Remember Debra Birnbaum, the editor of Life & Style who, as we were the first to tell you, was ousted by Bauer head Hubert Boehle in November '06, only to be replaced by Mark Pasetsky, who got himself the ax less than a year later?

In June of last year, she headed to TV Guide as the executive editor. TV Guide, if you're unfamiliar, is a magazine your mother used to keep on the coffee table so she knew what time her stories were on. Today, it's a magazine that's seen readership dwindle and is basically a commodity in the $2.3 billion sale of parent Gemstar to Macrovision, which only wanted Gemstar's video programming technology; the sale, of course, also saw top editors EIC Ian Birch, managing editor Lois Draegin, and exec ed Steve Sonsky leave the building.

Getting to the point: Now we're hearing rumors that Birnbaum is taking over as editor of the magazine. Mediaweek is hearing those same rumblings but notes "the title's long-term future is up in question," since Macrovision isn't expected to hold on to the magazine for very long. Which means Birnbaum assuming the top spot now could be trouble down the road. Or a brilliant career move. It's so hard to tell with these things!

Update: It's confirmed: Birnbaum is the new EIC.