Sometimes bigger is not better, and the readers said so.

I was on vacation in a warm place far, far away, when the Sun Journal building was hijacked by a group of gremlins.

Nasty bunch. Ugly, too.

They got together and decided to play a trick on our unsuspecting readers. They thought and thought: What could they do that would really anger our loyal customers?

How about misspelling a few street names? Or, perhaps, jumping some stories to inside pages, but then forgetting to run the rest of the story?

Nah. Not nasty enough.

These were really clever gremlins. Mean-spirited, but wicked clever.

Finally, they hit on something truly diabolical: They would make the TV Preview book bigger.

So big you couldn’t stick it under the sofa cushions.

So big and floppy it would fall off the back of the Zenith TV, back into that dark hole where the dust bunnies live.

So big that it would be a regular pain in the pajamas to use.

And, boy, did their plan work. Angry readers called and complained. Then they called again to complain. Then, they called and threatened to stuff my head into a delivery tube and beat my back end with a rolled up newspaper.

Finally, I heard those gremlins laughing, and I knew what they had done.

So, we searched our building high and low. We rounded up those gremlins. Then we tied them up, opened a window and threw them into the snow. They are still out there, stuck face down in a snowdrift.

OK. OK. It really didn’t happen that way.

I wish I had been someplace warm and far away. And I really wish I could blame somebody else for this, but I can’t

The good news, and the only truth in all of this, is that the TV Preview book will return in its former size and on its former day, Saturday, beginning March 6. So, you will receive two more books in the larger format, and then back to the regular size.

I confess to having been part of the team of well-intentioned people at the Sun Journal who messed up the TV Preview book.

Sorry about that.

But at least we are smart enough to recognize the First Law of Holes: When you find yourself in one, stop digging.

We knew that some people might not like the larger format. But we felt that the advantages of the larger book – the larger type plus additional photos and stories – would outweigh those complaints.

Wrongo.

Mark it down as one of those famous miscues. We knew the size of the book would be an issue, we just didn’t know how BIG an issue.

Readers called and sent us e-mails. People who had subscribed to the Sun Journal for decades – some for centuries – complained.

You’ve been heard. We should have checked with you first. Please accept our apologies.

Believe it or not, we think about you constantly here. We even reward employees with something we call “Spot Awards” for service above-and-beyond the call of duty.

We think about you constantly in our newsroom. We are always trying to figure out if you will like one story more than another. One writing technique compared to another. One photograph more than others.

Our circulation and delivery folks are constantly trying to get the paper to you when you want it and where you would like it delivered.

We have a whole department called “Customer Service” that looks after customers. We have a reader representative who looks into your issues with the newsroom.

At our meetings, we constantly invoke your name.

In January, most of our newsroom people spent a Saturday trying to figure out how we can better make the newspaper reflect your wants, interests and needs.

We do care, probably more than you will ever know.

Through the TV Preview crisis, I read dozens of e-mails from upset readers. Most were firm about their opinions, and some were even funny.

I was particularly touched by an e-mail from one man: “The Sun Journal’s been on a winning streak the last 10 years or so,” he wrote. “You’ve been throwing touchdowns and now you’ve gone and thrown an interception.”

Patriots fan, I guess.

Again, we’re sorry.

We’ve got the ball back, and we have a new game plan for the coming year.

We hope to examine every aspect of our customer service, and we hope to make the newspaper even more readable and interesting.

But, most of all, we will be listening more closely to you.

Like they say, the only stupid mistake is the one you don’t learn from.

We’ve learned from this one.

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