Emily VanDerWerff

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 Los Angeles Times, Grantland, and Slant, among others. 2Education VanDerWerff graduated from South Dakota State University in 2004 with a Bachelor of Arts, majoring in Journalism. During her time, she wrote for the university's student newspaper, The Collegian. 2Career From 2009 to 2014, VanDerWerff was the TV editor for The A.V. Club, helping to build the TV Club, known for criticism of television shows episode by episode. The TV Club, while led by VanDerWerff, has been credited with helping build the online culture of television recaps.In June 2014, VanDerWerff joined Vox as their culture editor, going on to become the Critic at Large. She is also involved in Arden, a true crime parody podcast, as well as running Vox's Primetime, a television history podcast. She was a finalist in the 2015 Online Journalism Awards for her media criticism around horror films, Hilary Clinton's presidential campaign announcement, and her review of Mad Max: Fury Road.In 2018, VanDerWerff and fellow critic Zack Handlen wrote Monsters of the Week: The Complete Critical Companion to The X-Files, which was published by Tor Books.In July 2020, she spoke out against fellow Vox columnist Matthew Yglesias, following his signing of an open letter published in Harper's Magazine which called for an end to what it described as "cancel culture". After a tweet about her criticism by Jesse Singal, one of the letter's signatories, she reported that she'd received death threats.Since beginning her own podcast, Arden, VanDerWerff has become more reluctant to engage in traditional review criticism, instead preferring to write about how a work fits into the larger culture.VanDerWerff has appeared multiple times on The George Lucas Talk Show, including during The George Lucas Talk Show All Day Star Wars Movie Watch Along and The George Lucas Holiday Specia