I wrote in the second market in which The Onion’s growing empire chose to publish, Milwaukee, WI — Madison was of course the first — and watched Publisher Peter Haise, ad man Phil “Philly” Meier and the rest of the crew work to expand to other Midwestern cities. After Chicago came New York, then the world.

It was a fun, exciting couple years, and while I merely did the local entertainment writing, actual journalism, not the satirical stuff that’s gotten so much attention, I certainly got an up-close glimpse of a legendary group of journalists pushing a very dynamic product in an era that’s seen much more shrinking staffs than growth.

Here are a few of the many weekly A.V. Club spreadsheets we produced: