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Inside TechTV/G4
An anonymous reader writes "Former G4TechTV employee, Dan Huard, blows the whistle on G4. In the last half of his article, he states that TSS manufactured questions and used 'ringers' to ask their questions on the show."
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I'm not surprised one bit. G4 is finally realizing that they messed up. Nobody is watching because they've completely done a Hitler move and fired off all of the good TechTV people. All that's left is good-looking, young hosts who don't know jack about what they are talking about. It's quite sad how fast they turned one of the best networks into the worst.
It was so blatantly obvious that this was going on, that I don't see how anyone who has seen the show recently could have thought otherwise.
MTV has no music and now G4/TTV has no tech. G4 is dropping the TTV half of the name and going solely to a "lifestyle" and gaming network. What a crying shame.
To the geeks here I say, "Boycott G4 and their sponsers. Write letters to the sponsers. Boycott their lame message boards. Spread the word far and wide."
The Screensavers message board is being ruled by mods who only recently became mods. I suspect that they're G4 fans and/or employees. They immediately lock any thread that criticizes the show and they'll ban you in a hearbeat if you persist. Don't even bother posting there.
The show looks like it's being run by some old fart who used to be in radio.
So I happened to turn on G4TechTVwhatever the other day, and I was appauled. "The Screen Savers" is little more than the old name on a new, much campier, much less useful show. I mean, I never liked everyone on TSS, but those idiots on the air now seem to be up on tech less than most Best Buy employees (no offense to any Best Buy employees on here, just needed a good, recognizable generalization of people who know little about tech but because they work for a tech giant fool the general public into buying whatever the advertisers want).
I think that's the most disappointing thing (see the parenthetical comment above): Leo and Patrick used to tell people not to buy this or that, seemed to be big fans of open source, security, etc. (of course in Leo's case it was a Mac-addiction, but that's ok), and even though they knew most of their audience was PC-based and had to cover them the most, tried to spread things out, give everyone a taste of everything, and if something sucked, would let everyone know about it. I remember them even going against IE before it was popular, and Paul Allen was their boss then. Now we just hear about the campy mainstream this thing is cool marketing drivel.
Ah, but those were the days. Let's hope this isn't a precedent. What's next, Slashdot brought to you by Dell...*shutters*
If there is no longer a channel that appeals to geeks, why not create one? I'm see a huge market potential for it. There'd be millions watching it. Probably all the real geeks from TechTV would fly over, giving the channel some talent.
Slashdot Channel anyone?
TSS was steadily going downhill long before G4 got ahold of them. Once Leo Lapporte it was all Patrick could do to stay afloat.
I no longer Tivo'd TSS or any TechTV show after that.
Summary.
TechTV was good.
G4 is horrible.
"I'm not ashamed I can't function in society like I'm supposed to." - Paul Westerberg
But G4 bought them out. The ONLY thing they have done right (in my opinion) is keep X-Play running (new episodes and they don't seem to have changed it much if at all). TSS is terrible. As far as I can tell (and my TiVo) there are no new episodes of Invent This!, Fresh Gear, or a few other shows since G4 took over. The G4 content (the only one I've ever really watched is Filter) seems amaturish (like a high budget public access cable show) and like marketing smothered it with "love". The host is an idiot, it's full of "cool stuff" (acording to marketing) and the show is just terrible. The show would be MUCH better if they would just drop the host. I've found nothing else on G4 that I like (with the exception of the occational episode of Icons).
So for me, G4 has become the X-Play channel. Becuase they don't seem to want to make new episodes of the shows that they said they would keep (see above), that's the only thing I watch on the channel. When I first got satellite TV (DirecTV), one of the big reasons was so I could watch ZDTV. I got to watch The Screen Savers and all sorts of other interesting stuff (remember the show that would show computer animations made by people? That's how I discovered Animusic). Over the years, the channel has deciled (as TechTV although that wasn't SO bad) to being about as high on my list of "good" as SpikeTV (I used to think the constant banner on the bottom of TNN was bad, how I wish for those days).
All they have to do is mess up X-Play to lose me forever. Put someone with a BRAIN who is in touch with the AUDIENCE in charge of the channel, huh? Give it to Leo or SOMEONE. Because marketing is about to market me OUT of their audience.
RIP G4/TechTV, it's been a long, sad decline.
Comment forecast: Bits of genius surrounded by a sea of mediocrity.
I really have a problem with how G4 claimes to have merged Techtv with G4 to make G4techTV.
I didn't have G4 here (Adelphia didn't carry it) But I had TechTV. In fact I remember when ZDNet owned it and it was called ZDTV. Frankly when it bacame TechTV it changed a little for the worst, but thats a different story.
Anyhow, A friend of mine, lived in OH and had Time Warner, Which had G4. Him and his roommate which were both avid gamers couldn't stand G4 but I decided to at least see what was on it and agreed with them in 3 hours that basicially all they would show was...
1) games running in demos against techno music
2) rehashed gaming related shows (GameproTV, Some old Arcade game show I cant remember the name of, ETC)
3) Other original shows that were either boring, stupid or both.
I'll admit. I wasn't a big fan of TechTV. I didn't like or watch The Screen Savers, Call for help seemed like I was watching my Job on TV, ETC, but generally I knew what was on it and I knew that what they were broadcasting was much better than anything on G4 and was helpful to the people that would watch their shows.
When G4 took it over, it almost immediatly went into the crapper. I never once considered it a Merger between TechTV and G4, more like G4 lost it's broadcast license and aquired TechTV's to stay on the air. Basicially TechTV became G4 almost overnight. All of it's garbage programming took the place of the decent TechTV lineup. The shows that TechTV did keep so that it didn't look like a complete takeover of G4 were butchered to the point that they were practially a G4 show, or cancelled to put on CinemaTech or some other Brain Dead Show of the day G4 could come up with.
Basicially, G4TechTV is a lesson in how to make a quasi-hostile takeover look like a merger.
In Soviet Russia, Trojan exploits YOU!
Leo is my hero. He did a WHOLE DAY dedicated to IDE! That was one of the best shows I have ever, ever seen. Good computer info, now he just get all this gaming crap. Hey, I'm a huge gamer, but talking about computers wouldn't hurt.
I can't say I'm entirely surprised. As a journalism student I've seen that there's an inherent "fakeness" in broadcasting.
It was worse for TV, but even in my radio class we "greened" our live interviews by pre-interviewing them off air and writing up questions. So the interviewee pretty much knew what to expect. A print reporter wouldn't typically do that.
You know that back-and-forth the host sometimes does with a reporter (CBC radio uses this a fair bit)? It's all scripted ahead of time, the reporter just has to learn to sound conversational.
But as I said, TV is worse. Ever notice a TV interview will go between the interviewee speaking and the interviewer nodding? There aren't two cameras there, the latter is called a reverse shot, and it's usually taken before the interview even starts. The interview audio is then dubbed over top. A reverse shot is a clue that the reporter is cutting something out, avoiding a "jump cut" between two different parts.
Now I look at TV news a lot more critically, because they emphasize the appearance of "smoothness" and "continuity" over honesty.
Cable channels regularly alienate viewers if they think they can pick up more from somewhere else. Look at TNN (The Nashville Network) -> TNN (The National Network) -> Spike TV. Gone are the Grand Ole Opry and Heehaw, in are video game awards, car pimping and cartoon versions of Pamela Anderson.
You may use clips of the shows to make your own shows, as long as you allow others to do the same with the show you produce.
OK, it's a troll, but who wouldn't want to see Taco and CowboyNeal hosting their own shows?
I'm just trying to figure out how homebrewing beer & purifying vodka tie into a computer technology show. And one that seemingly more and more is catering to an under 21 crowd at that.
Leo was excellent in what he did. Actually, Pat wasn't half bad either.
... but I still would have given anything to have the old 90 minute TSS back with Leo and Patrick.
I completely agree except I think Pat was excellent as well. He was a little more serious and low key which I thought was a good balance to Leo's often highly upbeat and comical style.
I hate what the've done to TSS recently. The guy they added to replace Pat just after the LA move - Alex - actually worked pretty well with Kevin Rose, once you got used to his style, I guess, but they got rid of him too. What's the story on that, BTW? It was very sudden. And now Kevin Rose has taken a back seat.
I agree there too. I warmed up to Alex pretty quick. He has a blog that I follow but he doesn't update it all that much. I liked Alex enough that I wouldn't have wanted to see him go completely away
In any case, I absolutely HATE The other Kevin and Chi-Lan. They're horrible at what they've been tasked to do.
No doubt. I almost cried when TSS came back from Thanksgiving break and I saw that the new hosts were some teeny-boppy chick and a guy from G4.
I know a lot of people gave up on TechTV long before that, but I held out longer. But *that* Chi-Lan+Kevin2 thing was the final nail in the coffin for me. I gave the new hosts a chance, but I can safely say that all of G4TechTV sucks now. There's nothing left except Sarah's low cut shirts. But that's just not enough.
I'm really glad that Dan wrote this, I've checked Kevin and Sarah's blogs often, and they never say anything negative about working at G4. Although you know when you watch the show, they seem disappointed at what its become. I really liked Dan on the show too, even though he didn't do much, before the merger I liked the chemistry the whole crew had. It was a no BS approach to everything tech.
Now its replaced with celebrities playing games... I could care less what console 311 has, or what Snoop Dog plays in his pimpmobile. Even their "Gaming news" is no compairason to Tech Live, its mostly watered down content from sponsors, from 6-8 months ago. The reruns are really pathetic, as I was watching the other day they were talking about GTA3-esque games, I thought they were going to talk about an upcoming game, but instead it was a preview for True Crime: Streets of LA. I'm glad to say I've stopped watching G4, I'm a gamer but I like to play games, not watch celebritys play games. Anyway I wish Dan the best of luck in the future and hopefully another TechTv will come along, and not get swallowed up by a "Style over Substance" company like G4.
mount
I keep wondering how happy people like Erica Hill and the other folks who left for better jobs must be now that TechTV is destroyed. Hell would have to freeze over before G4CrapTV would ever air a show like TechLive. Or any news for that matter. News is just not cool, you know.
I have great dislike for what they've gone to one of my favorite shows, The Screen Savers. I watched it every single night on TechTV. Even if I knew most of the tips and stuff already, it was still interesting to get the latest news and hardware reviews, along with the occasional mod or hack. And the cast was like a family. True TSS fans really got to know these people, and it was hard to see most of them go.
Change happens though, so I was prepared to handle a new Screen Savers without Leo Laporte, and then later without Patrick Norton. It wasn't a horrible show, but it wasn't what it was. I chose to keep watching, since I had gotten used to Kevin and Sarah at least, from their time on air.
Well then G4 came along and raped the channel of anything worthwhile. They hire Alex Albrecht as co-host on TSS, whose only redeeming quality seemed to be his ability to insult as many types of people as possible during his short time on the show.
During this time, I also came to realize that every single news story they gave, when they even did the news, had come straight off of Slashdot here, or the other top news sites; a blatant example of why they still needed a news crew, like with TechLive. They even stopped reporting on new hardware for the most part, unless it was something that might help a gamer out.
Then to add insult to injury, the fire everyone left who might make the show worth watching. Without the occasional mod from Yoshi, I simply can't find any reason to continue watching this show. The hosts know nothing about tech whatsoever, and even worse, one of them is also named Kevin, just to make things confusing. I don't blame Kevin Rose at all for not wanting to take the helm of this new version of the show, because I'm sure he saw it was a sinking ship. Why have his face on it.
I just despise G4 and no longer watch anything on it. I hope Dan's inside scoop sends fans into an uproar, which leads to the demise of this poorly managed company.
And I wish the best of luck to Dan Huard, who was apparently the backbone to the show for much longer than I realized.
I should have been more specific in my complaints. I said "technology" what I should have said computer technology. I never mentioned the word science in my original post. There are plenty of science sources on TV but few if any shows dedicated to computer technology. "I hate history, the people on the history channel don't talk about anything but history." What else would you expect the history channel to talk about besides history? What would you expect a channel called G4/TechTV to talk and report about? You would expect gaming and (computer) technology. Well that's not true. Change the channel, dimwit. Guess what, I have changed the channel and no longer watch G4/TechTV. If you would have read my original post you would have seen that. You are clearly a troll. Have a great day.
At least, that's the way the schools I attend teach it.
You know how "everyone" always says they learned nothing at school?
I've learned they are apparently serious... and you see it in actions like this.
I swear, I'd never hire someone who claimed to learn "nothing" in school, anymore then I'd hire someone who only learned in school; I'd be too afraid they were literally, 100% telling the truth! (I'm not saying this to dis the self-taught, which can be great; I'm saying that if you sat through years of classes and learned nothing, absolutely nothing, either you are an absolute flaming genius 'cause you worked out the assembled wisdom of thousands/millions of man-years of some discipline by yourself, or you are someone who has completely wasted a remarkable opportunity.)
I used to be a big fan of TechTV, up until May 7. That was effectively the end of TechTV to me. G4 basically took over the channel and replaced everybody with young, slightly more good-looking hosts.
Message to G4 types: young, good-looking hosts don't make a show. People that know what they're talking about do.
So now, G4TechTV sucks. It can't even be considered TechTV anymore- they completely revamped TSS into one of the most disgusting shows I have ever seen. The only good host is Keven Rose - is he still even with them? I haven't watched it since about September. And X-Play. It's the only show I *will* watch on there. At least Adam and Morgan got to stay. I dunno how they didn't get their personalities butchered.
ROMANES EUNT DOMUS