In the fall of 1996, Ben Karlin, who had been a writer/editor for the publication since graduating from the University of Wisconsin in 1993, moved to Los Angeles and joined other former "Onion" staff members to create a pilot for a news parody titled "Deadline: Now" for the Fox Network. While the 15-minute pilot, which was completed in 1997, was never picked up as a series for production, its creation lead to steady writing work for Karlin and other former "Onion" staffers, such as writing some episodes of "Space Ghost Coast to Coast" on the Cartoon Network. In the wake of Karlin's departure, Siegel assumed the publication's duties as editor of the publication.