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Speaker 1: Welcome to tex Stuff, a production from I Heart Radio.

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Speaker 1: Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host,

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Speaker 1: Jonathan Strickland. I'm an executive producer with I Heart Radio

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Speaker 1: and I love all things tech and it is in

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Speaker 1: late August twenty about a year ago, I recorded an

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Speaker 1: episode about well, a couple of episodes about tech TV

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Speaker 1: and G four TV, a pair of cable television channels

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Speaker 1: that merged in the United States, uh and then suffered

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Speaker 1: a rather sad fate. And I did a full episode

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Speaker 1: on each to kind of explain what happened with both

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Speaker 1: of them, and I wanted to go back and revisit

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Speaker 1: the G four TV episode. Now. The reason for this

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Speaker 1: is because recent developments have changed things. There's been indication

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Speaker 1: of life after cable death. But I'll explain that when

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Speaker 1: we finished listening to this episode from last year, so

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Speaker 1: that we understand where I'm coming from when I talk

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Speaker 1: about the potential reboot of G four TV. First, let's

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Speaker 1: listen to this classic episode. This is the second episode

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Speaker 1: I'm devoting to a pair of tech related television channels

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Speaker 1: that made an attempt to court a tech savvy, largely

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Speaker 1: male audience on cable television Our last episode was about

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Speaker 1: tech TV, which I talked about up to when that

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Speaker 1: channel merged with another one. Today, I'm going to focus

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Speaker 1: on that other channel that would end up getting merged

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Speaker 1: with tech TV before spoiler alert, both would be ultimately

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Speaker 1: shut down entirely. That tech channel was called G four TV,

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Speaker 1: which was a television channel marketed towards gamers. For a

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Speaker 1: bit longer than a decade, video game enthusiasts had their

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Speaker 1: very own cable channel, well sort of, because the channel

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Speaker 1: would change dramatically and would no longer really cater to

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Speaker 1: video game people, and also G four's reach was hardly universal,

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Speaker 1: but we'll get to all that. The story of G

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Speaker 1: four really starts with its founder, Charles Hershorn, who already

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Speaker 1: had a long career in media before he decided to

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Speaker 1: create a channel specifically for gamers. Hershorn had attended Harvard

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Speaker 1: and graduated in nineteen seventy nine. He probably would have

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Speaker 1: graduated in nineteen seventy eight, but he took a year

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Speaker 1: off after his sophomore year to cook in professional kitchens

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Speaker 1: before deciding that was not quite the life he wanted

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Speaker 1: for himself. He studied filmmaking at Harvard and was able

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Speaker 1: to take advantage of some of the school's departments to

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Speaker 1: get connections with various film studios and in show business.

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Speaker 1: Who you know can be more important than what you know.

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Speaker 1: He worked for a short while in Boston before relocating

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Speaker 1: to California. He enrolled in film school at the University

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Speaker 1: of Southern California, but was only there for a few

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Speaker 1: months before he dropped out. See one of those connections

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Speaker 1: he had made back at Harvard paid off big time.

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Speaker 1: The connection was promoted to the position of president of

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Speaker 1: production for Universal Pictures, and then this connection reached out

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Speaker 1: to hire her Shorn as a junior executive. Now I'm

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Speaker 1: going to spend a couple of seconds just here in

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Speaker 1: the studio being green with envy as I think about

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Speaker 1: a guy who went from recent college graduate to junior

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Speaker 1: executive in a movie studio in no time flat. Feel

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Speaker 1: free to join me in this moment of vulgar envy.

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Speaker 1: Mm hmm, Okay, now I can move on, And I

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Speaker 1: should add that I don't mean to comment on her

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Speaker 1: Shorn's skill or knowledge. I cannot honestly say that he

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Speaker 1: didn't deserve that position. He may very well have. I'm

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Speaker 1: just being petty now. According to IMDb, which I should

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Speaker 1: add as not the most reliable of sources. Her Shorn

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Speaker 1: served as a production assistant on the John Hughes film

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Speaker 1: Sixteen Candles in four and then as an associate producer

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Speaker 1: for Bull Durham and an executive producer for Dirty Rotten Scoundrels.

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Speaker 1: I really enjoy that last film quite a bit. And

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Speaker 1: her Shorn would stay with Movies for a while before

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Speaker 1: moving over to the Fox Network. As in the television network,

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Speaker 1: he came on board before the network had actually launched,

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Speaker 1: and originally his role was to develop movie programming for

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Speaker 1: the new television station. However, as the network got closer

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Speaker 1: to launch, executive decide against having movie programming on the

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Speaker 1: channel at all, and her Shorn would transition into a

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Speaker 1: television executive role, something that was entirely new to him.

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Speaker 1: Her Shorn would recruit Keenan Ivory Waynes, who successfully pitched

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Speaker 1: a sketch comedy show called In Living Color, which in

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Speaker 1: turn would launch the careers of folks like Jim Carey,

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Speaker 1: Jamie Fox, and Jennifer Lopez as among others. Her Shorn

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Speaker 1: stayed with Fox for just three years, from nineteen eighty

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Speaker 1: six to nineteen eighty nine, Bull Durham and Dirty Rotten

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Speaker 1: Scoundrels would both come out in Night, but his involvement

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Speaker 1: in those had been in the early stages of the films,

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Speaker 1: and he still did some independent production work. He then

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Speaker 1: moved over to the Mouse House. He joined the Walt

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Speaker 1: Disney Company as the senior vice president of production for

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Speaker 1: a brand new movie studio under Disney called Hollywood Pictures,

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Speaker 1: which would make films like The Santa Claus, among others.

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Speaker 1: In nineteen six, Disney named her Shorn the president of

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Speaker 1: Walt Disney TV, while he would also serve as executive

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Speaker 1: vice president of Walt Disney Motion Pictures Group. He stayed

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Speaker 1: on until nineteen when he either left or was you know,

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Speaker 1: told to leave. While Disney TV and ABC began to

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Speaker 1: streamline operations and get rid of redundancies, it was in

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Speaker 1: two thousand, two years after tech TV then called z

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Speaker 1: d TV had launched, that her Shorn began to put

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Speaker 1: together his first ideas for what would become G four.

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Speaker 1: He attended the trade show E three for the first time.

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Speaker 1: That's the Big North American Video Games trade show, and

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Speaker 1: according to later interviews, her Shorn originally thought about how

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Speaker 1: video games have a lot of animation in them, and

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Speaker 1: he had just spent a few years as president of

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Speaker 1: Walt Disney Television, which produced several animated series, so maybe

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Speaker 1: he thought you could do something with the animation and

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Speaker 1: video games and turn it into a linear form of storytelling.

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Speaker 1: His concept evolved into a channel that would be similar

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Speaker 1: to something like MTV was back in the early nineteen eighties,

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Speaker 1: only instead of focusing on music and the rock and

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Speaker 1: roll lifestyle cue the song by Cake here, it would

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Speaker 1: use video games as the central focus for the channel. So,

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Speaker 1: in other words, he wanted to engineer a channel geared

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Speaker 1: toward a younger audience, with a bit of a rebellious edge,

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Speaker 1: you know, and a very corporate calculated way. Now, to

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Speaker 1: be clear, there was a little bit of video game

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Speaker 1: programming on television, but it was usually restricted to a

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Speaker 1: segment on a longer show that was dedicated to technology

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Speaker 1: in general. And there was an online audio and video

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Speaker 1: network called Pseudo Entertainment that covered, among other things, video

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Speaker 1: games and included video but this was in the early

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Speaker 1: two thousand's and most people lacked a good enough Internet

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Speaker 1: connection to view streaming video in anything approaching decent resolution quality.

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Speaker 1: More often than not, you had a thumbnail sized video

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Speaker 1: running in a corner somewhere, and that's as good as

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Speaker 1: you could watch. And if you try to expand it

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Speaker 1: beyond that, your connection would just chug along and you'd

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Speaker 1: be buffering the entire time. Pseudo would go out of

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Speaker 1: business not long after the dot com bubble began to

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Speaker 1: collapse in two thousand. Also, the story behind Pseudo is

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Speaker 1: like super bonkers, so I have to do an episode

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Speaker 1: about that at some point. Oh and one other interesting connection.

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Speaker 1: David Boorman, a TV producer, stepped in to run Pseudo

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Speaker 1: towards the end. He would also go on to produce

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Speaker 1: the Tech Live block of programming I talked about for

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Speaker 1: tech TV, and some of the folks from Pseudo would

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Speaker 1: actually end up being part of G four. Anyway, there

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Speaker 1: appeared to be at least some demand for more video

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Speaker 1: game related content, and no one was meeting it just yet.

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Speaker 1: So her short goes on and he founds a production

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Speaker 1: company under Comcast, the cable provider. So this production company

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Speaker 1: belonged to Comcast. It was called G four Media. He

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Speaker 1: hired on a consultant named Scott Rubin to help develop

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Speaker 1: the concept of a video Game Channel. Reuben would go

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Speaker 1: on to become the vice president of Internet I T

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Speaker 1: and program editorial, and would also serve as a host

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Speaker 1: on several shows. The G four name was supposedly a

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Speaker 1: reference to the four types of games that would be

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Speaker 1: the focal point for the channel, video game, computer games,

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Speaker 1: online games, and wireless games. And that seems a little

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Speaker 1: bit confusing to me, since in two thousand two most

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Speaker 1: games were pretty firmly either computer games or console games.

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Speaker 1: Nearly all online games were a subset of computer games.

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Speaker 1: There were very few console games that were online, and

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Speaker 1: I'm guessing by wireless they really meant like handheld systems

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Speaker 1: like game Boy and game Boy Advance, because cell phone

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Speaker 1: games were almost not a thing. I mean, there was Snake,

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Speaker 1: but there wasn't much else in two thousand two, But hey,

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Speaker 1: who am I to criticize this logic. Also, much later,

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Speaker 1: her Shorn would reveal in an interview with Kevin Pereira

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Speaker 1: that he had asked his wife to secure a U

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Speaker 1: r L for the new company before they had even

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Speaker 1: figured out what the name was going to be, and

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Speaker 1: he wanted video game to be in the name for

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Speaker 1: the U r L, but his wife wasn't able to

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Speaker 1: find an available U r L with video games in it,

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Speaker 1: so he said, just grabbed something with the initial V

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Speaker 1: or G or something, and she went down the list

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Speaker 1: and said, G once taken G two's tip and G three,

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Speaker 1: G four is available, and he said, just take that.

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Speaker 1: So it's possible that G four got its name because

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Speaker 1: literally that was the available U r L. In case

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Speaker 1: you are curious, this was during what is generally called

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Speaker 1: the sixth generation of video game systems, also known as

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Speaker 1: the one eight bit era, this being you know, at

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Speaker 1: the time when G four would launch. That is, Consoles

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Speaker 1: belonging to this generation included the original Xbox, the PlayStation two,

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Speaker 1: the Nintendo GameCube, and the Sega Dreamcast, though the Dreamcast

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Speaker 1: was already starting to fade away by two thousand two,

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Speaker 1: and that was the last year anyone made games for

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Speaker 1: the Dreamcast outside of Japan. Uh Japan Dreamcast games would

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Speaker 1: keep on going till about two thousand and seven. The

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Speaker 1: executive crew for this company would include a lot of

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Speaker 1: folks from the production side of entertainment, so her Shorn

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Speaker 1: would serve as president and CEO. The Chief Operating Officer

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Speaker 1: or c o O was Deborah Green, who had previously

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Speaker 1: been a senior vice president over at E Networks in

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Speaker 1: the nineteen nineties. The head of affiliate and advertising sales,

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Speaker 1: guy called Dale Hopkins, had also worked for E Networks.

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Speaker 1: The head of programming was Vince Longobardo, who had been

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Speaker 1: with MTV for nearly twenty years before joining G four.

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Speaker 1: The company also recognized that might be a good idea

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Speaker 1: to bring in some people who have insight into video

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Speaker 1: games and video game culture, and so another founding leader

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Speaker 1: of G four Media was Tom Russo, who had previously

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Speaker 1: been the editor of a gaming magazine called Next Generation,

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Speaker 1: and of course Scott Rubin was acting as a consultant

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Speaker 1: as well. Comcast funded the development and the launch of

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Speaker 1: this channel. They gave the company essentially a hundred fifty

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Speaker 1: million dollars and the plan was to give G four

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Speaker 1: three to five years in order to make enough money

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Speaker 1: to pay off that initial investment. According to analysts, that

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Speaker 1: would mean the channel would need to reach a down

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Speaker 1: thirty to forty million households total, and the prime demographic,

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Speaker 1: as I mentioned earlier, was eighteen to thirty four year

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Speaker 1: old men. Now keep in mind this was back in

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Speaker 1: the early two thousand's when video games were still considered

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Speaker 1: a sort of niche hobby for nerds. There were a

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Speaker 1: lot of negative stereotypes about gamers, mostly that they were

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Speaker 1: a bunch of socially awkward losers. And I used this

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Speaker 1: as the stereotype. I don't think people who are socially

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Speaker 1: awkward are losers at all, but this is the kind

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Speaker 1: of thought process people were in back then, that video

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Speaker 1: game players were socially awkward losers who, according to most insults,

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Speaker 1: lived in their parents basements and played video games, never

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Speaker 1: stepped outside ever, didn't know how to talk to anybody else.

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Speaker 1: That kind of thing. That was very much a predominant

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Speaker 1: stereotypical view of people who liked video games back in

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Speaker 1: the early two thousand's, And it's quite possible that some

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Speaker 1: of the folks at G four Media, you know, some

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Speaker 1: of the people in charge, shared some of those perceptions

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Speaker 1: about deo game fans. There was next to no acknowledgement

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Speaker 1: that women can also play and enjoy video games too.

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Speaker 1: They were just not really considered part of the equation,

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Speaker 1: or that there are video game fans out there who

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Speaker 1: are also active, productive and successful members of society. And

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Speaker 1: I think a lot of the guiding decisions for designing

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Speaker 1: programming would be rooted in the same sort of toxic

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Speaker 1: mindset that much of gamer Gate was based in. And also,

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Speaker 1: while I don't want to suggest that gamer Gate was

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Speaker 1: in any way a legitimate movement, I do think that

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Speaker 1: G four's revenue practices would raise some eyebrows when it

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Speaker 1: comes to journalistic integrity and unbiased reviews. I'll explain more

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Speaker 1: about that in just a moment. Skeptics worried that the

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Speaker 1: channel would be unable to muster a following. I mean,

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Speaker 1: who the heck wants to watch someone else play video games? Now?

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Speaker 1: I imagine if you were to take any of those

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Speaker 1: skeptics from two thousand to PLoP them into present day

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Speaker 1: and turn on twitch TV or YouTube, their brains would

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Speaker 1: melt right out of their ears. Now we have an

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Speaker 1: entire industry complete with superstars who go by handles like

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Speaker 1: Ninja or Shroud, who have built brands on top of

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Speaker 1: the concept of people watching them play video games. As

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Speaker 1: for me, heck, I remember being a kid and watching

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Speaker 1: really good players play arcade games. I didn't have any

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Speaker 1: desire to jump in or challenge them. I just liked

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Speaker 1: watching people who are really good at games kick some

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Speaker 1: digital butt, so I'd like to think at least I

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Speaker 1: would have felt that there was a market for this

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Speaker 1: sort of thing if it were handled properly. The Los

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Speaker 1: Angeles Times reported in January two thowo that Comcast was

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Speaker 1: going to launch a video game centric channel later that year.

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Speaker 1: As far as I could tell, this was the earliest

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Speaker 1: public acknowledgement of G four. Comcast said it would launch

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Speaker 1: the channel to seven million subscribers of the company's basic

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Speaker 1: cable package. That wouldn't quite be the case at launch.

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Speaker 1: The hope was that comcasts support would give a fledgling

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Speaker 1: channel enough of a head start to land some good

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Speaker 1: advertising deals for its programming. An article in sf Gate

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Speaker 1: that published one month after the channel actually went live,

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Speaker 1: which was in April two two, had a slightly different

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Speaker 1: set of figures. According to the article, G four was

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Speaker 1: initially available in about three million households, with the goal

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Speaker 1: of reaching five million by the end of two thousand

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Speaker 1: two oh and like tech TV, it wasn't initially available

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Speaker 1: in San Francisco, which, at least in the minds of

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Speaker 1: the tech industry, is the center of the known universe.

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Speaker 1: When the channel went live, it broadcasts something pretty unusual

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Speaker 1: for its first week, a Pong marathon yep, the classic

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Speaker 1: video game Pong. It was the thirtieth anniversary for Pong,

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Speaker 1: and sometimes the footage included two players going head to

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Speaker 1: head against each other. Sometimes it was a player versus

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Speaker 1: a computer opponent, but it was just Pong. After the

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Speaker 1: first week, we'd get a better idea of what G

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Speaker 1: four was going to be all about, at least at first.

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Speaker 1: I'll explain more in a second, but first let's take

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Speaker 1: a quick break. After the Pong marathon stunt, there were

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Speaker 1: about a dozen programs that ran in heavy rotation. By that,

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Speaker 1: I mean reruns or replays of a show. Some of

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Speaker 1: the shows were done live, but then would be shown

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Speaker 1: again and again throughout the twenty four period. A lot

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Speaker 1: of these were half hour shows, so they didn't fill

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Speaker 1: up a full day's worth of programming. So shows included

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Speaker 1: stuff like Cheat, a show that revealed cheat codes and

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Speaker 1: strategies for games. There was a show called Blister, which

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Speaker 1: was a series that focused on action and adventure games.

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Speaker 1: That show, by the way, was the first G four

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Speaker 1: program to air after the week long Pong marathon concluded.

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Speaker 1: There was Sweat. It was similar to Blister, except it

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Speaker 1: was a show that really focused on sports video games,

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Speaker 1: of course. There was a video game review show called

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Speaker 1: Judgment Day that had originally started out as a segment

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Speaker 1: on a show called The Electric Playground that had previously

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Speaker 1: found airtime in Canada. Pulse was a news show about

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Speaker 1: video games. There were shows that would do profiles on

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Speaker 1: celebrities who liked to play video games. That one was

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Speaker 1: called Players. There was another show that looked at people

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Speaker 1: in the industry, people who were game designers or artists

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Speaker 1: or musicians that worked on games. That one was called

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Speaker 1: game Makers. I actually really liked that show. There was

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Speaker 1: an interactive talk show called g four tv dot com.

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Speaker 1: That one was my favorite show. It was hosted by

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Speaker 1: Laura Foy, Tina Wood, and Scott Rubin as the original group,

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Speaker 1: and they would look at news and rumors in the

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Speaker 1: video game world. They would answer questions. People would write

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Speaker 1: in and ask questions about video games that they would

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Speaker 1: try to answer and it was legit a great show

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Speaker 1: that I remember watching it all the time Back in

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Speaker 1: those days. Cinema Tech was a bit of an odd

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Speaker 1: program m. It was a thirty minute block of programming

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Speaker 1: that was really just video game play footage and video

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Speaker 1: game cut scenes with no hosts or really really any commentary.

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Speaker 1: Then they had a couple of game show like shows.

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Speaker 1: There was one called Game On where they would grab

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Speaker 1: people to compete against each other in arcade games and

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Speaker 1: stuff like that, and then there was a team based

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Speaker 1: show called Arena and Arena would originally feature actor Will

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Speaker 1: Wheaton as one of the two hosts for the show,

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Speaker 1: the other being Travis Oates. Wheaton was the only host

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Speaker 1: in the G four lineup that the mainstream media really

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Speaker 1: recognized as being something of a celebrity. Everyone else who

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Speaker 1: was attached to G four, at least as far as

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Speaker 1: the mainstream coverage was concerned, was an unknown, though several

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Speaker 1: had been working in video games and video game journalism

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Speaker 1: for years, and many of them would go on to

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Speaker 1: have notable careers in production, the video game industry, in entertainment,

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Speaker 1: and more. For example, Judgment, the video game review show

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Speaker 1: would occasionally review gaming hardware. When they do that, they

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Speaker 1: had a young woman who would showcase the hardware. She

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Speaker 1: was sort of a show model showing off the stuff.

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Speaker 1: That young woman happened to be Evangeline Lily, who would

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Speaker 1: go on to be a big star in the j

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Speaker 1: J Abrams series lost. One thing that G four paid

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Speaker 1: a lot of attention to early on was its online presence.

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Speaker 1: The channel had a dedicated website which hosted forums in

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Speaker 1: which members could post about various topics. Show hosts and

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Speaker 1: producers were known to pop into those forums on occasion

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Speaker 1: and contribute to the conversation, building a strong sense of community.

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Speaker 1: I was actually on those forums back in the day.

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Speaker 1: This was stuff that I didn't remember while I was

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Speaker 1: researching the show. I couldn't even remember that I used

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Speaker 1: to be on the forums all the time, But I did.

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Speaker 1: I popped on. I remember occasionally chatting with some of

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Speaker 1: the hosts, which was kind of cool. Sometimes the host

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Speaker 1: would even set up gaming sessions and which viewers could

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Speaker 1: play in online games with some their favorite on air personalities.

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Speaker 1: Some of the people in charge of monitoring the forums

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Speaker 1: had come from other online communities, such as the Pseudo

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Speaker 1: Entertainment forums. Now. According to an article in Variety, her

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Speaker 1: Shorn had said that the channel had done quote better

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Speaker 1: than expected in the quote in getting advertisement support for

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Speaker 1: the channel. And this is probably a good time to

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Speaker 1: talk about the advertising strategy in those early days because

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Speaker 1: some of the decisions that they made were fairly controversial

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Speaker 1: and again would help feed into the general complaints about

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Speaker 1: journalistic integrity and video game coverage. Further down the line,

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Speaker 1: I would argue that G four's advertising strategy really sowed

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Speaker 1: the seeds for the complaints that were at the heart

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Speaker 1: of gamer Gate. Keeping in mind the rest of gamer

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Speaker 1: Gate quickly blossomed well outside of video game journalism ethics,

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Speaker 1: so firstly, the better than expected comment might have been

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Speaker 1: a bit us ingenuous. Early on, the channel found it

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Speaker 1: difficult to fill up all the ad slots with you know,

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Speaker 1: actual ads. To flesh it all out, the channel would

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Speaker 1: include bumpers, station identification messages, often with celebrities who had

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Speaker 1: no idea what they were identifying, and video game footage

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Speaker 1: of players going for world records. That kind of thing.

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Speaker 1: Her Schorn's innovative solution was to offer the opportunity to

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Speaker 1: video game developers and publishers to purchase air time dedicated

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Speaker 1: to their video game titles. Essentially, the deal was to

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Speaker 1: run and add as if it were actual content within

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Speaker 1: a show, so there'd be a section of a show

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Speaker 1: dedicated to really focusing on a specific title and to

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Speaker 1: a viewer of the show, it would seem like this

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Speaker 1: was part of the show's programming as opposed to a

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Speaker 1: paid for advertisement. The video game would get a couple

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Speaker 1: of minutes of dedicated coverage. Shows like Pulse, which was

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Speaker 1: the news show, and G four TV dot com would

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Speaker 1: end up being the hosting mechanisms for these segments. It

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Speaker 1: wasn't always clear to the viewer that the stuff they

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Speaker 1: were seeing was paid for content. Now, as a content

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Speaker 1: creator myself, I've always felt that transparency is incredibly important,

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Speaker 1: as it shows you understand your audience and you aren't

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Speaker 1: going to insult their intelligence because most of us are

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Speaker 1: smart enough to recognize when someone is selling stuff to us. Now,

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Speaker 1: to be fair to her Shorn and the G for

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Speaker 1: channel in general, landing deals with advertisers in two thousand

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Speaker 1: two was super hard for many reasons, some of which

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Speaker 1: I touched on in the tech TV episode that came

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Speaker 1: out before this one. One of those reasons was that

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Speaker 1: the economic impact of both the dot com bubble bursting

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Speaker 1: and then the terrorist attack in the United States on

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Speaker 1: September eleven, two thousand one, meant that a lot of

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Speaker 1: companies were cutting way back on advertising and marketing budgets.

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Speaker 1: So there just wasn't much money to go around. Complicating

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Speaker 1: matters is that there were a ton of cable channels

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Speaker 1: out there. Some of them, like G four, we're pretty

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Speaker 1: niche in their focus, a very narrow focus on a

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Speaker 1: on a demographic. Others were a little bit more broad,

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Speaker 1: and everyone was after that ad revenue because that was

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Speaker 1: the main source of money for most of these cable channels,

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Speaker 1: at least the ones that were not based on a

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Speaker 1: subscription model. So let's say you are running an ad

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Speaker 1: agency and you've got a big client that wants you

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Speaker 1: to run ads on television. So you're looking at your options,

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Speaker 1: and it's a buyer's market because there are so many

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Speaker 1: channels out there. They all have inventory, they all have

405
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Speaker 1: these ad slot spaces they want to fill up, so

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Speaker 1: there's a lot of potential space out there. So do

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Speaker 1: you go with a niche channel geared towards a very

408
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Speaker 1: specific hobby and it's a channel that doesn't even reach

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Speaker 1: that many households in the grand scheme of things, or

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Speaker 1: do go with a channel that has a more broad

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Speaker 1: appeal and reaches more homes and it's probably for a

412
00:23:53,920 --> 00:23:57,480
Speaker 1: pretty similar price, because no one can ask for very

413
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Speaker 1: high prices on their advertising at this point, well, it

414
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Speaker 1: will surprise no one that many ad agencies would take

415
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Speaker 1: option number two. It just made more business sense. But

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00:24:07,480 --> 00:24:09,959
Speaker 1: it meant that G four was really having to hustle

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Speaker 1: to get ads on its channel, which intern meant that

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Speaker 1: the channel was hustling a lot to meet revenue goals.

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Speaker 1: The company was trying to keep costs down and the

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Speaker 1: shows were fairly low budget to produce, but it was

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Speaker 1: still a struggle. By two thousand three, a year into

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Speaker 1: the channel's existence, G four had made its way onto

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Speaker 1: the basic cable package of eleven million households in the

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Speaker 1: United States. That was a big improvement, and in fact

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Speaker 1: it was a bit ahead of schedule, but still far

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Speaker 1: shy of that thirty to forty million households. It would

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Speaker 1: need to make it look attractive enough to many big

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Speaker 1: advertisers to jump on board, So the channel was caught

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Speaker 1: in kind of a catch twenty two. It wasn't going

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Speaker 1: to land those ad deals without getting onto more basic

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Speaker 1: cable packages. But because it was almost entirely dependent upon

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Speaker 1: Comcast as a cable care earrier, and because Comcast itself

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Speaker 1: had a limited number of subscribers, it wasn't likely to

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Speaker 1: reach that goal, but it still the channel just kept

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Speaker 1: plugging along, and besides, the channel still had a few

436
00:25:10,560 --> 00:25:12,399
Speaker 1: years to go before it had to break even on

437
00:25:12,440 --> 00:25:15,960
Speaker 1: that one fifty million dollars that Comcast had floated at launch.

438
00:25:17,080 --> 00:25:19,920
Speaker 1: And keep in mind, I'm talking about households that could

439
00:25:20,000 --> 00:25:24,160
Speaker 1: potentially watch this channel. I'm not even talking about viewers here.

440
00:25:24,400 --> 00:25:27,600
Speaker 1: I'm saying forty million households that would have G four

441
00:25:27,720 --> 00:25:32,680
Speaker 1: as a viable option on their cable subscription, not even

442
00:25:32,680 --> 00:25:35,439
Speaker 1: whether or not they ever watched it. Well, all of

443
00:25:35,440 --> 00:25:37,439
Speaker 1: this stuff was going on behind the scenes, but in

444
00:25:37,440 --> 00:25:40,560
Speaker 1: front of the cameras things were also getting very rocky.

445
00:25:40,880 --> 00:25:43,640
Speaker 1: The channels sent hosts to cover the E three event,

446
00:25:43,680 --> 00:25:46,320
Speaker 1: which actually went pretty well, but towards the end of

447
00:25:46,359 --> 00:25:49,840
Speaker 1: two thousand two, Travis Oates and Will Wheaton, the hosts

448
00:25:49,920 --> 00:25:53,960
Speaker 1: of the show Arena, quit their jobs right in the

449
00:25:54,000 --> 00:25:55,560
Speaker 1: middle of the season or towards the end of it.

450
00:25:56,080 --> 00:25:59,680
Speaker 1: Wheaton posted an explanation from his point of view about

451
00:25:59,720 --> 00:26:02,600
Speaker 1: what had happened that led up to his departure, and

452
00:26:02,680 --> 00:26:05,960
Speaker 1: he included allegations that a producer on the show had

453
00:26:06,080 --> 00:26:10,920
Speaker 1: seriously mishandled pretty much everything A friend of mine who

454
00:26:11,000 --> 00:26:14,320
Speaker 1: was a moderator for G four's online forums, wrote a

455
00:26:14,320 --> 00:26:16,679
Speaker 1: blog post that said, there was more to the story

456
00:26:16,800 --> 00:26:19,520
Speaker 1: than what Wheaton had shared, but sounds to me like,

457
00:26:19,840 --> 00:26:24,439
Speaker 1: however you shake it out. The arena situation was particularly ugly.

458
00:26:25,000 --> 00:26:28,439
Speaker 1: G four replaced the original hosts with Lee Rareman and

459
00:26:28,560 --> 00:26:31,960
Speaker 1: Michael Loudon. Loudon would later get replaced by a guy

460
00:26:32,040 --> 00:26:35,840
Speaker 1: named Kevin Pereira. Kevin Pereira had been an active member

461
00:26:35,880 --> 00:26:39,080
Speaker 1: of the G four forums and then he landed a

462
00:26:39,080 --> 00:26:41,800
Speaker 1: gig as a production assistant for G four tv dot

463
00:26:41,800 --> 00:26:44,560
Speaker 1: com and gradually worked his way up so that he

464
00:26:44,600 --> 00:26:46,960
Speaker 1: could be considered for this host role. So that's how

465
00:26:47,040 --> 00:26:49,240
Speaker 1: Mr Pereira got his start in front of the cameras.

466
00:26:49,240 --> 00:26:52,600
Speaker 1: He would end up playing an increasingly important role over

467
00:26:52,720 --> 00:26:55,880
Speaker 1: at G four as a personality. In two thousand three,

468
00:26:56,000 --> 00:26:59,119
Speaker 1: G four held its first award show, which acknowledged video

469
00:26:59,119 --> 00:27:02,639
Speaker 1: game developers for stuff like best Online Game, which was

470
00:27:02,720 --> 00:27:07,360
Speaker 1: Battlefield ninety two and it won that in two thousand three.

471
00:27:07,359 --> 00:27:10,919
Speaker 1: In that first award ceremony, they also had categories like

472
00:27:11,000 --> 00:27:14,919
Speaker 1: Best Story. Kingdom Hearts won that one. I tried to

473
00:27:15,040 --> 00:27:18,399
Speaker 1: understand what Kingdom hearts this story was, but even the

474
00:27:18,440 --> 00:27:21,600
Speaker 1: brilliant Brian David Gilbert couldn't get me up to speed

475
00:27:21,640 --> 00:27:25,159
Speaker 1: on that one, and I tried. The show also had

476
00:27:25,200 --> 00:27:28,800
Speaker 1: awards for some more tongue in cheek categories, such as

477
00:27:29,119 --> 00:27:32,440
Speaker 1: character You'd most like to be ended up being Dante

478
00:27:32,560 --> 00:27:37,720
Speaker 1: from Devil May Cry two or hottest character Tina Armstrong

479
00:27:37,840 --> 00:27:41,400
Speaker 1: in Dead or Alive Extreme Beach Volleyball. I think those

480
00:27:41,440 --> 00:27:44,359
Speaker 1: categories were a clear indicator that the channel was really

481
00:27:44,400 --> 00:27:47,560
Speaker 1: taking aim at that eighteen to thirty four male demographic.

482
00:27:47,880 --> 00:27:51,159
Speaker 1: Also feel badly for anyone who loved video games but

483
00:27:51,280 --> 00:27:54,720
Speaker 1: who did not fall into this particular stereotype that the

484
00:27:54,800 --> 00:27:58,719
Speaker 1: channel was catering to. I read a few posts written

485
00:27:58,720 --> 00:28:02,280
Speaker 1: by women during this time who were watching programs like

486
00:28:02,359 --> 00:28:05,440
Speaker 1: G four TV dot com because they love video games,

487
00:28:05,720 --> 00:28:09,520
Speaker 1: but they were starting to feel purposefully ignored or alienated

488
00:28:09,560 --> 00:28:12,359
Speaker 1: with just about everything else the G four channel was doing.

489
00:28:12,920 --> 00:28:15,760
Speaker 1: The channel canceled a few shows like Game On that

490
00:28:15,920 --> 00:28:19,439
Speaker 1: just weren't doing very well, but ultimately the limiting factor

491
00:28:19,480 --> 00:28:23,119
Speaker 1: for the channel was its reach. Comcast was able to

492
00:28:23,200 --> 00:28:27,160
Speaker 1: carry G four to about fifteen million households by two four,

493
00:28:28,119 --> 00:28:31,800
Speaker 1: but that's where things were capped. Comcast didn't couldn't reach

494
00:28:31,880 --> 00:28:35,320
Speaker 1: more households by itself, and there was no single flagship

495
00:28:35,440 --> 00:28:38,000
Speaker 1: show on the channel that was generating enough buzz to

496
00:28:38,120 --> 00:28:42,080
Speaker 1: convince other cable providers and satellite companies to include G

497
00:28:42,240 --> 00:28:44,840
Speaker 1: four in their lineups. So there didn't seem to be

498
00:28:44,960 --> 00:28:49,320
Speaker 1: any way to organically grow the channels reach. They would

499
00:28:49,320 --> 00:28:53,040
Speaker 1: have to buy it. I'll explain more in just a second.

500
00:29:00,520 --> 00:29:02,840
Speaker 1: This is where we come up to what was pretty

501
00:29:02,920 --> 00:29:07,120
Speaker 1: much the end of the previous episode, the acquisition of

502
00:29:07,200 --> 00:29:11,040
Speaker 1: tech TV. Now, the real purpose of that acquisition was

503
00:29:11,080 --> 00:29:14,360
Speaker 1: to get G four into more homes. Tech TV had

504
00:29:14,360 --> 00:29:17,960
Speaker 1: about four times the reach of G four, and the

505
00:29:18,080 --> 00:29:22,640
Speaker 1: two didn't overlap that much. G four's reach and tech

506
00:29:22,680 --> 00:29:26,400
Speaker 1: TVs reach were in different areas because Comcast had been

507
00:29:26,480 --> 00:29:29,680
Speaker 1: dropping tech TV from its cable lineups in different markets,

508
00:29:30,080 --> 00:29:33,240
Speaker 1: and G four wasn't being carried on the various carriers

509
00:29:33,280 --> 00:29:36,200
Speaker 1: that were providing tech TV. So the thought was this

510
00:29:36,280 --> 00:29:41,720
Speaker 1: way they could buy that enormous amount of reach, and

511
00:29:41,760 --> 00:29:43,800
Speaker 1: it would be a shortcut to get enough households to

512
00:29:43,840 --> 00:29:47,440
Speaker 1: potentially attract bigger advertisers. They would no longer be limited,

513
00:29:47,560 --> 00:29:50,400
Speaker 1: they would get that thirty to forty million households they

514
00:29:50,440 --> 00:29:53,920
Speaker 1: needed to have as a bargaining chip. The messaging around

515
00:29:53,920 --> 00:29:56,440
Speaker 1: the acquisition was that the two channels were going to

516
00:29:56,560 --> 00:29:59,920
Speaker 1: join forces and there would be programs from both channels

517
00:30:00,040 --> 00:30:03,160
Speaker 1: featured on the new unified channel, but that's not what

518
00:30:03,320 --> 00:30:08,000
Speaker 1: was really happening in the background. In reality, pretty much

519
00:30:08,080 --> 00:30:11,040
Speaker 1: everyone at tech TV was fired, and they were told

520
00:30:11,080 --> 00:30:13,520
Speaker 1: that they might be able to land a job with

521
00:30:13,640 --> 00:30:16,640
Speaker 1: the new channel, but that it wasn't a guarantee. Tech

522
00:30:16,720 --> 00:30:20,320
Speaker 1: TV's base of operations was located in San Francisco, but

523
00:30:20,440 --> 00:30:23,680
Speaker 1: G four was down in Los Angeles, so it would

524
00:30:23,760 --> 00:30:25,760
Speaker 1: mean that a lot of people would have to relocate

525
00:30:25,920 --> 00:30:28,240
Speaker 1: for a job they weren't sure they would actually have

526
00:30:28,440 --> 00:30:32,800
Speaker 1: for very long. Ultimately, just three shows from tech TV

527
00:30:32,960 --> 00:30:35,960
Speaker 1: would join the G four lineup. They were the Screen

528
00:30:36,040 --> 00:30:39,959
Speaker 1: Savers without host Leo Laporte, who couldn't come to an

529
00:30:39,960 --> 00:30:43,440
Speaker 1: agreement with the new channel, x Play, a video game

530
00:30:43,440 --> 00:30:45,840
Speaker 1: review show that had the best fit with the rest

531
00:30:45,880 --> 00:30:49,080
Speaker 1: of G four's line up, and an anime show called

532
00:30:49,160 --> 00:30:52,480
Speaker 1: Anime Unleashed. All the other shows on tech TV in

533
00:30:52,480 --> 00:30:56,680
Speaker 1: the United States got the ax. G four relaunched on

534
00:30:56,800 --> 00:31:00,160
Speaker 1: May two, thousand four as G four tech t e V,

535
00:31:00,880 --> 00:31:03,880
Speaker 1: and while tech TV had been gutted in the process,

536
00:31:04,360 --> 00:31:08,520
Speaker 1: G four also canceled several of its original programs as

537
00:31:08,560 --> 00:31:14,040
Speaker 1: well over the following year, including shows like Players, Pulse, Blister,

538
00:31:14,640 --> 00:31:20,040
Speaker 1: Arena Portal, and eventually Judgment Day, since the executives figured

539
00:31:20,040 --> 00:31:23,000
Speaker 1: there'd be no reason to run to video game review

540
00:31:23,040 --> 00:31:27,080
Speaker 1: shows on the same channel, and they also canceled reruns

541
00:31:27,080 --> 00:31:29,920
Speaker 1: of an old game show called Starcade that had been

542
00:31:29,960 --> 00:31:34,720
Speaker 1: playing on G four. The Screen Savers, which initially did

543
00:31:34,800 --> 00:31:39,160
Speaker 1: survive the transfer over to G four, would also change dramatically.

544
00:31:39,400 --> 00:31:42,160
Speaker 1: While it was originally a show dedicated to technology in

545
00:31:42,200 --> 00:31:45,880
Speaker 1: general and computers in particular, and had segments about hardware

546
00:31:46,000 --> 00:31:49,480
Speaker 1: ways to fix computer problems, they took live calls from

547
00:31:49,560 --> 00:31:52,480
Speaker 1: users to help them with whatever issues they were having,

548
00:31:53,000 --> 00:31:56,720
Speaker 1: it would slowly drift more toward a pop culture oriented show,

549
00:31:56,920 --> 00:32:00,480
Speaker 1: so while it existed in name, the show itself changed

550
00:32:00,560 --> 00:32:04,520
Speaker 1: enough to no longer really be the Screen Savers. At

551
00:32:04,520 --> 00:32:06,880
Speaker 1: the top levels of leadership, there was also a change

552
00:32:06,880 --> 00:32:10,040
Speaker 1: of bruin early in two thousand five, it became clear

553
00:32:10,080 --> 00:32:12,440
Speaker 1: that there was a push to move G four away

554
00:32:12,520 --> 00:32:16,120
Speaker 1: from being quite so video games centric, as it had

555
00:32:16,160 --> 00:32:19,680
Speaker 1: been at launch. One show that the channel picked up

556
00:32:19,680 --> 00:32:23,320
Speaker 1: in early two thousand five was Formula D, a television

557
00:32:23,360 --> 00:32:26,440
Speaker 1: show dedicated to drift racing. I remember when that came

558
00:32:26,440 --> 00:32:29,560
Speaker 1: out and I thought, what. And the effort to cater

559
00:32:29,680 --> 00:32:32,840
Speaker 1: to a male audience became even more apparent with the

560
00:32:32,960 --> 00:32:37,160
Speaker 1: launch of a show called Girls Gone Wired, which was

561
00:32:37,200 --> 00:32:40,640
Speaker 1: about I think you can guess, but yeah, if you

562
00:32:40,680 --> 00:32:43,440
Speaker 1: really wanted to ogul video game characters, I guess that

563
00:32:43,520 --> 00:32:46,440
Speaker 1: was the show for you. The channel also began to

564
00:32:46,480 --> 00:32:50,040
Speaker 1: invest more in syndicated runs of shows that also aimed

565
00:32:50,040 --> 00:32:53,040
Speaker 1: at the eighteen to thirty four male audience. For example,

566
00:32:53,480 --> 00:32:56,360
Speaker 1: in late two thousand five, G four would pay seven

567
00:32:56,440 --> 00:32:59,880
Speaker 1: point eight million dollars to license the reruns of The

568
00:33:00,040 --> 00:33:03,240
Speaker 1: Man Show from Comedy Central. It's a comedy show created

569
00:33:03,240 --> 00:33:06,240
Speaker 1: by Jimmy Kimmel and Adam Carolla that reveled in all

570
00:33:06,280 --> 00:33:13,480
Speaker 1: things stereotypically identified as being manly, mostly ogling women. By

571
00:33:13,520 --> 00:33:17,560
Speaker 1: February two thousand five, the pretense that G four and

572
00:33:17,680 --> 00:33:20,600
Speaker 1: Tech TV where a partnership, was completely dropped and the

573
00:33:20,680 --> 00:33:24,320
Speaker 1: channel became just G four. Not that this game as

574
00:33:24,360 --> 00:33:27,520
Speaker 1: a surprise to anyone What might have come as a

575
00:33:27,520 --> 00:33:30,680
Speaker 1: surprise to her Shorn was that by September of two

576
00:33:30,680 --> 00:33:33,760
Speaker 1: thousand five, he would be on the outs. There's not

577
00:33:33,840 --> 00:33:37,479
Speaker 1: a lot that was actually written about his departure at

578
00:33:37,520 --> 00:33:40,600
Speaker 1: that time, apart from the fact that Comcast quote unquote

579
00:33:40,720 --> 00:33:44,840
Speaker 1: dismissed him. But whatever the circumstances were, he was replaced

580
00:33:44,840 --> 00:33:49,400
Speaker 1: by a former Direct TV executive named Neil Tiles. Tiles

581
00:33:49,400 --> 00:33:51,880
Speaker 1: would push even harder to move G four away from

582
00:33:51,880 --> 00:33:54,520
Speaker 1: its focus on video games, with the goal of turning

583
00:33:54,520 --> 00:33:57,960
Speaker 1: it more into a lifestyle channel aimed at men, not

584
00:33:58,240 --> 00:34:01,720
Speaker 1: too different from what Spiked t V was doing. Spike TV,

585
00:34:01,840 --> 00:34:04,560
Speaker 1: by the way, had started off as the Nashville Network,

586
00:34:04,720 --> 00:34:08,560
Speaker 1: which was all about country music and that lifestyle, then

587
00:34:08,640 --> 00:34:12,400
Speaker 1: got rebranded into the National Network in two thousand and

588
00:34:12,440 --> 00:34:15,960
Speaker 1: then became Spike TV in two thousand three. Uh in

589
00:34:16,000 --> 00:34:20,319
Speaker 1: two thousand eighteen, that channel also got rebranded and today

590
00:34:20,400 --> 00:34:23,840
Speaker 1: that channel is called the Paramount Network, so it's changed again.

591
00:34:24,880 --> 00:34:28,120
Speaker 1: G four canceled G four tv dot Com, which was

592
00:34:28,160 --> 00:34:30,439
Speaker 1: a big blow to me as I had loved the show.

593
00:34:30,440 --> 00:34:34,080
Speaker 1: I felt the hosts were genuine, entertaining and informative. Kevin

594
00:34:34,080 --> 00:34:37,920
Speaker 1: Pereira had moved over as a host of The Screen Savers,

595
00:34:38,200 --> 00:34:41,320
Speaker 1: but that show was heading for a total rebranding. In fact,

596
00:34:41,320 --> 00:34:45,160
Speaker 1: you might even argue that The Screensavers was effectively totally

597
00:34:45,280 --> 00:34:49,040
Speaker 1: scrapped and a brand new show came into its place.

598
00:34:49,400 --> 00:34:52,640
Speaker 1: This new show, which would become a flagship program on

599
00:34:52,719 --> 00:34:56,040
Speaker 1: G four was Attack of the Show. Pereira would stay on,

600
00:34:56,400 --> 00:34:59,320
Speaker 1: but the other hosts of The Screen Savers all left

601
00:34:59,400 --> 00:35:02,879
Speaker 1: to pursue other opportunities. One thing Attack of the Show

602
00:35:02,960 --> 00:35:06,320
Speaker 1: did was launched a huge search for a new co host.

603
00:35:06,719 --> 00:35:09,360
Speaker 1: The original goal was to hire a new male co

604
00:35:09,480 --> 00:35:12,360
Speaker 1: host for the show, and at that time I was

605
00:35:12,440 --> 00:35:16,640
Speaker 1: working in a consulting firm in Atlanta and wasn't terribly happy.

606
00:35:16,960 --> 00:35:19,520
Speaker 1: I had a background in theater, done some radio work,

607
00:35:19,800 --> 00:35:23,719
Speaker 1: but that was about it. Despite the overwhelming odds, I

608
00:35:23,880 --> 00:35:26,879
Speaker 1: chose to travel to one of the three cities where

609
00:35:26,880 --> 00:35:31,520
Speaker 1: they held initial auditions. I remember San Francisco was one,

610
00:35:32,160 --> 00:35:34,279
Speaker 1: another was Los Angeles, and I believe the third was

611
00:35:34,360 --> 00:35:37,480
Speaker 1: New York. And boy, wouldn't this be a cool story

612
00:35:37,600 --> 00:35:40,960
Speaker 1: if I had landed that gig. I didn't. In fact,

613
00:35:41,040 --> 00:35:44,239
Speaker 1: nobody did. Attack of the Show would have a few

614
00:35:44,320 --> 00:35:48,520
Speaker 1: finalists of that audition process that would host a segment

615
00:35:48,640 --> 00:35:50,480
Speaker 1: or two on the show is sort of a trial,

616
00:35:50,800 --> 00:35:54,160
Speaker 1: but ultimately G four didn't hire any of them. Instead,

617
00:35:54,200 --> 00:35:57,360
Speaker 1: a bit later they hired another host, who they quickly

618
00:35:57,440 --> 00:36:00,600
Speaker 1: replaced with the actress Olivia m who would go on

619
00:36:00,680 --> 00:36:03,400
Speaker 1: to become one of the biggest stars to really first

620
00:36:03,480 --> 00:36:06,000
Speaker 1: make her name at G four. Oh and and this

621
00:36:06,040 --> 00:36:08,920
Speaker 1: is no shade on ms Munn, who I readily admit

622
00:36:09,360 --> 00:36:12,680
Speaker 1: was a much better choice for what they wanted than

623
00:36:13,080 --> 00:36:16,120
Speaker 1: than I would have been. A dumpy, bald dude from Georgia.

624
00:36:16,160 --> 00:36:20,160
Speaker 1: Olivium On was hands down the best choice. G four

625
00:36:20,200 --> 00:36:22,840
Speaker 1: made the right call on that one. By two thousand six,

626
00:36:23,200 --> 00:36:26,160
Speaker 1: the only original G four show still on the air

627
00:36:26,320 --> 00:36:30,160
Speaker 1: was Cinema Tech. Everything else by that point had been canceled.

628
00:36:30,239 --> 00:36:34,880
Speaker 1: Every original G four show was no longer on the network,

629
00:36:35,120 --> 00:36:38,880
Speaker 1: and Cinema Tech pretty much featured gameplay and cut scenes

630
00:36:38,920 --> 00:36:41,200
Speaker 1: from games, so you can't get much more low budget

631
00:36:41,200 --> 00:36:43,120
Speaker 1: than that when it comes to production costs. I mean,

632
00:36:43,200 --> 00:36:45,799
Speaker 1: I imagine there were probably some licensing fees that had

633
00:36:45,800 --> 00:36:48,360
Speaker 1: to be paid, but that's about it. Cinema Tech, however,

634
00:36:48,440 --> 00:36:51,600
Speaker 1: would finally get canceled in two thousand seven, and then

635
00:36:51,800 --> 00:36:55,160
Speaker 1: none of the original G four shows would be still

636
00:36:55,160 --> 00:36:58,200
Speaker 1: with the network. In two thousand seven, the channel didn't

637
00:36:58,200 --> 00:37:02,640
Speaker 1: look anything like it's a incarnation. Pereira and Munn continued

638
00:37:02,680 --> 00:37:06,080
Speaker 1: to host Attack of the show, and Pereira was really

639
00:37:06,120 --> 00:37:08,319
Speaker 1: the only link back to the old crew, and even

640
00:37:08,360 --> 00:37:10,480
Speaker 1: then you have to remember that he had started on

641
00:37:10,600 --> 00:37:14,000
Speaker 1: camera as a co host on Arena. G four continued

642
00:37:14,040 --> 00:37:16,799
Speaker 1: to strike deals to run reruns of other shows on

643
00:37:16,880 --> 00:37:19,440
Speaker 1: the channel, and this is when G four kind of

644
00:37:19,480 --> 00:37:23,080
Speaker 1: turned into the Cops and Ninja Warrior channel, which you

645
00:37:23,160 --> 00:37:25,919
Speaker 1: gotta be honest, I love Ninja Warrior that I still

646
00:37:25,920 --> 00:37:29,520
Speaker 1: love American Ninja Warrior. Those men and women are incredible.

647
00:37:29,560 --> 00:37:33,280
Speaker 1: But G four also began showing reruns of the series Cheaters,

648
00:37:33,920 --> 00:37:35,839
Speaker 1: and the audience that had been there for the launch

649
00:37:35,880 --> 00:37:39,520
Speaker 1: of the channel was pretty much completely alienated. Don't even

650
00:37:39,560 --> 00:37:42,520
Speaker 1: think about how the Tech TV audience felt they had

651
00:37:42,520 --> 00:37:46,480
Speaker 1: seen their programming get obliterated in the process. The only

652
00:37:46,560 --> 00:37:50,040
Speaker 1: show that remained from the Tech TV days that had

653
00:37:50,080 --> 00:37:53,160
Speaker 1: not really been tampered with that much was Explay, and

654
00:37:53,200 --> 00:37:58,080
Speaker 1: even that one got a little wackier over time. The

655
00:37:58,160 --> 00:38:00,800
Speaker 1: little bit of lips service G four paid to video

656
00:38:00,840 --> 00:38:05,359
Speaker 1: games at that point was disastrous, Like they couldn't do

657
00:38:05,440 --> 00:38:08,279
Speaker 1: that right. The channel sent crews to E three to

658
00:38:08,320 --> 00:38:11,680
Speaker 1: cover press conferences, but because G four had to run

659
00:38:11,719 --> 00:38:15,839
Speaker 1: commercials and because these were live events, those two things

660
00:38:15,880 --> 00:38:20,440
Speaker 1: didn't go together. That great ads would interrupt highly anticipated

661
00:38:20,520 --> 00:38:24,560
Speaker 1: presentations such as the reveal of Mass Effect or the

662
00:38:24,600 --> 00:38:27,759
Speaker 1: Halo three trailer, and the message was clear, video games

663
00:38:27,800 --> 00:38:31,080
Speaker 1: just weren't important to G four anymore. The channel did

664
00:38:31,280 --> 00:38:34,560
Speaker 1: try to create a few animated series like Happy Tree,

665
00:38:34,640 --> 00:38:38,400
Speaker 1: Friends and Code Monkeys, which featured the Fantastic Song by

666
00:38:38,480 --> 00:38:41,880
Speaker 1: Jonathan Colton as the theme. These didn't get enough of

667
00:38:41,880 --> 00:38:44,240
Speaker 1: a following to last more than a season or two,

668
00:38:44,680 --> 00:38:47,920
Speaker 1: and rather than risk launching more failures, G four continued

669
00:38:47,920 --> 00:38:51,440
Speaker 1: to pour money into licensing deals so that the channel

670
00:38:51,440 --> 00:38:55,320
Speaker 1: could run reruns of other shows like Heroes and Lost.

671
00:38:56,239 --> 00:38:59,600
Speaker 1: Those licensing fees cost a lot of money, but the

672
00:38:59,600 --> 00:39:03,040
Speaker 1: thinking was, these shows have already a proven track record.

673
00:39:03,080 --> 00:39:05,640
Speaker 1: But here was the problem. People had already seen those

674
00:39:05,640 --> 00:39:09,759
Speaker 1: shows because you know, they had already aired on broadcast television.

675
00:39:09,800 --> 00:39:13,080
Speaker 1: You didn't even need a cable subscription to watch them.

676
00:39:13,120 --> 00:39:16,640
Speaker 1: The two shows that were really doing well were Attack

677
00:39:16,680 --> 00:39:19,840
Speaker 1: of the show and explay, So you could argue that

678
00:39:19,880 --> 00:39:22,880
Speaker 1: the programs that actually were performing well in the channel

679
00:39:23,160 --> 00:39:26,239
Speaker 1: were the ones that catered to its original intended audience,

680
00:39:26,280 --> 00:39:28,479
Speaker 1: although that's a stretch for Attack of the Show since

681
00:39:28,520 --> 00:39:30,920
Speaker 1: it really didn't resemble the screen savers at all at

682
00:39:30,960 --> 00:39:34,160
Speaker 1: that point. Also, bother of those shows came out of

683
00:39:34,560 --> 00:39:37,840
Speaker 1: or grew out of the Tech TV programming, not the

684
00:39:37,920 --> 00:39:41,799
Speaker 1: G four programming. Things were not going great. The best

685
00:39:41,800 --> 00:39:44,360
Speaker 1: performing shows at their peak. We're bringing in a hundred

686
00:39:44,400 --> 00:39:47,920
Speaker 1: thirty thousand viewers around this time, and that's nothing in

687
00:39:48,040 --> 00:39:51,680
Speaker 1: TV land. Cable carriers began to drop G four from

688
00:39:51,719 --> 00:39:54,160
Speaker 1: their lineups in order to replace it with something that

689
00:39:54,239 --> 00:39:59,520
Speaker 1: might attract more viewers. In November, Direct TV dumped G four.

690
00:39:59,800 --> 00:40:03,279
Speaker 1: The was an enormous setback, and it pretty much erased

691
00:40:03,320 --> 00:40:06,040
Speaker 1: the effect G four had of acquiring tech TV back

692
00:40:06,040 --> 00:40:08,400
Speaker 1: in two thousand four. Remember, the real reason for that

693
00:40:08,440 --> 00:40:10,759
Speaker 1: acquisition was to get the channel on more cable and

694
00:40:10,800 --> 00:40:15,200
Speaker 1: satellite carriers. Olivia Munn announced she was leaving G four

695
00:40:15,239 --> 00:40:18,000
Speaker 1: and Attack of the Show in two She had landed

696
00:40:18,040 --> 00:40:22,000
Speaker 1: a role on an NBC show called Perfect Couples UH

697
00:40:22,120 --> 00:40:24,799
Speaker 1: that would launch in early eleven and that show would

698
00:40:24,840 --> 00:40:27,600
Speaker 1: end up getting canceled a few months later, but Man

699
00:40:27,680 --> 00:40:30,840
Speaker 1: dedicated her attention and time to pursuing her acting career.

700
00:40:31,080 --> 00:40:34,440
Speaker 1: She landed gigs and films and TV series. Her departure

701
00:40:34,560 --> 00:40:37,080
Speaker 1: was a big blow to G four, as her onscreen

702
00:40:37,239 --> 00:40:40,400
Speaker 1: chemistry with Pereira was one of the big reasons attack

703
00:40:40,440 --> 00:40:44,040
Speaker 1: of the show was doing so well. Actress Candice Bailey

704
00:40:44,080 --> 00:40:46,200
Speaker 1: would step in to become the new co host of

705
00:40:46,239 --> 00:40:50,279
Speaker 1: the show. While things were super rocky, they wouldn't end

706
00:40:50,480 --> 00:40:52,279
Speaker 1: just yet. The channel was able to hold on for

707
00:40:52,320 --> 00:40:55,200
Speaker 1: a couple more years. Back in two thousand nine, Comcast

708
00:40:55,239 --> 00:40:59,080
Speaker 1: announced its intent to merge with NBC Universal, which was

709
00:40:59,080 --> 00:41:04,200
Speaker 1: a process that was completed in twleven. In early Neil

710
00:41:04,360 --> 00:41:07,120
Speaker 1: Tynes would step down as president of the channel and

711
00:41:07,280 --> 00:41:11,160
Speaker 1: Adam Stotsky, who had previously been the president of NBC's

712
00:41:11,239 --> 00:41:14,440
Speaker 1: entertainment division, would take on the leadership role. But one

713
00:41:14,480 --> 00:41:18,680
Speaker 1: thing Stotsky did not have, notably was experience in actual

714
00:41:18,800 --> 00:41:23,759
Speaker 1: television programming. He did have experience with branding, however, and

715
00:41:23,840 --> 00:41:26,600
Speaker 1: Stotsky worked to try and land a deal in which

716
00:41:26,640 --> 00:41:30,960
Speaker 1: G four would undergo an entire transformation. It would undergo

717
00:41:31,000 --> 00:41:34,960
Speaker 1: a full rebranding into the Esquire Network, but that deal

718
00:41:35,040 --> 00:41:38,719
Speaker 1: ultimately fell through and instead the Style Network would get

719
00:41:38,760 --> 00:41:41,840
Speaker 1: that rebranding instead. Turns out it wouldn't have mattered. The

720
00:41:41,960 --> 00:41:46,480
Speaker 1: Esquire Network ceased to be in twenty seventeen anyway. In

721
00:41:46,520 --> 00:41:49,879
Speaker 1: two thousand twelve, ex Play host Adam Sessler began hearing

722
00:41:49,960 --> 00:41:52,680
Speaker 1: rumors that his days were numbered as a host on

723
00:41:52,719 --> 00:41:55,960
Speaker 1: the channel. In April of that year, he was officially

724
00:41:56,000 --> 00:41:59,240
Speaker 1: fired for reasons I've never been able to determine, apart

725
00:41:59,280 --> 00:42:02,680
Speaker 1: from perhaps the channel just wanted to cut costs and Sessler,

726
00:42:02,760 --> 00:42:05,239
Speaker 1: as a longtime veteran, might have had a pretty high

727
00:42:05,280 --> 00:42:08,959
Speaker 1: salary comparatively speaking. He would end up with Revision three

728
00:42:09,040 --> 00:42:12,200
Speaker 1: for a while, so for a short time we were

729
00:42:12,200 --> 00:42:17,239
Speaker 1: technically co workers. The following month, Kevin Pereira announced he

730
00:42:17,360 --> 00:42:19,879
Speaker 1: was leaving G four and Attack of the show after

731
00:42:19,960 --> 00:42:22,479
Speaker 1: the E three trade show in June of that year.

732
00:42:23,000 --> 00:42:25,720
Speaker 1: His departure was pretty much the death blow two Attack

733
00:42:25,760 --> 00:42:27,880
Speaker 1: of the show, though it would limp along for the

734
00:42:27,920 --> 00:42:30,840
Speaker 1: rest of two thousand twelve, shooting the final episode in

735
00:42:30,920 --> 00:42:34,720
Speaker 1: December two thousand twelve that would not air until January

736
00:42:34,760 --> 00:42:38,360
Speaker 1: two thirteen, so technically most people say. The show lasted

737
00:42:38,400 --> 00:42:42,759
Speaker 1: till X Play also aired its final show at that

738
00:42:42,920 --> 00:42:46,719
Speaker 1: same time. G four would continue to run reruns, but

739
00:42:46,840 --> 00:42:51,920
Speaker 1: slowly those licensing deals were expiring. By November, there just

740
00:42:52,120 --> 00:42:56,479
Speaker 1: wasn't enough there there, and NBC announced that the channel

741
00:42:56,520 --> 00:42:59,400
Speaker 1: would go off the air. It was done. The Canadian

742
00:42:59,520 --> 00:43:02,400
Speaker 1: version of G four, which I haven't really talked about

743
00:43:02,440 --> 00:43:05,080
Speaker 1: here and which would carry much more of the old

744
00:43:05,120 --> 00:43:08,839
Speaker 1: tech TV programming for much longer, would last until two

745
00:43:08,840 --> 00:43:12,319
Speaker 1: thousand and seventeen, so it outlived the American version of

746
00:43:12,400 --> 00:43:15,319
Speaker 1: G four and the American version of tech TV. In fact,

747
00:43:15,520 --> 00:43:20,000
Speaker 1: it outlived the Esquire Network, the channel that that G

748
00:43:20,160 --> 00:43:23,080
Speaker 1: four was supposed to turn into. Now there's a lot

749
00:43:23,120 --> 00:43:25,880
Speaker 1: more that can be said about this story, and like

750
00:43:25,960 --> 00:43:30,560
Speaker 1: I've indicated a few times, the big story here is

751
00:43:30,600 --> 00:43:32,799
Speaker 1: not unique to G four. There were a lot of

752
00:43:32,880 --> 00:43:36,719
Speaker 1: channels that started out catering to a specific core audience.

753
00:43:37,360 --> 00:43:42,080
Speaker 1: But the demands of the industry typically say, it's not

754
00:43:42,200 --> 00:43:44,319
Speaker 1: good enough for you to do well. It's not good

755
00:43:44,400 --> 00:43:46,520
Speaker 1: enough for you to get good ratings. You need to

756
00:43:46,600 --> 00:43:49,799
Speaker 1: grow year over year. Those ratings need to get better

757
00:43:50,000 --> 00:43:53,719
Speaker 1: each year, and eventually to grow you have to expand

758
00:43:53,800 --> 00:43:56,719
Speaker 1: beyond your core audience. You can't just keep appealing to

759
00:43:56,760 --> 00:44:00,239
Speaker 1: the same people to watch more stuff. Now, I perly

760
00:44:00,320 --> 00:44:04,320
Speaker 1: think growth on its own is not the best measure

761
00:44:04,440 --> 00:44:08,000
Speaker 1: for success, and it can lead to catastrophic failures and

762
00:44:08,040 --> 00:44:10,520
Speaker 1: bad decisions like it did with G four. But what

763
00:44:10,560 --> 00:44:12,640
Speaker 1: the heck do I know. I'm just a tech podcaster.

764
00:44:13,440 --> 00:44:16,200
Speaker 1: But it was interesting going back and looking at the

765
00:44:16,280 --> 00:44:19,680
Speaker 1: history of these two channels. They had a huge influence

766
00:44:19,800 --> 00:44:22,760
Speaker 1: on me. In fact, I think I can honestly say

767
00:44:22,960 --> 00:44:27,520
Speaker 1: that without tech TV, without G four, and also without

768
00:44:27,560 --> 00:44:31,080
Speaker 1: the influence of c nets buzz out Loud podcast, there

769
00:44:31,120 --> 00:44:33,919
Speaker 1: never would have been a tech stuff I never would

770
00:44:34,000 --> 00:44:39,359
Speaker 1: have even thought to do a technology podcast without those predecessors.

771
00:44:39,400 --> 00:44:43,239
Speaker 1: And while I cannot attest to being nearly as informative

772
00:44:43,360 --> 00:44:46,320
Speaker 1: or entertaining as those shows could be and those channels

773
00:44:46,320 --> 00:44:51,600
Speaker 1: could be, I do my humble best. So G four TV,

774
00:44:52,200 --> 00:44:55,480
Speaker 1: you know, it came, and it went, and it's I

775
00:44:55,520 --> 00:44:58,520
Speaker 1: thought it was just gone forever. And then in late

776
00:44:58,600 --> 00:45:04,000
Speaker 1: July tw the G four TV Twitter account, which people

777
00:45:04,000 --> 00:45:08,480
Speaker 1: were shocked to find out was still uh, you know, accessible,

778
00:45:09,080 --> 00:45:13,760
Speaker 1: tweeted out a teaser that showed a game upon playing

779
00:45:13,960 --> 00:45:17,840
Speaker 1: in the message saying we never stopped playing and giving

780
00:45:17,920 --> 00:45:22,239
Speaker 1: the year of twenty one, thus indicating that G four

781
00:45:22,280 --> 00:45:27,160
Speaker 1: TV is returning in the channel that we all thought

782
00:45:27,600 --> 00:45:31,640
Speaker 1: was gone forever. A little bit later, Blair Herder, who

783
00:45:31,920 --> 00:45:36,200
Speaker 1: has a long history with G four TV, suggested and

784
00:45:36,520 --> 00:45:39,520
Speaker 1: ask me anything or a m a on Reddit and

785
00:45:39,640 --> 00:45:44,319
Speaker 1: began to answer some questions. Uh clearly couldn't answer everything,

786
00:45:44,440 --> 00:45:47,120
Speaker 1: but gave us a little bit more information about what

787
00:45:47,160 --> 00:45:50,040
Speaker 1: this return actually is going to look like. Part of

788
00:45:50,040 --> 00:45:52,320
Speaker 1: it looks like it's going to be a web series.

789
00:45:53,200 --> 00:45:57,320
Speaker 1: It also looks like they're going to attempt to get

790
00:45:57,440 --> 00:46:02,520
Speaker 1: hold of episodes of asked G four TV programming, stuff

791
00:46:02,560 --> 00:46:06,000
Speaker 1: that hasn't been seen in years. Mr Herder said, um

792
00:46:06,360 --> 00:46:09,920
Speaker 1: about that quote. While I technically have access to G

793
00:46:10,120 --> 00:46:13,200
Speaker 1: four's archive of old shows, they're locked in a musty

794
00:46:13,280 --> 00:46:16,399
Speaker 1: burbank tape vault in a secret company basement that we

795
00:46:16,480 --> 00:46:19,879
Speaker 1: literally can't access right now because of COVID No joke,

796
00:46:20,239 --> 00:46:23,240
Speaker 1: but stay tuned. I'll be pulling out the old VHS

797
00:46:23,320 --> 00:46:26,280
Speaker 1: machine as soon as the pandemic lets me. In the meantime,

798
00:46:26,320 --> 00:46:28,400
Speaker 1: please let us know what shows you'd like to see.

799
00:46:28,719 --> 00:46:32,239
Speaker 1: End quote. So it looks like there's at least the

800
00:46:32,280 --> 00:46:36,759
Speaker 1: possibility for older programming to be seen yet again, and

801
00:46:36,800 --> 00:46:41,440
Speaker 1: then what about new programming. Well, the general consensus is

802
00:46:41,480 --> 00:46:44,680
Speaker 1: that Attack of the Show and Explay will both return

803
00:46:44,840 --> 00:46:49,600
Speaker 1: in some form, though no telling who will be hosting it. Uh,

804
00:46:49,640 --> 00:46:53,600
Speaker 1: there's no real indication of which hosts might be returning.

805
00:46:53,600 --> 00:46:57,239
Speaker 1: In fact, a lot of them expressed utter surprise and

806
00:46:57,360 --> 00:47:01,759
Speaker 1: shock when G four TVs Twitter account even posted that

807
00:47:01,880 --> 00:47:06,480
Speaker 1: was coming back. The whole endeavor is part of Comcast

808
00:47:06,560 --> 00:47:11,879
Speaker 1: and NBC Universal, so it's got a big company behind it,

809
00:47:12,360 --> 00:47:15,680
Speaker 1: but we just don't really know too much about what's

810
00:47:15,719 --> 00:47:19,879
Speaker 1: going to manifest from this. One thing that I can

811
00:47:20,040 --> 00:47:25,719
Speaker 1: say is that G four TV has opened up casting

812
00:47:26,280 --> 00:47:30,080
Speaker 1: for whatever programming they have in mind. Even though we

813
00:47:30,120 --> 00:47:32,600
Speaker 1: don't know very much about it, we do know they're

814
00:47:32,600 --> 00:47:36,960
Speaker 1: looking for talent and uh. In fact, there is an

815
00:47:37,000 --> 00:47:40,279
Speaker 1: email address you can send information to casting at g

816
00:47:40,520 --> 00:47:44,279
Speaker 1: four tv dot com, and I would recommend looking into

817
00:47:44,360 --> 00:47:47,200
Speaker 1: that if you're interested. But I would also recommend you know,

818
00:47:47,280 --> 00:47:51,680
Speaker 1: looking over any agreements if you actually do get into

819
00:47:51,760 --> 00:47:57,359
Speaker 1: the whole process, because these sort of jobs require an

820
00:47:57,400 --> 00:48:01,040
Speaker 1: awful lot of focus, a lot of energy, a lot

821
00:48:01,120 --> 00:48:04,520
Speaker 1: of time, a lot of effort. It is. It is

822
00:48:04,560 --> 00:48:08,879
Speaker 1: not easy work to create content. It's great work, it's

823
00:48:08,920 --> 00:48:12,120
Speaker 1: not easy. So you want to make sure that any

824
00:48:12,160 --> 00:48:17,280
Speaker 1: agreement is uh fair to both you and to the employer.

825
00:48:17,800 --> 00:48:21,279
Speaker 1: And that means, you know, don't just if you get

826
00:48:21,280 --> 00:48:23,880
Speaker 1: an offer. For those out there who are going to

827
00:48:23,920 --> 00:48:27,439
Speaker 1: try and apply, if you get an offer, look it over.

828
00:48:27,640 --> 00:48:30,080
Speaker 1: Make sure it's fair. And I'm not saying that it

829
00:48:30,120 --> 00:48:32,719
Speaker 1: wouldn't be. I just don't know, and I know that

830
00:48:33,040 --> 00:48:35,400
Speaker 1: there are a lot of horror stories about people who

831
00:48:35,760 --> 00:48:38,719
Speaker 1: got into agreements because they really wanted to do this thing.

832
00:48:38,760 --> 00:48:43,000
Speaker 1: They always wanted to create content and then turned into

833
00:48:43,080 --> 00:48:46,680
Speaker 1: something that was a lot harder and a lot bigger

834
00:48:46,680 --> 00:48:49,400
Speaker 1: of the demand and not as much return as what

835
00:48:49,719 --> 00:48:52,239
Speaker 1: they needed in order to make a living. So just

836
00:48:52,400 --> 00:48:55,800
Speaker 1: be careful, is all I'm saying. But I am excited

837
00:48:56,120 --> 00:49:00,279
Speaker 1: to see G four TV comeback, in whatever format it

838
00:49:00,360 --> 00:49:03,880
Speaker 1: will re emerge in. I have a lot of fond

839
00:49:03,880 --> 00:49:06,399
Speaker 1: memories of watching G four TV. I mean, I did

840
00:49:06,719 --> 00:49:10,319
Speaker 1: audition for them once upon a time, So you know,

841
00:49:10,440 --> 00:49:12,440
Speaker 1: I want to see them succeed, and I want to

842
00:49:12,480 --> 00:49:15,960
Speaker 1: see all the people attached to it succeed as well.

843
00:49:16,480 --> 00:49:19,000
Speaker 1: So I have high hopes. I have no idea what

844
00:49:19,080 --> 00:49:22,000
Speaker 1: to expect, but I thought it would be good to

845
00:49:22,080 --> 00:49:24,880
Speaker 1: rerun this episode, remind everyone what G four TV was

846
00:49:24,920 --> 00:49:28,359
Speaker 1: all about, and to start looking forward to see what

847
00:49:28,440 --> 00:49:31,840
Speaker 1: will come next. If you guys have suggestions for future

848
00:49:31,880 --> 00:49:35,120
Speaker 1: episodes of tech Stuff, whether it's a technology, a company,

849
00:49:35,920 --> 00:49:38,680
Speaker 1: trend in tech, whatever it may be, let me know

850
00:49:38,840 --> 00:49:41,759
Speaker 1: reach out on Twitter to handle this Text Stuff hs W,

851
00:49:42,400 --> 00:49:50,160
Speaker 1: and I'll talk to you again really soon. Text Stuff

852
00:49:50,280 --> 00:49:53,440
Speaker 1: is an I Heart Radio production. For more podcasts from

853
00:49:53,440 --> 00:49:57,239
Speaker 1: my Heart Radio, visit the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,

854
00:49:57,320 --> 00:50:01,520
Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. Eight