G4TV Cancels More Shows

G4 has apparently canceled two more of their holdover shows from the TechTV days. G4TV.com and Filter have been been put under the axe. While I wasn't a big fan of either of these shows, this seems to be indicative of the market-driven decision-making over at that network. They've got their product, stamped it, and now they're pumping out whatever lifestyle some exec has decided is the flavour of the moment. "Geek is out, but we'll keep X-Play, Icons, and Cinematech for our old market, Whip Set, Anime Unleashed, and Fast Lane for the new market, and reruns of the Man Show for everyone to look at hot girls." Mmmmmeh.

Comments

You were expecting something else?

[Threni]

> They've got their product, stamped it, and now they're pumping out whatever
> lifestyle some exec has decided is the flavour of the moment.

It's the media - making money is their raison d'etre. TV, newspapers, websites - it's all about selling advertising. Apparantly it's that or socialism, and you picked that. Enjoy your coke...uh, day.

Re:You were expecting something else?

[Dadoo]

It's the media - making money is their raison d'etre.

I agree, but I find it very difficult to believe that anything they currently show could bring in more advertising money than Screen Savers or the tech news show right after it, when it was on TechTV. If G4TV does bring in more money now, we really need to give up all faith in this country. I mean, honestly, whose idea was it to have a beauty pageant with video game characters. Are we really that sad?

Re:You were expecting something else?

[shawb]

I would be willing to bet that a show that appeals to 1 million "Oooh look... shinies!" types would bring in more advertising dollars than a show that appeals to 2 million critical thinkers. Why? Commercials are more effective on the former. In fact, the critical thinker type will realize that the commercials are annoying and do something else... whether it is make a sandwhich, go to the bathroom or just flip through the channels in hopes of spotting something interesting.

That's why I think the advertising model of content delivery will always lead to watered down content... the reader or viewer becomes the product, while the advertisers are the customers. The advertiser wants the network to deliver the most swayable audience possible, so advertising dollars are best spent on lowest common denominator type shows. With advertising supported media, it becomes financially irresponsible to create programming that actually inspires critical thinking.

Re:You were expecting something else?

[kilonad]

Yes, happy, shiny, flashy commercials will almost certainly be more effective on the unwashed masses. However, marketing to 2 million critical thinkers is still the better choice, but it requires a different mentality in advertising. PhDs aren't going to buy a Ford truck because some washed up country star is singing about it on TV (though the unwashed masses will). If the commercial is creative, informational, and presents a logical case for buying a product (all in 30 seconds), it would work. It's up to the advertisers and networks to figure that one out though.

Re:You were expecting something else?

[Soybean47]

In fact, the critical thinker type will realize that the commercials are annoying and do something else... whether it is make a sandwhich

You'd think they could at least get some money from the people who make bread and sandwich meats, then... right?

Re:You were expecting something else?

[Pxtl]

Yep. Just remember, unless you watch an expensive for-pay commercial free channel like HBO, then to the TV producers, you are not the customer. The advertisers are the customer. You are what they sell to the advertisers.

You, the viewer, are the product. And the viewers that are more easily bent by commercials are a far better quality product than the skeptics. Thus, TVs focus on the lowest common denominator. It's not that the LCD is a larger proportion of the populace - its that they're a higher quality product to sell to advertisers.

That is why TV is trash - eyeballs are _not_ equal. Gullible eyeballs are worth more money.

Does anyone watch this channel

[heinousjay]

I gave up on it after one week, because I watched the same show about 15 times. Do people out there have the patience for this dreck?

What I want to see

[Falconoffury]

I want to see a show about indie games and other relatively unpopular games. I would like a show that digs deep to find the gaming gems from small companies or groups with limited budgets. Give us more information about development crews from other countries such as the Croatian team who created Serious Sam or the Czech Republic team who created UFO Aftershock. Give us a show that goes beyond mainstream.

Bring back Starcade!

[dividedsky319]

Am I the only one who would love to see Starcade come back to the channel?

Now I'll have to...

[Bin_jammin]

stick with Slashdot to tell me how to be a geek. So much for being multicultural.

G4TV?

[tansey]

Hmm, G4...ohhh that's the station with all those videogame commercials all the time right? ...

What do you mean "those are the shows"?

Bad move: A niche within a niche.

[RatPh!nk]

I am a geek. I am a nerd. I play video games. I am not a "gamer". TechTV was a great all around nerd channel. They had gamer stuff, they have home audio stuff, they had anime, gear reviews, tech news/commentary. Their target demo seemed more inclusive, IMO. If I remember correctly, no one that I knew watched G4. Even my friends who were gamers. Now we have a network G4TechTV, that seems to have a very low age target demographic, and they have lost the general sense of geekiness, for a more gamer oriented approach. Take note of the professional, but still none too pleased ex-hosts. This niche in a niche business model - insert Apple joke .:here:. - is just too limiting, IMO.

btw: ex-Apple employee, so no hard feelings

not TTV but G4

[RoRo_the_Troll]

These 2 shows were originally from G4 .. not from TechTV just my 2c

My PVR watches it. ;)

[PhoenixOne]

If I had to plan my time around their schedule, I'd give up too. But I have my PVR record a couple of the shows and watch them when I feel like filling in some free time.

AOTS has some okay parts (I skip the really stupid parts, so it take like 15 minutes to watch) and XPlay is still fun. Also Happy Tree Friends (and Friends) and Cinematech make great background video while I wait for my MMPOG group to get their act together...

Dear G4...

[Seumas]

The only shows I watch are, I'm ashamed to admit it, Attack of the Show and then the occasional X-Play or Icons. I like watching stuff about the history of gaming and the people in it.

You may, however, cancel Cheat! and get rid of that annoying hostess all together. Please also get rid of all of your stupid car shows. I don't need to watch some guy named "Big C" with a bunch of fake bling showing photos of the occasional car between long takes of mostly naked asian chicks. You can put that on your sister-network -- MTV/MTV2.

Please also get rid of Arena. Or rather - make it less campy. The only hosts who seemingly care at all are Kevin P - and that's only because he's a real dork and the other two hosts are jocks and middle-aged eye-candy. Maybe you could replace Arena with video, tips, interviews and sponsored competitions of REAL "cyberathletes". I hear a lot about this "Fatal1ty" guy who kicks a lot of ass but you've never shown him gaming. You could become the ESPN of "cyberathletes". It could be boring. Maybe not. It certainly couldn't be worse than the random inexperienced dorks you have competing on Arena currently. If I wanted to watch a bunch of dumbasses suck at games, I'd videotape myself and my friends.

PS - More hot smart chicks. Not semi-hot chicks and not hot chicks doing stupid things. Actual hot chicks like the old Screensavers chick who does plays or something now or even Jessika from the last iteration of the show (yum). That Laura chick from Martin Sargeant's show wasn't too bad, either. Morgan Webb should maybe just have her own show where she poses half nude with various geek paraphenalia.

Oh - and since you guys are pushing MAKE magazine all the time on your show and reality/DIY shows are all the rage on every other network, why don't you have a weekly hour long DIY show for geeks? Kevin Rose and Yoshi would be perfect for it - but I'm not picky.

Geeks want to like your network. But we don't. Some of us watch it only because there is nothing else and the closest we ever had (Discovery and The Learning Channel) have turned into chick-reality shows that have nothing to do with discovering or learning ANYTHING.

I'll miss you, yammering threesome

[spyrochaete]

G4TV.com was a great show and I'll really miss it. It was a show hosted by 3 hardcore gamers (at least one of which writes game manuals) with strong preferences and opinions, tackling the big issues of the day and conducting interviews with industry greats like Peter Molyneux and Sid Meier. No topic was taboo and they pulled no punches in their interview questions. Although it was presented in a different format it was no less informative than Icons. Why they would axe this and not Arena or Cheat is ridiculous.

For the record, Filter wasn't really so bad either. Diane "Fook Mi" Mizota was little more than a cue card reading Vanna but she did it with flare and was a treat to look at. (Yes, she played Fook Mi in Goldmember. I'm not being a racist ass.) John Walsh was a freaking hilarious little creep too.

As Seumas says above, more smart hot chicks! Tina Wood and Laura Foy were both in spades, and at least Diane Mizota read her lines in the right order. Whatsherface on Cheat has the personality of a cheese coupon and smarts to match.

Will I stop paying $2.50 per month for the network because of this? No, but I'm barely getting my money's worth now.

Exactly

[aztektum]

I know that I and many others share the same sentiment. I have non "nerd" friends who watched Screensavers to learn a bit more about computers, but also watched Fresh Gear because they were typical guys who liked gadgets. When it became G4, they all quit watching because they aren't hardcore gamers. Way to shoot yourself in the foot.

TechTV didn't die

[wbren]

TechTV didn't die; it just changed into a series of IPTV shows and podcasts. I stopped watching G4TV when The Screen Savers was cancelled, because that was the last show I really liked on that network. A while after that, I started wondering what the old TechTV crew was doing with their time. I was impressed with what I found.

• Digital Life TV
• Digg/Diggnation
• This Week in Tech
• Inside the Net
• Security Now!

I still watch TechTV, just without the TV part. I like it better the way it is now.

Gwhat?

[BrookHarty]

I stopped watching that channel after techtv was gone, removed it from my tivo season pass, and deleted it from favorites on the remote. And from the articles on every board, seems like most people did.

So, wheres the tv exec out there reading slashdot that will bring back the shows on another network?

Several Things That Bother Me About G4

[-Brodalco-]

This is a very lengthy rant, but sue me.

1. I'm sick of the hyper people that host G4 shows. I couldn't tell you who they are, because I couldn't stand to watch them long enough to find out. Upon further reasarch, it turns out the hosts aren't even real gamers- just very desperate actors. (I bet a lot of you already knew that.) This PA strip sims up my feelings. (http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2002/10/28)

2. Putting on reruns of "The Man Show" just renforces the stereotype that all gamers are overwieght, lonely males with acne problems and the social skills of a brick. I'd imagine many other shows on G4 are in the same gear, but with lower production values. This in itself will be a turn-off to most female gamers.

3. Yes, I'm stating the bluntly obvious here, but the lineup of shows they have... suck. The first reason is lack of efficiency and common sense. I've looked through the list of shows they have on thier site, and it's pitiful. Who wants to watch 30 minute show about one game's cheats, when you can look up several in the space of 10?

4. Even if they were more effiecient, (or even entertaining), G4's still very based in the moment. Cheats for "King Kong" aren't going to be up to date or serve any purpose a year or two from now, and niether is the coverage of E3 2004. If I were in control of G4, I would be shelling out all of my money to Blind Ferret Entertainment to try to get the Ctrl-Alt-Del Animated Series (http://www.cad-animation.com/) and maybe a VG Cats animated series onto it. Even then, there are tons of other webcomics suitable for this type of thing. (If you don't know what I'm talking about, go to blindferret.com)

If you read all of this crap, you just made me feel special.

The one thing G4 Execs seem to have forgotten:

[Thedalek]

I can't help but think that the G4 executives were either never informed of, or have completely forgotten that G4 is meant to be a network for Gamers. Right now, a massive bulk of their programming seems to have been put there just for the sake of Tommy Tallerico. Man Show? Whip Set? FASTLANE?

When you branch out and try to serve the percieved "other interests" of gamers, make sure you're not distancing yourself from your stated goals. Tech TV had shows which appealed to gamers and informed them of technology, and which appealed to tech heads and informed them of gaming news. That was good synergy. Now however, G4 is becoming worse than SpikeTV in terms of having a direct focus as a network.

Never let Tommy pick shows. That's the moral.

Re:hold on

[vertinox]

but I watch g4tv.com and Filter to look at hot girls!

You know for $5 a month more on your cable/satellite bill you can watch them naked on 200 channels up.

G4TV vs. Tech TV = Los Angeles Vs. San Francisco

[crazyphilman]

I always saw it this way:

When G4TV took over Tech TV, it was like Los Angeles invading and conquering San Francisco. Consider the way the two cities map onto the TV channels.

L.A. (and G4TV): All attitude, no geek. Smartass, fashioned up faux geeks and gamers with lots of attitude and tons of manufactured "cred". The Hollywood version of geeks and gamers, in other words.

San Francisco (and Tech TV): All geek, all the time. All about substance, focusing on gaming and technology, totally geek friendly and tons of useful information.

When G4 took over Tech TV, the channel went straight down the toilet. If it wasn't for the GORGEOUS Morgan Webb, I wouldn't spend thirty seconds there.

But... Damn! Morgan! Whatta babe!

Of course, G4 DID find that "blondie" chick, she's kinda cool. But even if she broke out into a chorus of "Call me", it still wouldn't be as good as the old Tech TV.