A Nightmare Come True: G4
When I was younger I used to dream about a network that ran Game reviews, previews, interviews, tips-n-tricks, tournamnets, and everything that repesented video games. A network devoted totally to gaming culture. That dream came true when I found out about G4, then...it became a nightmare.
First, G4: the only network for gamers, swallowed up my favorite network, TechTV, which in my opinion was the far superior network from the get go with better programing, that was only getting better and better as it continued to grow and evolve. Soon, shows I loved were being cancelled, fading from the line-ups, until all that remind was X-Play, which ironically was a gaming show that was better than anything that G4 had running, with the exception of a few shows, like Judgement Day.
Eventually, G4 began to grow on me, and I actually found myself enjoying shows like the horriblely named Attack of the Show, and G4TV.com, with Laura Foy, Tina Wood and Geoff Keighley. Like TechTV, I watched this show go through a rough patch, but saw it become something enjoyable, and when the show's female hosts weren't doing something asinine like dumping buckets of something on another and the like, and stuck to pure interviews, discussion and debating, they really shined through and made the show fun to watch.
But, now, just like almost every other show I liked on the network, it too is getting the Ax. Tina Wood announced on her blog that G4TV.com has been given then old heave-hoe and is about to film it's final show on Friday. This pisses me off to no measurable end as this was the last good show of its kind on the network.
With AOTS killing the Screensavers and becoming more of a varity series, this was the only show that really appealed to the debater in me. The side of me that loves to go off on rants about an issue in the indusry. And now, like everything else I held dear about TechTV, the show, will soon be no more.
What is wrong with the fucking G4 execs? These idiots don't seem to realize when they've got a good thing going or when they should funnel more money into a project, rather than buying up crap shows like Fast Line, or hiring personalities like Kristin Holt simply for sex appeal.
They're on a downward spiral as it is. If they wanna save themselves, they need to start by bringing back more of the old TechTV content, like Big Thinkers, TechLive, The Screensavers, Fresh Gear. I don't mean the mockeries they made of Screensavers and Fresh Gear we called the new Filter and AOTS, I mean the old shows where they took a clean and simple look at the gear and gadgets they were talking about without the lame over acted commentary. They need to become educational and informative like they were when they had Patrick Norton and Leo Laport hosting the Screensavers, or Chris Parillo or Leo hosting Call for Help (they brought back CoH thank god, but it runs in the mornings when almost no one is gonna see it). They need better programming and less hook orentited shows like Street Fury and it's Asian models (don't get me wrong, they're more than cute, but if I wanna stare at boobs all day, I'll go to a car model site and do it without all the moving cameras).
G4TV.com was by no means the best show on TV, but it was the most serious about discussing things in the game industry, and shining a decent amount of light at the topics we as gamers face today. With it gone, no longer do we have a persistant voice raising or discussing these issues, and will probably have to rely on the occasioanl "G4 Special Report" to get anything close to real discussion, and even then you'll only see it when the shit hits the fan within the industry. Rockstar or some other company will release a game that sparks controversy or some dumb ass new law gets passed that prompts G4 to run an hour long special on the related topic.
First, G4: the only network for gamers, swallowed up my favorite network, TechTV, which in my opinion was the far superior network from the get go with better programing, that was only getting better and better as it continued to grow and evolve. Soon, shows I loved were being cancelled, fading from the line-ups, until all that remind was X-Play, which ironically was a gaming show that was better than anything that G4 had running, with the exception of a few shows, like Judgement Day.
Eventually, G4 began to grow on me, and I actually found myself enjoying shows like the horriblely named Attack of the Show, and G4TV.com, with Laura Foy, Tina Wood and Geoff Keighley. Like TechTV, I watched this show go through a rough patch, but saw it become something enjoyable, and when the show's female hosts weren't doing something asinine like dumping buckets of something on another and the like, and stuck to pure interviews, discussion and debating, they really shined through and made the show fun to watch.
But, now, just like almost every other show I liked on the network, it too is getting the Ax. Tina Wood announced on her blog that G4TV.com has been given then old heave-hoe and is about to film it's final show on Friday. This pisses me off to no measurable end as this was the last good show of its kind on the network.
With AOTS killing the Screensavers and becoming more of a varity series, this was the only show that really appealed to the debater in me. The side of me that loves to go off on rants about an issue in the indusry. And now, like everything else I held dear about TechTV, the show, will soon be no more.
What is wrong with the fucking G4 execs? These idiots don't seem to realize when they've got a good thing going or when they should funnel more money into a project, rather than buying up crap shows like Fast Line, or hiring personalities like Kristin Holt simply for sex appeal.
They're on a downward spiral as it is. If they wanna save themselves, they need to start by bringing back more of the old TechTV content, like Big Thinkers, TechLive, The Screensavers, Fresh Gear. I don't mean the mockeries they made of Screensavers and Fresh Gear we called the new Filter and AOTS, I mean the old shows where they took a clean and simple look at the gear and gadgets they were talking about without the lame over acted commentary. They need to become educational and informative like they were when they had Patrick Norton and Leo Laport hosting the Screensavers, or Chris Parillo or Leo hosting Call for Help (they brought back CoH thank god, but it runs in the mornings when almost no one is gonna see it). They need better programming and less hook orentited shows like Street Fury and it's Asian models (don't get me wrong, they're more than cute, but if I wanna stare at boobs all day, I'll go to a car model site and do it without all the moving cameras).
G4TV.com was by no means the best show on TV, but it was the most serious about discussing things in the game industry, and shining a decent amount of light at the topics we as gamers face today. With it gone, no longer do we have a persistant voice raising or discussing these issues, and will probably have to rely on the occasioanl "G4 Special Report" to get anything close to real discussion, and even then you'll only see it when the shit hits the fan within the industry. Rockstar or some other company will release a game that sparks controversy or some dumb ass new law gets passed that prompts G4 to run an hour long special on the related topic.
While history has shown that shows can be saved through letter writing campaiges, and ulltra high fan support, I don't think G4TV.com willl get that treatment. For a show to be saved that way, it has to have a lot of viewers, and sadly, after G4 gobbled up TechTV, many people found themselves tuning out.
In the coming months, I fear for the safety of my favorite G4 shows, X-Play and Judgement Day. Will they be spared, shown mercy by the G4 execs, or will they be forced to suffer the same fate as G4TV.com, The Screensavers, and so many others? The only ones who know that are G4 and you're remote controls.
posted by Teksuo Hikari @ 11:35 PM
2 Comments:
It seems like G4 is cutting ties with all their orginal programming. Recently they also cut Filter which was one of the originals on G4. Their last show is Dec 22 and now there is no asian influnce on that network...ok Diane Mizota wasn't the greatest, but she did well with what she had and often expressed herself about the writing "I know I know give me a break, the writing sucks."
I feel like I have totally lost interest in G4. Granted some shows held my attention for a little bit (Aots, X-Play, Formula D etc.), but now it just seems like its the same shit different episode and I don't want to watch it. After Dec. 22 when the last episode of Filter airs, i will officially take G4 off my fav. channels list.
- Jin4576
Yeah man I totally agree with you. G4 is turning into a crappy SpikeTV, a channel I never watch. I miss the old TechTV days, but I think the best time for the channel was at the time when G4 and Techtv first merged, those beginning couple of months were great. They still had Screen Savers, Call for Help, Pulse, g4tv.com, and Filter. The shows complemented each other really well in my opinion. It was a great channel for games and technology. They basically combined Screen Savers with Pulse to get Attack of the Show, but now it has a lot more cheesy sketches than actual news and taking calls. Still, it's the only show I still watch aside from Anime Unleashed(thank God they kept that around) and X-Play.
Now the whole move towards cancelled syndicatd shows is making me sick. The Man Show was cancelled for a reason, it just isn't funny. The whole "Yeah we're men!" thing is a little surprising to see on a nerdy channel like G4 anyway.
Fastlane is a piece of crap, the reason they put that staming pile of shit on there escapes me.
Don't get me started on Star Trek, how many channels is that already syndicated on anyways? Go to Scifi for that kind of stuff.
All these shows are old and crappy. G4 used to have cool original programming that used to be a milestone in television, who knew a gaming/tech network could work? Now they are getting scared and trying things other channels have already done. They really should have stuck with their original format, not crappy reruns of shows no one watched when they first aired (with the exception of Star Trek, but thats already been syndicated up and down cable).
G4 is looking pretty grim right now. It will only get worse from what can see.
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