Unlike the sites covered thus far, entertainment sites usually cater to an audience whose interests and motivations are usually much less focused. This audience needs to be grabbed immediately by compelling graphic and text presentations, or they'll simply hop somewhere else in search of stimulation. As in any other design genre, what is "compelling" depends entirely on the audience's expectations. Slate's sophisticated mix of political commentary and social criticism depends heavily on clever, well-written headlines and teasers. The well-designed home page presentation is derived entirely from presentation styles used in political and current affairs magazines, because that's exactly the audience Slate is seeking.
Unfortunately, content presentation in entertainment and magazine sites is consistently marred by the intrusion of banner ads, whose winking, blinking, and blaring colored boxes interfere with on-screen reading.