Madonna as her "Material Girl" persona

 August 10, 1985, TV Guide put an illustrated portrait of Madonna as her "Material Girl" persona on the cover, painted by Bob Peak, alongside two stories: "Madonna, Miami Vice, et al.: How to Tell TV's Good Videos from the Bad Ones," detailed on page 10, and "Meet Sharon Gless: Watch How They Balance Star Egos on Cagney and Lacey," on page 26.

"Material Girl" had been released as a single from Madonna's second album, Like a Virgin, on January 23, 1985, with its music video recreating a scene from the 1953 film Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, and MTV's heavy rotation of the video helped cement Madonna's rising stardom that year. The cover story examined the growing role of music videos in shaping television and pop culture, using Madonna's clip alongside the stylized visuals of Miami Vice as examples.

The issue's other feature centered on Sharon Gless, who starred as Detective Christine Cagney opposite Tyne Daly's Mary Beth Lacey on Cagney and Lacey, the CBS police drama that ran from March 25, 1982, to May 16, 1988, and had won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama Series the previous year.