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[tedtropy]

Holy Hades what have they done to the show. Not only do we now have two people with zero charisma as hosts, but they took away the audience and their lame jokes now fall onto the ears of chirping crickets. The show is eerily quite, obviously lacks preparation and, as much as I hate to say it, I think they actually managed to make this once great show EVEN worse. Anyone else watching this mess?

 

[dskillzhtown]

I haven't watched the show, but I have heard from some former employees that there will be some changes to every show on the network to be completed by the new year. Some of the stuff I heard sounded pretty cool, some sounded pretty bad. Either way, the powers that be do understand the current product is not exactly what anyone wants to see.

 

[All Hail C-Webb]

They just said "Alexander had a big, a HUGE weekend at the box office".
The movie had a horrible weekend. If they don't know this, they suck. If they do know about it, but they need to make it sound exciting because they are doing a piece on it, they suck even more.

 

[Guzim]

No more audience?!

 

[Wario64]

Heh, they got the guy who called me fanboy as a host now...

R.I.P. TechTV, G4 has fucked you over

 

[dskillzhtown]

Heh, they got the guy who called me fanboy as a host now...

R.I.P. TechTV, G4 has fucked you over

Kevin? I actually like Kevin on Pulse. He has a quirky humor on Pulse and Arena. His Halo 2 launch report was funny as hell. Not sure how he would fit in on Screen Savers though. Seems like it would be a style conflict.

 

[tedtropy]

They just said "Alexander had a big, a HUGE weekend at the box office".
The movie had a horrible weekend. If they don't know this, they suck. If they do know about it, but they need to make it sound exciting because they are doing a piece on it, they suck even more.

Hah, yeah, when I heard that I yelled a big 'WHAT?!?' at the TV. They have an interesting definition of 'HUGE weekend'...

 

[hobbitx]

God was this horrible, the boards over there are in a mess over this too. The producers are over there censoring the hell out of the board and people are posting new, messed up posts faster than they can lock/delete them. Every other thread was gone by the time I clicked on them. They also didn't some comments by Leo Laporte somebody tried to post. Gotta this is an awful makeover. Now we're screwed out of a half decent news show and TSS which was already getting worse everyday.

I haven't watched the show, but I have heard from some former employees that there will be some changes to every show on the network to be completed by the new year. Some of the stuff I heard sounded pretty cool, some sounded pretty bad. Either way, the powers that be do understand the current product is not exactly what anyone wants to see.

What kind of changes?

 

[tedtropy]

I don't think even they know what they're doing with TSS, apart from letting their flagship show slip further into the crapper.

 

[Vlad]

I don't think even they know what they're doing with TSS, apart from letting their flagship show slip further into the crapper.

Yeah, you'd think that they'd have figured out by now that all these changes they're doing are only making things worse. It really is a huge shame what has happened to the network as a whole.

What I don't get is why did they bother with this merger in the first place? Practically every show from TechTV is either gone (Tech Live, Fresh Gear), changed beyond recognition (TSS), or stuck in endless repeats (Robot Wars). Everything else is programming that, as far as I know, G4 had before the merge. I seem to recall reading that G4 was doing quite poorly in the ratings, so why would they take over another channel only to turn it into a copy of what they were doing in the first place?

Maybe if we're lucky we'll see another tech-based channel pop up someday. Until then, RIP TechTV,

 

[hobbitx]

It wasn't about TTV's content, G4 and Comcast wanted their huge install base. Before the merger G4 was only in like 3 million homes.

 

[mj1108]

G4 just wanted the install base and not TechTV's programming. So once they gobbled up TechTV, they just started whittling it down little by little until we have what was always the lousy G4.

 

[Wario64]

Apparantly Techtv was gonna go down under anyway, so merging with G4 was pretty much their only chance of staying alive

 

[Vlad]

It wasn't about TTV's content, G4 and Comcast wanted their huge install base. Before the merger G4 was only in like 3 million homes.

See, I've read that before, but it's never made sense...

I mean, I understand what you're saying, but not how they expect it to work. Do they think that people aren't going to notice that all the shows that used to be on TechTV aren't there any more?

It'd be like HGTV buying the History Channel in an attempt to gain viewers, then replacing all the actual history-based shows with gardening and home improvement stuff. Obviously, people who used to watch the History Channel's shows aren't going to bother tuning into the stuff that's taken over their channel, and they'll just watch something else.

Sure, it's an extreme example, and some could argue that the overlap in tech and game fans is enough to somehow understand G4's reasoning, but I don't see it.

 

[hobbitx]

See, I've read that before, but it's never made sense...

I mean, I understand what you're saying, but not how they expect it to work. Do they think that people aren't going to notice that all the shows that used to be on TechTV aren't there any more?

It'd be like HGTV buying the History Channel in an attempt to gain viewers, then replacing all the actual history-based shows with gardening and home improvement stuff. Obviously, people who used to watch the History Channel's shows aren't going to bother tuning into the stuff that's taken over their channel, and they'll just watch something else.

Sure, it's an extreme example, and some could argue that the overlap in tech and game fans is enough to somehow understand G4's reasoning, but I don't see it.

It makes plenty of sense and if you noticed, all of the tech stuff pretty much is gone except for a few shows and what's left of TSS. There's already tons of people all over the net who have noticed months ago and haven't shut up about it since with very good reason. TTV had all kinds of stuff that was very relevant to tech and quite entertaining, yet how often do you even see those shows on now? All of those TTV shows in the channels show list never come on and the few that do except for TSS, never really had much of anything to do with tech anyway, Xplay, Robot Wars, Anime Unleased, etc....no scratch "etc." because that was pretty much it. Unscrewed is canned now and even that wasn't much of a tech related alternative to TSS.

Several of the old TTV people themselves have said the only thing g4 was after was increasing the viewerbase for their gaming channel. Didn't you see Martin's journal in this thread? Even if what all he said about G4's interference wasn't true, it still should be obvious. You say that HG channel example is extreme, but that's pretty much what's happened here. Out of all the tech shows TTV had, all that's aired daily is one bastardized show that's only on twice a day. You really can't see what's wrong here?

I'm not trying to sound combative here, but I'm just amazed by what you aren't seeing here. I'm not even a serious TTV fan and never paid much mind to those bash threads, but even I see how one sided this merger is. If this all fair and the example you gave is extreme please tell me what shows am I missing everyday because I see nothing but gaming stuff and less TTV everyday.

 

[lilraylewis]

^Yeah, but how does G4 expect to keep TTV's large install base if they cancel all the shows that built it? I think that's Vlad's question.

 

[teiresias]

I yearn for the glory days back when it was ZDTV, The Screensavers was hosted by Kate Botello and Leo Laporte, and the channel was actually relevant and had something to offer to someone other than l33t 15 year olds that think the whole of technological advancement has been to give us Doom 3.

 

[Vlad]

It makes plenty of sense and if you noticed, all of the tech stuff pretty much is gone except for a few shows and what's left of TSS. There's already tons of people all over the net who have noticed months ago and haven't shut up about it since with very good reason. TTV had all kinds of stuff that was very relevant to tech and quite entertaining, yet how often do you even see those shows on now? All of those TTV shows in the channels show list never come on and the few that do except for TSS, never really had much of anything to do with tech anyway, Xplay, Robot Wars, Anime Unleased, etc....no scratch "etc." because that was pretty much it. Unscrewed is canned now and even that wasn't much of a tech related alternative to TSS.

Several of the old TTV people themselves have said the only thing g4 was after was increasing the viewerbase for their gaming channel. Didn't you see Martin's journal in this thread? Even if what all he said about G4's interference wasn't true, it still should be obvious. You say that HG channel example is extreme, but that's pretty much what's happened here. Out of all the tech shows TTV had, all that's aired daily is one bastardized show that's only on twice a day. You really can't see what's wrong here?

I'm not trying to sound combative here, but I'm just amazed by what you aren't seeing here. I'm not even a serious TTV fan and never paid much mind to those bash threads, but even I see how one sided this merger is. If this all fair and the example you gave is extreme please tell me what shows am I missing everyday because I see nothing but gaming stuff and less TTV everyday.

Uhh, yeah... you kinda missed the point of my post. Maybe I wasn't clear enough, as I was operating on two hours of sleep out of the last 48.... I've got another hour worth of sleep (and am about to head off for more), but let me see if I can clarify without rambling...

You and mj1108 both mentioned that the point of the merger was so G4 could get access to TTV's installed viewer base.

I was aware of that, as I've read it before. I understood then, as I still do, that that was the motivationg behind G4 acquiring TTV.

However, what I didn't understand (which was the motivation for my post) was exactly how G4 thought that what they were doing would work.

The reason that my "HGTV buying the History Channel" analogy fit so well with what has actually happened with G4 and TTV is because it would take an idiot NOT to notice that G4 is slowly consuming and corrupting TTV.

My analogy wasn't directed at any poster in this thread, but more of a general expression of my frustration at what G4 is doing with its newly acquired viewers.

I think my main error was that I saw two people in a row mention G4's strategy, yet assumed that they knew some other information that made what G4 is doing somehow make sense. However, it appears that all you guys may have known is what G4 said they were trying to do, not that they actually expected to be successful doing it.

I really hope that clears things up... if not, I'll check back in in a few hours once I'm more well rested and coherent.

EDIT: Well, it appears that not only did lilraylewis understand my initial post, but managed to phrase my whole question down into a single sentence....

After re-reading my initial post, I think I see how it got misread, too. When I said:

I mean, I understand what you're saying, but not how they expect it to work. Do they think that people aren't going to notice that all the shows that used to be on TechTV aren't there any more?"

I wasn't phrasing that as a challenge to the people who posted the original posts of G4's intent. I meant it as "can somebody tell me how they could possibly think that could work?"

I guess it could be read either way...

Oops.

And this concludes what will most likely be the most drama that Vlad will ever be involved in on GAF...

 

[hobbitx]

Uhh, yeah... you kinda missed the point of my post. Maybe I wasn't clear enough, as I was operating on two hours of sleep out of the last 48.... I've got another hour worth of sleep (and am about to head off for more), but let me see if I can clarify without rambling...

You and mj1108 both mentioned that the point of the merger was so G4 could get access to TTV's installed viewer base.

I was aware of that, as I've read it before. I understood then, as I still do, that that was the motivationg behind G4 acquiring TTV.

However, what I didn't understand (which was the motivation for my post) was exactly how G4 thought that what they were doing would work.

The reason that my "HGTV buying the History Channel" analogy fit so well with what has actually happened with G4 and TTV is because it would take an idiot NOT to notice that G4 is slowly consuming and corrupting TTV.

My analogy wasn't directed at any poster in this thread, but more of a general expression of my frustration at what G4 is doing with its newly acquired viewers.

I think my main error was that I saw two people in a row mention G4's strategy, yet assumed that they knew some other information that made what G4 is doing somehow make sense. However, it appears that all you guys may have known is what G4 said they were trying to do, not that they actually expected to be successful doing it.

I really hope that clears things up... if not, I'll check back in in a few hours once I'm more well rested and coherent.

Yeah you're right sorry about that bro. When I first read over your post I thought you were implying, well, what I was going on and on about in my last post, again, sorry for that. I didn't realize how much on the same page we were until I read your other previous post. I really don't have any explanation other than, g4 is just probably really that crazy to think they can pull this off. Judging by the insane amount of G-spot ads now, it certainly does look like they are desparately trying to pull in some new viewers to fill a void. Just my interpretation though, I'm open for some others.