TVSquad

The Hollywood Reporter has always ranked high on my list of entertainment sites, but that might change with the site's new makeover. Or rather, makeunder. It's awful! Let's break it down:

1. The Header. They've ditched the classic logo with "Hollywood" in script font for a blocky, robotic logo (see picture). Say what?! As my TV Squad buddy, Joel, says, "It's like changing the Ford or GE logo ... shouldn't be done." And as my other TV Squad buddy, Bob, says, it looks like the logo for "some generic Internet business newsletter." Agree on both counts.

2. The Colors. Bland, bland, bland. Are they harking back to that old saying, "What's black and white and red all over?" Those colors just don't do it for me. Yes, I realize the old design included those colors, but not in such a "plumbing and heating business" kind of way.

3. Navigation. Ok, so they've got nice big subheads for Home, Film, Technology, etc., but I hate the moving 1-2-3 videos at the top of every page. Yes, I know you can "pause" them, but I don't want to have to think that hard. I barely have a chance to read one video and it's on to the next one. Make it stop!

4. The RSS Feed. Don't make me search for it, people. Put it at the top where I can click on it easily, not at the bottom where I have to dig through an entire page. Do you not want me to subscribe to your feed? Howzabout making it just a little bit easier?

5. The Layout. There's too much information thrown at me all at once. I like clean lists of news items, not the mish-mash of sections for blogs, reviews, news, and of course, that irritating moving-pictures video box. And why are the production listings way down at the bottom, "below the fold," as the site says? It's not a newspaper. It's a web site. Put links for everything at the top.

Take a look and see what you think. Are you with me on this one?