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G4TV Cancels More Shows 97

Posted by Zonk from the needs-to-make-room-for-crap dept.
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.
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G4TV Cancels More Shows More

G4TV Cancels More Shows

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  • You were expecting something else? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Threni ( 635302 ) on Tuesday December 13, 2005 @09:31PM (#14252864)
    > 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.
    • 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? (Score:5, Insightful)

        by shawb ( 16347 ) on Wednesday December 14, 2005 @02:13AM (#14254182)
        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.
        • > the reader or viewer becomes the product

          Huh?
          • He is saying that the advertisers are buying the most easily swayed audience from the network station. So, the audience becomes what the advertisers are 'buying'. They want people with low IQ and impulse control, so the network tailors the shows to fit that audience, in hopes of drawing them to the network to meet the advertiseres ratings expectations.
        • 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
        • 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?
        • 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 qual
          • > 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.

            No, they are lower quality, as they are generally less well educated and therefore less well off, and consequently have less buying power, which is what the advertisers want. It's just that there are so many of them, and they're so undiscerning.
            • The main educated, wealthy people who let commercials tell them what to buy are children/teenagers, which brings us back to the Lowest Common Denominator. And a person can be very well off and still be gullible and bereft of good taste.
        • Gotta disagree with you on that point. While your model holds true for MOST telivision, it's not true for ALL telivision. Otherwise there would be no slick, clever creative comidies/dramas/etc... The clever consumers gotta watch TV too, y'know? After all, if 1 million easily swayed viewers make more money than 2 million clever ones, how about 4 million clever ones? Eventually they've got to all get together and watch the Daily show or something. Oh, and the consumers of the companies are the shareholders,
  • 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?
    • 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...

    • I gave up on it pretty quickly after the switch from TechTV. Actually, my cable company did too. A few months after the switch it was replaced with the *shudder* Hallmark Channel.

  • What I want to see (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Falconoffury ( 880395 ) on Tuesday December 13, 2005 @09:38PM (#14252910)
    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.
    • Yeah...I'd like to see a show that has real journalists that know their stuff! What G4 needs is a staff of experts! Here's a list of the areas they're lacking and who I think would fill the positions nicely:

      - An expert in finding underground tweaking apps and hacks (Kevin)
      - An expert in physical mods and hacks for gaming hardware (Yoshi)
      - Someone to explain issues in gaming technology to a lay audience (Leo)
      - Someone that people interested in gaming technology can actually relate to (Patrick)

      Hmm...now if on
      • The Screensavers and Call For Help were fairly "dumbed down" shows. I, however, liked them. I used them mostly for background noise until Kevin Rose came on because his segments were usually somewhat interesting. I alo really liked Patrick a lot. Not for any particular geek reasons but more that he had a really good sense of humor and seem very likable.

        I'm a linux and unix guy by habit and trade, but I found both of these shows interesting to a degree because it was good to hear people like Leo explain thin
        • Call For Help came back, but it seems they only bought one block of episodes, and they've started repeating them. They also moved its timeslot back a couple hours rather early.

          Strangely enough, they bought previously recorded Canadian episodes, so you have periodic mentions that the show will be coming back to US audiences. Has Leo been welcoming the return of his US audience in Canadian episodes that we won't be getting?

          I think the only shows from TechTV that truly survived were X-Play and Anime Unleashe
          • The sad part is, since cable isn't offered ala carte, there's no way to easily show them your disinterest in their current lineup. Sure - you can stop watching. Sure - you can write a letter. But nothing speaks louder than "I'm cancelling your channel from my personal lineup". If they ever offer ala carte cable subscriptions, that will give the consumer a lot of power to impact crappy channels (or once good channels that have crapped out).
            • i miss screen savers too. call for help anoyed me, that freak umm whats his name made the show unwatchable. Leo, Patrick, Yoshi, and Kevin (rose) not the other Kevin where true experts that accomidated the 4 major tech areas; Leo had the dumbies, Yoshi with the moders, Kevin with the hacks, and Patrick with the "macho" crowd. I will miss you!!!

  • Bring back Starcade! (Score:3)

    by dividedsky319 ( 907852 ) on Tuesday December 13, 2005 @09:39PM (#14252915)
    Am I the only one who would love to see Starcade come back to the channel?
  • stick with Slashdot to tell me how to be a geek. So much for being multicultural.
  • Mmmmmeh.

    Couldn't have said it better myself.

  • G4TV? (Score:5, Funny)

    by tansey ( 238786 ) on Tuesday December 13, 2005 @09:47PM (#14252952) Journal
    Hmm, G4...ohhh that's the station with all those videogame commercials all the time right? ...

    What do you mean "those are the shows"?

  • If they just folow these three easy steps they can be our friends!
    1. show the shows we want them to, despite their being poor advertising returns for our "tivo" demographic
    2. ???
    3. profit
    seriously... they do what makes them money, just like any other network, no point in complaining... have you seen the drible they show on the learning channel... and if I see one more shark week on discovery! It's the way tv works, unless they can make a premium(ads free) cable tech channel work, they're going to have
    • The thing is, they do what -doesn't- make them money and nobody wants to see. And then they try it again when it fails. And try it again slightly different.
      • true, they are doing a horrible job in the programming department, but if they had done a better job as G4 and Techtv separately in that department they wouldn't be in this situation in the first place
        don't get me wrong, I loved techtv, especially "call for help" and "the screensavers" but obviously they whole thing was a wash financially, my point was the market for slashdot tv just isn't big enough, if it was, we'd be watching right here
        • I have a problem with that theory. What amazes me is that what, 2 years later people still talk about techtv. They still remember the names of the hosts. I see it here, on fark, on every random forum on the internet. Yet it was hemorhaging money.

          I can't understand how a channel with such a large high income demographic could possibly NOT make money.

          I can only come to the conclusion that nielson ratings are not accurate in niche markets. Think with only 5000 users, 1/4 watching at any given time, splitt
          • I had to pay an extra $5.99 per month to watch TechTV as it fell into the "Premium Digital Sports" package on my cable system. I watch the Super Bowl each year (for the commercials) and that's it when it comes to sports - but I was willing to pay the extra money just for TechTV.

            Maybe they could bring it back as a premium channel with a similarly low cost.

            How many people would be willing to pay for that?

    • they do what makes them money

      That's not necessarily true. In the old days, if a business venture was making money, everyone was happy. These days, making money isn't enough.

      Most companies, and the media industry is particularly bad about falling into this trap, want to be SUPERSTARS! (Yes, read those caps as yelling, that's the idea.)

      So they have a show like The Screen Savers that a good number of computer geeks consistently watch and enjoy. Is everyone in the country watching it? What, everyon

  • Bad move: A niche within a niche. (Score:3, Interesting)

    by RatPh!nk ( 216977 ) <ratpH1nk@gM a i l . c om> on Tuesday December 13, 2005 @09:55PM (#14252991)
    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

    • Exactly (Score:3, Insightful)

      by aztektum ( 170569 )
      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.
    • I saw the cancellation of Anime Unleashed coming a while now.

      It used to be on every night (or at least many times a week) and not THAT late that you couldn't stay up to watch it and go to work. Now it's rarely on, or at least so late that it's not worth considering, and the current show is the perfect stigmata of what Anime is viewed as by the general public: guys stealing panties and such.

      I say good riddance. Don't get me wrong, I love Anime. But they were showing way too much Gun Grave, as if it was th

  • not TTV but G4 (Score:4, Informative)

    by RoRo_the_Troll ( 562987 ) on Tuesday December 13, 2005 @10:03PM (#14253023) Homepage
    These 2 shows were originally from G4 .. not from TechTV just my 2c
  • For those aussies who read /., TechTV was available through Foxtel. When G4 took over, they axed international distribution, so Fox replaced TechTV in Australia with C&I channel.

    From the looks of it, this is a no loss situation anyway. The old screensavers and call for help were great shows, though.

  • Dear G4... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Seumas ( 6865 ) on Tuesday December 13, 2005 @10:28PM (#14253132)
    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 share in your shame. I like X-Play, Cinematech, Attack of the Show, and occasionally Icons, in that order. Other than that, G4 sucks.

    • Amen to all of the above.

      We still like Attack of the Show, but we also listen to the podcast done by the old Screensavers guys here at our house.

      AOTS and X-Play are pretty much all we watch.

      Except occasionally when I get drawn in to Arena (when they play DDR on there I LOL).
    • See, I was thinking maybe they could try harder NOT to alienate female viewers. Yes, there are female viewers. I have no problem with attractive women being on the show unless they are only there for that purpose. Morgan web kicks ass because she is not only attractive, but she knows her stuff and she's a real gamer. I fully agree about the crappy car shows and the suckiness of arena. I also feel that putting on the Man Show was possibly the worst idea ever. Put that shit on Spike TV who already has lost a
      • Honestly, they don't care about female viewers. If they want to target the female viewer, they'll hit Oxygen or We or one of the Oprah / Soap Opera / MTV reality show timeslots. The demographic here is young males, 18-34 with disposable income.
        • Well they should care about female viewers, not all women are into that Oprah crap. Not only are there plenty of female viewers, but they are an untaped market that if the egocentric male dominated network heads could get a clue, they would realize the profit potential for including women in their target market. Apparently you are one of the clueless.
          • Yes, apparently I'm one of the "clueless" for recognizing what demographic G4TV executives are after.

            *eyeroll*

            Retard.
            • *scoff*

              nice of you to sign your reply "retard". you are clueless for not realizing that women make up a significant segment of the gaming market and for having no clue what women are interested in. I pity the lonely womenless life you must lead.
              • Women make up at best 40% or market [womengamers.com], with women over 40 being the largest segment [msn.com]. Women tend to play solitare, The Sims, and some "online" games. [wired.com] Are you seriously arguing that G4 simultaneously target very lucrative 18-35 year old males market AND the 40+ year old women market? What would this be? "G-Phoria is brought to you by Boniva [4boniva.com]."?

                That's just dumb. The interesection of these two markets is pretty much empty. While some women play games, they don't play the same games as the rest of market. S
                • Here are the facts according to the 2005 ESA report found on www.theesa.com:

                  -women make up 43% of game players
                  -women over the age of 18 make up a larger portion of the gaming population(28%) than boys age 6 to 17 (21%)
                  -44% of online game players are female

                  All I'm saying is that you DON'T have to shut out and alienate women gamers in order to appeal to male gamers. It's possible to target men without objectifying and alienating women. And if you wonder why there aren't more female gamers it may be because no
      • "Man Show was possibly the worst idea ever. Put that shit on Spike TV who already has lost all hopes of not alienating female viewers."

        I agree the Man Show should be on Spike TV, but who cares if Spike TV alienates female viewers? It's a television network FOR MEN, just like Lifetime is a television network FOR WOMEN.

        I don't see men complaining that Lifetime alienates male viewers.
        • That is a good point about there being networks for women, so why can't there be networks for men? It's just Spike plays so many shows, like Star Trek, and MXC that I like to watch and I wish I could watch them without seeing women being belittled and objectified during commercials. It's fine to cater to men's tastes, but it shouldn't be at the cost of female dignity and equality. Not that I watch Lifetime that much, but I don't believe there are commercials that blantantly offend and belittle men, and if t
          • "That is a good point about there being networks for women, so why can't there be networks for men? It's just Spike plays so many shows, like Star Trek, and MXC that I like to watch and I wish I could watch them without seeing women being belittled and objectified during commercials. It's fine to cater to men's tastes, but it shouldn't be at the cost of female dignity and equality. Not that I watch Lifetime that much, but I don't believe there are commercials that blantantly offend and belittle men, and if
  • Welcome to the Microsoft and Sony world of videogames!

    For only 49 cents extra, you can get some video game programming with your stupid ass show about cars!
  • The only show on I watch on G4 is "Icons." It's the only show of their line-up I feel which has something interesting to offer. To those who don't know they pick a topic and basically just go in-depth with it, providing history, interviews, etc. They have some pretty big hitters too; Shigeru Miyamoto, Nobou Uematsu, Hideo Kojima (at least as part of the Metal Gear Solid episode).

  • I'll miss you, yammering threesome (Score:4, Funny)

    by spyrochaete ( 707033 ) on Tuesday December 13, 2005 @11:00PM (#14253271) Homepage Journal
    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.
    • All they ever talked about on G4TV.com was console games, so I really only ever turned in because nothing else was on and that faux-punk chick (I think it was Laura) was kinda hot.

      There are enough channels available that you'd think they could split the stuff up. Cars and dumb dude stuff on one channel and games/geek on another.

      I don't know that I like the ominous sound of "we're keeping blah blah and blah for the old audience"... sounds like they're eventually planning to ditch all the remotely geek stuff
    • 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.

      you just explained right there why the show was cancle
      • I hated what The Screen Savers became shortly after the merger. I dispised Attack of the Show on principle until I watched it a few times. Kevin Perreira is actually really sharp and very funny, and Sarah Lane is a good host who presents The Feed (aka Slashdot narrated by a chick) with attitude and an amusing left wing bias. I honestly don't know why AOTS is still on the channel considering the dreck we're left with now. At least Tommy and Vic and Adam and Morgan are still around to keep us company.
  • G4 still has no idea what a video game channel should include. They've tried showing Counter-Strike (and others) with BattleBots-esque commentary. Cinematech recently took videos from http://www.speeddemosarchive.com/ [speeddemosarchive.com] and played them in edited form without contacting the creators or the site, and then denied any copyright violation when people complained. The content of the channel is determined entirely by third-parties or whatever is easy to put together (or steal).

    You might say I don't like G4.

  • TechTV didn't die (Score:5, Informative)

    by wbren ( 682133 ) on Tuesday December 13, 2005 @11:52PM (#14253532) Homepage
    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.


    I still watch TechTV, just without the TV part. I like it better the way it is now.
  • I only watch X-Play and ATOS (and occasionally Icons when they have something good on) so it doesn't bother me, though. I wish they would just get rid of those damn annoying game degree commercials. The first one with the two retards playing PS1 were bad enough, but the new one with the women who says "Join brown college now" with a near snear in her voice and the black guy who holds the right thumbstick with his left hand is abysmal.

  • Gwhat? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by BrookHarty ( 9119 ) on Wednesday December 14, 2005 @12:49AM (#14253802) Journal
    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 (Score:3, Interesting)

    by -Brodalco- ( 938695 ) on Wednesday December 14, 2005 @01:18AM (#14253952)

    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 [penny-arcade.com])

    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/ [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.

    • 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.

      Hey - I happen to love the Man Show... and I don't have acne...

      • I'm still adjusting to the slashdot response layout. The thing about "Not being aware" and "No sensory organs" was about someone commenting that "Bricks have feelings too." I further apologize to that guy, and it was a very... brickist thing to say. (Anti-Brick?)

        I love the Man Show as well (Mainly that Kid who begs stangers for beer), and I am also acne free. Notice I didn't say it was true- it was mainly symbolic. But like the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue, and porn in general, the "Girls on Tra

  • Has just finished a successful run of a new Computer Games show

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/scotland/tv/videogaiden/ [bbc.co.uk]>Vide oGaiden.

    Pure PsychoMantis Man!
  • This delves deep into the history of the G4 programming, its changes in executives, and the online entrepreneurial initiatives of former TechTV employees. Good read: http://igo.ampednews.com/news/3151/ [ampednews.com]

  • The one thing G4 Execs seem to have forgotten: (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Thedalek ( 473015 ) on Wednesday December 14, 2005 @06:47AM (#14254990)
    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.
  • Those were orgainal G4 shows - Filter was not bad then they reworked it and it sucked that talk show one was ok but I have not watched it in a very long time so that may suck now too.
  • I used to really enjoy TechTV. I really liked Screensavers. I really liked reruns of Thunderbirds!
    But now all I watch is the occasional X-Play or Cinematech, and is it just me or has X-Play been getting more and more foul-mouthed? If the demographic age is dropping why is the nsfw component skyrocketing?

    The whole channel has very little appeal any more. If I want to Cheat I'll go to gamefaqs.com. It's not a smart or clever channel any more. It has become just loud and annoying.

  • It is amazing that they took a channel that had a perfectly focused audience, with shows that felt like they were by geeks for geeks. and in general was begining to really hit its stride with great shows like the screen savers...

    They took it, and killed it.

    And then replaced with a pseudo hip game channel, that feels like it is made by people who don't know games, hosted by actor rejects, and is generally more insulting than an MTV Xbox Launch Show.

    I miss tech tv.

    I would like a real game channel.

    Right now, I
  • If I remember correctly, wasn't Filter that "show" where there was some sort of storyline that was played by various toons from various games? Who walked around moving with human voiceovers?

    If so, I'm SO glad to see it go. That was a such a waste, and was ultimately what made me change the channel. I used to watch G4TV all the time, at least before the merge with TechTV. Filter was by far the worst show on that channel.

    Shows that suck should be cancelled, that's how it works. Stop this 'Sign of the Times' c
    • If I remember correctly, wasn't Filter that "show" where there was some sort of storyline that was played by various toons from various games? Who walked around moving with human voiceovers?

      No.

    • Shows that suck should be cancelled, that's how it works. Stop this 'Sign of the Times' crap and just move on. Lots of shows get cancelled.

      Explain Firefly and Farscape?
    • If I remember correctly, wasn't Filter that "show" where there was some sort of storyline that was played by various toons from various games? Who walked around moving with human voiceovers?

      That was Portal, and I felt it was the best show on G4 before the takeover. Take that as you will.
    • Why the heck was Battlebots aired on Comedy Central? The show, from what I saw of it(and its much better UK counterpart 'robot wars') there was no "comedy" in it. Mind you several years ago Comedy Central loved to air movies that weren't purely 'comedy', but comedy was more of a sidepart(like that one where a girl wants to divorce her parents, and "FM").

      What is it with cable networks airing shows that have little or nothing to do with the channel's context? It seems any show, whether new or syndicated can b
  • and reruns of the Man Show for everyone to look at hot girls." Mmmmmeh.

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

    • Re:hold on (Score:3, Insightful)

      by vertinox ( 846076 )
      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.
    • are you 13? or are you 35 and still living in your mother's basement? if you wanna see hot girls rent porn or pay the extra couple of bucks like the other person's comment said. I know it's sad that you will never get a girl like you see on tv, or any girl at all for that matter, but some of us like to see good quality shows about games and tech related things, not trashy shows with eye candy.
  • I used to watch TechTV quite a bit. Though everything said on the shows like Call for Help and The Screensavers never really taught me anything I didn't already know, it did help to show me how to relay this information to other people. Being a computer tech for a school district, I not only need computer skills, but also people skills. Those shows helped me learn how to convey information to my teachers I assist. Now, I can watch X-Play which seem to be mostly re-runs and the man show when I need mindle
  • "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. "

    G4TV.com and Filter were always G4 shows. They were G4 shows that appeared on the original G4 and came over to G4TechTV (Which is now of course G4) They were never produced by TechTV.

    How can factually incorrect stories make it to Slashdot???
  • I've watched G4 whenever I could stand to for over a year. The channel consistently deteriorates with few spikes of hope for improvement.

    Victor Lucas is a gem (on Judgement Day and Electric Playground [the only two G4 shows I TiVo]). He carries the network in my opinion. He has obviously played (and beaten) tons of games throughout his life. He understands compelling gameplay and the trappings of genres. He is occassionally cynical and witty but the vivid contrast with Tommy Tallarico's flamboyance is

  • G4TV vs. Tech TV = Los Angeles Vs. San Francisco (Score:3, Insightful)

    by crazyphilman ( 609923 ) on Wednesday December 14, 2005 @08:59PM (#14260834) Journal
    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.

  • G4TV - Gonad-4 Testicular Virus. Symptoms include painful hallucinations of scantily clad women, pop-media reviews, ditz speech patterns, and cheesy art design. May prevent significant female others from remaining in the room. In rare extreme cases, prolonged exposure may lead to hemorrhaging of the eyes. Upon diagnosis, immediately shut off television.

    Seriously though, there are only a few shows that I can stand to watch. I mainly watch X-Play for the humorous vignettes and the ability to check out the gra

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