TV Guide Magazine December 30, 2024

This December 30, 1967, cover of TV GUIDE MAGAZINE might look sweet and demure as host Carol Burnett—who launched her variety series, The Carol Burnett Show, earlier that year—poses with an oversized flower, but the cover story inside was serious business. “In Defense of Television” was the first in a series of stories focusing on the beneficial effects of what was a relatively new medium at the time. Here, CBS journalist Eric Sevareid addresses the assumptions that TV destroys conversation and discourages reading. “My only point,” he concluded, “is that we need a little less hypocrisy and a lot more common sense in our evaluations of an all-pervasive…medium for amusement, information, enlightenment, inspiration… one that is already embedded in the warp and woof of America [and] is going to be…

FOND FAREWELLS I have been a reader of TV GUIDE MAGAZINE for more than a half century. This is my first letter. Like many viewers, I lament the loss of Blue Bloods, which had its series finale on December 13 on CBS. It has been the highlight of my Friday evenings for 14 years. Its combination of good stories and strong family values resonated with many. —Karl The ending to Superman & Lois (Monday, December 2, The CW) was great. It was the best way to end the series. I’ve never seen a series end as well as this one did. —Barb WORTH IT! TV GUIDE MAGAZINE, thank you for telling me the truth! These shows have been so “worth watching”: Brilliant Minds on NBC, FX’s What We Do in…

Honeymoon Phase The Young Sheldon spinoff starring Montana Jordan and Emily Osment (above) has had a stellar season, clocking in as one of the Top 5 highest-rated series of the fall. Steady Start The prequel has been a solid performer, growing its viewership by 54 percent when factoring in seven days of delayed playback. Still, it’s running 23 percent behind the departed NCIS: Hawai‘i. Quack Attack The Big Ten Championship Game, which saw the Oregon Ducks triumph over the Penn State Nittany Lions, drew the fifth-largest college football audience on any network this season (and increased 5 percent over last year’s championship). Reindeer Games Shifting back to NBC for its 60th annual holiday airing, the 1964 stop-motion Christmastime classic, about Santa’s outcast reindeer whose nose glowed so bright, hit a…

Here’s some arresting news: ABC recently reported that another spinoff of The Rookie is in the works. (The current series, starring Nathan Fillion, kicks off its seventh season in January.) Creator Alexi Hawley is set to executive produce the new series—alongside Fillion—which focuses on a male Washington State cop entering a midlife crisis. This new offshoot would be the second for the cop drama franchise. The Rookie: Feds, starring Niecy Nash-Betts as an over-40 FBI agent, debuted in 2022 on ABC but lasted only one season before it was cut short by the actors’ strike. But popularity and ratings for The Rookie remain strong—maybe it’s the Fillion charm!…

“I’M NOT AN angry young man. I am a concerned and conscientious young man,” Michael Cole told TV GUIDE MAGAZINE in a 1969 profile arguing the opposite, with legendary producer Aaron Spelling admitting the actor had a “hostility to anyone he doesn’t know,” but that it was a “defense mechanism.” Cole initially turned down the role that made him a star—as Pete Cochran, part of the hip undercover The Mod Squad (1968–73), alongside the late Peggy Lipton and Clarence Williams III—because, as he told Spelling, “I’m not going to take the part of a guy who finks on his friends.” He relented after realizing their job was to take down the adults exploiting kids. All three reprised their roles in 1979’s TV movie The Return of the Mod Squad. Cole,…

PREMIERES The Rig Jan. 2, Prime Video Vera Jan. 2, BritBox Love Is Blind: Germany Jan. 3, Netflix NEW Selling the City Jan. 3, Netflix NEW Worst Cooks in America Celebrity Edition: Heroes vs. Villains Jan. 5, 8/7c, Food Network Deal or No Deal Island Jan. 7, 8/7c, NBC Fixer to Fabulous Jan. 7, 8/7c, HGTV Kitchen Nightmares: Road to Super Bowl LIX Jan. 7, 8/7c, Fox Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta Jan. 7, 8/7c, MTV Will Trent Jan. 7, 8/7c, ABC Help! I’m in a Secret Relationship! Jan. 7, 9/8c, MTV Lucy Worsley Investigates Jan. 7, 9/8c, PBS (check local listings at pbs.org) 7 Little Johnstons Jan. 7, 9/8c, TLC Tyler Perry’s The Oval Jan. 7, 9/8c, BET Wildcard Kitchen Jan. 7, 9/8c, Food Network The Rookie Jan. 7,…