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Something Awful on G4TV
Reader Mantorp wrote in to mention an article over on Something Awful (reader beware) discussing the good and bad points of everyone's favorite video gaming channel, G4. Except for not mentioning Icons (which I view as a variable but generally good program), they nail the channels pros and cons dead on. From the article: "I almost wrote an update like this when the merger first happened, but it would have been purely reactionary. The resulting channel needed time to ferment for better or worse, and luckily for you it got much worse because my only backup article idea was a fake guide to an NES game based on the Herman Melville book Bartleby The Scrivener."
What is TV useful for again?
The only use it currently has is porn. If only there was a free x-rated channel. The people want free nonstop streaming high-quality nudity.
Basically the guy is lamenting the loss of a channel that was for nerds. TechTV (or ZDTV, if you remember that far back) used to cover all sorts of nerdy stuff. Particularly, the Screen Savers was a very cool show with some neat tips and experiments, and was the first TV show I ever saw that publicly acknowledged that Linux existed.
There was a show that covered new technology that was emerging and reviewed them once they went commercial (handy for buying a PDA at the time), and then Gamespot TV was pretty cool (becuase it was before G4TV was announced, and was actually really good.) And there were some filler shows too, but they seemed to have their own niche (for instance, Call For Help was handy if you didn't want to explain how to burn a cd to your grandmother).
In short, TechTV used to be really interesting, and the only TV I ever watched. We're all sad that it left, I suppose.
Adam Sessler was the worst host on TechTV who has become the best host on G4TV...
http://chrono.posterous.com/