Still Here...
I'm sure that most of you who frequent the Premiere website and this blog know that Premiere ceased publication of its print edition as of yesterday. The website does live on, and I'm also staying...to be the website's film critic, DVD writer, blogger and more. The website is going to be changing—for the better is the general consensus and hope as to exactly how—and I'm excited to be working on changing it.
Please pardon my ungraceful writing here. Obviously this is a challenge I take on with some profoundly mixed emotions, and profoundly mixed emotions don't much enhance my prose stylings. I joined the print edition of Premiere as a freelance writer/editor n the summer of 1996 and was put on the staff in January of 1997. So many people I've worked with over the years, and particularly the staff that's been in place since Peter Herbst took over as editor-in-chief in 2001, haven't been merely valued colleagues but dear and precious friends. I will miss them all terribly, and I'll miss the print version of Premiere as well.
But nevertheless...Excelsior!,as they say. I'll be back with more entertaining content tomorrow. And I will entertain any reasonable questions in the comments section below. As always, thanks for stopping by.
I've been reading Premiere for as long as you've been writing for it - and I will miss the print edition enormously. I won't be able to snuggle up in bed with the online edition of the magazine! I'm so glad you'll be here writing reviews and blogging. It's comfort enough, if the print edition must go. And, apparently, it must.
Posted by: Crossoverman | March 06, 2007 at 05:14 PM
By golly I sure picked an odd day to come looking for your blog. Props to all your companions for jobs well done over these many years. I guess, once they folded Shock!, it was only a matter of time before they got around to Awe...I mean, Premiere. I'll bookmark here, meanwhile, and look forward to the new & improved Web you. Bon chance, although I suppose French is unpardonable today.
Posted by: Gregor | March 06, 2007 at 06:00 PM
Very glad to hear we still have you to look forward to online. As they say in The Wild Bunch, "It ain't like the old days, but it'll do."
In the meantime, we here in France only hope that you will continue, please, to heap calumny and oppobrium on Ms. Maureen Dowd. Or Ingrid Bergman in THE BELLS OF ST. MARY'S, as she apparently now conceives herself to be. This woman's copy of Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide must be confiscated, or burned, or something. Quickly, before she discovers Greer Garson.
Posted by: crazysummerswithbrigitte | March 06, 2007 at 06:21 PM
I read this on the IMDB and just blogged about it.
Very depressing news. I was a reader of Premiere since the beginning. It was one of my favorite magazines.
In recent years, it seemed to have been at the top of its game. And, not to kiss up too much, but Glenn, your reviews were one of the major reasons for that.
It will be missed, but I'll keep checking back here.
Posted by: Talking Moviezzz | March 06, 2007 at 06:36 PM
The lady Eve and I send our condolences, bouquets, best wishes and weaponry. Use any or all as you see fit.
Posted by: addison dewitt | March 06, 2007 at 06:55 PM
The magazine--and all of its faithful readers--deserve so much better than this.
Posted by: WP | March 06, 2007 at 07:19 PM
yikes! That is to say: "so much better" than the magazine's sudden shutdown, not "so much better" than your very thoughtful and obviously heartfelt blog entry; I will continue to be a loyal reader of the blog. :)
Posted by: WP | March 06, 2007 at 07:38 PM
Dear Sir,Dearest Premiere!
I have been an avid PREMIERE reader since that day in August 1987, when I purchased the very first issue, featuring Dan Aykroyd and Tom Hanks on the cover. I understand it was a test issue, and "if you ask me", the test was passed with flying colors! So much so that I simply stopped reading its french counterpart, feeling the US edition provided me with everything I was denied in this and any other international film publication.
What am I to do now? Come visit your blog, I guess...It will be with great interest,and equal pleasure, I'm sure.
We are entering an era, foreseen by acclaimed author Ray Bradbury, where people will gradually forget the simple physical act of holding a copy of a book or magazine.
Reading hasn't been declared illegal just yet, but such decisions as Hachette Filipacchi's are contributing to the accelerated obsolescence of reading and writing. But okay, okay, I understand the media moguls decision. I know, for the weak, page-turning is a much greater effort than blinking. Probably the same reason why top film execs don't know a great script when they open one. They just don't know they're supposed to turn the next pages...
So HF resolved to close their eyes to what a valuable publication PREMIERE is.
Not illegal yet , but there seems to already be an unspoken law: short term thinking and immediate profit.
I guess short-sightedness comes from reading only the bottom line...
Anyway, PREMIERE, dear old friend, YOU ARE NOT DEAD!
To paraphrase a famous theme song:
Your heart will go on...
Posted by: andre kobtzeff | March 07, 2007 at 07:26 AM
I have a huge stack of Premieres in magazine boxes in my house, and I can't believe they will not expand any further.
I live in the UK and am (was) a faithful subscriber. Premiere was quite simply required reading, especially since the UK only has one readable film magazine. That's Empire.
So what the hell am I going to do now?
Magazines and books absolutely do not belong online. The internet is for looking and checking, not reading. I can't imagine anything more depressing than reading a long article or a book on a computer screen.
Goodbye, dear Premiere.
Posted by: Owain Wilson | March 07, 2007 at 09:38 AM
I've been a Premiere reader since the beginning. I've known for a few years, however, that the magazine was not doing well financially, and that the success of overseas versions was probably keeping Premiere afloat in the US. Now, with the growth of the web, I guess the publisher feels more comfortable with the brand being a web only brand in the US. Frankly, if, as I heard, the alternative to cancellation was to turn Premiere into just another celebrity magazine, I prefer that Premiere go out in style rather than tarnish itself. So I ask the folks who are continuing this web site - please do not let it turn into a vehicle for celebrity news and trivia. There are plenty of other sites for that. Hopefully, Premiere on the web can continue to focus on the movies themselves the working life of the people who make them.
Posted by: Greg Andrew | March 07, 2007 at 10:42 AM
I am deeply saddened by this news; there is not any other film magazine with this much depth AND entertaining at the same time. Alas, nothing last forever (though I wish I could say that Premiere would refute that), and I agree, since it would be paying great respect, let's go out on top!
Posted by: MKS | March 07, 2007 at 11:23 AM
What I shame. I started reading the magazine in 1988 (Mel Gibson was in the cover). Before Internet, that's how I got up to date to everything movies.
But to be honest, in the last years, I started buying the French edition, I think the US one had too many advertisings, and less substance.
I wish the change is for good.
Good luck!
Posted by: Victor Herrera | March 07, 2007 at 03:25 PM
...So happy that I'll be able to keep reading you right here. Also glad that you'll have something to do during the days, otherwise we might keep having to have lunches together, and neither of us needs to spend that much time at table...
Posted by: Brian Koppelman | March 08, 2007 at 10:19 AM
Drat, after all these years and 22 dreary, film-ignorant nieces and nephews I finally was given one who was worthy of a gift subscription to Premiere and now this. Sorry Alex. Thank you Mr. Kenny for your wonderful reviews. I'll try to stick with you in this paper-hostile environment. I have no doubt that Alex can hang.
Posted by: Terry Morris | March 12, 2007 at 04:56 PM