A Pair of Aces
When Jim Seymore became the managing editor of ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY exactly 656 issues ago, the pop-culture landscape looked very different: Dick Tracy topped the box office chart. DVD and Internet weren’t even in our vocabulary. New Kids on the Block’s Step by Step had been aced out as the country’s top-selling album by M.C. Hammer’s Please Hammer Don’t Hurt ‘Em. And, after seeing the ratings for just two episodes, NBC had decided that — although it seemed like a long shot — the new comedy Seinfeld might just have a future.
Long odds were something Jim didn’t mind one bit: He liked a challenge, and, during a remarkable 12-year run, he took a publication that had struggled to find its voice and identity and turned it into the most successful new weekly magazine since People. Jim created many of EW’s most popular features, starting with its widely imitated News & Notes section, and, under his stewardship, EW won four National Magazine Awards, including prizes for general excellence both in 1995 and this year. Jim oversaw the magazine with an abiding conviction that humor, energy, irreverence, sharp reporting, and high critical standards would bring EW a loyal following, and his unerring nose for who was merely hot-today-gone-tomorrow (nothing personal, Hammer) and who had real staying power (one early cover favorite: Julia Roberts) turned the magazine into a tastemaker you could trust.
As Jim steps into a new role as a Time Inc. editor-at-large, we thank him for his inestimable contribution, and we’re thrilled to welcome Rick Tetzeli as ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY’s new managing editor. Rick comes to EW after 12 years at Time Inc.’s FORTUNE, where, most recently, his graceful editing and superb instinct for a great story guided the magazine’s groundbreaking coverage of the Internet’s boom and bust. Given that roller-coaster ride, we’re sure he’ll feel right at home tracking the wildly unpredictable ups and downs of showbiz. And with tastes that range from Austin Powers to The Fast Runner (Atanarjuat) and from Bruce Springsteen to Jurassic 5 (see page 36), Rick will deliver a magazine that’s always smart — and always surprising.
Led by Rick and EW’s new president, Andy Sareyan, whose welcome return to the magazine comes after five years away, most recently as president of The Parenting Group, EW will continue to be the most vibrant, savvy, and exciting entertainment magazine in America. Keep watching: We’re confident you’ll like what you see.
Norman Pearlstine Editor-in-Chief
John Huey Editorial Director