Source: http://rover.ebay.comImage (edited): Million Magazines. License: All Rights Reserved.
The designer of this cover is unknown, but it could be: Milton Glaser who showed me an alternate comp of this cover when I visited him in 2017 (see below); Jerry Alten, TV Guide’s art director in the 1980s; Barry Zaid who contributed lettering to TV Guide in 1980s and was at Push Pin Studios with Glaser in 1969–75; or someone else at Push Pin. The type is Einstein Bold. Einstein was named for (and likely first used on) Glaser’s cover for Philip Glass & Robert Wilson – Einstein On The Beach album art.
I visited Milton Glaser’s studio in 2017 and he showed me alphabet photostats along with this artwork. It’s not clear if it was a rejected comp for the final cover. The TV Guide logo and illustration are different, but the Einstein type is the same.