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"

Comments

Interesting dilemma

[Anonymous Coward]

While this is a promising development, it also has clear implications for privacy and Our Rights Online.

Re:Interesting dilemma

[Anonymous Coward]

While this is a promising development, it also has clear implications for privacy and Our Rights Online.

No. Just in your disgustingly librarian mind

That channel went to hell

[illegal_op]

after g4 took over

Re:That channel went to hell

[Seumas]

Cheats! is an awful show. Aside from it being just a dumb idea, the host is awful. Some gimpy looking ostrich-like chick who clearly knows dick about gaming telling a bunch of people how to beat a crappy console game with her oh-so-witty scripted remarks?

Filter is just as retarded. Another weird looking chick (they're trying to push the hot-chick thing for the male viewers, but aside from the punky blonde, morgan webb and sarah lane, they're all kind of below-average). And she basically presents what's nothing more than a weekly slashdot-poll/meme.

Then the stupid Arena show. A bunch of total dorksj playing games with commentary on TV. And it's so boring. *yawn*. And the host is some blockhead douchebag who probably hasn't played a game in his life and who doesn't get most of the jokes Kevin Perera throws out.

Then there's X-Play, which is okay - Adam is a smart guy even if they make him act like a spaz on the show. And Morgan... smart chick and I'd watch her read the phone book for all it matters.

Kevin Pererra is pretty funny. Kevin Rose was a good balance to him, though. I miss Rose because he added some authenticity and credibility to the show. And a little edge. He was the linux, OSS, screw the RIAA guy. Probably the best thing G4/TechTV has ever had.

Laporte and Patrick are both cool guys. Laporte explains thing so well. I actually like listening to his radio show, because while he talks about mundane windows-oriented stuff that my dog could figure out, I still learn a little bit about how to deal with explaining tech to people and after all these years, that still benefits me in my career. He has a knack for that.

Their race car/naked-whore shows are boring and retarded. If I cared about drifting or car racing, I'd fucking watch ESPN.

Mostly, I just hate all the god damned reruns. I swear to god they play X-Play 12 times per day.. and half the episodes are about games that have been out for two or three years!

Sarah Lane is pretty cool, too. I guess I just think that because I've been watching for a long time and she kind of grows on you. Plus, she's kind of hot in a petite little... nevermind, Kevin Rose might be reading this....

Brendan Moran is... well... Clealry not too tech oriented. But he's a lush. Drunks are cool.

I miss Jessika. The hot little redhead. I miss Patrick. I hoe Leo brings him back on. And Martin Sargeant and (Lauren? - his cohost) were decent. Sometimes his show sucked, but I'd rather watch that than yet another god damned rerun.

And this Cinematech thing... a half hour stretch of fucking videogame vidcaps? LAME!

Their historical stuff is really cool though. Like when they do a whole half hour or hour about the guy who invented the gameboy or Nolan Bushnell or something. Aside from Attack of the Show, that's probably the best thing they do.

You know what I wish? I wish Sean Baby was going to be the new host of Attack of the Show. I swear to god I've always hated that fucking asshole douchebag, but after watching him on the show for about two weeks, I completely changed my opinion of him. He's funny, smart and kind of charming. I don't wanna give the guy a rimjob or anything, but he was just obnoxious enough and smart enough to be fun to watch.

I guess he has his own animated show or something coming on G4 soon, though.

Re:That channel went to hell

[jeffybob]

i agree...i may be an avid videogame player, but that doesnt mean i can stand to see the same exact episode of cheat!, Filter, and Judgement Day over and over again...xplay however, is TV gold, which stemmed from TechTV pre-G4. Glad that tech is returning to the channel

Re:That channel went to hell

[Seumas]

Oh man. I totally forgot Judgement Day. It's basically x-play without the wit or any hot chick.

That tommy guy is apparently a videogame music composer or something, though. He seems like a fairly tight guy, but I don't know why they need yet another game review show. There's some "G4.com" or whatever in the mornings with that hot blonde punky chick and some guy and a girl and they review games on there, too. It's nuts. Enough game reviews!

I wish they had more stuff that didn't have to do with games. Attack of the Show is about the only thing (other than their block of anime and infomercials) that isn't all about videogames.

I don't expect them to be 24x7 hardcore geek or anything. But come on. Give me something other than "help my mom clean her mouse balls" and "ooh hot naked asian chicks on the hood of an import drift car!" and "oh more videogames".

Re:That channel went to hell

[eskayp]

G4 made a a 'business decision' to go after the easy adolescent male gamester dollars rather than build thier customer base of dedicated hackers and noobs.
I drifted away like 90% of the other posters here.
Maybe, belatedly, they are finally realizing it was a bad decision.
Too little, too late, too bad -- for all of us.
Good tekkie shows are hard to find.

Re:That channel went to hell

[naktekh]

IF you want to hear these guys (Leo, Patrick, Kevin Rose), then check out http://www.thisweekintech.com/

Re:That channel went to hell

[fear sight]

HA, this guy is aboslutly right, half the shows on g4 now days suck. I miss some of the old shows that were on tech-tv when it was still tech-tv. Nerd Nation wa good from the few episodes i saw before it got canned. I remeber a show about tech gadgets or something along those lines and that was interesting as well. Robot wars is good but it would be better if there werent all reruns and if it were more like how battle bots were. AOTS needs to be TSS again with all the old cast back on it becuase it is just like the crap that was squeezed out after g4 decided to take a dump all over the shows. Also the host of Cheat really dosnt know a freakin thing aboutgames and if i had a choice i would bring back the old hoast and fire Holt on the spot cuz she just plainly sucks. Unscrewed was also good from, (once again the few episodes that i saw it before it was also canned). Hey G4, STOP SUCKING.

Re:That channel went to hell

[Anonymous Coward]

G4 Sucks and that's that.

G4 Microsofted Tech TV.
(You know; Microsofted: to get bought out by a larger company who fears competition and then be ruined due to an uninspired corporate mentality.)

And I now consider the show dead.
I won't watch any G4 show ever.
I can only hope that Patrick and Leo return on some other channel. Until then, I could care less who shows up on G4.

Re:That channel went to hell

[coaxial]

Filter is just as retarded. Another weird looking chick

But she was Fook Mi!

(they're trying to push the hot-chick thing for the male viewers, but aside from the punky blonde, morgan webb and sarah lane, they're all kind of below-average). And she basically presents what's nothing more than a weekly slashdot-poll/meme.

They're definately pushing the TnA, ala Maxim. I think the most blatent show that does that is "Street Fury." All of a sudden in the middle of that show they show asian girls disrobing. I'm all for scantily clad girls, but that show sucks. SF doesn't suck as hard as its companion, "Formula D", but that's only because "Formula D" doesn't have half naked asian girls.

What the fuck is "drifting" anyway? I watched that show twice and never did figure it out. It's not race. Apparently the guy that doesn't spin out wins, Woop-dee-freakin-do. I like motorsports, and will watch pretty much anything, but I'm not watching that.

I wouldn't say the g4 girls were below average. They're average, which means for television they are below average, since everyone one television is above average.

Re:That channel went to hell

[SketcheeBoy]

Wrong, Kevin Pereira isn't funny. Also, why the hell is G4 playing reruns of the Fox drama Fastlane? What does that have to do with ANYTHING on this channel!

Re:That channel went to hell

[flappinbooger]

It may suck, but it does appear you watch the channel a lot anyway...

Re:That channel went to hell

[DevoPhl]

Well, if you look at it, G4 absorbed TechTV and then dissolved it. Lets face it, there weren't enough tech geeks like us to keep TechTV afloat. In the end, money, sponsorship and advertising wins out and often good programming gets canned.

The Screensavers was a very good program but at times a bit unprofessional. It was the last non-gaming show left on G4 and now its just another gaming show. I call it "Entertainment tonight meets gaming". Only Sarah's tidbits from the Internet keep it from being a game only show.

But I saw the handwriting on the wall at least a year before G4 took over. There was a push to morph TechTV into more than a tech network. You saw Jessica doing interviews with celebrities about there recent shows. The show went from 90 to 60 minutes and commercials limited true content in the show to about 10-15 minutes. There was more of a push to appeal to the gaming crowd (where 90% of the geeks under 25 reside today). G4 just finished the transition. Realistically, G4 should turn AOTS into another 30 minute taped show like everything else.

I am so glad that Leo kept up the Screensavers tradition with Call For Help, even though he had to go to Canada to do it. I'm hoping Leo doesn't bow down to the G4 lords and morph CFH like we saw in TSS.

Re:That channel went to hell

[TreyTable]

For somebody who hates G4 you sure watch a lot of it. Come out of the closet, it's OK to like G4.

Re:That channel went to hell

[Seumas]

But she was Fook Mi!

And you have just landed on the problem.

I would rather watch some dorky basement dwelling videogame geek talk about games than some ditzy chick who just sees the show as more face time on her rise to fame in hollywood. Very few people on that network seem to give a damn about anything related to technology, with the possible exception of Kevin P. and Sarah Lane and probably Adam/Morgan. For everyone else, it's just another step to fame (look at that Kate chick, for example). And christ, they have Julie (the mormon chick from The Real World/MTV) as one of their reporters... No offense to her, but... what the fuck?!

Re:That channel went to hell

[Seumas]

Probably for the same reason they have Formula D about drifting (yawn) and Street Fury about... cars sitting around and naked asian pornstars and some punk trying to be DMX and a block of anime... and infomercials...

On the positive side, I haven't seen any half hour or one hour blocks of paid-for advertising from microsoft about their new media center and their dedication to security, masked as a television show, like I used to see on TechTV all the time...

Re:That channel went to hell

[coaxial]

Mormon girl is on G4?! I had no idea! I guess her giddy excitement about leaving Utah really did cost her her soul in the city of voodoo.

That is just messed up.

Re:That channel went to hell

[Seumas]

Yeah, she's a "reporter" for Judgement Day and sometimes hosts it or something. I think she also hosted an episode of AOTS.

I actually kind of like her. I happened to have watched that season of Real World (it was a long time ago, forgive me) and I have seen some other things about her in the last couple of yeras and I think a lot of people really identify with her, because of the way she was attacked and practically disowned by her family, school and community just for wanting to do normal kid/young adult stuff.

And hey, MTV and G4 and people in general seemed to like her enough that she pops up all over the place these days. Good for her, I say.

Although it still seems really fucking bizarre to be on G4...

Re:That channel went to hell

[coaxial]

I actually kind of like her. I happened to have watched that season of Real World (it was a long time ago, forgive me) and I have seen some other things about her in the last couple of yeras and I think a lot of people really identify with her, because of the way she was attacked and practically disowned by her family, school and community just for wanting to do normal kid/young adult stuff.

I liked her too. She was cute and friendly. Perhaps a bit naive, but she knew she was naive, which is very good thing, because she was less likely to get in trouble that way. She was great ambasador for mormonism, but alas, her family didn't see it that way.

Although it still seems really fucking bizarre to be on G4...

Agreed. Who would have though a Real Worlder would have turned that 15 minutes of fame into an actual non-MTV television career? (Okay, "career" is probably pushing it, but still...)

Returns

[gaanagaa]

Return of the Laporte?

Re:Returns

[Guspaz]

He's not really returning, he never went anywhere. Call for Help never left the air (Not long anyhow). It was just moved to G4TechTV Canada.

I'm not sure why such a big deal is being made over this, it's really not a big thing, he's just moving from .ca to .com ;)

Re:Returns

[VoiceOfRaisin]

moving from .ca to .com?

first off, its not leaving .ca so moving is the wrong word. second of all, .com is far from being USA only. id say most of canadian isps, and many in other countries are .com

Re:Returns

[Guspaz]

Most canadian ISPs. Really, like sympatico.ca, videotron.ca, rogers.ca, telus.ca, cogeco.ca, etc? I can't think of any other major Canadian ISPs. They probably have some more cable companies out west or something, but all the major ones I can think of are .ca.

That's not my point though, my point is that he never LEFT, Call for Help has always been around, it was just only in Canada. Now it will also air in the US, but they never stopped making it.

Show for n00bs

[Anonymous Coward]

Not a troll - but I still can't undertstand why all the interest about this show. It always seemed oriented towards geek-wannabes, not IT/technical folks. I've watched a few segments and learned absolutely nothing, everything was like, so obvious...

Re:Show for n00bs

[richdun]

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.

Re:Show for n00bs

[Anonymous Coward]

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

Re:Show for n00bs

[harlows_monkeys]

Not a troll - but I still can't undertstand why all the interest about this show. It always seemed oriented towards geek-wannabes, not IT/technical folks

Seeing the problems that "ordinary people" have with software helps us geeks understand better what it takes to design good software.

Re:Show for n00bs

[Anonymous Coward]

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.

Re:Show for n00bs

[PDXNerd]

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..

Re:Show for n00bs

[Seumas]

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.

Re:Show for n00bs

[Seumas]

You forget that most of the world are geek-wanabees

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... :P

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.

Re:Show for n00bs

[Anonymous Coward]

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.

Re:Show for n00bs

[Jeff Molby]

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."

Re:Show for n00bs

[mikeophile]

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.

Re:Show for n00bs

[Seumas]

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.

Re:Show for n00bs

[Seumas]

Someone is going to rip me a new asshole on the "lose/loose" tip.

Re:Show for n00bs

[nxtw]

Leo definitely isn't surrounded by bright people, either, at least on his podcast, This Week in Tech. Mostly media whores, it seems.

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.

Re:Show for n00bs

[Seumas]

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.

Re:Show for n00bs

[Anonymous Coward]

Zits before puberty must suck :P

Re:Show for n00bs

[Seumas]

I overhear someone saying something flat out wrong about computers, simply because they don't know better.

Yeah, managers suck!

Re:Show for n00bs

[gerardrj]

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.

Re:Show for n00bs

[B3ryllium]

The difference is, the Slashdot article was a dupe.

Re:Show for n00bs

[slapout]

I've heard that the Canadain CFH is more like the old Screen Savers, but I've never seen it.

Re:Show for n00bs

[Anonymous Coward]

Try www.cfhtracker.info ... ;)

Re:Show for n00bs

[wasted time]

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.

Re:Show for n00bs

[Seumas]

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.

Re:Show for n00bs

[Anonymous Coward]

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). ;)

Re:Show for n00bs

[wgparham]

>>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

Re:Show for n00bs

[The Lynxpro]

"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.

Re:Show for n00bs

[dthree]

"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.

Re:Show for n00bs

[jejones]

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?

Re:Show for n00bs

[Seumas]

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...!

Re:Show for n00bs

[The Lynxpro]

"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...

Re:Show for n00bs

[dthree]

Apparently, that didn't make it suck any less. I could give a shit who hosts it.

http://blogcritics.org/archives/2003/12/05/012047. php

first post anyone?

[Anonymous Coward]

does waterproofing gadgets involve a ziploc bag?

You missed one

[Anonymous Coward]

"Waterproof Your Gadgets, Find a Wi-Fi Hotspot, Tweak Your TV Tones, Network Enabled DVD Players"

Spend your friday night on slashdot. Just kidding!

Re:You missed one

[ImaLamer]

You are kidding, by I'm still sad inside...

thanks for bringing up a sensitive subject.

You had me at Hello Leo

[Anonymous Coward]

.. *glances at the TV* .. *kicks the dirt*..

*unblocks G4 from his receiver*

ok, you got me this time, but I'm not enjoying it!

In Soviet Canada

[ZakuSage]

Laporte's already on G4!

He's already there...

[Twiceblessedman]

He's been on G4TechTv for the last year already in Canada.

Re:He's already there...

[bingo4000]

Yeah, but Canadian TV is like Canadian dollars, it doeasn't really count.

Re:He's already there...

[Silentnite]

That made me laugh out loud. Those darn canadian and there shenanigans...

Re:He's already there...

[decepty]

Those darn Americans and there[sp] typos.

NOO00OOooOOooOO

[servognome]

NoooOOOoooOOooOOooOO I have karma to burn

What the heck...

[Ambush Commander]

For those of you who don't watch TV anymore :cough:, here's a primer: Call for Help and Leo Laporte.

Re:What the heck...

[Anonymous Coward]

Oh come on, any self respecting nerd knows who Leo Laporte is.. It's like posting a Wikipedia link to Linus Torvalds.

Re:What the heck...

[Seumas]

Teh Sexay

Re:What the heck...

[naktekh]

What the hell does Linus Torvalds have to do with my response?

Geez. Not every post on Slashdot has to be about Linux.

Re:What the heck...

[Seumas]

You must be browsing at +1.

Re:What the heck...

[gc3]

Also be sure to check out Leo Laporte's podcast he does with Patrick Norton, Kevin Rose, Steve Gibson, Roger Chang, and John C. Dvorak, called "This Week in Tech". It can be had at http://www.thisweekintech.com/

George C.

Re:What the heck...

[naktekh]

I am, because I don't read anything below that. Most comments below that are inane crap not worth paying attention to.

Re:What the heck...

[Anonymous Coward]

stfu you fucking faggot

G4 Realizes They Blow?

[Anonymous Coward]

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.

Re:G4 Realizes They Blow?

[rdoger6424]

Isn't MTV the horny teen poser network?

Re:G4 Realizes They Blow?

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah, but G4's the horny teen poser geek counter-culture network. Except now they have TWO shows worth watching.

Re:G4 Realizes They Blow?

[Tom Power]

g4 is for the ones with an xbox, or some other gaming device in their house making them a trendy-geek (not the real geek who knows stuff, the one who just pretends he/she does) or hard-core gamer.

Re:G4 Realizes They Blow?

[Warblimp]

Yes, MTV is the horny teen poser network. But, G4 is the horney poser network for teens who like video games. Besides once they got rid of the talent they wouldn't scare away the kiddies with all that Tech Tv mumbo jumbo. "OH no, we fear anything that isn't plug and play!!"

Leo sold himself out

[Anonymous Coward]

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.

Re:Leo sold himself out

[Traiklin]

Head out of the ass please. Call for help became the sole property of G4 when they bought (well invaded and conquered) TechTV, They are the gods of the show. In Canada it has been airing regularly (as has other TechTV shows before the G4 takeover), he didn't "sell his show back to G4" it was always G4's show.

Re:Leo sold himself out

[Anonymous Coward]

Dude are you applying for mayor in stupidity?.

Call for help canada is run by Rogers which has NOTHING to do with G$, don't be an ass will you, you make yourself look like a comple moron with innuendos of baboon.

For crying out loud stop defending the old geezer, he is robing you cold and you don't even realize, poor you, feels like heating a retard.

Re:Leo sold himself out

[Watts Martin]

http://www.g4techtv.ca/
http://www.g4tv.com/

Notice the "Copyright G4 Media" on both pages. Hmm.

Notice how they have almost the same shows. Hmm.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G4_Media

Notice that the American company has a 30% minor ownership in the Canadian version. Hmm.

Notice the fact that the Canadian page says "Call for Help - coming to the US!" Hmm hmm hmm.

Why, yes! It's the same show! From the same production company!

Anyone who's given Mr. Laporte money has given money for the production of "This Week in Tech," which is a podcast, and has nothing to do with his television shows. HELLO.

So you just run along and heat your retards, 'kay? Whatever the hell that's supposed to mean.

Re:Leo sold himself out

[Traiklin]

means he is running to the heater since he can't understand what ownership means.

Re:Leo sold himself out

[Anonymous Coward]

Boy you bunch of idiots, you couldn't answer the Rogers thing didn't you, tsk tsk tsk.

Copyright is one thing, Ownership other, ask a lawyer about that, boy I thought you were more competent on this issues but hey you kiss Leo's ass what else could I expect from you.

At the end of call for help canada it states clearly R O G E R S, in legal terms that's a flag that says, this fucking thing is mine, 30% is not mayority for anything, thanks for proving my point on how idiots you are fanboys.

Go and give your money to Leo, every minute an idiot is born and Leo got his share of them.

Laporte Returns

[Pablopelos]

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. ;)

Re:Laporte Returns

[Anonymous Coward]

I wish they would put Kate back on also. ;)

Kat's probably still hiding away after that little topless photo accident. You see, sometimes when you digitally remove parts of an image, they are still in the thumbnails or preview images. She learned that the hard way...

Of course she was smoking in those pictures (as in cigarettes, not as in hot) so they were really quite disappointing. So sad.

Re:Laporte Returns

[Anonymous Coward]

I think he meant Kate Botello.

Re:Laporte Returns

[Anonymous Coward]

I *hope* he meant Kate Botello.

Re:Laporte Returns

[Anonymous Coward]

Alas, Kate probably isn't coming back on CFH2.0, but if you saw Episode 257 air in Canada you also heard Leo say, "If you're a Kate Botello fan, keep watching the show cause I think we found the next Kate Botello."

Hopefully she'll be on the show soon and we can judge for ourselves.

It should be noted...

[Hamster Lover]

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.

Re:It should be noted...

[sponga]

also the announcer guy they had in there sounded like Duffman from the Simpsons and it got really annoying hearing... "ooohhh yahhh, look at him frag them" "Are you ready to battle? OOOOHHH YAHHHH"

Re:It should be noted...

[Foktip]

Yeah... 'been watching that show all summer, so when I saw this i did a double-take. I didnt even know they didnt get the show in the US! PS: Amber rocks!

Re:It should be noted...

[slapout]

He still lives in California. And flies to Canada once a month.

Re:It should be noted...

[Kenshin]

Actually, from what I read, they're gonna do a seperate US version... but still produce it in Canada.

Re:It should be noted...

[Seumas]

And they're going to change the Canadian version to "Call For Help, Eh?"

Call for help

[ylikone]

That show really drove me nuts. Stupid people calling in asking stupid questions. The few segments of it that I have watched reminded me of being a tech support for an ISP years ago. I really don't want to watch that at home on my couch... so WHO did watch that show?

Re:Call for help

[Seumas]

Yet you don't mind Ask Slashdot?

Re:Call for help

[Anonymous Coward]

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.

Re:Call for help

[Anonymous Coward]

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".

Re:Call for help

[Anonymous Coward]

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.

Re:Call for help

[FLEB]

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.

Hm..

[Anonymous Coward]

I still won't watch it...

G4 = Video Games

[Anonymous Coward]

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.

It's about time

[dynamo52]

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.

Re:It's about time

[47F0]

Amen... In my own modestly egocentric opinion, this network has totolly lost what I call the "functional tech" focus.

Gaming is cool, but it's not the information I need to make a living. G4/TechTV is missing out on a major demographic - old farts who identify with Leo-type solutions to real-world problems. I really don't need to know how to cheat an XBox game - I need to know how to cheat the XBox O/S.

That level of tech information is what G4/TechTV has discarded. Hopefully, Leo's return represents their recognition of this loss.

Re:It's about time

[mazarin5]

G4 had been losing to TechTV, so when the companies merged, so did the channels. From there, G4-TT just kept devolving back into G4 until it was crap again. Then they changed their name to G4. It's like the entire process was just an attempt to kill TT and take their audience.

Re:It's about time

[Metatek]

Sadly, you are probably 100% correct.

Seriously, I never understood why they merged. They could have left it with two channels, one for gaming and one for tech, and since they are now owned by the same company, they would put out twice the revenue. It could be like the Discovery Channel and Animal Planet... why put half animal shows and half info shows on one channel when you can put alike shows on two different channels, and have more shows on each?

Re:It's about time

[HTH NE1]

Seriously, I never understood why they merged.

G4 wasn't carried in enough markets. TechTV was widely carried. G4 wanted TechTV's market penetration, and the price was right.

There are only two shows I currently watch on G4: X-Play and Anime Unleashed. I didn't watch Call For Help on TechTV, but I'll be recording it tomorrow, and get today's episode as a rerun on Saturday.

Just what is with the Furry Fridays on G4?

if you're gonna do it...

[MustardMan]

at least throw out the link

Oh Yay

[Anonymous Coward]

Another fat, bloated Windows guy makes it onto "Armchair tech TV". That's sure to bring loads of innovation into the technology arena. What is it with Winblows users who think they know about computers? They might know how to use Windows in a superficial way, but that's akin to knowing how to put gas in a car and drive it. Not too useful. On the other hand, Unix guys are the equivalent of being able to tune their cars to run efficiently on one specific road that gets travelled most frequently while still doing better than Windows cars on other roads. Leo LaPorte is a clueless, fat Windows hack. The only person stupider than him is John Dvorak.

Re:Oh Yay

[Anonymous Coward]

-1: troll please, thanks mods.

Re:Oh Yay

[assassinator42]

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.

Re:Oh Yay

[databyss]

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.

Re:Oh Yay

[Anonymous Coward]

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.

Re:Oh Yay

[Tom Power]

ZDTV was bought out by someone close to or part of Microsoft or something, so the show started to focus on windows.

It was steven allen, the co-fownder of micosoft. He owned tech tv before he sold it to comcast.
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).

Re:Oh Yay

[Anonymous Coward]

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.

Re:Oh Yay

[Seumas]

Heh. You mixed Steve Balmer and Paul Allen together. :)

PS: Paul Allen owns the Portland TrailBlazers, too.

Re:Oh Yay

[Tom Power]

Maybe their the same person, have you ever seen them in the same room?

Re:Oh Yay

[Weasel404]

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.

Re:Oh Yay

[The Lynxpro]

"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.

Re:Oh Yay

[databyss]

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.

things can be learned from call for help

[qaxzar]

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.

hey zonk

[larry bagina]

if you like him that much, maybe you should just suck him off instead of spamming slashdot.

A ray of sunshine

[Salvarus]

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

[Anonymous Coward]

torrents at http://cfhtracker.info/

Can't get any science channel

[zymano]

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.

Re:Can't get any science channel

[Anonymous Coward]

ABORTION ?
http://dictionary.reference.com/search?r=2&q=aberr ation
would fit better

Re:Can't get any science channel

[mr. methane]

It has nothing to do with the type of wire that it comes in on. Time Warner and other cable companies have to pay for the content - ESPN, CNN, USA and so each charge a fat fee. For ESPN, it might be a few bucks per month per household. For Discovery, maybe a buck and change. Many of them - like ESPN, require that in order to carry the network at all, you must include it in your basic service package.

On the other side, they get paid to carry QVC and religion/telemarketing channels, and in some cases, get a cut of the sales. (HSN had an ad in Multichannel News touting the excellent returns from putting their shopping channels on low-numbered channels)

So it doesn't matter if you have a 100gb/s connection to your house (and coax is capable of data rates that boggle my mind). The cost of the transport medium is fairly low since these are long-term investments by the carriers.

For cable modem service, the biggest single expense is external bandwidth, followed by the big-ticket hardware, followed by staff. Verizon is being nice and eating that cost in the interest of getting market share right now (speaking on behalf of those who can't take advantage of it, we hate you people who can!)

Re:Can't get any science channel

[zymano]

You missed the point.

It's competition. I don't care for the channels on now and with an alacarte type system with FIOS then I can choose what I would like instead of a QVC paying their way onto my cable line.

Re:Can't get any science channel

[mr. methane]

You can want an a la carte system all you like, the fact is that having one isn't going to make it any cheaper, and that has nothing to do with the plumbing that brings it in your door - satellite, fiber, telephone line, coax, they all have to offer the same content.

Yes it's competition. The content is the product, the wire it's coming in on is just a much smaller part of the picture than you think.

Yawn...

[kclittle]

Wake me up when one of the cable stations brings back BattleBots. *That* would be something to get excited about.

Re:Yawn...

[Seumas]

You're kidding, right?

Fighting remote control things on wheels lost all of its steam after about two years.

I hate when the american version with those two ESPN-ish douchebags comes on. I hate when the tired old version with the guy from Red Dwarf comes on. I hate when the one with Dweezle Zappa comes on.

Please.. no more battling remote control things on TV. If you come up with a show that has autonomous ROBOTS battling, I'm all for it.

In the meantime, Master Blasters on Sci-Fi kicks fucking ass. Now that's what I'm talking about. Rockets. Explosions. Speed. Crazy white guys blowing their hands off all in the name of fiery glorious death. Hell fucking yes.

Re:Yawn...

[Anonymous Coward]

Robot Wars always has and always will suck ass. Battlebots, on the other hand, had robots made from more than tissue paper and spit. It was about competition, not about who would get pwn3d by the house bots.

I for one welcome the return of our techtv masters

[motionvector]

Can G4 put the genie back in the bottle? Is this an admission of failure? Can I have my old job back?

Miss Kate, where have you gone?

[Y-Crate]

Meanwhile, nerds everywhere futilely pine away for Kate Botello to appear on TV somewhere....anywhere

Re:Miss Kate, where have you gone?

[slapout]

Not quite TV, but she is still around: http://www.katebotello.com/

Re:Miss Kate, where have you gone?

[rctay]

That page is a year out of date. She's no longer performing her Garland revival at Helen's. I don't get the Times anymore, so I don't see the NY area ads and notices. The last I heard about her was last year with the annual Christmas dead Hollywood movie star thing she does. I've heard Laporte say on his TWIT podcast that she hasn't replied to his emails for a call in interview.

Network Enabled DVD Players

[Saint Stephen]

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.

Re:Network Enabled DVD Players

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah the Panasonic DMR series will, at least the DMR-E500H. However, I believe the only DVDs that it can copy to the HD are the unencrypted ones.

Re:Network Enabled DVD Players

[duffahtolla]

The Momitsu V880N is one.

V880N Features * DVI (Digital Visual Interface) video output * High-Definition Progressive Scan video output, Supports 480p, 720p, 1080i . An ideal video source for HDTV, plasma, LCD and projectors. * Playback DVD, VCD, CD, MP3, MP4, and JPEG Picture CD Media formats * 10/100M Network & Wireless 802.11a/b/g network ready. Allows you play audio/video anywhere via wireless or LAN. More detail.. * Listen to Web Radio and synchronize V880N with your Apple iTunes. More detail.. * USB port for external devices such as card reader, USB Flash drive, or an USB Hard Disk.

The PC server software is available for windows, linux, and MacOS, and yes, the server is open source.

Re:Network Enabled DVD Players

[rincebrain]

Ah, so you have to decrypt and reburn your DVDs before it will copy them...tricky...

If DVD+RW DL discs existed, that would be perfect.

Re:Network Enabled DVD Players

[Anonymous Coward]

A modded XBox :D

Re:Network Enabled DVD Players

[Eyezen]

Some thing like this http://www.aminocom.com/products/ipstb/aminet120.h tml plus streaming with http://www.videolan.org/ might be what your looking for...

A real reason to watch CFH

[ajservo]

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!

Re:A real reason to watch CFH

[Seumas]

If you're like me, you have friends

I fail it.

He is O.K. in my book

[custompccases]

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.

Good news...

[jejones]

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.

About Time!

[Techiegeeks]

It's about time G4 bought a fucking clue! How many stupid ass game shows can you watch. The only other show worthwhile is XPlay. Morgan Webb is soo Hot and Adam Sessler cracks me up.

The other garbage (like Attack Of the Show) just sucks ass.

How about Cat ?

[Adult film producer]

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

Frist ps0t

[Anonymous Coward]

Niigerness? And to deliver what, Theorists - dshitheads. *BSD juggernaut either

Management Probably Doesn't know about it

[dthree]

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.

Re:Management Probably Doesn't know about it

[Quiet_Desperation]

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 are you an angry Dragonball Z fan or a disgruntled Fullmetal Alchemist fan?

Re:Management Probably Doesn't know about it

[Seumas]

I wish I had mod points!

By the way Adam is actually a pretty good reviewer. He did another show before X-Play, I think. Or maybe it was a review on another form of media. At any rate, he isn't the spazzed-out douchebag they make him seem like these days. They do him (and gamers, really) a disservice by putting him in the position he's in acting like a baffoon.

Re:Management Probably Doesn't know about it

[Quiet_Desperation]

I just like how they show nearly constant game footage during the review. So few others do that.

And I like the kittens. :)

I guess you have to watch the show a lot because there's a lot of running gags and inside jokes. And people don;t understand that both Sessler and Webb and playing parts.

But that's phanbois for ya. :)

Re:Management Probably Doesn't know about it

[RubberDogBone]

You still can't figure out why they bought TechTV???

There was only ever one reason: TechTV was on DirecTV and Dish Network. They had channel space.

Comcast was never able to get channel space for G4. Nobody wanted to carry it. Buying TechTV gave them the channel space they so badly wanted.

They were probably hoping to gain TechTVs viewers too but they mostly has not happened. The gamers are too busy playing games to watch TV shows about games, and the people seeking tech content got nothing.

Comcast has recently done some housecleaning at G4 -about time considering the channel has used up more than a billion of Comcast's investor's dollars with nothing to show for it- and brought in some new programming people. Can't do a lot worse than the idiots they had running the channel.

Comcast announced this summer than they are going to be demanding better results from their cable channels and G4 will be expected to perform. No more free lunch.

I'd start with putting back the tech programming, treating employees better than dirt (no 401(K), no vacation days paid or otherwise), and fire the consultants.

Re:Management Probably Doesn't know about it

[DevoPhl]

Comcast was never able to get channel space for G4. Nobody wanted to carry it. Buying TechTV gave them the channel space they so badly wanted.

Boy, this sounds like modern day business practices. If you can't get your all gaming network onto Dish and DirecTV, buy out TechTV and replace it with G4. This is basically what happened. There is nothing left of TechTV except for a couple of hold outs like Adam, Morgan and Sarah. I suspect these are holding out in LA hoping to transition into bigger and better jobs like Jessica, Erica and others from TechTV did.

G4 is basically a 24x7 infomercial for the computer gaming industry. I'm sure its this aspect that is the only thing keeping G4 afloat.

Re:Management Probably Doesn't know about it

[dthree]

DirectTV and dish nework, eh. I guess that is a lot of potential viewers for their half-billion or whatever. I had suspected that it had to do with channel space, since there are differing lineups even by comcast cable depending on where you live. I didn't get TechTV before, but my boss did, only 20 minutes away in the same county, but he didn't get G4. So they took the quick, expensive way. No wonder my cable bill is so freakin high. I help subsidize their crap.

Wonder how that "accountability" think will work out.

Re:Management Probably Doesn't know about it

[jejones]

G4 didn't/doesn't give a flying Wallenda about TechTV; they were after cable TV systems TechTV was on.

Re:I for one welcome the return of our techtv mast

[AvantLegion]

Fletcher, is that you?

End it!

[TAGspawn]

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!

Law of Averages?

[Zombie Stalin]

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...

Only so good

[Anonymous Coward]

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

Re:Only so good

[mrmonkeyman13927]

I'm not so sure they can afford to do such a thing with how poorly they're shows are doing. This looks more like a desperation act than anything else. It's obvious that all the TechTv fans left the channel once they invaded. This is a move to try to bring them back, which if they really want to succeed in then they will have to give Leo primetime and only hope to be able to bring back some of the shows that made TechTv the entity that it was. Very long sentence. Their first mistake was to believe that leaving the youngest actors and replacing everyone else. The second was to destroy the shows that have any depth. Their third was to not realize that they commited the first two mistakes.

He's in podcasts too

[slapout]

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!

Re:He's in podcasts too

[mrmonkeyman13927]

Good, now if only you knew as much about Patrick Norton then your job would be complete.

Woot!

[Darkervisions]

He's awsome... Glad he's back.. although I hardly ever watch g4tv anymore....

If C4H is back...

[MsGeek]

...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.

Re:If C4H is back...

[Anonymous Coward]

Try Satillite if you don't want to give the cable lords your $$$. DirecTV is cool, but I can't compare it with their competetor since I have 0 experience with them.

Re:If C4H is back...

[Monoman]

Don't give Adelphia your $$$$$ !!!!

I had such bad experiences that I went with DirecTV. The service is better on every level and it is cheaper.

Honk if you hate Leo Laporte

[Anonymous Coward]

Obnoxious, pompous, ignorant a-hole.

So G4 TV...

[EvilSS]

...Called for Help?

Sorry, it had to be said...again I'm sure.

Lets take the channel back

[elucido]

why not just make a podcast channel and create a new tech tv?

Other missed TechTV shows...

[wasted time]

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.

Re:Other missed TechTV shows...

[Cynu]

Seconded. Great shows mentioned above. Titans of Tech was also pretty good. The only problem is that there weren't enough episodes for most of these shows and as such they'd get re-run ad nauseam.

Re:Other missed TechTV shows...

[svallarian]

"Big Thinkers,...Beyond Tomorrow, Cyber Crime"

Nothing like watching old BBC reruns.

This is great news!

[callipygian-showsyst]

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...

Re:This is great news!

[Anonymous Coward]

Don't bring up Kevin Rose.. I worked with him back in the very late '90s when he was a lowly pc tech with the DOE Nevada Test Site contractor. To read his resume, you'd think he ran the place. Oh well, I guess we all pump up our resumes.. Some more than others...

refreshing outlook

[Anonymous Coward]

I was going to make you one of my friends but, you don't have a little dot thing next to your name.

Cable TV

[nbucking]

Finally a show other than Jon Stewart I can watch. Damn those evil execs who took my favorite station away.

Re: I love Leo. well not really.

[nbucking]

Please don't dis the Laporte.

Leo is hot

[Anonymous Coward]

Leo is so cute. Too bad he is married and straight.

nope, still won't watch

[cybergrunt69]

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...

Re:nope, still won't watch

[yRabbit]

I used to watch TechTV a fair amount, my parents used to watch it too. There were various watchable shows.

All I find worth watching on it now is.. um.. X-Play (except for the stupid sound effects/stupid things popping up onscreen/fake things they throw in (all of those thanks to G4 it seems)), and the show Icons. Other than that.. I can't think of anything.
From the little of everything else I've watched the hosts/people are trying too hard to be "cool", too much of an edgy personality, they alienate any normal people from being able to view their shows. :)

(To note, I'm 21. I play games a lot. G4 is just.. terrible.)

G4

[joerg]

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!

How many points will the rating go up???

[mrmonkeyman13927]

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

[joerg]

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!

20 minutes

[joerg]

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?

I stopped watching...

[Anonymous Coward]

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.

Who cares? Bring back Surf Guru!

[Anonymous Coward]

http://www.g4tv.com/techtvvault/features/2354/Intr oducing_the_Surf_Guru.html

Obligatory Friends Quote

[Anonymous Coward]

Chandler: You got waaaay too much free time.

Amen

[OS24Ever]

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.

Starcade

[dividedsky319]

But the bigger question is, when will Starcade return to G4?!?!

I want it back!

Re:Starcade

[The Lynxpro]

"But the bigger question is, when will Starcade return to G4?!?!I want it back!"

I must admit, I did enjoy watching the repeats of that *classic* show. I watched it for the "2 days" it was originally on back in (what, 1983?) and was disappointed when it disappeared off the screens. Rewatching it as an adult made me laugh because I really got the impression that the host was drunk at times... :)

Its more amusing to watch than Cinematech, but I'm sure the nearly braindead management at G4 cannot grasp such a concept.

Re:Starcade

[SomeoneGotMyNick]

My son loves that show and he's only 7 years old. All I have left of Starcade stuff is a few episodes from an old videotape I used to catch the show during the day while I was at work. If I had known it'd be pulled, I'd have rotated tapes and not just the episodes on a single tape.

Mark Richards was a lousy wannabe host. He had an obnoxious voice and could never get any consistency with his dialog.

Geoff Edwards, as a seasoned host, really made Starcade a fun show to watch.

G4 following the MTV model.

[Sleepy]

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.

Re:G4 following the MTV model.

[Seumas]

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.

Okay, you gotta except Morgan Webb from that, though. I mean, she was in freaking Playboy afterall!

But yeah, I pretty much agree with everything else. And I stopped watching Sci-Fi for the longest time, because I was angry over the Farscape thing and the First Wave thing. Both were great and original shows from Sci-Fi and they just tossed them to do more Wonder Woman reruns. But I recently started watching after dissing Battle Star Galactica for two years and was amazed. What a great show - and I thought I hated it at first! And Edward James Olmos. Holy fucking hell. What a perfect choice for the commander. He's just awesome to watch. But even more than that - fucking Master Blasters. God damn that show kicks ass. I want to see more texans blowing stuff up with massive rocket engines.

Another thing about SciFi... Um... why do they have so many HORROR movies on?! Movies about vampire do not fucking fall under any scope of sci-fi whatso-fucking-ever... :/

Re:G4 following the MTV model.

[rtb61]

The real question now is whether Leo will be politcally correct as far as M$=BS (pander to the advertisers or tell the truth). If G4 were doing well in their current format they would not change a thing.

The current crop of advertising (exaggerating/lying for profit) has to compete with the truth coming off the net. B$ enough on a show versus the truth on the net (not that it is always easy to find) and you kill the show and the talking puppets destroy their public value (unless being scantily clad/naked works for them, their tech carreer is over).

Just because they are still pursuing the old model does not mean it works. It is just the same old nepotistic dead heads filling a role and drawing a salary with out actually contributing anything (if not for family connections and funding most of them would be doing a poor job of flipping burgers).

great...but....

[The Lynxpro]

...when are they going to ditch the *G4* name and go back to being TechTV? The news post doesn't mention how it was a former TechTV executive who was just placed back on the management team for G4 (at the behest of Comcast) is responsible for bringing this show back to G4(TechTV) in America...

Bring back TechTV!

And Unscrewed with Martin Sargent!

www.sargeworld.com - Martin's official blog

Bring back Unscrewed with Martin Sargent!

[The Lynxpro]

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

AOTS

[Anonymous Coward]

Actually, Attack of The Show is pretty entertaining now.

Adam

[svallarian]

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.

NO!

[iamhassi]

i HATE LEO LEPORT!!

He always came across as so arrogant

What else will they bring back?

[CycoChuck]

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?

Another good show..

[xintegerx]

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.

My two cents.

[emereck]

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.

Its about time!

[CaseyStrom]

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?