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When did AV Club go to the dogs?

Started by Hello! Replies Hidden, September 06, 2017, 06:44:44 PM

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phantom_power

Quote from: kngen on January 02, 2018, 04:53:42 PM
The guy who does (or did) The Walking Dead reviews seemed to actively hate the entire concept of the programme - there was a lot to criticise about it, especially the last couple of series, but he would just keep mumping on and on about how hopeless the universe was, and its lack of optimism or humour - granted, you need a bit of light with the shade, but it's a fucking zombie apocalypse, FFS. Make your point once and move on.

I don't know. It is one of the things I hate most about the show and one of the things that would be pretty easy to fix if they had a mind to. I think they confuse po-faced with deep and meaningful though

Famous Mortimer

If they can have laughs in "Life Is Beautiful", they ought to bung a few in The Walking Dead. Actually, I don't watch it any more, they might have started doing comedy episodes.

Every change the AV Club made was for the worse. Perhaps it's some long-form art piece on how not to do the internet.

kngen

Quote from: phantom_power on January 03, 2018, 08:07:38 AM
I don't know. It is one of the things I hate most about the show and one of the things that would be pretty easy to fix if they had a mind to. I think they confuse po-faced with deep and meaningful though

Fair enough, and there are the odd flashes of humour here and there, to be fair. It was more just the relentless criticism, week after week, of the show offering no glimmer of hope. Almost seemed like a boilerplate paragraph that he'd then embroider with the most recent events of the show. Maybe it was a meta-commentary on the show itself!

phantom_power

Yeah it does get to a point where you have to review the show you have rather than the show you want. One thing the AV Club is usually pretty good at is rating shows on their own averages rather than compared to other shows. This often leads to reasonable episodes of rubbish shows getting the same grade as something great in a great show but once you know how it works it makes sense

Ant Farm Keyboard

I don't think that Teti was one of the architects of the new design. Originally, he handled the game section, and it was interesting for the new approaches they took to game coverage, with a lot of new features. Then, he was put in charge of the whole site, but mostly because he was the most senior writer, and he was one of the only writers who could be on a TV show or a podcast without being a bore. But it's obvious that he had been sidelined by Univision and that he had little to do with the new design, compared to other voices like Sean O'Neal.

Once people like Will Harris (who handles the last interesting feature on the site, Random Roles, and is good at this job) are gone, that'll be it.

Ant Farm Keyboard

An explanation for some of the current situation is starting to emerge, and it's quite exasperating.

https://specialprojectsdesk.com/univision-is-a-fucking-mess-1825836622

Univision was bought a decade ago by a bunch of investors (including Haim Saban, the guy from the Power Rangers products) who were betting on its stream of profits to finance the acquisition. At this point, the network was on an upward trajectory, but it was actually at the end of a cycle, so ratings started to decline, profits started to fall, and new ventures within the group failed. The management is clueless, which may explain why they've bought websites on a whim, as if it were enough to create synergy and value for the rest of the group.

Now, they're getting out of liquidities, their attempt to sell or merge the company have failed, and they decided in March to cut budgets within a whole division, which includes the Onion properties by 35%. Around the same time, workers there decided to start a union.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/fusion-media-group-faces-potentially-steep-cost-cuts-in-univision-review-1521236139

Basically, Univision is on a path to become the next Toys R Us or the next Gibson. The websites were relatively healthy (the division was near break-even), but it pays for the situation of the rest of the group, where they don't make enough to pay even for the interests of the debt.

That could explain why management at the AV Club cut much of the reviews for fringe shows and long form articles in favor of various quick features, which are usually a somewhat snarky rewrite of something what's already trending on Twitter, Reddit or other social networks, and an easy and cheap way to generate page views.

The kicker? The scathing exposé on the situation at Univision was actually posted on one of the sites they own.

Ant Farm Keyboard

#36
The whole Gizmodo Media Group, consisting of the remaining assets from Gawker, and the controlling stake in The Onion Inc. are now up for sale.

https://news.avclub.com/hi-were-the-a-v-club-and-were-for-sale-1827493253

The divisions had been asked to cut workforce by 15% a few days ago, which would have resulted in even poorer and more generic content. The end of the article is another "fuck you" to Univision.

Small Man Big Horse

I just came here to post that, and it all sounds a bit worrying, I'd hate it if they weren't able to find a buyer, or if whoever does buy it decides to make the site even worse than it currently is.

Ant Farm Keyboard

It's already an almost empty shell. The TV reviews are getting less analytic, and are often turning into a mere recap of the episode. Due to the Ignatiy guy, the film section has a few good pieces, but the rest of the team isn't as interesting. The bulk of the site consists now of summaries of entertainment news or Great Job, Internet pieces, so mostly second hand content. They tried last year to cover politics, but it also put all the emphasis on Trump and they didn't have an angle outside of rightful indignation.

New Jack

I like their recaps still, the writer they had doing GLOW series 2 was quite good... But they're getting fewer, and every fourth post is some irrelevant networked site like THE TAKEOUT which I actually looked at but it's absolutely terrible (current top article: 'Cheeseburger grits casserole for brunch is so wrong and so right' )

But even if most of the articles didn't annoy the piss out of me, the autoplaying videos feature is the work of cunts.

phantom_power

Quote from: Ant Farm Keyboard on July 11, 2018, 01:32:03 AM
It's already an almost empty shell. The TV reviews are getting less analytic, and are often turning into a mere recap of the episode. Due to the Ignatiy guy, the film section has a few good pieces, but the rest of the team isn't as interesting. The bulk of the site consists now of summaries of entertainment news or Great Job, Internet pieces, so mostly second hand content. They tried last year to cover politics, but it also put all the emphasis on Trump and they didn't have an angle outside of rightful indignation.

Don't forget all the articles showing how flipping woke they are

Famous Mortimer

God, it looks ugly these days. It'd be sad if it hadn't been so inevitable from the first time they were sold.


Small Man Big Horse

Now Sean O'Neal has left the site: https://news.avclub.com/and-now-the-inevitable-anticlimactic-conclusion-of-dan-1827668556 - along with Kyle Ryan. I'm not that bothered about the latter but the former was why I started to read the av club in the first place and I'll greatly miss his input, and I've a feeling the site might not survive for much longer.

Enzo

so sad to see a once excellent website and community destroyed.

Ant Farm Keyboard

The site is still on its way out, but there's a new development.

It is based in Chicago, where they still have a crew of seven. The previous editor-in-chief had left but it was expected that his second in charge would get the seat. Instead, the owners have appointed some outsider, and they're actually moving the office to L.A., which means that the staff must either make the switch or lose their job.

https://www.gawker.com/media/av-club-tells-staffers-move-to-la-or-lose-their-jobs

It looks like that the few people who had been there before the sale to Univision then to G/O Media will be gone.

dissolute ocelot

Unsurprising but sad.

Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, Deadline Hollywood, and Indiewire are all owned by the same company, so clearly there's an industry problem. Does anyone want to pay for reading about film or tv? According to Wikipedia, even Variety gets most of its money from film studios trying to buy Oscars with big awards season ads.

pigamus

Quote from: kngen on September 06, 2017, 07:00:03 PMIt was last week I think, but in a general sense when they got rid of Nathan Rabin - My World of Flops was a monthly treat for me, which they would have on their front page for about a millisecond, and then sacked him for not getting enough hits. He's got his own page now - https://www.nathanrabin.com/ - which means every day is like Christmas for me. So I give him five bucks a month. That's how much I value Christmas - 17 cents.

Thank you for recommending this four years ago, it is right up my alley

Small Man Big Horse

Quote from: dissolute ocelot on December 04, 2021, 10:04:38 AMUnsurprising but sad.

Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, Deadline Hollywood, and Indiewire are all owned by the same company, so clearly there's an industry problem. Does anyone want to pay for reading about film or tv? According to Wikipedia, even Variety gets most of its money from film studios trying to buy Oscars with big awards season ads.

I was reading about this earlier, but the site is so poor now that I wouldn't be bothered if any of the regulars did leave (and would be overjoyed if it meant Sam Barsanti no long wrote for the site) - I still like Will Harris and Ignatiy Vishnevetsky but they're both freelancers so hopefully won't be affected by the move.

As a brief aside, I'd love to know what on earth is going on at Aint It Cool News, I know the Harry debacle saw the site slide in to decline but now it's really weird, the last "Cool News" headline is from August, the tv section hasn't been updated since May, yet they've recently had interviews with the likes of Abel Ferrara, Dolph Lundgren and Roman Griffin Davis, and are still running a good few competitions - I can only presume their PR people didn't actually look at the site, and haven't noticed that it's in such a mess.

samadriel

Quote from: pigamus on December 04, 2021, 10:36:59 AMThank you for recommending this four years ago, it is right up my alley
Thanks for bringing it back up, I just listened to the "Travolta/Cage" Lord of War podcast and it reminded me how damn good that movie is. The perfect Cage vehicle, he plays exactly the right kind of sleazebag; I can't think of any Cage movie I've really given a shit about in the years since. Such a shame that he's a really boring punchline now.

Small Man Big Horse

Quote from: samadriel on December 04, 2021, 12:59:56 PMThanks for bringing it back up, I just listened to the "Travolta/Cage" Lord of War podcast and it reminded me how damn good that movie is. The perfect Cage vehicle, he plays exactly the right kind of sleazebag; I can't think of any Cage movie I've really given a shit about in the years since. Such a shame that he's a really boring punchline now.

I'd recommend "Pig", it's quite different to anything he's done before, very low key, and it's a movie I loved a lot.

samadriel

Oh, okay; I'd heard positive murmurings about Pig, but nothing solid enough to want to pursue it until now. I'll give it a shot.

Ant Farm Keyboard

A former AV Club and Dissolve writer, Tasha Robinson has moved to tech site The Verge, more exactly its gaming and entertainment sub-site, Polygon, where, as an editor, she green-lights a lot of essays that are quite reminiscent of the old entries.

https://www.polygon.com/star-wars/22807822/new-star-wars-movies-tv-books
https://www.polygon.com/lord-of-the-rings/22811800/gollum-lord-of-the-rings-actor-andy-serkis-weta-digital
https://www.polygon.com/22814642/encanto-disney-villain-frozen-raya

Keith Phipps and Scott Tobias (who, like Robinson and Rabin, were founding members of the Dissolve) have started a Substack with a couple of reviews every week.

https://thereveal.substack.com

Before it was shut down in 2015, Grantland, supposedly a sports site, still had a great film section.

There's definitely a revenue issue for those sites. They can't really make money as a standalone entity about film or TV coverage, they need to piggyback on a bigger site to get a steady stream of income, provided they get some editorial independence. People like Alan Sepinwall now work for Rolling Stone, for instance.

But, compared to a few years ago, the situation is quite fragmented, with countless blogs or video series, which makes it harder for quality material to be noticed, as the success mostly comes from how the person is comfortable with social media. And the talking points also reflect the increasing polarization of (American) society on cultural issues.

Famous Mortimer

Quote from: Ant Farm Keyboard on December 04, 2021, 03:14:25 PMBefore it was shut down in 2015, Grantland, supposedly a sports site, still had a great film section.
A lot of the people who worked for it now work for The Ringer, which is primarily about sport, but has interesting articles about cultural things too.

Ant Farm Keyboard

Believe it or not, the situation keeps on getting uglier.
The Chicago employees had until January 15 to decide whether they wanted to move to LA or get fired.
The head of the film section, A.A. Dowd (the guy who gives either B- or C+ to 95% of blockbusters) has just discovered that the parent company had already started listing three positions on its job site, including his.

brat-sampson

Aside from their yearly Best Of lists for TV and Film, it's been dead to me since the Gawker switch. I feel bad for the talent still there, tbh, especially now it seems they're being treated as poorly as the site itself.

Small Man Big Horse

Quote from: Ant Farm Keyboard on January 06, 2022, 07:14:24 PMBelieve it or not, the situation keeps on getting uglier.
The Chicago employees had until January 15 to decide whether they wanted to move to LA or get fired.
The head of the film section, A.A. Dowd (the guy who gives either B- or C+ to 95% of blockbusters) has just discovered that the parent company had already started listing three positions on its job site, including his.

And as predicted, 7 of them have refused to move, and so will be leaving the site: https://twitter.com/OnionIncUnion/status/1483504541266063360

From the sound of it the site will become a very generic entertainment site and not cover any of the more unusual fare that it used to, though as others have noted it's been a long time since it really did that to any extent, at least tv and music wise.

Ant Farm Keyboard

It isn't just the employees. Most of the major freelancers have also decided to cut all ties with the new management. This includes people like Noel Murray, who is a film and TV reviewer, was part of the Dissolve team and then returned to freelance for them.
Since yesterday, every piece has been put together by completely new names. And, as you've said, it's turning into a generic entertainment site, which tries to be edgy just like every site claims to be.

Small Man Big Horse

Quote from: Ant Farm Keyboard on January 19, 2022, 06:00:01 PMIt isn't just the employees. Most of the major freelancers have also decided to cut all ties with the new management. This includes people like Noel Murray, who is a film and TV reviewer, was part of the Dissolve team and then returned to freelance for them.
Since yesterday, every piece has been put together by completely new names. And, as you've said, it's turning into a generic entertainment site, which tries to be edgy just like every site claims to be.

That's interesting to hear about the freelancers, I've been looking on twitter and it appears that the staff are leaving between March and May, so come the middle of the year I'd be very surprised if it's a site I'll visit any more.

dissolute ocelot

Chief film critic AA Dowd is saying farewell with an article on Iron Man 3 (which marked his arrival). He wishes to update his rating from C+ to B- or maybe even B.

Today also marks the final entry of Caroline Seide's excellent 4-year series on rom-coms, with How To Be Single. It's the last of their multi-part Friday series that also included epic series about action movies, superheroes, and the biggest-grossing film of each year (mostly by Tom Breihan).

Gwen Ihnat, Editorial Coordinator, leaves on May 1. Her Twitter profile says "About-to-be-former Editorial Coordinator @TheAVClub. Proud member @WGAEast @OnionIncUnion @OfficialTCA. Twins mom. Chicagoan for life. she/her"

So they're all on their way out the door. Won't somebody turn the lights off? Leave the guy employed to write terrible hot takes on the latest news from the set of The Batman in the darkness.

Small Man Big Horse

Quote from: dissolute ocelot on February 25, 2022, 02:17:33 PMChief film critic AA Dowd is saying farewell with an article on Iron Man 3 (which marked his arrival). He wishes to update his rating from C+ to B- or maybe even B.

I read that yesterday and really enjoyed it, and the comments section reminded me of the pre-Kinja days as well. Apparently he has one last review to file - The Batman - and then that's that, but I hope he finds regular work elsewhere, he's a critic I often disagreed with but always found him worth reading.