The Best of The Tabloids
Written: May 12 '01
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Highest quality of all the tabloids. Janet Charleton. The political-Clinton stuff.
Cons: The stigma of being a tabloid.
The Bottom Line: These magazines are filling a void left by the now-defunct classic fan magazines such as Modern Screen, and Movie Mirror--which were all very legitimate publications and part of American culture.
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| Pisces's Full Review: Star Magazine |
If you are going to read a tabloid, and more importantly, if you are going to bother to spend the money for one, which I did just this week--the best of the bunch, I have found is Star Magazine.
Every so often I will purchase all three tabloids: The Globe, The Star, and the National Enquirer. Especially, currently, when there seems to me more celebrity news going on than usual this week.
I found the Star to be the best because it confines itself, pretty much to well-known personalities and doesn't do a lot of "amazing stories" of ordinary people you don't know or may not care about. I wouldn't spend the money to find out that, yes, life is strange, and that, yes there are unusual things that go on with otherwise ordinary people.
But, Americans have a long tradition of savoring celebrity gossip. The American public supported gossip columnists like Hedda Hopper, Luella Parsons, and my favorite: Rona Barrett, for quite some time.
I still remember looking forward to Rona Barrett's segments on Good Morning America--how I loved both David Hartman and Rona on GMA--which I thought was a warmer, home-like show in the 1970's.
And I used to be a fan magazine junkie, regularly buying Rona Barrett's Hollywood, Rona Barrett's Gossip, and Rona Barrett's Daytimers. There was a time when, with magazines such as Movie Life and the back page of Photoplay, gossip was very legitimate. What I'm saying is that now that these classic fan magazines have had their day, where is a celebrity gossip junkie like me supposed to get their gossip?
Star magazine comes pretty close. I really think that Janet Charleton, Star Magazine's regular columnist, could be today's Rona Barrett, or even Hedda Hopper. Star magazine broke many of the Clinton stories in which the so-called "legitimate" press had to acknowledge. Things just seem more balanced in Star rather than, say, the Globe. Every week, the Globe seems to have another story about John Benet Ramsey, which seems too much. Also, I don't like the Globe's use of celebrities as columnists. The Globe uses Ivanna Trump as an advice columnist, but Globe has also, in the meantime toned down their gossip on the Trumps. I'd rather see Trump as a gossip subject rather than columnist.
So, I say, don't feel guilty at all about reading tabloids. Until the classic fan magazines of yesteryear make a comeback, have fun reading the Star!
Recommended:
Yes
This is a: Tabloid
Primary Reason for Buying: Articles
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Epinions.com ID:
Pisces
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 - Top 1000 |
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Location: Los Angeles, CA
Reviews written: 143
Trusted by: 24 members
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