The Boston Phoenix, the alternative weekly that began publishing in 1965 and which helped launch the careers of several top-notch film critics including Owen Glieberman, David Denby, David Edelstein, Paul Attanasio, Janet Maslin, David Chute and Stephen Schiff, has been shut down for good. Phoenix publisher Stephen M. Mindich cited (what else?) ad revenue decline.

Joan Micklin Silver‘s Between The Lines (’77) was set in Boston and about a Phoenix-like staff (played by John Heard, Lindsay Crouse, Jeff Goldblum, Bruno Kirby, Michael J. Pollard, Gwen Welles, Jill Eikenberry, Marilu Henner) dealing with a big-business takeover. The script was mostly penned by Fred Barron, who had written for The Phoenix and The Real Paper. Silver reportedly once worked for The Village Voice. There was also a short-lived TV sitcom, also titled Between the Lines.