PanopticBlue
Member
Show sucks now.
PanopticBlue said:Show sucks now.
Television is a crazy business - when you start a new show, you know one day that show will be canceled, and you will be out of work. Some shows last 6 episodes, others last 6 years. Thats just the way it is..
Today many of my friends were let go as the network made changes to revamp for new shows. Unscrewed was canceled, and The Screen Savers is being revamped.
The Screen Savers -
As Im sure many of you have heard, we lost Alex, Dan, Yoshi, and several behind the scene producers I know you all have tons of questions, and I dont know much at this point. Ive been told there are going to be more darktips, and that the show will still have a tech focus. Thats about it. The new show will continue after the Thanksgiving break. Ill keep you posted as more develops its time to go drink.
+krose
TSS is DEAD...
Well I've officially been let go... along with a bunch of other people from TSS and three other shows. Kevin and Sarah are the only ones left on screen and I don't know what they are planning to do with them. The Screen Savers as you know it is GONE! We were rounded up today at 11am and told to be out of the office at 3pm... very smooth... So I wanted to take this time to say, Thank you... thank you to all of you who gave me the chance to enter your living rooms five days a week and try my best to make you smile. You, the fans of TSS, really made me feel like a million bucks. I know it was hard for some of you to see Patrick go, but I really appreciate you all giving me a chance. I just wish I could have more time to get to know you all...
It has been one of the best experiences of my life... Thank you...
- Alex Albrecht
PS - I love you all... Kevin, Sarah, Dan, Yoshi, Joshua, Scott, Robert "the man", Tom, Teresa, Sean, Prager, Jeff, Adam, Paul, Ron, The Crew and everyone else involved in the show...
Yeah. There's tons of info on the g4techtv forums, if you dare to explore.Guzim said:Unscrewed got canceled?!
Everyone, this is a rumor...
A well placed source within IBM let something slip to me the other day... and he doesn't know I'm writing this... but I just can't keep this in. This person who shall remain nameless is working on the physical architecture of the CPU for the PSIII and the Xbox II. Wow I said what's that like? Then he drops the bomb... he says "Well I shouldn't be telling you this but the CPU's we are selling Sony and Microsoft are the SAME!!!" It turns out that what IBM is doing is moving around parts on the CPU to make them look different but the technology is the same!!! Also he said they are hoping that Sony and Microsoft don't figure it out...
Now again, this is a rumor... so no Slashdoting, this is just for you guys...
Stay tuned...
- Alex
Shazapp said:I moved just after G4 took over TechTV and didn't get cable again until last weekend. I turned on The Screen Savers and was horrified. That Alex guy is so annoying he makes the show completely unwatchable.
Kevin, Yoshi, and Sarah are still there, but the show has changed way too much. It's more concerned with being funny and "hip" than being informative and useful. It's sad, because I used to LOVE the show. Now, it's HORRIBLE.
Guzim said:Unscrewed got canceled?!
hobbitx said:I just heard an even crazier rumor on the boards, now people are saying TSS is about to get merged with Pulse. This is just is insanely depressing, finally get rid of that annoying NHL bullshit and now there's a brand new dark cloud over TSS's head. It just never ends with this channel I swear.
tedtropy said:I'm sure I'll get flamed for this, but I honestly still like The Screen Savers. I suppose I can see why people would be hostile towards the show having two young male hosts, but Kevin tends to know his stuff and the ongoing innuendos between him and Sarah (his girlfriend) can be pretty funny. Oh, and Sarah's as cute as can be. While I don't think Alex is as tech-savvy as Kevin, he comes off as pretty natural - yeah, some of his jokes suck, but sometimes he can honestly be funny (generally when there's a live freudian slip). I don't care for their newfound interest on pointless 'celebrity' guests, but when they had the Slashot and Bittorent founders on there, that was cool. They need more guests along that vein. It comes on right as I get off work and allows me to get my tech news with a little bit of humor - works for me. As for Unscrewed getting canned, well...about time. Martin had some funny moments when he used to be a side-guy on older The Screensavers shows, but he just doesn't stand on his own as a host.
Wellington said:I can see how some would like the newer style for the show, but personally it's very annoying. I started watching with Leo and Patrick as hosts about a year or so ago, and I much preferred having a show that was down to Earth, could be funny at times, extremely informative, and just overall more professional. Alex just doesn't give off the impression that he knows what he is talking about or that he is trying new things when it comes to the technology front, so I'm left to rely on Kevin as my sole source for any tech info on the show. He knows his stuff, definitely, but he does get carried away at times with jokes and stuff like that, and the side stuff with Sarah, while cute and funny at times, gets real old real fast. Before we had guys like Leo, Pat, Robert Heron, Kevin, Dan, Roger... every one of them knew their stuff and could be fun to watch (Met Robert at E3, as nice a dude as there ever could be). To me now it's akin to going to gamestop and listening to pre-teens arguing about games, one guy knows his stuff while the rest are just pulling hsit out of their ass for entertainment value. Every once in a while there'll be a nice segment but I barely bother to flip the channel at this point. Sad since I watched each TSS show twice a day back with Leo and Patrick, and then Kevin and Patrick. Oh well.
Heres Martins post: Guaranteed to get me banned.
wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes. Ok, well that's not true.... the sad fact of the matter is that since this merger, or more appropiately deemed "conglomerate corporate buy out" between G4 and Tech TV all of our favorite Tech TV celebs and shows have been getting the axe.. including programs that had been with us since the dawn of ZDTV! (Remember those days?) When I first heard of Comcast / G4 buying out Tech TV the first thing I thought is "uh oh.. Unscrewed is toast..." but alas they fooled us and lulled us all into a false sense of security. And now, just after Laura, Marty, Joey, & the crew moved from San Francisco to LA, evil G4 pulls out the rug from under us all. My dad and I are long time fans of Marty's.. back from his Screen Saver days til now and we've literally seen EVERY episode of Unscrewed. Living in the LA area, we attended the last show taping.. as well as hung out w/ the gang at the bar after the show. This thread's purpose is to share that experience with all you loyal fans who deserve to hear about Unscrewed's sunset.. as well as to clear up a few things other threads on this forum were questioning.
First the sad answer to the main question: Yes Unscrewed has been cancelled by the evil G4 empire. There was some speculation because not much 'proof' was delivered other than moblog pics.. but it's true. Some of you may have read another thread of ours about Laura Swisher being interviewed for and appearing in the pages of Draculina magazine which we write for. We wanted to do the story up big, lending lots of publicity for the show but the G4 publicist continued to decline our request (despite the fact we'd MET Laura at a taping and she said she was interested) stating that G4 couldn't appear in a publication which had mild nudity... (uh.. Girls Gone Wired.. cam whores.. etc etc..?!?!) Now we find out the real truth why G4 didn't want any publicity for the show. When I spoke to Laura last night at the show taping about all of this she informed me that she wasn't even told that we'd contacted the publicist to pursue the interview and wasn't aware that we'd been told no. It seems G4 had Unscrewed's death warrant planned out. We wanted to thank all of you fellow members of the Unscrewed Army for your posts, votes, emails, and support. I talked to Laura and informed her that the story could still be done on HER as opposed to plugging G4 and she said she will be contacting me... so it may still be in the works. All you Swish fans, keep your fingers crossed!
Now onto the taping of the last show and the send off at the bar after. Everyone at the last show taping was informed that 'it was going to be a very special show' but the G4 crew still never let the cat out of the bag that the show had been canned. A small number of us had heard and knew already, but for the most part they were playing dumb. It was announced that the G4 dignitaries would be in the studio (whoopty friggin doo) and many Tech TV (and G4) personalities participated as members of the studio audience including Kevin, Sarah, Dan (Foo), Alex, Yoshi, etc. The show began as normal but there was definitely something in the air.. and that was validated by Marty's many on camera inside bitter jokes and cutting cracks aimed directly at G4. (We Love You Marty!) It was expressed to us later that evening by some crew and Joey that it was almost 99% definite that this episode will NEVER see the light of day and will not be aired on G4 because of all of the anti-G4 cracks, innuendos, bitter-ness, and strong language. Thus, the last episode, which explains it's demise in the Unscrewed fashion, may never be seen... so let me take this opportunity to tell you about it... CAUTION: Spoilers below in bold!
Marty opened the show with a G4 audience jab "Helloooo Gamers!" in a slightly high sarcastic voice. (This is not to say there's anything wrong with gamers or gaming but unfortunately G4 has decided to overtake the tech / computer side of Tech TV with gaming.. thus dividing the tech culture and pitting techies against gamers. Sad really...) From the very opening of the show to the end there was assorted inside jokes and jabs at G4 from Marty's innuendos of lowly third tier cable studios which are destined to be shut down and go dark to mentions of how he should steal a printer as a 'momento' from the show. But the king of slams came at the high crest of the show.. the finale where Marty said his goodbye. During the last segment of the show, following one of their long running gags, Marty made a call to celebrity Michael Cain. During this call 'Michael Cain' stated that he's noticed that Unscrewed hasn't been as good since the change to G4 occurred and that they don't seem to be having as much fun as they used to. (At this slam we started cheering, hooting, and hollering in the audience for the pro-Tech TV comment.. at which time we received the dirtiest b*tch look you could imagine from a G4 camera opperator.) Then Michael Cain suggested that Marty should leave Unscrewed and come live with him on his yacht / estate / etc. Marty asked if he could bring the Swish... then he asked if he could bring Joey the intern.. Ricky Kang... The Ambassador of Gay.. as they all made their way onto set behind Marty. As Michael Cain said "SURE" Marty bid farewell to the Unscrewed Army and said he was off to live in luxury with Michael Cain... during this process he gave a heart felt thank you, salute, and a long sincere look into the camera as he bid farewell to all of us who loved the show so...
The end of the show was very climatic and very emotional... such a shame that the rumor is it'll never be seen. Thus the finale of Unscrewed came to an end and filming was wrapped. Marty came forth and thanked the audience for coming and for all their support. Everyone filtered out as Marty and Laura stuck around to meet everyone, take pics, and sign things. Where did things go from here? Well.. when he said "see you at the bar..." he really did mean it. The Unscrewed cast & crew met up at a bar (as they did nightly) for a little after-drink.. needless to say last night was a little bit more special and a bigger deal than usual.
We made our way to the bar where we were welcomed by everyone we'd met from the Unscrewed battalion. Everyone was great and there was many emotions running rampant varying from sadness to bitterness. We spent most of the night talking to Joey and Marty... who both ROCK. All that can be said is, as a fan of Unscrewed, whatever you imagine the gang would be like at an after party... they definitely were. It was a great experience and something any fan would've enjoyed.. and in a way we felt like we were representing the Unscrewed fans by being there. Throughout the night we found out some interesting facts you guys deserve to know...
*First of all, Unscrewed was NOT cancelled due to poor ratings or low viewing numbers. It was taken off the air because that was G4's plan. They bought Tech TV simply to get it's viewership and some of it's properties. Since taking it over they've assimilated Tech TV, stripped it, stolen it's soul, and turned it into all gaming all the time.. so basically they bought Tech TV, killed it, and turned it into G4.
*This is backed up subtle changes that you could notice even around the studio. When we went to our first Unscrewed taping in LA, the sign on the door said "G4 / Tech TV Studios".. now it just reads "G4 Studios". Why you may ask? In January the station will be doing a re-launch and then will cease to be known as G4 Tech TV and will simply be G4. Yes, Tech TV, for all intensive purposes, is gone...
*In addition to Unscrewed being killed, The Screen Savers is also being altered. After today's taping of TSS, the studio will go dark until they start filming again... and when they do, TSS will be very different, if even recognizable. From what I heard they are basically merging Pulse and TSS. Many cast members from G4's Pulse will be taking a spot on the show and what hosts from the current / old school TSS will be left is debateable. I've heard Kevin and Sarah are staying.. but then again Unscrewed was supposedly in the clear too. As for anyone else, it's up in the air. Also, it was speculated from different sources that the title may be changed.
*Completing the raping and pillaging of Tech TV, while Unscrewed WAS cancelled, it is also rumored that one of G4's "new and original series" to be debuting soon will be entited "GIRLS GONE WIRED".. yes you heard right. Cancel the show it came from and then steal the segment.. really classy. icon_sad.gif
Everyone from Unscrewed and Tech TV alumni are very upset at the recent happenings.. whether they still have their jobs or not. Joey was a riot at the bar and insisted that "It's not over! IT'S NOT OVER!" Marty had the same thing to say. Since Unscrewed was Marty's brain child to begin with, hopeful chances are that a similar show w/ a diff. name will be picked up by a network somewhere with Marty and his gang at the helm. We can all hope.. and of course keep rallying behind them! I'm sorry, but the highlight of the night was still when someone (who I won't divulge the name of.. but no it's probably not who you're thinking) stood up and yelled "F**k G4".. They've hurt us loyal Tech TV viewers so much that I have to agree I really couldn't have expressed a better sentiment myself. At the end of the night as we left the bar and said our final goodbyes Marty repeatedly thanked us for our loyalty, support, and for watching his show. Despite the fact that it was a joy for us (and is for most Unscrewed fans) he could not let us go without expressing his love and gratitude. Never have I met a man who seemed so sincere when it came to expressing his appreciation and his love for the show and fans... that sentiment is something that I carry with me and hopefully convey to all of you, as I'm sure he'd like to thank each and every viewer if he could've.
We can keep our fingers crossed for a bright future for Marty, Laura, Joey, and the gang... and hopefully we'll see an Unscrewed Jr. pop up on some station somewhere soon, but if not then it was a great journey and one that won't be forgotten. The sad fact is that G4 was and IS power hungry, so they simply bought Tech TV to get what it could out of it.. and in the process stole OUR station. They've assimilated it into one big station with all gaming all the time.. and honestly where would gaming be without computers today? There has to be some kind of balance.. but that doesn't seem to register with them. In their corporate money grubbing scheme of things, all their seeing is dollar signs as some 30 - 40 year old station heads in stuffy suits try to guess what the youth of America wants... which in itself is narrow minded because Tech TV served ALL ages, while G4's demographic is ages 13 to mid-30s... even station veteran Leo LaPorte who we all knew and loved was let go because he wasn't young and trendy enough. What a bunch of bunk. In conclusion, if you're a gamer and you want all gaming, all the time, and no tech.. then welcome to your mecca.. but if you're a veteran Tech TV fan, love the tech side of it all, or are into PC's or aspects of the tech world OTHER than just video games then you might as well leave this site now because G4 doesn't want us around anymore... I know that my family for one is a household they won't have to worry about entertaining with their station anymore.
As the night ended and we drove away to remembrances of Joey & Marty's pledges "It's not over" we felt a little better and filled with some hope.. I hope so guys.. I hope so!
RIP Unscrewed.. and really, RIP Tech TV!
tedtropy said:Jesus, what is Comcast doing to that channel? Honestly, I won't miss 'Unscrewed' one way or the other, but merging TSS with Pulse AND possibly changing its title? Yeah, keep fucking with your channel's flagship show, alienate that largest viewing base even more...smart. God help them if they make the girl presently co-hosting Pulse a center part of the show - her voice makes me want to kill baby dolphins.
dskillzhtown said:I really thought 'unscrewed' was 'unfunny', but I could see how there would be an audience for it. One thing you have to realize is who runs Comcast. Paul Allen. Paul Allen is killing Comcast and along with that killing G4techtv. Fans of G4 are upset, fans of Techtv are upset. G4 before had some good shows (G4tv.com, Sweat, Arena, Pulse, cinematech) and some really, really crappy shows. I met some of the G4 hosts during the Madden Bowl this year before the merger and they were really nice guys and talked to them about the channel. Scot and Rossi had some really good ideas, but said that money was big issue to improve the channel. In their minds, the money wouldn't be spent to keep improve the network as it should. It appears they were right. Both left the channel and now are doing other things.
Seems all the moves are made in the interest of money. The truth is, if they actually spent money to improve things instead of just trying to chop it all down, they would have more money. More advertising cash, more viewers. They have a monopoly on this kind of content on TV, but they are totally wasting this opportunity. You now have 2 camps of upset viewers. The G4 viewers don't like the channel, techtv viewers hate the channel. So what do you do now?
Lastly, the way the quality of G4TV.com went down after Scot left is incredible. OMG that show sucks now with the two female hosts treating the show like a teenage sleepover. Pulse feels like a magazine show instead of the news show it used to be. Cinematech doesn't get nearly the new episodes it used to. Arena was going to make changes to make the show a bit better and focus more on strategies people use, but that was scrapped. I am just saying, G4 fans (I was one of them) are not happy with the direction of the channel either.
BUT, with all that said, this is what happens when any company buys another. I have been through this 3 times, once on the buyee side. The buyer rips all the stuff they want out of the company they bought and pretty much try to kill the memory it. That is just how it is in business for some reason. It is a power move for sure, and usually makes things worse. Maybe when the dust settles next year, the channel will be better. I doubt it, but I truly do hope the channel is decent as it is the only channel to represent the people interested in tech.
hobbitx said:The TTV stuff is what's gotten canned and changed since the merger, the g4 programming doesn't seem the least bit different since the merger, the only difference now is they say g4techtv about 15 times during each awful episode instead of g4tv. The only people I see complaining are the tech fans with good reason, going by the forums, I don't think g4 fans could be anymore content. The only serious changes since the merger was Starcade getting taken off the air, the other shows were cancelled long before the merger and were beyond hated anyway. *cough* Portal, Blister *cough* I actually like Scott being gone, now he can go off on his own little Madden circle jerk while the girls( ) can be hot by themselves and interview all kinds of cool guest hosts. I'm not trying to be overly corrective here or anything, it's just I've been following this channel for a while now and I'm really not seeing any change in the G4 shows at all. If anything they are a bit better, I remember the really messed up days when G4 would turn episodes of Filter, G4tv.com and other shows into full blown infomercials for all kinds of crappy games and movies. I still remember the Anger Management episode of Filter and the Daddy Day Care ep of G4TV.com. Anything is better than those days, and they still tinker with Icons from time to time. *cough* Doom III *cough*
Jesus, will someone close the fucking window in this forum?
ManaByte said:I loved the episode of Screen Savers where they opened a random folder on their PC and it was filled with warez.