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Television Media Entertainment Games

Something Awful on G4TV 70

Posted by Zonk from the isn't-everything?-rimshot dept.
Reader Mantorp wrote in to mention an article over on Something Awful (reader beware) discussing the good and bad points of everyone's favorite video gaming channel, G4. Except for not mentioning Icons (which I view as a variable but generally good program), they nail the channels pros and cons dead on. From the article: "I almost wrote an update like this when the merger first happened, but it would have been purely reactionary. The resulting channel needed time to ferment for better or worse, and luckily for you it got much worse because my only backup article idea was a fake guide to an NES game based on the Herman Melville book Bartleby The Scrivener."
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Something Awful on G4TV More

Something Awful on G4TV

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  • Can't get enough of those catch-phrases (Score:4, Funny)

    by nijk ( 781345 ) * on Monday May 02, 2005 @10:32AM (#12407074)


    Kevin: So that's how you download the newest fake nude pictures of Angelina Jolie and your "legal" (long dramatic pause to let his delicious rebellion sink in) mp3s to your PSP's memory card and your Xbox's hard drive.

    Sarah: (giggles) Your hard drive sure was in my Xbox last night! If you know what I mean!

    Kevin: (turns to the camera and gives a slow wink) I know how to crack your app! PEER TO PEER NETWORKING.


    ROFLMAO

    • Re:Can't get enough of those catch-phrases (Score:4, Interesting)

      by Draigon ( 172034 ) on Monday May 02, 2005 @11:06AM (#12407494) Homepage
      My favorite line "His funnier moments go so far over the other hosts' heads that they violate federal airspace regulations and occasionally graze God's testicles." oh my.

      Honestly, if you want tv for nerds you watch discovery or history channels. If you want tv for gamers you turn your gaming console on. If you have a few hours to sit around and you want something moving in front of your eyes but not making you think, anything from Fox News to Mtv to G4 will apply. TV as a whole is just not that worth it. There's far more content on gaming blogs or even the often shallow gaming network sites.

      What is TV useful for again?

      • Re:Can't get enough of those catch-phrases (Score:4, Insightful)

        by nijk ( 781345 ) * on Monday May 02, 2005 @11:14AM (#12407591)
        What is TV useful for again?

        The only use it currently has is porn. If only there was a free x-rated channel. The people want free nonstop streaming high-quality nudity.

      • Re:Can't get enough of those catch-phrases (Score:5, Insightful)

        by frikazoyd ( 845667 ) on Monday May 02, 2005 @11:21AM (#12407688)
        Basically the guy is lamenting the loss of a channel that was for nerds. TechTV (or ZDTV, if you remember that far back) used to cover all sorts of nerdy stuff. Particularly, the Screen Savers was a very cool show with some neat tips and experiments, and was the first TV show I ever saw that publicly acknowledged that Linux existed.

        There was a show that covered new technology that was emerging and reviewed them once they went commercial (handy for buying a PDA at the time), and then Gamespot TV was pretty cool (becuase it was before G4TV was announced, and was actually really good.) And there were some filler shows too, but they seemed to have their own niche (for instance, Call For Help was handy if you didn't want to explain how to burn a cd to your grandmother).

        In short, TechTV used to be really interesting, and the only TV I ever watched. We're all sad that it left, I suppose.
      • You already answered that.. Hooking your console up to..
  • but wasn't "Bartleby the Scrivner" just a short story?

    (Oh, and a shout-out to those of you who caught the "Go Go Gophers" reference... Now there's a show which will never again see the light of day! My childhood memories of Saturday mornings brim over with laughter at shockingly politically correct depictions of Native Americans.)
  • Is Something Awful making the leap to the small screen thanks to G4TV?

    Is there some new show on G4TV that's even more awful than some of their current shows? ("cheat": buy a new game, get stuck, ignore the net and game guides and hope that show covers your game soon?

    P.S. It's not even called G4TV anymore, is it?

    • Re:Ambiguous title (Score:5, Funny)

      by MarkGriz ( 520778 ) on Monday May 02, 2005 @10:43AM (#12407203)
      "Is Something Awful making the leap to the small screen thanks to G4TV?"

      -1, Redundant.

      G4 is already something awful

  • Hmmm (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Otter ( 3800 ) on Monday May 02, 2005 @10:41AM (#12407170) Journal
    In the absence of goatse.cx, I wonder where Rich is going to be directing his Slashdot referrals this time...?

  • Pretty much agree.. (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Momoru ( 837801 ) on Monday May 02, 2005 @10:47AM (#12407252) Homepage Journal
    I used to have something to watch on TV (TechTV), now there is nothing....I dont agree with his opinions of the personalities: Adam Sessler is the fucking man. Who the hell likes Adam Sessler? He is the most annoying person ever to be on TV, ever. Kevin Rose and Sarah are alright, I'd grant him that they can be cheesy and may not be the most techy people, but I can take them compared to Leo and Patrick, with Leo being annoying, old, and plugging books non-stop and Patrick knowing more about fixing old hotrods then the latest in computer trends. I feel like at least the ages of Kevin, Sarah etc are more suitable for the content and viewers of the show.

    • Re:Pretty much agree.. (Score:5, Informative)

      by frikazoyd ( 845667 ) on Monday May 02, 2005 @10:58AM (#12407398)
      I'm sure what he meant was "Adam Sessler is the fucking man, but has to play the part of a retard now that he is on G4TV and works with Morgan Webb, just to make her look smart".

      Trust me, when Adam Sessler was solo (or with that other hot chick back when the Dreamcast was still around), the show rocked and I hated to miss it. I think it was Gamespot TV then. Then it changed names to something weird, then it changed to X-Play and started sucking like a Dyson.
      • My area has not received the TechTV station at all. I can't really miss something I never had. This channel should have been a "basic cable" station for all cable providers. It's not. They were finally thinking of making it available on a special package basis like HBO, Skinemax.

      • Extended Play, filmed in the Sony Metreon Arcade. That was the first video game review show that I've seen that didn't make fun of gamers for doing what they enjoy. Most (all except x-play) poke fun at gamers while doing their reviews. There's that "God, you people are nerds" attitude. I get that enough in real life that I don't need to take it on TV too. Adam Sessler and Morgan Webb ARE nerds and don't try to hide it, they flaunt it.

    • Re:Pretty much agree.. (Score:5, Insightful)

      by suyashs ( 645036 ) on Monday May 02, 2005 @01:05PM (#12409137)
      Adam Sessler was the worst host on TechTV who has become the best host on G4TV...

      • I SO agree with this statement. When I used to watch TechTV, Adam was mildly amusing, but mostly annoying. I much prefered Leo and Patrick, Jim Louderback [louderback.com] (the old host of Fresh Gear), Sumi Das [sumidas.tv] (the new host of Fresh Gear), and I fell in love with Kris Kosach [kriskosach.com] and Erica Hill (the latter now an anchorwoman on CNN Headline News [cnn.com]--I'm glad she made with much success!)

        Now I realize that when I watched Adam back then, I only thought I knew what annoying was. From what little I've watched of G4, I now truly kn

    • I like the fact that Adam Sessler is snarky and somewhat literate. But I'm convinced, as a professional with two degrees in his mid-thirties, that I am not the target market for G4 (even though I work in the video game industry).

      G4 is servicing the under represented 18-25 year old stoner market...

  • Wait, we're not going to get the fake guide?!!!?
  • From what Iv'e watched on the site some of the stuff is good, mainly the HUGE NES controller :D Anyway I can't get it in the UK, even if it isn't as good as it was it would still be cool to have :(
  • Originally titled The Screen Savers and hosted by the duo of Leo Laporte and Patrick Norton, this show used to focus on technology and answering the audience's computer-related questions.


    kate botello was one of the original hosts of the screen savers along with leo. patrick norton came on after she jumped ship to go to gamespot.tv/x-play. actually, i think it became x-play when she made the conversion.

  • I have no pre-G4 bias...but here is my .02 (Score:3, Interesting)

    by pnice ( 753704 ) on Monday May 02, 2005 @02:49PM (#12410514)
    I didn't have access to the channel back when it was TechTV and I've only had the chance to view what is now G4. That being said, I like the channel enough to watch (at least Attack of the Show) on a daily basis. Sometimes what I see is a repeat of things I've already read about that day online, but it is still presented in an entertaining way and I can relate to the humor/personalities of the cast (Kevin Rose, Kevin Pereira, Sarah Lane, Brendan Moran). I like Icons and even Formula D is starting to become interesting to me.

    Cheat pains me. That Kristin Holt is not the person for the job. I think the execs feel that all geek/gamers need is some decent looking girl repeating what was written down on a piece of paper to host the show and it'll work great. I'm 26 and that formula doesn't cut it for me anymore. I wish I could have seen Adam Sessler back when he was supposed to be good at what he does, but I missed the boat on that one. When it's him and Morgan Webb talking in those damn monotone voices doing reviews I can't imagine either of them play a crucial role in keeping X-Play alive. I need something with more personality.

    The worst part of G4 is the repeat shows. I'm not talking about just reruns from the night before...or even the week before. Just today at lunch I was flipping through the channels and heard the voice of Adam Sessler talking about the future PSP...before they even knew when it would come out or how much it would cost. I know every show can't be brand new but at least keep it within a relative time range. Replaying a show that is so extremely dated doesn't work well when your dealing with something that has to stay up to date. It would be like watching reruns of the news from 5 months ago.
  • ...and to me, the whole Something Awful review (is that what this is, a review of G4?) comes of as bitter. This article is comparing what it used to be with what it is now. Things change. Corin Tuckers Stalker needs to get over the fact that G4 is not the same channel as it was before and it has a different format working for it.

    I just re-read the article and it still comes off as a lot of hate. G4 is at attempting to grow and develop better programing as they move along.

    *purely speculative from
  • There isn't much they show that's worth a crap. X-Play is OK, so is Icons. But Cheat with Kristin Holt is pure trash. Apparently at G4 they think that all they have to do is put a good looking female (she's not even that) in front of the camera reading off cue cards and every 20-something male will get all excited and want to tune in. Wrong! She's absolutely incompetent. Attack of the Show!?!! Is this supposed to be humourous?????? Whip Set???? The cars you want and the girls you can't have....crap c

  • Article title is misleading (Score:1, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    The article title should either read, "Everything Awful on G4TV," or, "G4TV is Something Awful."

    In related news, the website Something Awful has announced that they have now changed formats. From now on, visitors to somethingawful.com will be greeted with a splash screen and a redirect to a random page in the g4tv.com domain. "We have finally discovered the unlimited source of the most awful things on the internet in the g4tv.com domain, so our purpose is done," said Mr. Kyanka of the development.
  • Yes, I am losing karma points to shout out to my SA homies.

  • Cinematech. I can just let that runin the background while I work. It really brings back memories or lets you see things you never would have seen but always wanted to.
  • I loved the original screen savers, in fact I was telling people to pay extra to get TechTV just for that show. It never failed to inform me on a wide range of topics in a single episode.

    Then, the G4 bomb hit.

    The screensavers was pillaged and plundered and all that was left was hollow remains and the logo. I am glad that they eventually rebranded it 'Attack of the Show', because it didn't resemble anything of its namesake.

    However Attack of the Show is getting better, at being what it intends. A little
  • I was on a show called "Pulse" when they did a story on the study showing video games helping surgeons with their laparoscopic surgical skills (I was a medical student working with the study's author). They producers came in and did a FANTASTIC job on it. It was so good, actually quality journalism with statistical graphics and such, that whenever we wanted to publicize the story, instead of showing people the published paper (published in JAMA - the Journal of the American Medical Association, which to d

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