usage of the TV Guide name

• The term "TV guide" has partly become a genericized trademark to describe other TV listings appearing on the web and in newspapers.^[13] Read/Write Web published "Your Guide to Online TV Guides: 10 Services Compared."^[14] Techcrunch in 2006 offered "Overview: The End of Paper TV Guides."^[15]
• TV Guides is also the name of an interactive video and sound installation produced in 1995 with assistance from the Canada Council and shown at SIGGRAPH 1999.^[16] National TV guides are also published in other countries, but none of these are believed to be affiliated with the North American publication.
• In Australia during the 1970s a version of TV Guide was published under license by Southdown Press. That version merged with competitor publication TV Week in 1980. TV Week has a very similar logo to the TV Guide logo.
• New Zealand has a digest-sized paper called TV Guide, not associated with the United States or Canadian publications. It has the largest circulation of any national magazine, and is published by Fairfax Media.^[17]
• Mexico offers a digest-sized publication called TV Guía, unrelated with the US publication. It is published by Editorial Televisa.
• In Italy, a digest-size Guida TV is published by Mondadori since September 1976.

See also[link]

• List of TV Guide covers
  • List of TV Guide covers (1950s)
  • List of TV Guide covers (1960s)
  • List of TV Guide covers (1970s)
  • List of TV Guide covers (1980s)
  • List of TV Guide covers (1990s)
  • List of TV Guide covers (2000s)
  • List of TV Guide covers (2010s)
• List of TV Guide editions
• TV Guide Canada
• TV Guide Network
• TV Guide's 100 Greatest Episodes of All Time
• TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website
• List of TV Guide Magazines

Jamie Lee Curtis
Curtis in June 2010
Born	(1958-11-22) November 22, 1958 (age 53) Santa Monica, California, U.S.
Occupation	Actress Author Blogger
Years active	1977–present
Spouse	Christopher Guest (1984–present)

Jamie Lee Curtis (born November 22, 1958) is an American actress and author. Although she was initially known as a "scream queen" because of her starring roles in several horror films early in her career, such as Halloween, The Fog, Prom Night, and Terror Train, Curtis has since compiled a body of work that spans many genres, and has won BAFTA and Golden Globe awards. Her 1998 book, Today I Feel Silly, and Other Moods That Make My Day, made the best-seller list in The New York Times. Curtis has appeared in advertisements, and is a blogger for The Huffington Post online newspaper. She is married to actor, screenwriter, and director Christopher Guest.

Early life[link]

Curtis was born in Santa Monica, California, to actor Tony Curtis and actress Janet Leigh. Her paternal grandparents were Hungarian Jewish immigrants^[1] and two of her maternal great-grandparents were Danish.^[2] Curtis's parents divorced in 1962, after which her mother married Robert Brandt. Curtis has an older sister, Kelly Curtis, who is also an actress, and several half-siblings (all from her father's remarriages), Alexandra, Allegra, Ben, and Nicholas Curtis (who died in 1994 of a drug overdose).^[3] Curtis attended Westlake School in Los Angeles and Beverly Hills High School, and graduated from Choate Rosemary Hall. Returning to California in 1976, she attended the University of the Pacific in Stockton, California. She considered majoring in social work, but quit after one semester to pursue an acting career.

Career[link]

Film[link]

Curtis's film debut occurred in the 1978 horror film Halloween, in which she played the role of Laurie Strode. The film was a major success and was considered the highest grossing independent film of its time, earning accolades as a classic horror film. Curtis was subsequently cast in several horror films, garnering her the title, "scream queen".

Her next film was the horror film The Fog, which was helmed by Halloween director John Carpenter. The film opened in February 1980 to mixed reviews but strong box office,^[4] further cementing Curtis as a horror film starlet. Her next film, Prom Night, was a low-budget Canadian slasher film released in July 1980. The film, for which she earned a Genie Award nomination for Best Performance by a Foreign Actress, was similar in style to Halloween, yet received negative reviews which marked it as a disposable entry in the then-popular "slasher film" genre. That year, Curtis also starred in Terror Train, which opened in October and was met with negative reviews akin to Prom Night. Both films performed only moderately well at the box office.^[5] Curtis had a similar function in both films - the main character whose friends are murdered, and is practically the only protagonist to survive. Film critic Roger Ebert, who had given negative reviews to all three of Curtis' 1980 films, said that Curtis "is to the current horror film glut what Christopher Lee was to the last one-or Boris Karloff was in the 1930s".^[6] Curtis later appeared in Halloween II, Halloween H20: 20 Years Later and Halloween: Resurrection, as well as giving an uncredited voice role in Halloween III: Season of the Witch.

Her role in 1983's Trading Places helped Curtis shed her horror queen image, and garnered her a BAFTA award as best supporting actress.^[7] 1988's A Fish Called Wanda achieved near cult status – while showcasing her as a comedic actress; she was nominated for a BAFTA as best leading actress.^[7] She won a Golden Globe for her work in 1994's True Lies. Her recent film roles include Disney's Freaky Friday (2003), opposite Lindsay Lohan, filmed at Palisades High School in Pacific Palisades, California, near where Curtis and Guest live with their children. She was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy for this film.^[8]

In October 2006, Curtis told Access Hollywood that she had closed the book on her acting career to focus on her family. She returned to acting after being cast in June 2007 in Disney's live-action-animated film, Beverly Hills Chihuahua, co-starring opposite Piper Perabo as one of three live-action characters in the film. She also starred in the 2010 comedy film You Again, opposite Kristen Bell and Sigourney Weaver.^[9]

Television[link]

Curtis made her television debut in an episode of Columbo, but her first starring TV role was opposite Richard Lewis in the situation comedy Anything But Love, which ran for four seasons from 1989 through 1992. Her performance as Hannah Miller received both a Golden Globe and People's Choice Award. She appeared as nurse Lt. Duran in the short-lived television series, Operation Petticoat; based on the big-screen version which starred her real-life father.

She starred in the 1981 TV film, Death of a Centerfold: The Dorothy Stratten Story, playing the part of the eponymous doomed Playmate. She earned a Golden Globe nomination for her work in TNT's adaptation of the Wendy Wasserstein play The Heidi Chronicles. More recently, Curtis starred in the CBS television movie Nicholas' Gift, for which she received an Emmy nomination. Curtis also appeared in the science fiction series, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, and an early episode of The Drew Carey Show. Jamie Lee Curtis was a game-show panelist on several episodes of Match Game.

In 2012, she appeared in three episodes of the television series NCIS, playing the role of Dr. Samantha Ryan, a potential romantic interest of Special Agent Gibbs. It has been hinted that her role may be a recurring one. During an interview, she openly said that if they could develop a story line that she would be more than happy to be on the show more.^[10] If the role is made recurring, it will be at least the second time Harmon has worked with Curtis; he played her fiancée and later husband in the 2003 remake of Freaky Friday ^[11]

Children's books[link]

Working with illustrator Laura Cornell, Curtis has written a number of children's books,^[12] all published by HarperCollins Children's Books.^[13]

• When I Was Little: A Four-Year Old's Memoir of Her Youth, 1993.
• Tell Me Again About The Night I was Born, 1996.
• Today I Feel Silly, and Other Moods That Make My Day, 1998; listed on the New York Times best-seller list for 10 weeks.^[14]
• Where Do Balloons Go?: An Uplifting Mystery, 2000.
• I'm Gonna Like Me: Letting Off a Little Self-Esteem, 2002.
• It's Hard to Be Five: Learning How to Work My Control Panel, 2004.
• Is There Really a Human Race?, 2006.
• Big Words for Little People, ISBN 978-0-06-112759-5, 2008.
• My Friend Jay, 2009, edition of one, presented to Jay Leno
• My Mommy Hung the Moon: A Love Story, 2010.

Invention[link]

In 1987, Curtis filed a US patent application that subsequently issued as Patent No. 4,753,647. This is a modification of a diaper with a moisture proof pocket containing wipes that can be taken out and used with one hand.^[15] Curtis refused to allow her invention to be marketed until companies started selling biodegradable diapers,^[16] although the full statutory term of this patent expired February 20, 2007 and is now in the public domain.

Humanitarian and political causes[link]

In March 2012, Curtis was featured with Martin Sheen and Brad Pitt in a performance of Dustin Lance Black's play, '8' — a staged reenactment of the federal trial that overturned California's Prop 8 ban on same-sex marriage — as Sandy Stier.^[17] The production was held at the Wilshire Ebell Theatre and broadcast on YouTube to raise money for the American Foundation for Equal Rights.^[18][19]

Personal life[link]

Curtis married actor Christopher Guest on December 18, 1984, becoming Lady Haden-Guest when her husband inherited the Barony of Haden-Guest in 1996, upon the death of his father. The couple have two adopted children (Annie, b. 1986; Thomas b. 1996).^[20] Curtis is actor Jake Gyllenhaal's godmother.^[21]

On her website, Curtis tells her young readers that she "moonlights as an actor, photographer, and closet organizer."^[12] She takes time to support various philanthropic groups. Curtis was Guest of Honor at the 11th annual Gala and Fundraiser in 2003 for Women in Recovery, Inc., a Venice, California-based non-profit organization offering a live-in, twelve-step program of rehabilitation for women in need. Past honorees of this organization include Sir Anthony Hopkins and Angela Lansbury. Curtis is also involved in the work of the Children Affected by AIDS Foundation, serving as the annual host for the organization's "Dream Halloween" event in Los Angeles, launched every year in October.^[22][23]

Curtis appeared on the cover of the May/June 2008 issue of AARP Magazine, with gray hair and in water up to her chest.^[24]

Curtis was an alcoholic who was once addicted to pain killers that she began using after a routine cosmetic surgical procedure. She became sober in 1999^[25] and maintains that recovery is the greatest achievement of her life.^[26]

Curtis has appeared in advertisements for Activia since 2007,^[27] and is a blogger for The Huffington Post online newspaper.^[28] During California's 2008 General Election, Curtis appeared in the "YES on Prop 3" TV advertisements.^[29]

Filmography[link]

References[link]