Slashdot Mirror
Leo Laporte Returns to G4TV
TimeForGuinness writes "Leo Laporte returns to G4TV along with the show Call For Help. It premieres Monday the 29th of August at 11am ET/8am PT. As a long time ZDTV and TechTV fan, I am happy to see him return." Agreed. Good to see him back on a cable show. The first few episode topics include: "Waterproof Your Gadgets, Find a Wi-Fi Hotspot, Tweak Your TV Tones, Network Enabled DVD Players"
While this is a promising development, it also has clear implications for privacy and Our Rights Online.
after g4 took over
Return of the Laporte?
does waterproofing gadgets involve a ziploc bag?
Spend your friday night on slashdot. Just kidding!
.. *glances at the TV* .. *kicks the dirt*..
*unblocks G4 from his receiver*
ok, you got me this time, but I'm not enjoying it!
I agree, but at least bringing back Leo might be a sign that TPTB at G4TV are going to shift back more toward old TechTV programming - the half and half only lasted a little while before virtually all TechTV shows (and people, minus Morgan Webb and Adam Sessler) were gone. G4 feels too 12 year old fanboy - even if Call for Help seems too n00bish, at least its something better than what is there now.
Laporte's already on G4!
He's been on G4TechTv for the last year already in Canada.
For those of you who don't watch TV anymore :cough:, here's a primer: Call for Help and Leo Laporte.
Maybe G4 realizes that they're killing their network by driving away all the good talent and now they're trying to resuscitate it. I mean, really, G4 is the horny teen poser network now.
not only that but whats with all the love for leo?
he seemed like a n00b too.. i mean he knew stuff but it was like stuff youd learn from a book not from experience.. whenever he talked about something more advanced than youd find in one of those "idiots" books he sounded like a novice
the whole techtv channel annoyed the hell out of me
There you go fanboys, you gave him money through so called "donations" to keep the tech going and he sells the show back to g4. One big check for him nothing for you, LMAO.
Thanks for fooling everyone Leo, you demostrated how sleazy and weasel you are.
I always thought that he was fairly intelligent, but where Leo really shines is his ability to talk to non-techies about technical things. I wish they would put Kate back on also. ;)
Seeing the problems that "ordinary people" have with software helps us geeks understand better what it takes to design good software.
that Call for Help never really went away, at least in Canada. Leo moved to Toronto and Call for Help continued on the Canadian version of G4. G4 in the U.S. is now rebroadcasting the Canadian episodes.
Don't worry though, you're not missing much from the Canadian version of G4 as Call for Help and Xplay are the only good shows on our version as well. The worst show has to be Arena. Why would I want to watch a nerd herd playing games I already own?
Anyway, glad to hear the Leo is back on U.S. television.
I still won't watch it...
I thought that G4 decided to refocus on video games? Is it turning out that technology shows are what will make money for the network? I'd be interested in seeing information on this.
I am very pleased to see him back on TV.
I appreciated the show more for the fact that they were trying to actually help n00bs more than for the actual content of the program.
That and it was a fairly innocuous program that filled that cable programming time slot.
This is great
Ever since G4 took over, that channel has become increasingly childish and mindless. There is an overabundance of programming devoted to video games and other distractions while the "tech" element has been brushed completely aside. Even if the show is a bit basic, at least it has substance.
Like this comment? I accept Bitcoin! - 153sc8UUBXyp12ofQqfAWDmJrzyiKCYC1x
at least throw out the link
I personaly rejoice, while the show isnt perfect it taught me quite a few interesting things.. like how to build a hovercraft out of a leafblower.
You forget that most of the world are geek-wanabees and not IT/technical folk. They are geared towards the 85% majority of the folk who like tech who are not non-technical vs. the 15% of us who "walk-the-walk", so to speak..
-1: troll please, thanks mods.
In a desolte wasteland. I haven't watched much Techtv (G4) since Leo left and though I am still bitter about the take over, YAY! LEO's back! I remember first time watching TechTV and being blown away because nearly every program on it was excellent. After the G4 take over the only thing that is watchable is X-play, and only for the comments on bad games. (after I've taken some valume)
torrents at http://cfhtracker.info/
Basic Time Warner sucks monkey butt.
Oh yeah , you get all the AD channels like QVC and Home Shopping. BAAAAAAAAhhhhhhhhhhh !
Hurry up with the damn FIOS,FTTH .
I am sure we are all ready to DITCH the 'ABORTION' known as cable tv.
Call for Help had some good interviews. And they had some good segments (usually involving Kevin Rose and some hack or Yoshi and some mod). And yes, it was very n00b oriented. That's the point. It was a show your dad or grandma could watch and learn something from.
Attack of the Show is more like a cross between Slashdot and Fark, but clean enough for television.
Most of the content from G4/TechTV is just awful. It's too MTV-ish geared for zit-faced basement dwelling pre-pubescent kids who'll never get a date. You know, the kind of people that would think some stereotypical black guy with cornrows, bling and a funky nickname interviewing half naked asian pornstars in between showing "drift" races is "really awesome". TechTV wasn't like that. G4 has become that. Of course, G4 is owned by Viacom, which owns MTV - I believe. TechTV was owned by Paul Allen.
Most people who watch G4/TechTV don't do it because it's the best thing in the world. They watch it because it's all there is. What other tech shows are you going to watch on TV? You're not - there aren't any, unless you count a re-run of Monster Garage or a rare episode of Alan Alda hosting Nova (which is probably about my favorite non-fiction series ever on television).
Actually - I wouldn't even qualify Attack of the Show that way. That show actually is good. But everything else on the station is mediocre. Well, except for those cool 'documentary' shows about the history of gaming. That shit is pretty cool.
What I'd really like is to see some sort of a channel dedicated to learning. And then maybe a channel dedicated to science. Unfortunately, the two stations that used to be that are now "The Ladies Channel" that show nothing but "A Wedding Story" and "A Baby Story" and "A Makeover Story" and "A Dating Story" (I'm not shitting you - that's the lineup on The Learning Channel!)... and then Discovery.. I don't even know what that has these days. Probably just a bunch of send-person-out-of-town, redo-house, surprise-person shows.
Generally, bash is superior to python in those environments where python is not installed.
Can G4 put the genie back in the bottle? Is this an admission of failure? Can I have my old job back?
You forget that most of the world are geek-wanabees
:P
Oh yeah. Totally. All the really cool people that I know try to emulate geeks. They just totally envy us and want to be just like us. You bet...
Hell, I'm a wannabe porn-star, but they said they couldn't find any chicks willing to risk the pummeling by my freak-of-nature gargantuan cock. Not even the really lose "mature" ladies that do horses and stuff at the end of their career to keep the money coming in for their cocaine habit.
Meanwhile, nerds everywhere futilely pine away for Kate Botello to appear on TV somewhere....anywhere
I've watched a few segments and learned absolutely nothing, everything was like, so obvious...
Just because you're experienced with Windows, it doesn't mean we all are. As tech-support for the family and close friends, I learnt alot about where to find things when I recieved my family's calls for help.
As far as I know, it was one of the only shows of its type. Let's face it, technical types are going to use a TV show to get information, and TV shows aren't interested in appealing to the arcane topics of hardcore geeks.
I also have to say that there is something refreshing and enjoyable about seeing people have their problems sorted out. It's nice.
Geek-wannabes? Give me a break! Just because someone has an interest in getting their computer to work the way they want does not make them a wannabe geek.
I've seen too many "geeks" on forums who want a high barrier of entry to technology because it makes them feel important. This is the sort of nonsense they spout. As if they were never new to computers themselves.
Seeing the problems that "ordinary people" have with software helps us geeks understand better what it takes to design good software.
Don't forget the ego boost from thinking "I knew that."
Windows guy? Apparently, you haven't watched the old Screen Savers. He heavily promoted BeOS and Linux. I was younger at the time, so I don't remember if he promoted both at once or what. I just remember a computer with a huge monitor running BeOS and penguins everyone in various episodes of the Screen Savers. Mind you, this was TSS with Kate & Leo on ZDTV. ZDTV was bought out by someone close to or part of Microsoft or something, so the show started to focus on windows.
Attack of the Show is more like a cross between Slashdot and Fark, but clean enough for television.
That's because Slashdot and Fark are where they get 90% of their material.
Is there any device which will play DVD's ripped to hard drive back over the TV? I don't want to use a computer connected to the TV: dedicated hardware is usually better.
What do you expect Leo to be?! He's a fucking television host/radio host who explains tech to average people. A lot of people at Slashdot have careers a lot like that, you know? Just because you're helping people figure their shit out instead of writing the next BitTorrent client or 200-mile wifi cantenna doesn't mean you're a n00b.
And yes, aside form his commentary, his "instructional" information could be learned from a book. You know what book? Probably the book HE WROTE. He writes an extremely popular technical almanac every year and has for quite a few years now. It's not bad. I wouldn't buy it, but if I had a tech-interested family member who was somewhat short on the actual tech experience or knowledge, I'd completely refer them to it.
Leo is a communicator. He's calm and polite and interesting and has a very smooth and helpful way of explaining things that would otherwise be very difficult for non-tech people to understand. He performs an important job in the tech industry - helping people. Some of us could learn a thing or two. If you want to draw in more customers and a larger tech community, you have to start somewhere. You're not going to get it by insulting people and turning them away if they aren't as incredibly 31337 as you and I. you're going to do it by empowering them. Help them through problems. Explain things to them. Maybe expose them to some stuff they weren't familiar with before. I gaurantee the first time a lot of people will hear about what P2P really is or wifi or the RIAA or Windows Update are through that guy.
He isn't going to tell you how to write your own software and port it to the iPod. He's going to tell you how to get your ipod to synch with your mac properly. He's not going to tell you how to create and post a bit torrent... but he'll tell you what bit torrent is and point you to some clients and some information about it.
There are a lot of hack "tech support genius" guys on the radio. They all suck and stay the stupidest shit. Laporte actually knows his stuff. You should listen to his show on KFI on the weekend some time. Or his podcast. Or watch him on TV. Or read one of his books.
If you're like me, you have friends and loved ones who are not computer literate.
You are... maybe too computer literate, and you have a hard time with layman's terms.
Call for Help is a great way to learn to speak non-tech speak to the tech disabled.
It's helped me immensly in the past on how to deal with my parents, convince my grandparents to switch to mac to avoid viruses, and advise friends on purchasing PC parts on their own to build their own PC's.
You want relief? Make your friends build their own PC's and then tell them since they built it, THEY can support it!
Someone is going to rip me a new asshole on the "lose/loose" tip.
Although he occasionally got tech stuff wrong he really did have a gift for talking to noobs. He really helped the geek culture, even if that meant raising the average geek IQ.
Too bad G4 Sucks Ass though.
Leo's podcast This Week in Tech features John C. Dvorak and Steve Gibson.
Leo himself never seemed that bad, but he's not that intelligent in regards to technology. He's not someone I personally consider as a reputable source for technology news/discussion; I listened to a few episodes of This Week in Tech and unsubscribed. In general, the show often gave me the same feeling I get whenever I overhear someone saying something flat out wrong about computers, simply because they don't know better.
I don't buy that for a minute.
In fact, I see things on Slashdot a day or two after they've been on Attack of the Show *FAR* more often than the other way around. And when Attack of the Show takes something from Slashdot, they actually attribute it.
Anyway, who cars - the web and television both survive by butt-raping each other's content on a daily basis.
Zits before puberty must suck :P
I overhear someone saying something flat out wrong about computers, simply because they don't know better.
Yeah, managers suck!
Yet you don't mind Ask Slashdot?
That will mean exactly one show on G4 that is not utter mindless garbage. AotS may someday ascend to the competence level of public access channel shows, but I won't hold my breath.
They never had a "good interview". Granted, they frequently had some great interviewees, but inevitably the interviewers would talk over and interrupt the guest and just spout their own opinion instead.
Article X: The powers not delegated... by the Constitution...are reserved...to the people
The difference is, the Slashdot article was a dupe.
Leo is primarily a mac/linux guy. That's what he prefers for his home systems anyway.
Windows just pays the bills.
Looks like the only person less intelligent than Dvorak is you.
Hmmm witty sig or funny sig? Maybe elitest techy sig!
The other garbage (like Attack Of the Show) just sucks ass.
She was really delicious as I remember her, even released some revealing photos of herself sometime into that gig.. A good investment IMHO. Funny thing in her blog a few months ago, she got scammed by some paypal bozo.. lost herself a few grand on a alienware laptop.. here's the link, read from February 19th, 2005 (halfway down the page) and go up...
February 19th, 2005
This is probably the only good thing G4 has EVER done. I still can't figure out why they bought TechTV, since They killed nearly every show, and fired everyone from Screen Savers and changed the name. (Why not just make a new show and leave screen savers alone?) Oh, wait. I forgot Morgan Webb. Is her whiny, sacrastic ass really worth $300 million? Xplay is redundant, since G4 already had a game review show, and everyone hates Adam Sessler because, although he is just as whiny and sarcastic as Webb, he lacks the cleavage to hold the viewers attention and make them forget about how whiny and sarcastic they are. So basically all comcast wanted was her ablility to pull in the geek demographic while at the same time they "urbanize" the network with more hip-hop, "bling" and "whip" style. Hey, comcast! Wake the freak up and see how badly this channel is.
THIS is what happens when you let the marketing people run the programming.
"I forgot my mantra."
Fletcher, is that you?
G4 was so in it for commercialism, it literally pisses me off that people think this is a good channel. Sell sell sell, push the repetetive game platforms on tv. It's rediculous!
Media Artist - 3dhansen.com
Who watched? Uh, maybe people who wanted to learn about their computers. Not every computer owner is a tech genius who can solve all their problems, you know. What would you have them do, sit there in ignorance or call in and ask questions to try to educate themselves?
In fact, my mom used to watch Leo, and she's 81 and doesn't even own a computer. But she'd watch because she said he'd help her understand the things she read in the newspaper, heard on TV, or heard me say that she didn't want to ask me about. She liked the way he'd calmly explain things and help people solve their problems.
In fact, I'll have to call and tell her he's coming back on.
I remember watching a show where the resident geek (not laporte - someone who knew his stuff whos name I don't recall) was building a machine and the geek asked Laporte to put the gfx card in. Laporte asked "Do I just put it in any slot?" to which the geek responded "Ah no, it's an AGP card" - *blank look* - "It has to go in the AGP slot." The guy does not know his stuff. "Those than can, do. Those that can't host shows on G4." And yes, the shows catch phrase should be something like "The stupid hour".
ZDTV was bought out by someone close to or part of Microsoft or something, so the show started to focus on windows.
That would be Paul Allen.
Well, law of averages tells us that after so many bad decisions, they'd have to eventually come up with a good one. Too bad it took them over a year as a network to come up with it...
Based on your attitude that is reflected in your comment, I can't imagine that you were a very effective tech support provider. You don't seem to have the patience to deal with those who don't have as much experience as you do, which is truly unfortunate. This is what gives techies a bad reputation and gives SNL the ammo they used for the Nick Burns sketches. I hope you soon learn to deal with less-knowledgable people before you alienate those around you who would be in the same situation in dealing with you in the future.
G4 wont take it as an acceptance of failure...they'll just play it at 5 in the morning or midnight or some off time. Thats the way they like it....childish
In addition to Call for Help, he also hosts the This Week in Tech podcast. And he does a radio show on KFI about computers, which you can also download as a podcast one week after it airs. And he just started doing a security podcast with Steve Gibson (of www.grc.com fame). Wow. I just realized that I know a little too much about Leo!
Coder's Stone: The programming language quick ref for iPad
He's awsome... Glad he's back.. although I hardly ever watch g4tv anymore....
...could G4 licensing This Week in Tech be far behind? Since TWiT will be taped live before an audience starting really soon, it's not too far-fetched to see it being videotaped as well as audiotaped.
I hope that if G4 decides to do it, that Leo and company will be savvy enough NOT TO SELL IT TO FSCKN COMCAST, DAMM!T!!! Screw me once, etc. etc.
I might have to get cable back. God, I hate giving Adelphia anything but my boot up their @$$ but Leo Laporte returning to US TV is pretty damn compelling. Yes, I'm a fangirl. Leo rules.
Knowledge is power. Knowledge shared is power multiplied.
Obnoxious, pompous, ignorant a-hole.
...Called for Help?
Sorry, it had to be said...again I'm sure.
I browse on +1 so AC's need not respond, I won't see it.
But after it went to techtv they did still have a lot of linux stuff, and would always tell people not to use internet explorer, and promoted mac and linux (even freeBSD a few times).
I've heard that the Canadain CFH is more like the old Screen Savers, but I've never seen it.
Coder's Stone: The programming language quick ref for iPad
What, you've never bitched about stupid people off-hours? Most jobs that involve people, generally involve stupid people. Recognizing this fact does not really reflect (positively or negatively) on the level of ability to *deal* with the stupid people on the job, to wit, getting their problems solved courteously without belittling them to their faces.
At worst, you can infer that the GPP's constant idiot-dealings may be somewhat taxing, but that's why it's a job, and not a hobby.
Information wants to be free.
Entertainment wants to be paid.
You just want to be cheap.
It was steven allen, the co-fownder of micosoft
Wrong. It's Paul Allen, whose Vulcan Ventures also owns the suck-tastic Charter Communications and Dreamworks.
why not just make a podcast channel and create a new tech tv?
Leo's show is definitely good for the beginners and the average user, as others have mentioned. Plus, he's far from a MS fan boy. But what I really miss are some of the other short-lived shows like Big Thinkers, Silicon Spin, Beyond Tomorrow, Cyber Crime, and the ZDTV News. These shows were something I could sit down and tune in to. Despite a few obnoxious hosts, it was nice to see more than sound bites and press releases on tech topics. There just aren't any other shows on TV that do more than casually mention the topics these shows used to dig into. I'm willing to bet their coverage of the recent worm would have been at least intelligible.
That and I still think Erica Hill is one of the brightest talking heads on TV. Too bad she was abducted by CNN at such an early age.
The Stone Age did not end because humans ran out of stones. - William McDonough
Try www.cfhtracker.info ... ;)
Heh. You mixed Steve Balmer and Paul Allen together. :)
PS: Paul Allen owns the Portland TrailBlazers, too.
There are a lot of hack "tech support genius" guys on the radio. They all suck and stay the stupidest shit.
Excellent post. Might I add that the hacks now include gals too? My dad used to watch Leo all the time. This is where I first learned of Tech TV. Not long ago I was telling him about Leo's podcast, in case he might be interested in downloading a few. He replied that he now listened to some woman on the radio for his tech fix. I came home and looked up who he was listening to and was mortified after hearing about 10 minutes of what Kim Kamando spews on her show. http://www.komando.com/
I'm thinking about buying dad an iPod and loading it with stuff from IT conversations just so I can cure him of his (hopefully) temporary dementia.
The Stone Age did not end because humans ran out of stones. - William McDonough
Screen Savers really needed to have some "adult supervision" on the set, and when Leo left, it was just a bunch of giggling kids. (Sorry, Kevin Rose). p. Laporte is great. Funny and truly knowledgeable. I'm telling my TiVo to record him right now...
Best Buy can have you arrested
Yeah, I've heard of that chick. She's been around for a LOOOONG time.
Our local station had a couple douchebags and one of them would routinely tell callers, when asking how they can deal with popups in their web browser, that the problem isn't the internet or their browser - it's that they're probably infected with a virus and then he'd go on this long diatribe about scanning for viruses and and trojans and so forth.
It never once occured to him to tell them "use firefox" or "install a popup blocker". No, he was absolutely CERTAIN that popups (like when you visit a website and you'd get a window popping up) were due to viruses and were an indication that there was something more wrong with the system.
What's even worse is that he would routinely tell people that free software and shareware was a bad idea, because nobody would give something away unless they had loaded it with something bad to screw up your system or spy on you.
And EVEN WORSE is when a parent would call in talking about their system acting wonky.. and the guy would inevitably find a way to blame the person's children for it. It's because they downloaded and installed firefox... or because they installed a chat client... or because they installed... whatever.. Whatever it was THAT had to have been the culprit. I can't even imagine how many poor kids got in trouble from their idiot parents because they listened to some idiot radio host who knew dick about PCs.
I was going to make you one of my friends but, you don't have a little dot thing next to your name.
I've been working with computers my entire life, and it just feels very pure to see it all spelled out there for you on TV. It is a show to leave going while you're on the computer I guess, though I did enjoy watching it when I had nothing else to do. Interesting show, and it is impossible to know EVERYTHING-- so anybody can learn little this-and-thats about MS word or whatever.
;)
Plus the hosts are just fun to listen to. I mean, it is tech, but on your TV. (Or at least it was before G4 took over).
Finally a show other than Jon Stewart I can watch. Damn those evil execs who took my favorite station away.
Maybe their the same person, have you ever seen them in the same room?
Please don't dis the Laporte.
Leo is so cute. Too bad he is married and straight.
For a while, I would leave the boob tube on TechTV all day, and still find something good to watch. Slowly but surely everything good went away so they could broadcast more dumb BS. It didn't take too long before I even forgot what channel it was on. By the time the TechTV/G4 merger came along, I was so utterly disappointed in them I didn't even care.
It looks like they're finally realizing how bad they suck, and the want to get some cred back and actually attract viewers other than the 12-14 yr old males that only wanna watch stupid games they don't have on their XBox yet. Too f'ing late! I've got better things to do than to give them yet another chance. Yes, I'd like to see a thought-provoking show on tech, or see new gear I'll never be able to afford, but I seriously doubt it's gonna happen. Maybe if I'm lucky, the new shows will tell me how to fix my AOL email problems... I couldn't care less...
--- "To ignore race and sex is racist and sexist!" -- Jesse Jackson
Yes, this is so as it is said. And also you should not forget that Apple will not produce any PowerPCs with the G4 anymore, but instead they will build Intel computers, with the Intel Pentium chips. You might ask, if you can buy such an Intel Macintosh and install Windows or Linux on instead of Mac OS. But this raises the related question: What is better, Linux or Windows? A new approach to this question is: Make a comparison between Linux Torvalds and Bill Gates. Bill Gates is very rich, the richest man of the world. Linux Torvalds ha a good income, but he is not really rich. Both they look somehow like the similiar type, but Bill Gates is older than Linus Torvalds. Both are kind of the strong and dominant type, but Linus Torvalds dominates his project while Bill Gates dominates the entire world. Both they are programmers, but Bill Gates did not program since about 20 years anymore. Bill Gates lives in Redmond, Linus Torvalds lives somewhere in the USA too, but was born in Finland. Both are married, Linux Torvalds also has a child. You might mention, that i forgot BSD in this comparison, but this is not true, because Mac OS is a variety of BSD, so it is in this posting. Think about that as long as you can!
>>You're not going to get it by insulting people and turning them away if they aren't as incredibly 31337 as you . . .
you would have been even k-radder if you would have spelled it 1337
So far most of what I hear is that people that went away from G4, because of the terrible job they have done, is that they will return to watching the show if only to see that show. A brilliant marketing move, eclipsed only by the joy of being able to watch Leo once again in America del sur. Like most of you I agree that his show is not very high on the technical side, but more than being a translator, I believe that Leo's highest quality is that of being an entertainer. Not only to those who are not as technically savy, but to the saviest as well giving them an opportunity to be entertained by not only someone who is technically savy as themselves, but by a geek. One who could relate to them, one who could honestly say hey this is my version of working the McDonalds. And by George I'm just glad to know he'll be able to better feed his lifestock.
Who is this Leo anyway, that you are talking about? Was this the guy who designed the G4 CPU? So he works at IBM or Motorola? Well, thats frightening! Why did he go to TV then? Wasnt he that successful as a hardware engineer? Maybe, the G4 will be dead soon, because Apple doesnt want it anymore. So Motorola or IBM blamed this guy for that failure and laid him off. So he had to get a job on TV. Thats awesome! Or awful! What is the difference between "awesome" and "awful"? "Awsome "has some "aw", "awful" has full "aw", which might be more "aw" than some "aw". Steve Jobs yelld "Aw!" when he realised that the PowerPC is a dead end for his computer series, when he decided to switch to Intel CPUs. An, of course, Steve Jobs would never watch this Leo guy on TV!
Well, i havent posted here for about 20 minutes now... So i should post again... But about what? Let me think... Well... It seems like no moderators are around here. Is this good or bad?
When G$ tried to appeal to the young hip gamer crowd. The format of their shows stink. Now that Leo is back, bring back Patrick, and the LockerGnome (aka Chris), keep Kevin Rose and get rid of that dumbarse sidekick and that skank coat tail rider sarah lane. Once they have that gang back online, I will start watching again.
http://www.g4tv.com/techtvvault/features/2354/Intr oducing_the_Surf_Guru.html
Chandler: You got waaaay too much free time.
As much as I like Leo and all he does, I will continue to leave the G4TV channel blocked from my viewing. What they did to TechTV is a disgrace and I hope they loose millions of dollars a month until they bleed away into obvlivion.
I used to watch The Screen Savers religiously every day. I'd Tivo it and watch three our four episodes in one sitting if I'd been gone for a few days on business. It was a great show.
It started going down hill when it went from the 1.5hr format to the 1.0hr format.
Then they made it 'hip' instead of 'nerdy' and that was all she wrote.
Still, on of my most favorite episodes ever was when Martin and Gary Coleman Hosted. You could tell Gary Coleman hated Martin and his dumb comments, kept waiting for him to explode. Instead by the end of the episode they were zinging each other with snide comments, it was hilarious.
As a rock-in-roll Physicist once said, No matter where you go, there you are.
I'm not so sure any more. Leo was a big Mac fan, but he does not seem to tout the Mac as much on Twit or his radio show lately. Sounds like he has lost faith. Leo seems very negative about the Mac / Intel switch also.
But the bigger question is, when will Starcade return to G4?!?!
I want it back!
While I agree with just about everything you say, G4 is doing this for a reason.
G4 knows that a TV show like Arena costs NOTHING to produce. The players probably are compensated with little more than plane tickets, hotel accomodations, and free pizza. G4 relies heavily on interns. Their costs are far lower I bet than TechTV's was, and so they are more profitable.
They can survive alienating the TechTV's "core" of, well, techies, by pandering to 9 year olds who watch just for the reject chicks from the Hot Topic catalog.
All the G4 shows lack any educational or informational value. Where you used to hear of cool hacks, mods, and Linux/OSX stuff now you hear nothing about computers. G4 showcatses nothing if it is not shrinkwrapped and a potential advertiser. "Linux" stories do not woo more ads.
G4 is following the MTV model. Move from the roots and flood the airwaves with cheap production costs. Cater the stories to fit the advertisers not the viewers. They know they'll pick up more generic couch potatoes then they lost in core fans.
Sci-Fi channel has been following the same theme the last few years. Farscape didn't just die because the viewers were Amiga fanboys... the show had a real following, that was only surpassed recently by Battlestar. I can't diss the Battlestar effort, at least it is top notch. Then again, Battlestar had huge potential, as many older people (who never watch sci-fi nowadays) watch it for nostalgiac value.
"Most of the content from G4/TechTV is just awful. It's too MTV-ish geared for zit-faced basement dwelling pre-pubescent kids who'll never get a date. You know, the kind of people that would think some stereotypical black guy with cornrows, bling and a funky nickname interviewing half naked asian pornstars in between showing "drift" races is "really awesome". TechTV wasn't like that. G4 has become that. Of course, G4 is owned by Viacom, which owns MTV - I believe. TechTV was owned by Paul Allen."
G4 is owned by Comcast. TechTV started out as ZDTV - owned by Ziff Davis - and was later acquired by Paul Allen and received the name change to TechTV. Allen sold out the channel to Comcast to be "merged" with G4. Comcast wanted to acquire the property to get G4 onto the DISH Network, DirecTV, and TimeWarner Cable systems which all carried TechTV but refused G4 (no wonder). G4 subsequently cancelled the original Call for Help and moved The Screen Savers and Unscrewed with Martin Sargent down to Los Angeles to the G4 Studios. They ruined TSS and their constant censorship meddling to Unscrewed made it to where it wasn't as funny as when it was under the TechTV umbrella. Unscrewed was cancelled, and TSS was slowly churned through the meatgrinder into AOTS today, which is pretty devoid of any merit whatsoever.
If G4 were owned by Viacom (who owns MTV, VH1, ComedyCentral, SpikeTV, etc.), the programming would be better than G4. After all, the videogame programming done on SpikeTV is at a higher quality than anything G4 does. The SpikeTV videogame awards show is better than GPhoria (which is a train wreck), and Stryker's "Ultimate Gamer" is certainly better (and more rewarding to the participant) than "Arena". SpikeTV is also a basic cable channel, whereas G4, according to Martin Sargent is a "third tier digital plus platinum" channel.
One should also mention that the Golf Channel and the TV Guide Channel both receive better ratings than G4. Compare that to TechTV back in the day that received better ratings than the Bravo channel despite not being a part of the basic cable packages in most cable markets. G4 just totally sucks.
"Right now, somewhere in this world, Scott Baio is plowing a woman he doesn't love," - Peter Griffin, *Family Guy*
Bring back TechTV!
And Unscrewed with Martin Sargent!
www.sargeworld.com - Martin's official blog
"Right now, somewhere in this world, Scott Baio is plowing a woman he doesn't love," - Peter Griffin, *Family Guy*
If there are any unofficial Unscrewed Army members here at Slashdot that are unaware of this, Martin Sargent has an official blog up now (and not some faker fan pretending to be Martin, as was the case 6 months ago). Check him out here:
www.sargeworld.com
"Right now, somewhere in this world, Scott Baio is plowing a woman he doesn't love," - Peter Griffin, *Family Guy*
"Looks like the only person less intelligent than Dvorak is you."
Hey, give Dvorak some credit. He certainly was right about the switch to Intel (on the Macintosh platform). Incredibly. I certainly did not believe the rumors until the news that hit the fan after the Developer's Conference presentation.
"Right now, somewhere in this world, Scott Baio is plowing a woman he doesn't love," - Peter Griffin, *Family Guy*
Maybe he's just not happy with the direction the company has been heading.
Being a fan doesn't mean you have to agree and support everything they do.
Hmmm witty sig or funny sig? Maybe elitest techy sig!
Actually, Attack of The Show is pretty entertaining now.
Adam is actually a pretty sharp guy, before xplay was "dumbed down" (even while still on techtv), he actually had some really good commentary on the games.
I patented screwing your mom. But it got revoked for "prior art."
He always came across as so arrogant
my karma will be here long after I'm gone
"The SpikeTV videogame awards show is better than GPhoria"
I never saw GPhoria, but if it was worse than the pointlessly stupid Spike TV awards, holy crap I'm glad I missed it.
I want the the 20 minutes I spent FF through it. I felt stupider every second I watched it.
"I forgot my mantra."
Are they going to bring "The Screen Savers" back too? I know they have the "Attack of the Show," but that cr*p is nothing compaired to TSS. And while we are going to bring good things back from TechTV, why not Fresh Gear and Tech Live?
Windows is as solid as quicksand.
Most of the content from G4/TechTV is just awful.
I think you misspelled "all."
Actually - I wouldn't even qualify Attack of the Show that way. That show actually is good.
The show whose high point was cramming a web server up someone's posterior?
Speaking of tech shows, whatever happened to "Beyond 2000", a show that used to be on The Learning Channel? It seems to have been canceled about 5 or 6 years ago. I guess now we will never know what will happen in the new millennium.
Cover your eyes and click this link!
The show whose high point was cramming a web server up someone's posterior?
You say that like it's a bad thing . . .
Okay, so I like my humor a little obnoxiously sophomoric...!
"I never saw GPhoria, but if it was worse than the pointlessly stupid Spike TV awards, holy crap I'm glad I missed it."
At least the SpikeTV videogame awards had David Spade hosting them one year. GPhoria has *celebs* that are lower than Spade on the pecking order in Hollywood...
"Right now, somewhere in this world, Scott Baio is plowing a woman he doesn't love," - Peter Griffin, *Family Guy*
Apparently, that didn't make it suck any less. I could give a shit who hosts it.
. php
http://blogcritics.org/archives/2003/12/05/012047
"I forgot my mantra."
I too, was blown away by the 'good old' TechTV, as almost every show on it was really good. The G4 people are talentless and all completely suck. X-Play would be watchable if only it weren't for those annoying jokes during game reviews.
The "horny teen poser network" is quite apt.
BTW: Kate Botello left to pursue her career on Broadway.
He has been doing a great job with TWIT; I am excited for this news. G4 is now a horrible network, the casting is pretty lame, and the "The Screensaver's" nock off (Attack of the show) is getting old. Call for help was a GREAT show, I almost considered getting a dish so I could tune into the Canadian station that airs it. If only they could bring TSS back. You hearing this G4?