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''The A.V. Club'' is an American
online newspaper An online newspaper (or electronic news or electronic news publication) is the online version of a newspaper, either as a stand-alone publication or as the online version of a printed periodical. Going online created more opportunities for newsp ...
and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of
pop-culture Popular culture (also called mass culture or pop culture) is generally recognized by members of a society as a set of practices, beliefs, artistic output (also known as, popular art or mass art) and objects that are dominant or prevalent in a ...
media. ''The A.V. Club'' was created in 1993 as a supplement to its
satirical Satire is a genre of the visual, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, often with the intent of shaming or ...
parent publication, ''
The Onion ''The Onion'' is an American digital media company and newspaper organization that publishes satire, satirical articles on international, national, and local news. The company is based in Chicago but originated as a weekly print publication on ...
''. While it was a part of ''The Onion''s 1996 website launch, ''The A.V. Club'' had minimal presence on the website at that point. A 2005 website redesign placed ''The A.V. Club'' in a more prominent position, allowing its online identity to grow. Unlike ''The Onion'', ''The A.V. Club'' and other sites owned by G/O Media are not satirical. The publication's name is a reference to
audiovisual Audiovisual (AV) is electronic media possessing both a sound and a visual component, such as slide-tape presentations, films, television programs, corporate conferencing, church services, and live theater productions. Audiovisual service ...
(AV) clubs typical of American high schools.


History

In 1993, five years after the founding of ''The Onion'', Stephen Thompson, a student at the
University of Wisconsin–Madison A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United Stat ...
, launched an entertainment section of the newspaper. In 1996, both ''The Onion'' and ''The A.V. Club'' debuted on the Internet. ''The A.V. Club'' was originally a subsection of the main ''theonion.com'' domain name. The supplement was moved to its own domain name, ''theavclub.com'', before the 2005 acquisition of the shorter ''avclub.com'' domain name. The latter change coincided with a redesign that incorporated reader comments and blog content. In 2006, the website shifted its content model again to add content on a daily, rather than weekly, basis. Some contributors have become established as freelance writers and editors. In December 2004, Stephen Thompson left his position as founding editor of ''The A.V. Club''. According to Sean Mills, then-president of ''The Onion,'' the ''A.V. Club'' website first reached more than 1 million unique visitors in October 2007.David Shankbone (24 November 2007). "An interview with 'America's Finest News Source'", ''
Wikinews Wikinews is a free-content news wiki and a project of the Wikimedia Foundation that works through collaborative journalism. Wikipedia cofounder Jimmy Wales has distinguished Wikinews from Wikipedia by saying, "On Wikinews, each story is to be ...
''
In late 2009, the website was reported to have received more than 1.4 million unique visitors and 75,000 comments per month. At its peak, the print version of ''The A.V. Club'' was available in 17 different cities. Localized sections of the website were also maintained, with reviews and news relevant to specific cities. The print version and localized websites were gradually discontinued, and in December 2013, print publication ceased production in the last three markets.


2012–2014 staff departures

On 13 December 2012, long-time writer and editor Keith Phipps, who oversaw the website after Stephen Thompson left, stepped down from his role as editor of ''The A.V. Club''. He said, "''Onion, Inc.'' and I have come to a mutual parting of the ways."Goodybyes & Hellos
''Untitled Keith Phipps Project'', 13 December 2012
Keith Phipps is no longer editor of ''The A.V. Club''
''The A.V. Club'', 14 December 2012
Editor Keith Phipps Leaves ''The A.V. Club''
''Criticwire'', 13 December 2012
On 2 April 2013, long-time film editor and critic Scott Tobias stepped down as film editor of ''The A.V. Club''. He said via
Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
, "After 15 great years @theavclub, I step down as Film Editor next Friday.""Scott Tobias Leaves A.V. Club, Site Looking For a New Film Editor"
''Criticwire'', 2 April 2013
On 26 April 2013, long-time writers Nathan Rabin, Tasha Robinson, and Genevieve Koski announced they would also be leaving the website to begin work on a new project with Scott Tobias and Keith Phipps.An Update from ''The A.V. Club''
''The A.V. Club'' 26 April 2013
Koski also said that she would continue to write freelance articles. Writer Noel Murray announced he would be joining their new project, but would also continue to contribute to ''The A.V. Club'' in a reduced capacity. On 30 May 2013, those six writers were announced as becoming part of the senior staff of ''
The Dissolve ''The Dissolve'' was a film review, news, and commentary website which was operated by Pitchfork and based in Chicago, Illinois. The site was focused on reviews, commentary, interviews, and news about contemporary and classic films.{{cite web, url ...
'', a film website run by
Pitchfork Media ''Pitchfork'' (formerly ''Pitchfork Media'') is an American online music publication (currently owned by Condé Nast) that was launched in 1995 by writer Ryan Schreiber as an independent music blog. Schreiber started Pitchfork while working ...
. In April and June 2014, senior staff writers Kyle Ryan, Sonia Saraiya, and
Emily St. James Emily St. James (formerly Emily Nicole VanDerWerff; born November 30, 1982) is an American critic, journalist, podcaster, and author. She primarily writes about television. She has written for '' Vox'', ''The A.V. Club'', ''The Guardian'', the ' ...
left the website for positions at ''
Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular ...
'', ''
Salon Salon may refer to: Common meanings * Beauty salon, a venue for cosmetic treatments * French term for a drawing room, an architectural space in a home * Salon (gathering), a meeting for learning or enjoyment Arts and entertainment * Salon ( ...
'', and
Vox Media Vox Media, Inc. is an American mass media company based in Washington, D.C., and New York City. The company was established in November 2011 by Jim Bankoff and Trei Brundrett to encompass ''SB Nation'' (a sports blog network founded in 2005 b ...
, respectively. In 2015, Ryan returned to ''Onion, Inc.'' for a position in development. Following his departure from ''The Dissolve'' earlier that month, Nathan Rabin returned to write freelance for the ''A.V. Club'' website in May 2015. He renewed his regular colum
"My World of Flops"
. ''The Dissolve'' folded in July 2015.


Television series

On 16 February 2017, ''The A.V. Club'''s editor-at-large, John Teti, posted an article on the website announcing the upcoming release of a television series, titled ''The A.V. Club'', based on the website. The series, hosted by Teti, began airing on
Fusion Fusion, or synthesis, is the process of combining two or more distinct entities into a new whole. Fusion may also refer to: Science and technology Physics *Nuclear fusion, multiple atomic nuclei combining to form one or more different atomic nucl ...
on 16 March 2017 and ran for one season. The series featured news, criticism, and discussions about various popular-culture topics and featured staff members from the website.


Move to Univision, then G/O Media

In January 2016,
Univision Communications TelevisaUnivision (formerly known as Univision Communications) is a Mexican-American media company headquartered in New York and Mexico City, which owns the American Spanish language broadcast network Univision. 45% of the company is held by th ...
acquired "a 40 percent, controlling stake" in Onion Inc., the parent company of ''The A.V. Club''. Later that year, Univision also purchased
Gawker Media Gawker Media LLC (formerly Blogwire, Inc. and Gawker Media, Inc.) was an American online media company and blog network. It was founded by Nick Denton in October 2003 as Blogwire, and was based in New York City. Incorporated in the Cayman Isla ...
and reorganized several of Gawker's sites into the new
Gizmodo Media Group Gizmodo Media Group was an online media company and blog network formerly operated by Univision Communications (now TelevisaUnivision) in its Fusion Media Group division. The company was created from assets acquired from Gawker Media during i ...
, a division of
Fusion Media Group The Fusion Media Group (FMG; formerly Fusion Media Network) is a division of Univision Communications. The company was launched in April 2016 after Univision bought out Disney's stake in Fusion through the Fusion Media Network joint venture betwe ...
. The site was subsequently migrated from Bulbs, an internal
content management system A content management system (CMS) is computer software used to manage the creation and modification of digital content ( content management).''Managing Enterprise Content: A Unified Content Strategy''. Ann Rockley, Pamela Kostur, Steve Manning. New ...
developed by Onion Inc. to the Gawker-developed Kinja platform. It deleted the comment section and audience reviews hosted on the previous site. In July 2018, Univision announced it was looking for a buyer for the entire Gizmodo Group. In April 2019, Gizmodo and ''The Onion'' were sold to
private-equity firm A private equity firm is an investment management company that provides financial backing and makes investments in the private equity of startup or operating companies through a variety of loosely affiliated investment strategies including leve ...
Great Hill Partners, which combined them into a new company named
G/O Media G/O Media Inc. is an American media holding company that runs ''Gizmodo'', ''Kotaku'', ''Jalopnik'', '' Deadspin'', ''Lifehacker'', '' Jezebel'', '' The Root'', '' The A.V. Club'', ''The Takeout'', '' The Onion'', and ''The Inventory''. Hist ...
. In July 2019, executive editor Laura M. Browning and managing editor Caitlin PenzeyMoog left. In early 2020, former ''People'' magazine and ''
Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular ...
'' editor Patrick Gomez was named editor-in-chief, and it was announced that the site was opening a Los Angeles bureau. In August 2021, Yahoo! Entertainment and E! Online alum Scott Robson joined to lead the team.


Onion Inc. Union

In March 2018 the employees of the company announced they had unionized with the Writers Guild Of America, East. The union comprises "all of the creative staffs at Onion Inc.: ''The A.V. Club'', ''The Onion'', ''ClickHole'', ''The Takeout'', Onion Labs, and Onion Inc.'s video and art departments." (''ClickHole'' was subsequently acquired by
Cards Against Humanity ''Cards Against Humanity'' is an adult party game in which players complete fill-in-the-blank statements, using words or phrases typically deemed offensive, risqué, or politically incorrect, printed on playing cards. It has been compared to th ...
in February 2020.) The union was recognized on 20 April 2018 and reached a contract agreement with management on 20 December 2018. The contract includes "annual pay increases, minimum pay grades, strong diversity and anti-harassment language, just cause, union security, editorial independence, intellectual property rights, and an end to permalancers."


2022 closure of Chicago office and staff departures

On 18 January 2022, the union representing staff at the website announced that all seven staff members based in Chicago had taken severance as opposed to accepting a mandatory move of work location to Los Angeles. This predominantly affected the senior staff of the site and comprised the managing editor, film editor, TV editor, associate editor, senior writer, assistant editor, and editorial coordinator.


Controversy

On 9 December 2010, the website ''ComicsComicsMag'' revealed a
capsule review A capsule review or mini reviewThe Word, 1976, issue 12, page 1Google Books/ref> is a form of appraisal, usually associated with journalism, that offers a relatively short critique of a specified creative work (movie, music album, restaurant, pain ...
for the book ''Genius, Isolated: The Life and Art of Alex Toth'' had been fabricated. The book had not yet been published nor even completed by the authors. After the review was removed, editor Keith Phipps posted an apology on the website, stating that the reporter assigned the review could not locate a copy of the book ("for obvious reasons"), so fabricated it. Leonard Pierce, the author of the review, was terminated from his freelance role with the website.


Books

* * * *


Awards

In 2017, ''The A.V. Club'' won an
Eisner Award The Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards, commonly shortened to the Eisner Awards, are List of Eisner Award winners, prizes given for creative achievement in American comic books, sometimes referred to as the comics industry's equivalent of the Acad ...
for "Best Comics-related Periodical/Journalism" (for works published in 2016). The award went to writers Oliver Sava, Caitlin Rosberg, Shea Hennum, and Tegan O'Neil. The award also went to editor Caitlin PenzeyMoog.


''A.V. Club'' year- and decade-end lists

Starting in 1999, only lists written by individual writers were published. Beginning in 2006, ''The A.V. Club'' began publishing website-consensus, year-end album and film rankings, together with lists created by individual writers. Additionally decade-end lists were published for the 2000s and 2010s. Annual rankings for television began in 2010.


Album of the Year


Film of the Year


Television Show of the Year


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:A.V. Club The Onion Mass media in Chicago Publications established in 1993 American review websites Online newspapers with defunct print editions