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| Type | Popular culture, entertainment, news, reviews, politics, progressive[1][2] |
|---|---|
| Format | Internet |
| Owner(s) | Onion, Inc. |
| Editor-in-chief | Laura M. Browning |
| Founded | 1993 |
| Language | English |
| Headquarters | Chicago, Illinois, U.S. |
| Website | avclub |
The A.V. Club is an online newspaper[3] and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop culture media. The A.V. Club was created in 1993 as a supplement to The Onion, despite having a minimal presence on its website in its early years. A 2005 website redesign placed The A.V. Club in a more prominent position, allowing its online identity to grow. Unlike its parent publication, The A.V. Club is not satirical.[4]
The publication's name is a reference to school audiovisual clubs.[5]
History
In 1993, five years after the founding of The Onion, a student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Stephen Thompson, launched an entertainment section of the newspaper.
In 1996, both The Onion and The A.V. Club made their internet debut.[6]The A.V. Club was originally a sub-section[7] of the main theonion.com domain name. It was eventually moved to its own theavclub.com domain name [8] before the 2005 acquisition of the shorter avclub.com domain name[9] which 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.
In December 2004, Stephen Thompson left his position as founding editor of The A.V. Club.[10]
According to Sean Mills, then-president of The Onion, the A.V. Club website first received more than 1 million unique visitors in October 2007.[11] In late 2009 the website was reported to have received over 1.4 million unique visitors and 75,000 comments per month.[12]
At its peak the print version of The A.V. Club was available in 17 different cities.[13] 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 in the final three markets.[14]
2012-2014 senior staff departures
On December 13, 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."[15][16][17]
On April 2, 2013, long-time film editor and critic Scott Tobias stepped down from his role as film editor of The A.V. Club. He stated via Twitter, "After 15 great years @theavclub, I step down as Film Editor next Friday."[18]
On April 26, 2013, long-time writers Nathan Rabin, Tasha Robinson, and Genevieve Koski announced that they would also be leaving the website to begin work on a new project alongside Scott Tobias and Keith Phipps.[19] Koski also stated that she would continue to write freelance articles.[20] Writer Noel Murray announced he would also be joining their new project but would continue to contribute to The A.V. Club in a reduced capacity.[19] On May 30, 2013, it was announced that those six writers would be part of the senior staff of The Dissolve, a film website run by Pitchfork Media.[21]
In April and June 2014, senior staff writers Kyle Ryan, Sonia Saraiya, and Todd VanDerWerff left the website for positions at Entertainment Weekly, Salon and Vox Media, respectively.[22][23] In 2015, Ryan returned to Onion, Inc. for a position in development.[24] Following his departure from The Dissolve earlier that month, Nathan Rabin returned to write freelance for the website in May 2015;[25] this included the renewal of his regular column "My World of Flops". The Dissolve folded in July 2015.[26]
Television series
On February 16, 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.[27] The series, hosted by Teti, began airing on Fusion on 16 March 2017 and ran for one season.[28] The series featured news, criticism, and discussions about various popular culture topics and featured staff members from the website.
Move to Univision
In January 2016 Univision Communications acquired "a 40 percent, controlling stake" in Onion Inc., the parent company of The A.V. Club.[29] Later that year, Univision also purchased Gawker Media and reorganized several of Gawker's sites into the new Gizmodo Media Group, a division of Fusion Media Group.[30] The site was subsequently migrated from Bulbs, an internal content management system developed by Onion Inc., to the Gawker-developed Kinja platform[31][32], deleting the comment section and audience reviews hosted on the previous site. In July of 2018, Univision announced they were looking for a buyer for the entire Gizmodo Group. [33]
Controversy
On December 9, 2010, the website ComicsComicsMag revealed that a capsule review 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.[34] The review was removed, and then-editor Keith Phipps posted an apology on the website.[35] Leonard Pierce, the author of the review, was terminated from his freelance role with the website.[36]
Books
- The Tenacity Of The Cockroach: Conversations With Entertainment's Most Enduring Outsiders (2002, ISBN 1-4000-4724-2) is a collection of 68 interviews featured in previous issues.
- Inventory: 16 Films Featuring Manic Pixie Dream Girls, 10 Great Songs Nearly Ruined by Saxophone, and 100 More Obsessively Specific Pop-Culture Lists (2009, ISBN 1-4165-9473-6) is a combination of never-before-published lists and material already available on the AV Club website.
- My Year of Flops: The A.V. Club Presents One Man's Journey Deep into the Heart of Cinematic Failure (2010, ISBN 1-4391-5312-4) consists of entries taken from the website's recurring My Year of Flops column along with new material not previously available. It is the first A.V. Club release credited to a single author: Nathan Rabin.
A.V. Club year-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 alongside lists for individual writers.
Annual rankings for television began in 2010.
Album of the Year
Film of the Year
Television Show of the Year
| Year | Show | Network | Nation | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | Breaking Bad | AMC |  United States |
[63] |
| 2011 | Louie | FX | United States |
[64] |
| 2012 | Breaking Bad | AMC | United States |
[65] |
| 2013 | Enlightened | HBO | United States |
[66] |
| 2014 | Hannibal | NBC | United States |
[67] |
| 2015 | Mad Men | AMC | United States |
[68] |
| 2016 | The People v. O. J. Simpson: American Crime Story | FX | United States |
[69] |
| 2017 | The Good Place | NBC | United States |
[70] |
| 2018 | The Americans | FX | United States |
[71] |
References
- ^ "Nasty women Emily Winter and Jenn Welch on organizing an anti-Trump comedy festival". The A.V. Club. Retrieved .
- ^ "The A.V. Club discusses how Meryl Streep is more presidential than Donald Trump". The A.V. Club. Retrieved .
- ^ Castillo, Jay (December 14, 2017). "This Photo Is The Perfect Example Of What Internet Will Look Like If Net Neutrality Loses". Inquisitr. Retrieved 2018.
- ^ "About Us". The A.V. Club. 1 January 1988. Retrieved 2017.
- ^ "About Us". The A.V. Club. 1 January 1988. Retrieved .
- ^ "The Onion: America's Finest News Source". The Onion. 1996-12-19. Archived from the original on 1996-12-31. Retrieved .
- ^ "Wayback Machine". 1996-12-19. Archived from the original on 1996-12-19. Retrieved .CS1 maint: BOT: original-url status unknown (link)
- ^ "Wayback Machine". 2001-09-30. Archived from the original on 27 November 1999. Retrieved .
- ^ "Home | The A.V. Club". 6 August 2005. Archived from the original on 6 August 2005. Retrieved 2017.CS1 maint: BOT: original-url status unknown (link)
- ^ "Bio for Stephen Thompson, Editor, NPR Music". Npr.org. Retrieved .
- ^ David Shankbone (24 November 2007). "An interview with 'America's Finest News Source'", Wikinews
- ^ Steve Johnson (27 October 2009). "Onion's A.V. Club is building up its brand". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved .
- ^ Gilmer, Marcus (8 November 2013). "The Onion bids adieu to print". Chicago Sun-Times. Archived from the original on 19 April 2014. Retrieved 2014.
- ^ Ryan, Kyle. "The Onion & A.V. Club ending print publication next month". The A.V. Club. Retrieved 2014.
- ^ Goodybyes & Hellos Untitled Keith Phipps Project, December 13, 2012
- ^ Keith Phipps is no longer editor of The A.V. Club The A.V. Club, December 14, 2012
- ^ Editor Keith Phipps Leaves The A.V. Club Criticwire, December 13, 2012
- ^ Scott Tobias Leaves A.V. Club, Site Looking For a New Film Editor Criticwire, April 2, 2013
- ^ a b An Update from the AV Club The AV Club April 26, 2013
- ^ @GenevieveKoski (26 Apr 2013). "To clarify: I'll still contribute as a freelancer whenever I can, but I am no longer an editor. So you can't blame me for mistakes anymore!" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
- ^ "Introducing The Dissolve, A New Film Site". Pitchfork. 2013-05-31. Retrieved .
- ^ Adams, Sam (9 June 2014). "A.V. Club Exodus Continues as Todd VanDerWerff Becomes Vox's First Culture Editor". Indiewire. Retrieved 2015.
- ^ Bazilian, Emma (21 April 2014). "Matt Bean staffs up at Entertainment Weekly". Adweek. Retrieved 2015.
- ^ Ryan, Kyle (16 March 2015). "I know it might sound strange, but I believe you'll be coming back before too long". CMYKyle: Kyle Ryan's Shameless Self-Promotion. Retrieved 2015.
- ^ Rabin, Nathan (25 August 2015). "Nathan Rabin o The A.V. Club". The A.V. Club. Retrieved 2015.
- ^ Phipps, Keith (8 July 2015). "The End". The Dissolve. Retrieved 2015.
- ^ Teti, John (16 February 2017). "The A.V. Club will soon exist in TV show form". The A.V. Club. Retrieved 2017.
- ^ Hughes, William (15 March 2017). "The A.V. Club TV show debuts tomorrow night, on Fusion". The A.V. Club. Retrieved 2017.
- ^ David Folkenflik (19 January 2016). "Area Satirical Publication The Onion Sold To Univision (Seriously)". NPR.
- ^ Veronica Villafañe (22 September 2016). "Univision Rebrands Gawker Media As Gizmodo Media Group; Starts Translating Content For Univision.com". Forbes.
- ^ Benjamin Mullin (16 June 2017). "Kinja, the publishing system at the heart of Gawker, lives on under Univision". Poynter.
- ^ Laura M. Browning and Sean O'Neal (23 August 2017). "Welcome (back) to The A.V. Club". The AV Club.
- ^ https://news.avclub.com/hi-were-the-a-v-club-and-were-for-sale-1827493253
- ^ "The Most Amazing Review of the Year". Comics Comics. Archived from the original on 11 December 2010. Retrieved 2010.
- ^ "An apology from The A.V. Club". The A.V. Club. Retrieved 2010.
- ^ Kaufman, Rachel. "AV Club Writer Loses Gig After Faking Review". Adweek. Retrieved 2016.
- ^ Bahn, Christopher. "Best Music Of 2006 · Article · The A.V. Club". Avclub.com. Retrieved .
- ^ Bahn, Christopher. "The best music of 2007 · Article · The A.V. Club". Avclub.com. Retrieved .
- ^ "The best music of 2008 · Article · The A.V. Club". Avclub.com. Retrieved .
- ^ "The top 25 albums of 2009 · Best of · The A.V. Club". Avclub.com. Retrieved .
- ^ Heller, Jason. "The best music of 2010 · Best of · The A.V. Club". Avclub.com. Retrieved .
- ^ Eakin, Marah. "The best music of 2011 · Best of · The A.V. Club". Avclub.com. Retrieved .
- ^ "The best music of 2012 · Best of · The A.V. Club". Avclub.com. Retrieved .
- ^ Adams, Erik. "The 23 best albums of 2013 · Best of · The A.V. Club". Avclub.com. Retrieved .
- ^ Anthony, David. "The 20 best albums of 2014 · Best of · The A.V. Club". Avclub.com. Retrieved .
- ^ "The 15 best albums of 2015". Avclub.com. December 7, 2015. Retrieved 2015.
- ^ "The A.V. Club's 20 best albums of 2016". Avclub.com. 12 December 2016. Retrieved 2016.
- ^ "The A.V. Club's 20 best albums of 2017". The A.V. Club. December 7, 2017. Retrieved 2017.
- ^ "The A.V. Club's 20 best albums of 2018". The A.V. Club. December 18, 2018. Retrieved 2018.
- ^ Murray, Noel. "The Year In Film 2006 · Article · The A.V. Club". Avclub.com. Retrieved .
- ^ Murray, Noel. "The Year In Film 2007 · Best of · The A.V. Club". Avclub.com. Retrieved .
- ^ Murray, Noel; Phipps, Keith; Rabin, Nathan; Robinson, Tasha; Tobias, Scott. "The year in film 2008 · Article · The A.V. Club". Avclub.com. Retrieved .
- ^ Murray, Noel. "The year in film 2009 · Best of · The A.V. Club". Avclub.com. Retrieved .
- ^ Murray, Noel. "The best films of 2010 · Best of · The A.V. Club". Avclub.com. Retrieved .
- ^ Adams, Sam. "Best films of 2011 · Best of · The A.V. Club". Avclub.com. Retrieved .
- ^ Adams, Sam. "The best films of 2012 · Best of · The A.V. Club". Avclub.com. Retrieved .
- ^ Adams, Sam. "The best films of 2013 · Best of · The A.V. Club". Avclub.com. Retrieved .
- ^ "The 20 best movies of 2014 · Best of · The A.V. Club". Avclub.com. Retrieved .
- ^ "The 20 best films of 2015". Avclub.com. Retrieved .
- ^ "The 20 best films of 2016". Avclub.com. December 19, 2015.
- ^ "The 20 best films of 2017". Avclub.com. Retrieved .
- ^ "The best films of 2018". The A.V. Club. Retrieved .
- ^ Alston, Joshua. "The 25 best television series of 2010 · Best of · The A.V. Club". Avclub.com. Retrieved .
- ^ "Best TV of 2011 · Best of · The A.V. Club". Avclub.com. Retrieved .
- ^ "The best TV of 2012 · Best of · The A.V. Club". Avclub.com. Retrieved .
- ^ Todd VanDerWerff. "Enlightened was the best TV show of 2013 · Best of · The A.V. Club". Avclub.com. Retrieved .
- ^ Adams, Erik. "The best TV shows of 2014 (part 2) · Best of · The A.V. Club". Avclub.com. Retrieved .
- ^ "The best TV of 2015, part 2". Avclub.com. Retrieved 2015.
- ^ "The best TV of 2016, part 2". Avclub.com. Retrieved 2016.
- ^ "The A.V. Club's 20 best TV shows of 2017". The A.V. Club. December 13, 2017. Retrieved 2017.
- ^ "The best TV of 2018". The A.V. Club. December 10, 2018. Retrieved 2018.
External links
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