• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, August 12, 2005

CBS is launching a free, quarterly, consumer-targeted looking entertainment magazine called Watch!, with feature stories, behind-the-scenes coverage, and exclusive interviews of -- what else? - CBS television shows! The magazine will be distributed at Paramount Parks, CBS show tapings, and at about 200 CBS affiliates across the country.

Gil Schwartz, executive vice president of the CBS Communications Group, told Daily Variety: "If people read the magazine and it reads like propaganda from the organization, then I think we've not succeeded."

Don't worry - it won't be the copy style that gives it away. Even loyal CBS viewers might wonder after the first couple of months why there are no features on "Desperate Housewives," "American Idol," "Everwood," or "Joey." And if any CBS TV shows take a turn for the worse with lower ratings - putting the cast of the new two-rated sitcom "Out of Practice" on the cover will only make people scratch their heads.

Then CBS will get letters like this:

"Dear Editor: I am shocked and dismayed over your TV coverage where TV shows seem to come from a very narrow list. Why, I wonder, was it necessary to put on the cover - for three weeks in succession - 'CSI,' 'CSI: Miami,' and 'CSI: New York'? Though we love sawed off legs, arms, and heads, we tire easily - and look for more spiritual guidance. Why not 'Joan of Arcadia'? Oh yeah. That's right. You cancelled it. Oh well. We look forward to the cover on your new procedural crime drama starring Michael Richards as the loose cannon desk sergeant."

There is nothing wrong with doing this type of promotional magazine - the problem comes in pretending that it's something else. Unlike other promotional magazines, Watch! will sell advertising pages like consumer magazines, although mostly to CBS TV sponsors.

This is different than, for example, what ESPN does with its ESPN The Magazine. It has a separate editorial team that covers all sports - not just the sports ESPN airs.

CBS' Schwartz knows a thing or two about writing and editing, and, as editor-in-chief, he could make a good entertainment book, but naturally not as the senior communications executive at CBS. However, if Schwartz wanted he could let Stanley Bing -- his long-time alter ego magazine columnist - take a stab at it. Bing's eloquent and snarky voice would make a good read on entertainment issues.

A marketing/propaganda machine is quite okay, since capitalism shows its head occasionally at major media companies. I hear this time of year some networks even run promos of new fall season shows.

But I could be wrong. Surely there's a loyal contingent viewers who only pine for coverage of CBS or other Viacom shows - especially while waiting in line at a Paramount Theme Park or a CBS screening.