Farewell Tech TV

[Killtacular]

So, effective February 15th, Tech TV will be completely erased from the pages of history again. Not that I'm not preaching to the choir but as someone who knew it would happen from the start, I just have to say I TOLD YOU SO.

I italicized the funniest part of the press release.

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LOS ANGELES, CA, January 11, 2005 - G4, the only 24/7 television network dedicated to video games, screeches into 2005 with announcements of a new name, look and feel as well as two new series, "Formula D" and "Girls Gone Wired." Charles Hirschhorn, Founder and CEO of the network, announced the channel's official name as G4 - video game television - earlier today at the Television Critics Association (TCA) press tour. The name change and new network look and feel will take effect on February 15, 2005.

"We're heading into 2005 with a well-defined and focused brand," commented Hirschhorn. "Video games offer us a distinctive voice that resonates with our target audience and G4 delivers the highest concentration of males 12-34 of any other television network." Hirschhorn also announced plans for a multi-million dollar marketing and advertising campaign to launch the G4 brand.

"Formula D," the first-ever series to showcase the world of drift racing, will burn up the screen in April on G4. This burgeoning sport began several years ago as an underground street scene in Japan. Featured on numerous hit video games, Drifting has now reached the U.S. and is on its way to becoming a cultural phenomenon.

"Not only will G4 cover the Formula Drift races, but we will also cover the Drifting culture, games, modding and music that surround the drift racing world," commented Peter Green, Senior Vice President of Programming and Production for G4, who introduced the series at TCA. "G4 will help launch Drifting into the mainstream as the exclusive network broadcaster of Formula Drift."

Two Drifting experts were among G4's "Formula D" TCA panel. Ryan Sage, the 24-year-old creator of Formula Drift, the only established Drifting championship series in the U.S., and Ken Gushi, a rising 18-year-old star on the Drifting scene and one of the youngest drivers on the Formula Drift circuit, offered their unique perspectives on the sport.

G4 promises superior race day coverage including profiles and interviews with the sport's hottest stars, expert race commentary and analysis, trackside reporting, drifting tips and tricks from the pros. "Formula D" will also give viewers the inside line on the latest in drifting culture from the coolest rides on the car show circuit to the hottest import car babes.

The network also presented TCA critics with "Girls Gone Wired," a digital beauty pageant featuring the hottest 2D and 3D women on the planet, which is set to premiere in May. Comedian, actor and avid gamer Hal Sparks, who currently stars on Showtime's hit series "Queer as Folk," is slated to host. Sparks, along with a panel of celebrity and industry commentators, will guide viewers in G4's quest to crown the hottest video game vixen. Finalists will be announced online and G4 viewers will vote for the pageant's top beauties.

"Our audience interacts with digital girls as much as real girls and we're tapping into that fantasy," commented Laura Civiello, Vice President of Acquisitions and Development for G4. "'Girls Gone Wired' is the first pageant of its kind on television with contestants competing for titles like "Hottest Newcomer," "Sexiest Voice" and "Most Likely to Kick Enemy Ass."

"X-Play's" Adam Sessler and "Judgment Day's" Victor Lucas, two of G4's leading video game experts, were among the "Girls Gone Wired" TCA panelists and provided critics with insight on which video game hotties should make the cut. In addition, sexy video game warrior Jade took a break from doing battle in Mortal Kombat: Deception to make a special virtual appearance.

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I guess this also means Anime Unleashed and the other fringe Tech shows will be eliminated too, but that's just a guess.

[Classic Speedy]

Why does this sound eerily similar to SpikeTV? :sad:

[Lord Dalek]

Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to pay our respects to the greatest non-HSN related computer channel in history.



TechTV

(Nee ZDNet)

1998-2005

[Juu-kuchi]

My hat if I had one would be tipped in memory to something like TechTV.

[Zyzzybalubah]

I heard this news two months back, but good god is this all sad and very pathetic. G4TechTV, IMO opinion started off very strong the first couple months it was on. The Screen Savers was still a "tech show", they still had Anime Unleashed (well still do, but we'll see for how long..), Unscrewed was on and made us laugh, and they mostly kept all the other good shows (with some occasional G4 duds.) Then they moved to LA, Leo and Patrick didn't want to go on-board, Unscrewed and The Pulse (two of the best shows) got cancelled as well as nearly every Tech TV host (minus Morgan, Adam, Sarah, and Kevin Rose) was fired especially after they were moved to LA. Okay so Chi-Lan was from Fresh Gear and is still on the Screen Savers, but she doesn't know ANYTHING and is quite annoying.

God do the two new shows sound really awful. One where video game women compete in a beauty pageant?!?! WTF, this is as bad, if not worse than Fox's "Ms. Dog Show" pageant. Are they really thinking they'll get "the cool MTV" audience with this show?!?!?! Also, no one who actually watches this channel gives a darn about "drift-racing."

Good idea G4, cancel one of your highest rated shows from Tech TV (Unscrewed) completely revamp ("re-crap" is probably a better term) The Screen Savers (another of the highest rated shows) and add/keep a bunch of garbage on the channel. I'll admit I was one of the sad few who thought this channel would work (seriously, at the beginning it was definitely the best of both worlds and both Tech TV/G4 needed some more programming from both ends, so merging the two just sounded right.) I think Leo Laporte is making a good point, I can see this channel going down in the next 6 months.

Only Shows I'll Be Watching Now are: Icons, X-Play, and maybe occassionally Filter (Diane Mizota is pretty annoying and some of the lists are really stupid.)

[Mynd Hed]

Ouch. I knew all G4 really wanted when they bought TechTV was X-Play, but I didn't think ever really let myself believe they'd excise the rest so completely. And what do we have to show for it? One show that is almost certainly unwatchable and only tangentially related to the ostensible subject matter of the network (I smell another Robot Wars) and another that will, at best, be a guilty pleasure (like Filter, only that show at least had a good concept and was only ruined by the execution-- this one has a horrible concept that only MIGHT be partially saved if the execution is suitably tongue-in-cheek).

Suddenly I'm not quite as sad that my new cable provider only includes G4 with the super extended digital too-expensive-for-me package.

[Behonkiss]

Does this make sense to anyone? I haven't seen a single person, online or off, who did not enjoy TechTV more. It's asinine.

Unscrewed was cancelled? Granted, I didn't watch it often, but I never heard anything.

[Conan-san]

As a person who has no access to the shows that this network produeced and such, let me be the first to say.

WELCOME TO REAL LIFE, SUCKERS!

Good things happen to bad channels and god-awful things happen to everything else!

Life, it's that big, sucky drink your mum made ya drink and that ridiculiously big piece of brocolii that you have to eat to get any ice-cream.

[Shadow_Wolf75]

Yup, **** certainly happens. Oh well, after all this downhill sliding it was only a matter of time before the channel finally hit rock bottom. The only thing marginally worth watching is X-Play. Everything else can burn, and I think I'll be happy to finally see the channel crash and burn after the raping G4's done to it.

[SSJPabs]

I almost feel good that they took away Tech TV for FNC when it was at the top of its game. I didn't have to see its downfall. Megan Morrone and Cat Schwartz were smart to leave when they did, poor Morgan Webb. Any dignity she had, has long since gone down the tubes.

One of the best channels to come along in my teenage lifetime.

[PaQ]

Not surprising, there'd been rumors for a few months now that they were gonna re-rebrand the station when '05 hit. The main reason they bought TTV was for the amount of people that channel reached, which was like 2 to 3 times the size of G4's audience. It's sad that Paul Allen couldn't find another buyer. So really it's been dead since it was sold last spring/summer. :(

Other than Anime Unleashed, really everything else from TTV either isn't on, or has been altered for the worse. TSS is just a name now, and X-play has a lot more bad skits than they used to. Pretty unwatchable at times. :shrug:

[Sigma]

G4 was fine as a stand alone channel, but Tech TV was one of the greatest channels in the history of television. G4 has destroyed what was once Tech TV and created another Spike TV with about 4 shows actually worth watching. With G4 you get X Play, The Screen Savers, Icons, and oh wait they canceled Unscrewed so make that 3 shows worth watching. As far as X Play and TSS go they are still good shows, but neither are as good as they once were. I was a little ticked when ZDTV became Tech TV and shows like Silicon Spin were canned, but boy was I wrong. G4 canned several great shows including some of the few they actually had, but they keep crap like Cheat, Filtter, and Cinematech and they create new crap like a show about street racing and Girls Gone Wired.

Hopefully someone with deep pockets will decide to start up a new tech network in the future.

[Boy Wonder]

(Can't believe this news myself)

I remember when TechTV was awesome, with Call for Help and Screen Savers (except Bret). Leo was a friendly guy to watch on screen, and that's a miss for today. G4 came along, and TechTV died. Simple as that.

[Frank Castle]

I want TechTv to die while it still has some dignity. I was watching TSS last night and one of the hosts was reviewing beer novalty items! Pat and Leo would never have done anything like that! TSS has really gone down the crap hole.

[Tay the Cat]

Now I see no chance of Thunderbirds coming back to television, as they have the American broadcast rights.

[Superperson]

That's one step in the right direction, now all they need to do away with is G4 itself.

[LordByronius]

Well. I was hardly watching G4TechTV these days anyway.

X-Play's really hit the skids lately, with less funny game reviews and more "lol this game is dirrrrty, boobies ass lol" as well as those freaking asinine skits.

And I don't watch Anime Unleashed either; the time edits are FAR more irritating to me than, say, the laser guns on Gundam SEED, as well as them constantly distorting widescreen shows and other randomly terrible crap. Is it just me, or did they not even bother to mix the audio for the shows as well? I'm trying to watch ROD the TV, and as soon as a commercial goes on, the audio rises a few thousand decibles and I wake up half the neighborhood.

Anyway, ***** ***** *****, I liked it when Filter was actually about GAMES and not shot interviews with low-rent celebrities holding teensy cellphones. And who actually WATCHES **** like "Cheat"? I'm unaware of any human being interested in watching gamefaqs.com as acted by a failing, low-rent TV personality with what looks like an anxiety disorder.

[cross blues]

Yup, **** certainly happens. Oh well, after all this downhill sliding it was only a matter of time before the channel finally hit rock bottom. The only thing marginally worth watching is X-Play. Everything else can burn, and I think I'll be happy to finally see the channel crash and burn after the raping G4's done to it.
well said, Shadow. well said.

[Ickis]

(Albert looking alligator comes up and tips his hat while wearing a tuxedo) Well,there goes Eyedrops.Its stupid how G4 had to team up with Techtv.Hoefully a better game channel will be on the air and show G4 why they should've never teamed up with Tech.


R.I.P
TechTV

19??-2005

We'll miss you!

EDIT:Shoot,forgot to throw away my cigar before I entered the graveyard.:ack:

[The Dork Knight]

What's that sound? I think it's Martin Sargent crying in a corner.

TDK

[SirLemming]

I love how they're acting like "G4" is some brand-new channel name that doesn't imply anything.

as well as them constantly distorting widescreen showsWell actually, if you have a widescreen TV, it looks perfect. I'm not sure if that's the idea or what.

[TwoPossums]

I guess what irks me so much about this is it just doesn't make good business sense. I mean, you own a failing game channel, so you buy another channel that is doing well. Instead of incorporating your shows into the working/good lineup that views like you kill it and move all the s*** in that hadn't been working.

And how many shows do we need about games anyway. TSS is featuring more and more game related news. X-Play and Judgement Day review games. Electric Playground does news about games. Filter rates games. Cheat tells, well cheats for games. Cinematech shows game videos and G4TV is a talkshow about games. Yeah they need more coverage.

And TSS. Poor poor TSS. How I loved thee. I hated it when Patrick left but I liked Alex. I thought he was funny and he and Kevin Rose had a great give and take that was fun to watch. But now the new Kevin Gawd how I hate him. He is just annoying and Chi Lan can't get through a segment without stumbling over her words. She's just bad. Get her off the show. At least the new Kevin tries, I don't like him but he tries.

Drift racing?!?!?! WTF???? Who cares. Great more nascar BS. I don't want it. OOooooo I got an idea how about a Robot Wars marathon. You know shows that are 3-4 years old and we don't have to pay for anymore. yeah that will bring in the viewers. Yeah buddy.

The beauty show....well Hall Sparks is hosting so I'll watch. He's funny. One of my fav hosts from Talk Soup. The premise for the show sucks but I like him.

AAAARrrrrghhhhhh!!!!!!! (bangs head against wall) I hate this.

TwoPossums

[Conan-san]

You guys need an aternitive viewing on videogameing.

I think G4 needs to get the rights to "When Games Attack", an alternitve look on videogames hosted by GameMaster's Dominik Daimond. Seriously, It probably owns the greater majority of your G4's asses.

[Beat]

We all knew this would happen. The only real question was when.

[G1Ravage]

I'm tried of corrupt, stupid broadcasting companies making mockeries of the shows I love to watch.

[chris3116]

I'm wondering what G4TechTV Canada will become. We have approximetly the same schedule without the Anime Unleashed thanks to the CRTC.

[BrendaBat]

Damn. What used to be my favorite channel has officially become another SpikeTV. :(



From the article
"Formula D," the first-ever series to showcase the world of drift racing, will burn up the screen in April on G4. This burgeoning sport began several years ago as an underground street scene in Japan. Featured on numerous hit video games, Drifting has now reached the U.S. and is on its way to becoming a cultural phenomenon.Wait. Isn’t drift racing just skidding a car around corners? How the hell can that be considered a sport!? I do that everytime I pull out of the driveway! :rolleyes:


From the article
The network also presented TCA critics with "Girls Gone Wired," a digital beauty pageant featuring the hottest 2D and 3D women on the planet, which is set to premiere in May.[QUOTE]
Whoa. I can’t believe G4 has the gall to blatantly steal one of Martin Sargent’s ideas and turn it into crappy cyber-porn for lonely men. I didn’t like Girls Gone Wired when it was an Unscrewed segment, either. But this new show sounds a lot worse.

[QUOTE]From the article
"Our audience interacts with digital girls as much as real girls and we're tapping into that fantasy," commented Laura Civiello, Vice President of Acquisitions and Development for G4. They expect me to believe that G4 fans interact with actual girls!? As if! :p
Girls Gone Wired will only appeal to the lonely losers who, after playing too many games and watching too much animé, no longer find flesh-and-blood women attractive.

[Tash]

Wait. Isn’t drift racing just skidding a car around corners? How the hell can that be considered a sport!? I do that everytime I pull out of the driveway! :rolleyes:No... Drift racing is like Initial D. Where they race and stuff... in cars...

[livingfruitvirus]

Don't worry folks. If G4 doesn't profit by fall, Comcast will pull the plug on it.

[Behonkiss]

And how has it done so far in terms of profit?

Plus, if it does get pulled, does that mean the end of X-Play?

[G1Ravage]

And how has it done so far in terms of profit?

Plus, if it does get pulled, does that mean the end of X-Play?
Technically, yes. :(