Updated TV Guide app includes celebrity watchlists and guest-curated channels

Last night the TV Guide app for iOS was updated to include a few new features, plus a few bugfixes and performance tweaks. I spoke to TVGuide.com's GM Christy Tanner about the update and learned a few interesting stats about the service itself. If you're already a fan of the app, this is a great update. If you haven't used TV Guide on your iPhone or iPad yet, now's a great time to try it.

Here at TUAW we've absorbed a lot of rumors about the "next Apple TV," but the most salient points about this rumored product swirl around a better user experience when it comes to finding what you want to watch. Take The Office, a popular show on NBC for years, as one example. You might catch reruns on any number of channels, but also a stored catalog on Netflix or Hulu. These listings change all the time (certain shows disappear from Netflix based on contracts, for example). How do you keep track?

TV Guide not only shows you what's playing on TV, but also what is available across a number of other services, including streaming sites like Hulu. In fact, the app will launch Hulu if that's where you find what you want to watch -- an extremely helpful feature.

With over 1.5 million users for TV Guide, Tanner and the team decided to add some actual content to the app, and two new features will be fun for people who simply don't know what to watch.

First up are guest-curated channels. A selection of videos from weekly guest curators. Friend of the blog and host of What's Trending, Shira Lazar, is up first. Second there are celebrity Watchlist videos, where famous folks share what they are watching.

The folks at TVGuide.com who made the app feel that it is appropriate for those of us who watch hours of TV, and those who cut the cable and only watch on-demand items once in a while. I think with the variety of discovery options available, the app launching and improved performance, that the TV Guide app is worth a look.