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G4 Drops TechTV Name
MrM writes "According to the latest press release from G4techTV, G4 will drop the TechTV name in mid-February 2005. This comes as a major step to the old TechTV viewers, as the focused content has become gaming-oriented once more. G4 also released a copy of their "redesigned" logo, but quickly pulled it off the web after release." The article also includes details of "two new series, "Formula D" and "Girls Gone Wired." Formula D appears to be coverage of Drift Racing (because obviously gamers love that), and unfortunately Girls Gone Wired appears to be exactly what you'd expect: Guys ogling video game characters in a beauty pageant.
"Nothing for you to see here, move along."
How appropriate...
Oh my friggin god, you weren't kidding. It's really about a virtual beauty pageant! I was under some asinine impression that it'd be about women who are into technology.
If someone says he and his monkey have nothing to hide, they almost certainly do.
"The network also presented TCA critics with "Girls Gone Wired," a digital beauty pageant featuring the hottest 2D and 3D women on the planet"
Thats just sad...
How about /.TV? 24 hour news and information for nerds? Fellas?
Start a happiness pandemic
Having said that, that 'Warez' show you mentioned might not be a bad idea for the general, spyware infested population.
Linux, you magnificent bastard, I read the fucking manual!
...will some other station buy XPlay so I can stop watching G4 altogether?
I think the most disturbing TV image ever created by man is the Shadow Watermelon Carrier crafted to advertise the "G-Spot" (that term alone tells you where the minds of the stations owners lie).
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
I tried to like it, I really did. But then, no one likes to watch someone else play a game. Sure, a game review might be nice once in a while but I'm not going to watch a television show for about 30 minutes where it's just a bunch of guys playing a game and not really saying anything of worth such as, "Suck it, punk b*tch!" to each other. Why watch them play a game when you could turn on your own machine and play.
At least with TechTV, they had decent shows like the ScreenSavers.
Dumbing down starts? I don't think you can get any "dumber" than G4 already is. The poor TechTV souls...
Have a Happy.
... to get their crappy programming into millions of more homes by 'buying' TechTV's slot in most Cable Companies lineup. I mean really, no one would give them a whole freaking channel otherwise. Any clown can see their current (not original TechTV shows) shows are total shit. /rant
G4 buying Tech TV was the worst thing to happen in ages. :(
Damn... I wish I lived in that universe.
...or when TLC meant "The Learning Channel" rather than "Monster $OBJECT" and "$TRENDY_HOUSE_DECORATING_SHOW"?
Anybody who didn't see this coming is...well....dumb enough to watch G4.
TechTV is dead. Long live TechTV.
I miss techTV too, but glad they dropped the name. G4 only a disgrace to the TechTV name in the first place..
THIS ACCOUNT IS OFFICIALLY RETIRED/RETARDED.
After G4TechTV (or whatever it's going to be called) ruined the Screen Savers by getting rid of everyone who was entertaining and had actual knowledge, and replacing them with a bunch of good-looking young know-nothings, I stopped watching.
It is really too bad that they've ruined a perfectly good channel. There was so much potential to make it better but they just keep making it worse.
I too am glad they dropped the TechTV name. I had stopped watching TechTV when they started getting rid of people who knew what the hell they were talking about or would bring people on who knew the what they were talking about. Replacing these true techies with rejects from 'The OC' was a bad move. And, not surprisingly, with these rejects you started to see a younger client base that wanted more game crap.
I was not aware how bad it was until a few weeks when I switched in on and it was all gaming stuff. That was enough for me. Sorry to see the old TechTV go, it was pretty cool having a station like that--although my wife appreciated it much less than I did.
Having done so much with so little for so long, I now can do anything with nothing at all.
Oh how much I agree. I'm not really a console gamer, but the casual entertaining way that he presented what was largely console games made for a very enjoyable watch, and when nothing better was on (most always) my wife and I would watch it. We can't stomach the new, hipper version.
A week or so back I commented on how much the show has gone downhill, and in return was scored -1 Flamebait for it -- apparently I offended the sensibilities of the sort of sad little nerd that thinks any "untouchable" girl is "H0t!". That Morgan is, and this is obviously subjective personal opinion, a paper-bagger, and she certainly wouldn't get attention in any food court across the land. Make her inaccessible, and thus a convenient substitute for real female companionship, and suddenly she's the hottest thing around to dungeon nerds across the land. Screensavers a couple of years back had a host who was entirely plain - she wasn't ugly but at a bar she'd be the cute girl's ugly friend - and she commented several times about how people need to stop sending proposals. Give me a break...
One thing that seems consistent, down to the new logo - they're not just going after gamers, but specifically console gamers. After all, Halo 2 made more than a Hollywood blockbuster, so there's tons of people just waiting to watch console game stuff, right? That's my bet - they'll keep dumbing it down (which is sad - Call4Help and TSS were, depending, already fairly dumbed down) further, so the 15-year-olds with a PS2 can be happy. That's where the money is.
I wonder if I can call Charter and ask that they drop G4 and put on something else instead?
"Sometimes a woman is a kind of religion, she can save your soul & set you free from all your sins" - Bad Examples
Yeah, forget the tsunami: Several of my favorite shows have been cancelled or changed!
Funny (maybe), but not insightful: I think it's implied that the original poster was using 'worst thing that happened in ages' in a limited domain. It's not like just because something really bad happens, we immediately stop considering other, lesser bad things that might be happening - although many governments would like you to (I'm thinking War on Terror vs civil liberties here.)
I first watched TechTV back when it was ZDTV. At that time I was only a bit of a computer nerd and TechTV completely changed it.
I built my first computer from instructions given by Leo Laporte on Call For Help......
I'll miss TechTV an insane amount. Now it's just filled with crap.
Atleast Sessler is still around.
What was Comcast buying?
Same thing that happens with corporate mergers/takeovers. If you can't compete, you "buy them out", completely removing them from the market.
While I personally agree with you, and can't even watch the channel anymore because of how disgusting its become, part of me wonders if we're just being fanboys.
I mean, while these seem like obviously dumb business moves to most of the /. crowd, I wonder if since they are targeting a much more mainstream audience, they are in fact making more money than Tech TV used to. Is viewership in fact up? Perhaps someone with more time than me can post their research findings on this.
I mean, I'm all for bashing G4 for what they've done, but I'd be a little cautious about saying they are making bad business moves until we know for a fact whether or not viewership is up or down and whether or not revenue is up or down since the buyout.
Never underestimate the stupidity of humanity.
Buy Steampunk Clothing Online!
As another poster commented: market penetration; they got to put G4 on any affiliate that was carrying TechTV.
You and the other poster are probably correct, but the wisdom of Comcast's decision remains to be seen. Disappointing an existing loyal audience while forcing your channel into markets where the consumers aren't clamoring for it seems to be an odd way to build a successful channel. In fact, it seems like a good way to shoot yourself in the foot. Were Comcast's G4 channel to suddenly appear in addition to TechTV, I'd probably have been apathetic. But now, having been exposed to it from the standpoint of what they did to The Screen Savers, I'm actively hostile towards it.
There was one very simple reason why they bought TechTv - to get more viewers. TechTV was on both major satellite providers and several cable systems. These providers had no interest in G4.
The one word answer is carriage. G4 was in 15 million homes and TechTV was in 43 million homes.
Now "G4 - Video Game Televison" is carried in 44 million homes.
Dude. You really need to get a life.
Life is more than a game. Do something new. Take your wife or girlfriend friend on a date. You might like it.
Actually, I think there is more tech in SpikeTV than G4.