1 00:00:04,240 --> 00:00:07,240 Speaker 1: Welcome to tech Stuff, a production of I Heart Radios, 2 00:00:07,320 --> 00:00:14,120 Speaker 1: How Stuff Works. Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. 3 00:00:14,120 --> 00:00:17,480 Speaker 1: I'm your host, Jonathan Strickland. I'm an executive producer with 4 00:00:17,600 --> 00:00:19,400 Speaker 1: I Heart Radio and How Stuff Works and Love of 5 00:00:19,400 --> 00:00:23,120 Speaker 1: all Things Tech. And this is the second episode I'm 6 00:00:23,120 --> 00:00:26,960 Speaker 1: devoting to a pair of tech related television channels that 7 00:00:27,080 --> 00:00:31,040 Speaker 1: made an attempt to court a tech savvy, largely male 8 00:00:31,240 --> 00:00:35,840 Speaker 1: audience on cable television. Our last episode was about tech TV, 9 00:00:36,240 --> 00:00:39,440 Speaker 1: which I talked about up to when that channel merged 10 00:00:39,520 --> 00:00:43,400 Speaker 1: with another one. Today, I'm going to focus on that 11 00:00:43,560 --> 00:00:46,560 Speaker 1: other channel that would end up getting merged with tech 12 00:00:46,600 --> 00:00:51,680 Speaker 1: TV before spoiler alert, both would be ultimately shut down entirely. 13 00:00:52,080 --> 00:00:55,680 Speaker 1: That tech channel was called G four TV, which was 14 00:00:55,720 --> 00:00:59,520 Speaker 1: a television channel marketed towards gamers. For a bit longer 15 00:00:59,560 --> 00:01:02,959 Speaker 1: than a day, cade video game enthusiasts had their very 16 00:01:03,000 --> 00:01:07,680 Speaker 1: own cable channel, well sort of, because the channel would 17 00:01:07,720 --> 00:01:11,839 Speaker 1: change dramatically and would no longer really cater to video 18 00:01:11,920 --> 00:01:16,880 Speaker 1: game people, and also G four's reach was hardly universal, 19 00:01:16,959 --> 00:01:19,920 Speaker 1: But we'll get to all that. The story of G 20 00:01:20,120 --> 00:01:24,160 Speaker 1: four really starts with its founder, Charles Hershorn, who already 21 00:01:24,160 --> 00:01:26,800 Speaker 1: had a long career in media before he decided to 22 00:01:26,800 --> 00:01:31,280 Speaker 1: create a channel specifically for gamers. Hershorn had attended Harvard 23 00:01:31,600 --> 00:01:34,640 Speaker 1: and graduated in nineteen seventy nine. He probably would have 24 00:01:34,680 --> 00:01:36,960 Speaker 1: graduated in nineteen seventy eight, but he took a year 25 00:01:37,000 --> 00:01:40,240 Speaker 1: off after his sophomore year to cook in professional kitchens 26 00:01:40,640 --> 00:01:43,479 Speaker 1: before deciding that was not quite the life he wanted 27 00:01:43,480 --> 00:01:47,480 Speaker 1: for himself. He studied filmmaking at Harvard and was able 28 00:01:47,480 --> 00:01:50,120 Speaker 1: to take advantage of some of the school's departments to 29 00:01:50,160 --> 00:01:54,200 Speaker 1: get connections with various film studios and in show business, 30 00:01:54,680 --> 00:01:58,160 Speaker 1: who you know can be more important than what you know. 31 00:01:58,760 --> 00:02:01,960 Speaker 1: He worked for a short aisle in Boston before relocating 32 00:02:02,000 --> 00:02:05,000 Speaker 1: to California. He enrolled in film school at the University 33 00:02:05,000 --> 00:02:07,320 Speaker 1: of Southern California, but was only there for a few 34 00:02:07,320 --> 00:02:10,680 Speaker 1: months before he dropped out. See one of those connections 35 00:02:10,680 --> 00:02:13,520 Speaker 1: he had made back at Harvard paid off big time. 36 00:02:13,760 --> 00:02:17,120 Speaker 1: The connection was promoted to the position of president of 37 00:02:17,160 --> 00:02:21,639 Speaker 1: production for Universal Pictures, and then this connection reached out 38 00:02:21,639 --> 00:02:24,960 Speaker 1: to hire her Shorn as a junior executive. Now I'm 39 00:02:24,960 --> 00:02:27,960 Speaker 1: going to spend a couple of seconds just here in 40 00:02:28,000 --> 00:02:31,920 Speaker 1: the studio being green with envy as I think about 41 00:02:31,960 --> 00:02:36,200 Speaker 1: a guy who went from recent college graduate to junior 42 00:02:36,360 --> 00:02:40,640 Speaker 1: executive in a movie studio in no time flat. Feel 43 00:02:40,639 --> 00:02:42,960 Speaker 1: free to join me in this moment of vulgar envy. 44 00:02:44,040 --> 00:02:47,680 Speaker 1: M hmm. Okay, now I can move on, And I 45 00:02:47,720 --> 00:02:50,480 Speaker 1: should add that I don't mean to comment on her 46 00:02:50,480 --> 00:02:54,800 Speaker 1: Shorn's skill or knowledge. I cannot honestly say that he 47 00:02:54,880 --> 00:02:58,560 Speaker 1: didn't deserve that position. He may very well have. I'm 48 00:02:58,639 --> 00:03:02,880 Speaker 1: just being petty now. According to IMDb, which I should 49 00:03:02,880 --> 00:03:05,880 Speaker 1: add is not the most reliable of sources. Her Shorn 50 00:03:05,960 --> 00:03:08,919 Speaker 1: served as a production assistant on the John Hughes film 51 00:03:09,080 --> 00:03:13,720 Speaker 1: Sixteen Candles in four and then as an associate producer 52 00:03:13,760 --> 00:03:18,280 Speaker 1: for Bull Durham and an executive producer for Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. 53 00:03:18,360 --> 00:03:21,480 Speaker 1: I really enjoy that last film quite a bit. And 54 00:03:21,560 --> 00:03:24,239 Speaker 1: her Shorn would stay with movies for a while before 55 00:03:24,280 --> 00:03:28,760 Speaker 1: moving over to the Fox Network. As in the television network, 56 00:03:29,000 --> 00:03:31,959 Speaker 1: he came on board before the network had actually launched, 57 00:03:32,200 --> 00:03:35,600 Speaker 1: and originally his role was to develop movie programming for 58 00:03:35,640 --> 00:03:39,640 Speaker 1: the new television station. However, as the network got closer 59 00:03:39,680 --> 00:03:44,240 Speaker 1: to launch, executive decide against having movie programming on the 60 00:03:44,320 --> 00:03:47,560 Speaker 1: channel at all, and her Shorn would transition into a 61 00:03:47,640 --> 00:03:50,880 Speaker 1: television executive role, something that was entirely new to him. 62 00:03:51,120 --> 00:03:54,880 Speaker 1: Hershorn would recruit Keenan Ivory Waynes, who successfully pitched a 63 00:03:54,920 --> 00:03:58,160 Speaker 1: sketch comedy show called In Living Color, which in turn 64 00:03:58,160 --> 00:04:01,200 Speaker 1: would launch the careers of folks like Jim Kerry, Jimmie Fox, 65 00:04:01,240 --> 00:04:04,920 Speaker 1: and Jennifer Lopez, among others. Her Shorn stayed with Fox 66 00:04:04,960 --> 00:04:07,520 Speaker 1: for just three years, from nineteen eighty six to nineteen 67 00:04:07,560 --> 00:04:10,720 Speaker 1: eighty nine. Bull Durham and Dirty Rotten Scoundrels would both 68 00:04:10,720 --> 00:04:13,000 Speaker 1: come out in Night, but his involvement in those had 69 00:04:13,040 --> 00:04:15,760 Speaker 1: been in the early stages of the films, and he 70 00:04:15,840 --> 00:04:19,600 Speaker 1: still did some independent production work. He then moved over 71 00:04:19,800 --> 00:04:23,000 Speaker 1: to the mouse House. He joined the Walt Disney Company 72 00:04:23,040 --> 00:04:26,120 Speaker 1: as the senior vice president of production for a brand 73 00:04:26,120 --> 00:04:30,200 Speaker 1: new movie studio under Disney called Hollywood Pictures, which would 74 00:04:30,200 --> 00:04:33,880 Speaker 1: make films like The Santa Claus among others. In nineteen 75 00:04:34,880 --> 00:04:37,920 Speaker 1: Disney named her Shorn the president of Walt Disney TV, 76 00:04:38,400 --> 00:04:40,960 Speaker 1: while he would also serve as executive vice president of 77 00:04:41,040 --> 00:04:44,599 Speaker 1: Walt Disney Motion Pictures Group. He stayed on until nineteen 78 00:04:45,240 --> 00:04:49,880 Speaker 1: when he either left or was you know, told to leave. 79 00:04:50,400 --> 00:04:54,800 Speaker 1: While Disney TV and ABC began to streamline operations and 80 00:04:54,839 --> 00:04:58,880 Speaker 1: get rid of redundancies. It was in two thousand, two 81 00:04:59,000 --> 00:05:03,279 Speaker 1: years after tech TV, then called z d TV, had launched, 82 00:05:03,600 --> 00:05:06,279 Speaker 1: that her Shorn began to put together his first ideas 83 00:05:06,400 --> 00:05:10,120 Speaker 1: for what would become G four. He attended the trade 84 00:05:10,160 --> 00:05:12,920 Speaker 1: show E three for the first time. That's the big 85 00:05:12,960 --> 00:05:17,160 Speaker 1: North American video games trade show, and according to later interviews, 86 00:05:17,400 --> 00:05:20,359 Speaker 1: her Shorn originally thought about how video games have a 87 00:05:20,400 --> 00:05:22,520 Speaker 1: lot of animation in them, and he had just spent 88 00:05:22,520 --> 00:05:25,039 Speaker 1: a few years as president of Walt Disney Television, which 89 00:05:25,240 --> 00:05:29,440 Speaker 1: produced several animated series, So maybe he thought you could 90 00:05:29,440 --> 00:05:32,520 Speaker 1: do something with the animation and video games and turn 91 00:05:32,600 --> 00:05:37,200 Speaker 1: it into a linear form of storytelling. His concept evolved 92 00:05:37,240 --> 00:05:39,800 Speaker 1: into a channel that would be similar to something like 93 00:05:40,040 --> 00:05:43,880 Speaker 1: MTV was back in the early nineteen eighties, only instead 94 00:05:43,920 --> 00:05:46,920 Speaker 1: of focusing on music and the rock and roll lifestyle 95 00:05:47,680 --> 00:05:51,279 Speaker 1: cue the song by Cake here, it would use video 96 00:05:51,400 --> 00:05:53,839 Speaker 1: games as the central focus for the channel. So, in 97 00:05:53,880 --> 00:05:57,760 Speaker 1: other words, he wanted to engineer a channel geared toward 98 00:05:57,800 --> 00:06:00,920 Speaker 1: a younger audience with a bit of a bellious edge, 99 00:06:01,440 --> 00:06:05,400 Speaker 1: you know, in a very corporate calculated way. Now, to 100 00:06:05,480 --> 00:06:08,480 Speaker 1: be clear, there was a little bit of video game 101 00:06:08,520 --> 00:06:11,840 Speaker 1: programming on television, but it was usually restricted to a 102 00:06:11,920 --> 00:06:15,400 Speaker 1: segment on a longer show that was dedicated to technology 103 00:06:15,400 --> 00:06:18,960 Speaker 1: in general. And there was an online audio and video 104 00:06:19,000 --> 00:06:23,919 Speaker 1: network called Pseudo Entertainment that covered, among other things, video 105 00:06:24,000 --> 00:06:27,520 Speaker 1: games and included video. But this was in the early 106 00:06:27,560 --> 00:06:30,880 Speaker 1: two thousand's and most people lacked a good enough Internet 107 00:06:30,880 --> 00:06:35,800 Speaker 1: connection to view streaming video in anything approaching decent resolution quality. 108 00:06:36,040 --> 00:06:39,440 Speaker 1: More often than not, you had a thumbnail sized video 109 00:06:39,520 --> 00:06:41,760 Speaker 1: running in a corner somewhere, and that's as good as 110 00:06:41,800 --> 00:06:43,599 Speaker 1: you could watch, And if you tried to expand it 111 00:06:43,600 --> 00:06:46,560 Speaker 1: beyond that, your connection would just chug along and you'd 112 00:06:46,560 --> 00:06:49,560 Speaker 1: be buffering the entire time. Pseudo would go out of 113 00:06:49,560 --> 00:06:52,279 Speaker 1: business not long after the dot com bubble began to 114 00:06:52,279 --> 00:06:55,680 Speaker 1: collapse in two thousand. Also, the story behind Pseudo is 115 00:06:56,080 --> 00:06:59,760 Speaker 1: like super bonkers, so I have to do an episode 116 00:06:59,760 --> 00:07:03,400 Speaker 1: about that at some point. Oh and one other interesting connection. 117 00:07:03,920 --> 00:07:07,640 Speaker 1: David Boorman, a TV producer, stepped in to run Pseudo 118 00:07:07,760 --> 00:07:10,280 Speaker 1: towards the end. He would also go on to produce 119 00:07:10,360 --> 00:07:13,760 Speaker 1: the Tech Live block of programming I talked about for 120 00:07:13,920 --> 00:07:16,760 Speaker 1: tech TV, and some of the folks from Pseudo would 121 00:07:16,760 --> 00:07:20,240 Speaker 1: actually end up being part of G four. Anyway, there 122 00:07:20,240 --> 00:07:23,160 Speaker 1: appeared to be at least some demand for more video 123 00:07:23,200 --> 00:07:27,360 Speaker 1: game related content, and no one was meeting it just yet. 124 00:07:28,320 --> 00:07:31,400 Speaker 1: So her short goes on and he founds a production 125 00:07:31,480 --> 00:07:36,440 Speaker 1: company under Comcast, the cable provider. So this production company 126 00:07:36,480 --> 00:07:39,960 Speaker 1: belonged to Comcast. It was called G four Media. He 127 00:07:40,080 --> 00:07:43,240 Speaker 1: hired on a consultant named Scott Rubin to help develop 128 00:07:43,280 --> 00:07:46,160 Speaker 1: the concept of a video game channel. Reuben would go 129 00:07:46,200 --> 00:07:48,800 Speaker 1: on to become the vice president of Internet I T 130 00:07:49,080 --> 00:07:52,480 Speaker 1: and program Editorial, and would also serve as a host 131 00:07:52,640 --> 00:07:56,160 Speaker 1: on several shows. The G four name was supposedly a 132 00:07:56,200 --> 00:07:59,280 Speaker 1: reference to the four types of games that would be 133 00:07:59,320 --> 00:08:03,400 Speaker 1: the focal point for the channel, video games, computer games, 134 00:08:03,840 --> 00:08:07,960 Speaker 1: online games, and wireless games. And that seems a little 135 00:08:07,960 --> 00:08:10,880 Speaker 1: bit confusing to me, since in two thousand two most 136 00:08:10,960 --> 00:08:15,560 Speaker 1: games were pretty firmly either computer games or console games. 137 00:08:16,000 --> 00:08:20,040 Speaker 1: Nearly all online games were a subset of computer games. 138 00:08:20,040 --> 00:08:22,600 Speaker 1: There were very few console games that were online, and 139 00:08:22,640 --> 00:08:25,920 Speaker 1: I'm guessing by wireless they really meant like handheld systems 140 00:08:25,920 --> 00:08:29,320 Speaker 1: like game Boy and game Boy Advanced, because cell phone 141 00:08:29,360 --> 00:08:31,920 Speaker 1: games were almost not a thing. I mean, there was 142 00:08:32,040 --> 00:08:34,839 Speaker 1: snake but there wasn't much else in two thousand two, 143 00:08:35,120 --> 00:08:37,480 Speaker 1: but hey, who am I to criticize this logic. Also 144 00:08:37,800 --> 00:08:40,280 Speaker 1: much later, her Shorn would reveal in an interview with 145 00:08:40,360 --> 00:08:44,160 Speaker 1: Kevin Pereira that he had asked his wife to secure 146 00:08:44,240 --> 00:08:47,480 Speaker 1: a U r L for the new company before they 147 00:08:47,480 --> 00:08:49,080 Speaker 1: had even figured out what the name was going to be, 148 00:08:49,320 --> 00:08:51,960 Speaker 1: and he wanted video game to be in the name 149 00:08:52,040 --> 00:08:54,160 Speaker 1: for the U r L, but his wife wasn't able 150 00:08:54,200 --> 00:08:56,600 Speaker 1: to find an available U r L with video games 151 00:08:56,600 --> 00:08:58,760 Speaker 1: in it, so he said, just grab something with the 152 00:08:58,760 --> 00:09:01,839 Speaker 1: initial V or G or something, and she went down 153 00:09:01,920 --> 00:09:04,080 Speaker 1: the list and said, G once taken G two's tip, 154 00:09:04,200 --> 00:09:06,400 Speaker 1: and G three, G four is available, and he said, 155 00:09:06,440 --> 00:09:09,760 Speaker 1: just take that. So it's possible that G four got 156 00:09:09,760 --> 00:09:12,920 Speaker 1: its name because literally that was the available U r L. 157 00:09:14,440 --> 00:09:17,560 Speaker 1: In case you are curious, this was during what is 158 00:09:17,600 --> 00:09:21,880 Speaker 1: generally called the sixth generation of video game systems, also 159 00:09:21,960 --> 00:09:25,800 Speaker 1: known as the eight bit era, this being, you know, 160 00:09:25,840 --> 00:09:27,800 Speaker 1: at the time when G four would launch. That is, 161 00:09:28,160 --> 00:09:32,400 Speaker 1: Consoles belonging to this generation included the original Xbox, the 162 00:09:32,440 --> 00:09:37,080 Speaker 1: PlayStation two, the Nintendo GameCube, and the Sega Dreamcast, though 163 00:09:37,080 --> 00:09:39,760 Speaker 1: the Dreamcast was already starting to fade away by two 164 00:09:39,760 --> 00:09:42,920 Speaker 1: thousand two, and that was the last year anyone made 165 00:09:43,000 --> 00:09:47,480 Speaker 1: games for the Dreamcast outside of Japan. Uh Japan Dreamcast 166 00:09:47,480 --> 00:09:49,840 Speaker 1: games would keep on going till about two thousand seven. 167 00:09:50,480 --> 00:09:53,520 Speaker 1: The executive crew for this company would include a lot 168 00:09:53,520 --> 00:09:57,080 Speaker 1: of folks from the production side of entertainment, so her 169 00:09:57,120 --> 00:10:00,800 Speaker 1: Shorn would serve as president and CEO. That chief operating 170 00:10:00,840 --> 00:10:05,600 Speaker 1: Officer or c OO was Deborah Green, who had previously 171 00:10:05,640 --> 00:10:08,400 Speaker 1: been a senior vice president over at E Networks in 172 00:10:08,400 --> 00:10:12,040 Speaker 1: the nineteen nineties. The head of affiliate and advertising sales, 173 00:10:12,080 --> 00:10:15,240 Speaker 1: guy called Dale Hopkins, had also worked for E Networks. 174 00:10:15,600 --> 00:10:19,240 Speaker 1: The head of programming was Vince Longobardo, who had been 175 00:10:19,280 --> 00:10:22,840 Speaker 1: with MTV for nearly twenty years before joining G four. 176 00:10:23,720 --> 00:10:26,400 Speaker 1: The company also recognized there might be a good idea 177 00:10:26,520 --> 00:10:29,040 Speaker 1: to bring in some people who have insight into video 178 00:10:29,080 --> 00:10:32,360 Speaker 1: games and video game culture, and so another founding leader 179 00:10:32,440 --> 00:10:35,280 Speaker 1: of G four Media was Tom Russo, who had previously 180 00:10:35,360 --> 00:10:38,520 Speaker 1: been the editor of a gaming magazine called Next Generation, 181 00:10:38,800 --> 00:10:41,320 Speaker 1: and of course Scott Rubin was acting as a consultant 182 00:10:41,320 --> 00:10:45,199 Speaker 1: as well. Comcast funded the development and the launch of 183 00:10:45,200 --> 00:10:49,240 Speaker 1: this channel. They gave the company essentially a hundred fifty 184 00:10:49,320 --> 00:10:52,720 Speaker 1: million dollars, and the plan was to give G four 185 00:10:52,840 --> 00:10:56,080 Speaker 1: three to five years in order to make enough money 186 00:10:56,120 --> 00:11:00,079 Speaker 1: to pay off that initial investment. According to analysts, that 187 00:11:00,120 --> 00:11:02,680 Speaker 1: would mean the channel would need to reach around thirty 188 00:11:02,800 --> 00:11:07,040 Speaker 1: to forty million households total, and the prime demographic, as 189 00:11:07,040 --> 00:11:11,040 Speaker 1: I mentioned earlier, was eighteen to thirty four year old men. 190 00:11:12,000 --> 00:11:14,200 Speaker 1: Now keep in mind, this was back in the early 191 00:11:14,280 --> 00:11:17,560 Speaker 1: two thousand's, when video games were still considered a sort 192 00:11:17,600 --> 00:11:20,240 Speaker 1: of niche hobby for nerds. There were a lot of 193 00:11:20,320 --> 00:11:23,720 Speaker 1: negative stereotypes about gamers, mostly that they were a bunch 194 00:11:23,760 --> 00:11:28,839 Speaker 1: of socially awkward losers. And I used this as the stereotype. 195 00:11:28,880 --> 00:11:31,080 Speaker 1: I don't think people who are socially awkward are losers 196 00:11:31,080 --> 00:11:33,840 Speaker 1: at all, but this is the kind of thought process 197 00:11:33,880 --> 00:11:36,600 Speaker 1: people were in back then, that video game players were 198 00:11:36,640 --> 00:11:40,079 Speaker 1: socially awkward losers who, according to most insults, lived in 199 00:11:40,120 --> 00:11:43,400 Speaker 1: their parents basements and played video games, never stepped outside ever, 200 00:11:43,559 --> 00:11:45,960 Speaker 1: didn't know how to talk to anybody else. That kind 201 00:11:45,960 --> 00:11:51,160 Speaker 1: of thing. That was very much a predominant stereotypical view 202 00:11:51,240 --> 00:11:53,400 Speaker 1: of people who liked video games back in the early 203 00:11:53,400 --> 00:11:56,040 Speaker 1: two thousand's, And it's quite possible that some of the 204 00:11:56,080 --> 00:11:58,760 Speaker 1: folks at G four Media, you know, some of the 205 00:11:58,800 --> 00:12:02,319 Speaker 1: people in charge shared some of those perceptions about video 206 00:12:02,360 --> 00:12:06,000 Speaker 1: game fans. There was next to no acknowledgement that women 207 00:12:06,240 --> 00:12:10,640 Speaker 1: can also play and enjoy video games too. They were 208 00:12:10,720 --> 00:12:13,600 Speaker 1: just not really considered part of the equation, or that 209 00:12:13,640 --> 00:12:16,600 Speaker 1: there are video game fans out there who are also active, 210 00:12:16,600 --> 00:12:19,960 Speaker 1: productive and successful members of society. And I think a 211 00:12:19,960 --> 00:12:23,760 Speaker 1: lot of the guiding decisions for designing programming would be 212 00:12:23,880 --> 00:12:27,000 Speaker 1: rooted in the same sort of toxic mindset that much 213 00:12:27,000 --> 00:12:29,560 Speaker 1: of gamer Gate was based in. And also, while I 214 00:12:29,600 --> 00:12:31,959 Speaker 1: don't want to suggest that gamer Gate was in any 215 00:12:32,000 --> 00:12:35,640 Speaker 1: way a legitimate movement, I do think that G four's 216 00:12:35,679 --> 00:12:38,800 Speaker 1: revenue practices would raise some eyebrows when it comes to 217 00:12:38,880 --> 00:12:42,560 Speaker 1: journalistic integrity and unbiased reviews. I'll explain more about that 218 00:12:42,640 --> 00:12:46,920 Speaker 1: in just a moment. Skeptics worried that the channel would 219 00:12:46,920 --> 00:12:49,640 Speaker 1: be unable to muster a following. I mean, who the 220 00:12:49,640 --> 00:12:53,280 Speaker 1: heck wants to watch someone else play video games? Now? 221 00:12:53,280 --> 00:12:54,959 Speaker 1: I imagine if you were to take any of those 222 00:12:55,000 --> 00:12:58,160 Speaker 1: skeptics from two thousand to PLoP them into present day 223 00:12:58,160 --> 00:13:01,560 Speaker 1: and turn on twitch, TV or YouTube, their brains would 224 00:13:01,600 --> 00:13:04,480 Speaker 1: melt right out of their ears. Now we have an 225 00:13:04,600 --> 00:13:08,480 Speaker 1: entire industry complete with superstars who go by handles like 226 00:13:08,600 --> 00:13:11,720 Speaker 1: Ninja or Shroud, who have built brands on top of 227 00:13:11,720 --> 00:13:15,400 Speaker 1: the concept of people watching them play video games. As 228 00:13:15,440 --> 00:13:18,040 Speaker 1: for me, heck, I remember being a kid and watching 229 00:13:18,120 --> 00:13:21,360 Speaker 1: really good players play arcade games. I didn't have any 230 00:13:21,440 --> 00:13:24,280 Speaker 1: desire to jump in or challenge them. I just liked 231 00:13:24,280 --> 00:13:26,480 Speaker 1: watching people who are really good at games kick some 232 00:13:26,559 --> 00:13:29,200 Speaker 1: digital butt. So I'd like to think at least I 233 00:13:29,240 --> 00:13:31,800 Speaker 1: would have felt that there was a market for this 234 00:13:31,920 --> 00:13:36,000 Speaker 1: sort of thing if it were handled properly. The Los 235 00:13:36,000 --> 00:13:39,839 Speaker 1: Angeles Times reported in January two thousand two that Comcast 236 00:13:39,920 --> 00:13:42,960 Speaker 1: was going to launch a video game centric channel later 237 00:13:43,040 --> 00:13:44,880 Speaker 1: that year. As far as I could tell, this was 238 00:13:44,920 --> 00:13:49,280 Speaker 1: the earliest public acknowledgement of G four. Comcast said it 239 00:13:49,320 --> 00:13:52,400 Speaker 1: would launch the channel to seven million subscribers of the 240 00:13:52,400 --> 00:13:57,400 Speaker 1: company's basic cable package. That wouldn't quite be the case 241 00:13:57,559 --> 00:14:02,040 Speaker 1: at launch. The hope was that Comcasts support would give 242 00:14:02,040 --> 00:14:04,600 Speaker 1: the fledgling channel enough of a head start to land 243 00:14:04,679 --> 00:14:08,079 Speaker 1: some good advertising deals for its programming. An article in 244 00:14:08,400 --> 00:14:11,720 Speaker 1: sf Gate that published one month after the channel actually 245 00:14:11,720 --> 00:14:14,680 Speaker 1: went live, which was in April two thou too, had 246 00:14:14,679 --> 00:14:17,040 Speaker 1: a slightly different set of figures. According to the article, 247 00:14:17,120 --> 00:14:20,680 Speaker 1: G four was initially available in about three million households, 248 00:14:20,720 --> 00:14:22,560 Speaker 1: with the goal of reaching five million by the end 249 00:14:22,600 --> 00:14:25,800 Speaker 1: of two thousand two oh and like tech TV, it 250 00:14:25,840 --> 00:14:29,840 Speaker 1: wasn't initially available in San Francisco, which, at least in 251 00:14:29,880 --> 00:14:33,160 Speaker 1: the minds of the tech industry, is the center of 252 00:14:33,200 --> 00:14:37,280 Speaker 1: the known universe. When the channel went live, it broadcasts 253 00:14:37,280 --> 00:14:42,560 Speaker 1: something pretty unusual for its first week, a Pong marathon yep, 254 00:14:42,680 --> 00:14:47,000 Speaker 1: the classic video game Pong. It was the thirtieth anniversary 255 00:14:47,200 --> 00:14:51,720 Speaker 1: for Pong, and sometimes the footage included two players going 256 00:14:51,800 --> 00:14:54,120 Speaker 1: head to head against each other. Sometimes it was a 257 00:14:54,120 --> 00:14:57,680 Speaker 1: player versus a computer opponent, but it was just Pong. 258 00:14:58,760 --> 00:15:01,040 Speaker 1: After the first week, we'd get a better idea of 259 00:15:01,080 --> 00:15:03,040 Speaker 1: what G four was going to be all about, at 260 00:15:03,120 --> 00:15:05,520 Speaker 1: least at first. I'll explain more in a second, but 261 00:15:05,560 --> 00:15:17,520 Speaker 1: first let's take a quick break. After the Pong marathon stunt, 262 00:15:17,840 --> 00:15:21,880 Speaker 1: there were about a dozen programs that ran in heavy rotation. 263 00:15:22,080 --> 00:15:25,320 Speaker 1: By that, I mean reruns or replays of a show. 264 00:15:25,440 --> 00:15:27,760 Speaker 1: Some of the shows were done live, but then would 265 00:15:27,760 --> 00:15:31,240 Speaker 1: be shown again and again throughout the twenty four period. 266 00:15:31,680 --> 00:15:34,040 Speaker 1: A lot of these were half hour shows, so they 267 00:15:34,040 --> 00:15:37,600 Speaker 1: didn't fill up a full day's worth of programming. So 268 00:15:37,760 --> 00:15:41,040 Speaker 1: shows included stuff like Cheat, a show that revealed cheat 269 00:15:41,120 --> 00:15:44,560 Speaker 1: codes and strategies for games. There was a show called Blister, 270 00:15:44,760 --> 00:15:47,640 Speaker 1: which was a series that focused on action and adventure games. 271 00:15:47,920 --> 00:15:50,560 Speaker 1: That show, by the way, was the first G four 272 00:15:50,600 --> 00:15:54,200 Speaker 1: program to air after the week long Pong marathon concluded. 273 00:15:54,800 --> 00:15:58,280 Speaker 1: There was Sweat. It was similar to Blister, except it 274 00:15:58,320 --> 00:16:01,280 Speaker 1: was a show that really focused on sports video games. 275 00:16:01,880 --> 00:16:04,360 Speaker 1: Of course. There was a video game review show called 276 00:16:04,520 --> 00:16:07,840 Speaker 1: Judgment Day that had originally started out as a segment 277 00:16:08,400 --> 00:16:11,320 Speaker 1: on a show called The Electric Playground that had previously 278 00:16:11,360 --> 00:16:15,560 Speaker 1: found airtime in Canada. Pulse was a news show about 279 00:16:15,680 --> 00:16:18,600 Speaker 1: video games. There were shows that would do profiles on 280 00:16:18,640 --> 00:16:21,040 Speaker 1: celebrities who liked to play video games. That one was 281 00:16:21,080 --> 00:16:24,040 Speaker 1: called Players. There was another show that looked at people 282 00:16:24,240 --> 00:16:27,480 Speaker 1: in the industry, people who were game designers or artists 283 00:16:27,560 --> 00:16:30,360 Speaker 1: or musicians that worked on games. That one was called 284 00:16:30,440 --> 00:16:33,800 Speaker 1: game Makers. I actually really liked that show. There was 285 00:16:33,840 --> 00:16:36,840 Speaker 1: an interactive talk show called G four tv dot Com. 286 00:16:36,880 --> 00:16:39,760 Speaker 1: That one was my favorite show. It was hosted by 287 00:16:39,840 --> 00:16:43,480 Speaker 1: Laura Foy, Tina Wood, and Scott Rubin as the original group, 288 00:16:43,960 --> 00:16:46,400 Speaker 1: and they would look at news and rumors in the 289 00:16:46,480 --> 00:16:49,080 Speaker 1: video game world. They would answer questions. People would write 290 00:16:49,160 --> 00:16:52,000 Speaker 1: in and ask questions about video games that they would 291 00:16:52,040 --> 00:16:55,640 Speaker 1: try to answer, and it was legit a great show 292 00:16:56,000 --> 00:16:58,680 Speaker 1: that I remember watching it all the time back in 293 00:16:58,720 --> 00:17:01,400 Speaker 1: those days. Send the Tech was a bit of an 294 00:17:01,400 --> 00:17:04,280 Speaker 1: odd program. It was a thirty minute block of programming 295 00:17:04,280 --> 00:17:07,080 Speaker 1: that was really just video game play footage and video 296 00:17:07,080 --> 00:17:11,040 Speaker 1: game cut scenes with no hosts or really really any commentary. 297 00:17:11,840 --> 00:17:14,000 Speaker 1: Then they had a couple of game show like shows. 298 00:17:14,000 --> 00:17:16,760 Speaker 1: There was one called Game On where they would grab 299 00:17:16,840 --> 00:17:19,639 Speaker 1: people to compete against each other in arcade games and 300 00:17:19,680 --> 00:17:22,200 Speaker 1: stuff like that, and then there was a team based 301 00:17:22,440 --> 00:17:27,320 Speaker 1: show called Arena, and Arena would originally feature actor Will 302 00:17:27,320 --> 00:17:29,800 Speaker 1: Wheaton as one of the two hosts for the show, 303 00:17:29,840 --> 00:17:33,280 Speaker 1: the other being Travis Oates. Wheaton was the only host 304 00:17:33,560 --> 00:17:36,880 Speaker 1: in the G four lineup that the mainstream media really 305 00:17:36,920 --> 00:17:41,120 Speaker 1: recognized as being something of a celebrity. Everyone else who 306 00:17:41,160 --> 00:17:43,800 Speaker 1: was attached to G four, at least as far as 307 00:17:43,840 --> 00:17:48,720 Speaker 1: the mainstream coverage was concerned, was an unknown, though several 308 00:17:48,760 --> 00:17:52,040 Speaker 1: had been working in video games and video game journalism 309 00:17:52,080 --> 00:17:54,280 Speaker 1: for years, and many of them would go on to 310 00:17:54,359 --> 00:17:59,560 Speaker 1: have notable careers in production, the video game industry, in entertainment, 311 00:17:59,600 --> 00:18:04,240 Speaker 1: and more. For example, Judgment Day, the video game review show, 312 00:18:04,320 --> 00:18:08,600 Speaker 1: would occasionally review gaming hardware. When they do that, they 313 00:18:08,600 --> 00:18:11,639 Speaker 1: had a young woman who would showcase the hardware. She 314 00:18:11,720 --> 00:18:13,919 Speaker 1: was sort of a show model showing off the stuff. 315 00:18:14,560 --> 00:18:17,920 Speaker 1: That young woman happened to be Evangeline Lily, who would 316 00:18:17,920 --> 00:18:19,480 Speaker 1: go on to be a big star in the j 317 00:18:19,680 --> 00:18:24,240 Speaker 1: J Abrams series Lost. One thing that G four paid 318 00:18:24,320 --> 00:18:28,359 Speaker 1: a lot of attention to early on was its online presence. 319 00:18:28,600 --> 00:18:31,919 Speaker 1: The channel had a dedicated website which hosted forums in 320 00:18:31,960 --> 00:18:35,679 Speaker 1: which members could post about various topics. Show hosts and 321 00:18:35,760 --> 00:18:38,800 Speaker 1: producers were known to pop into those forums on occasion 322 00:18:38,880 --> 00:18:42,680 Speaker 1: and contribute to the conversation, building a strong sense of community. 323 00:18:42,920 --> 00:18:45,040 Speaker 1: I was actually on those forums back in the day. 324 00:18:45,080 --> 00:18:47,320 Speaker 1: This was stuff that I didn't remember while I was 325 00:18:47,359 --> 00:18:49,560 Speaker 1: researching the show. I couldn't even remember that I used 326 00:18:49,560 --> 00:18:51,880 Speaker 1: to be on the forums all the time, But I did. 327 00:18:51,920 --> 00:18:54,560 Speaker 1: I popped on. I remember occasionally chatting with some of 328 00:18:54,560 --> 00:18:57,160 Speaker 1: the hosts, which was kind of cool. Sometimes the host 329 00:18:57,240 --> 00:19:00,000 Speaker 1: would even set up gaming sessions and which viewers could 330 00:19:00,080 --> 00:19:02,720 Speaker 1: play in online games. With some of their favorite on 331 00:19:02,800 --> 00:19:05,760 Speaker 1: air personalities. Some of the people in charge of monitoring 332 00:19:05,840 --> 00:19:09,040 Speaker 1: the forums had come from other online communities, such as 333 00:19:09,080 --> 00:19:13,040 Speaker 1: the pseudo Entertainment forums. Now. According to an article in Variety, 334 00:19:13,320 --> 00:19:16,119 Speaker 1: her Shorn had said that the channel had done quote 335 00:19:16,520 --> 00:19:20,600 Speaker 1: better than expected end quote in getting advertisement support for 336 00:19:20,640 --> 00:19:23,080 Speaker 1: the channel. And this is probably a good time to 337 00:19:23,119 --> 00:19:26,439 Speaker 1: talk about the advertising strategy in those early days, because 338 00:19:26,440 --> 00:19:30,320 Speaker 1: some of the decisions that they made were fairly controversial 339 00:19:30,600 --> 00:19:34,120 Speaker 1: and again would help feed into the general complaints about 340 00:19:34,200 --> 00:19:37,879 Speaker 1: journalistic integrity and video game coverage. Further down the line, 341 00:19:38,359 --> 00:19:44,719 Speaker 1: I would argue that G four's advertising strategy really sowed 342 00:19:44,760 --> 00:19:48,160 Speaker 1: the seeds for the complaints that were at the heart 343 00:19:48,160 --> 00:19:51,159 Speaker 1: of gamer Gate. Keeping in mind the rest of gamer 344 00:19:51,200 --> 00:19:56,880 Speaker 1: Gate quickly blossomed well outside of video game journalism ethics, 345 00:19:57,359 --> 00:20:01,399 Speaker 1: so firstly, the better than expect did comment might have 346 00:20:01,440 --> 00:20:04,639 Speaker 1: been a bit disingenuous. Early on, the channel found it 347 00:20:04,680 --> 00:20:07,439 Speaker 1: difficult to fill up all the ad slots with you know, 348 00:20:08,000 --> 00:20:11,280 Speaker 1: actual ads. To flesh it all out, the channel would 349 00:20:11,320 --> 00:20:15,440 Speaker 1: include bumpers, station identification messages, often with celebrities who had 350 00:20:15,560 --> 00:20:19,200 Speaker 1: no idea what they were identifying, and video game footage 351 00:20:19,200 --> 00:20:21,920 Speaker 1: of players going for world records that kind of thing. 352 00:20:22,280 --> 00:20:25,520 Speaker 1: Her Schorn's innovative solution was to offer the opportunity to 353 00:20:25,600 --> 00:20:29,840 Speaker 1: video game developers and publishers to purchase air time dedicated 354 00:20:29,960 --> 00:20:34,040 Speaker 1: to their video game titles. Essentially, the deal was to 355 00:20:34,160 --> 00:20:37,879 Speaker 1: run and add as if it were actual content within 356 00:20:37,920 --> 00:20:40,560 Speaker 1: a show, So there'd be a section of a show 357 00:20:40,640 --> 00:20:46,040 Speaker 1: dedicated to really focusing on a specific title, and to 358 00:20:46,160 --> 00:20:47,840 Speaker 1: a viewer of the show, it would seem like this 359 00:20:47,920 --> 00:20:50,800 Speaker 1: was part of the show's programming as opposed to a 360 00:20:50,960 --> 00:20:54,680 Speaker 1: paid for advertisement. The video game would get a couple 361 00:20:54,720 --> 00:20:57,840 Speaker 1: of minutes of dedicated coverage. Shows like Pulse, which was 362 00:20:57,920 --> 00:21:01,200 Speaker 1: the news show, and G four TV dot com would 363 00:21:01,280 --> 00:21:05,719 Speaker 1: end up being the hosting mechanisms for these segments. It 364 00:21:05,760 --> 00:21:07,959 Speaker 1: wasn't always clear to the viewer that the stuff they 365 00:21:08,000 --> 00:21:11,640 Speaker 1: were seeing was paid for content. Now, as a content 366 00:21:11,720 --> 00:21:16,040 Speaker 1: creator myself, I've always felt that transparency is incredibly important, 367 00:21:16,080 --> 00:21:18,560 Speaker 1: as it shows you understand your audience and you aren't 368 00:21:18,600 --> 00:21:21,040 Speaker 1: going to insult their intelligence because most of us are 369 00:21:21,040 --> 00:21:24,840 Speaker 1: smart enough to recognize when someone is selling stuff to us. Now, 370 00:21:24,880 --> 00:21:27,080 Speaker 1: to be fair to her Shorn and the G for 371 00:21:27,320 --> 00:21:31,240 Speaker 1: channel in general, Landing deals with advertisers in two thousand 372 00:21:31,359 --> 00:21:35,000 Speaker 1: two was super hard for many reasons, some of which 373 00:21:35,040 --> 00:21:37,640 Speaker 1: I touched on in Detech TV episode that came out 374 00:21:37,720 --> 00:21:40,879 Speaker 1: before this one. One of those reasons was that the 375 00:21:40,920 --> 00:21:44,439 Speaker 1: economic impact of both the dot com bubble bursting and 376 00:21:44,480 --> 00:21:47,720 Speaker 1: then the terrorist attack in the United States on September eleven, 377 00:21:47,800 --> 00:21:50,120 Speaker 1: two tho one, meant that a lot of companies were 378 00:21:50,119 --> 00:21:53,720 Speaker 1: cutting way back on advertising and marketing budgets, so there 379 00:21:53,760 --> 00:21:58,119 Speaker 1: just wasn't much money to go around. Complicating matters is 380 00:21:58,160 --> 00:22:01,600 Speaker 1: that there were a ton of cable channels out there. 381 00:22:02,000 --> 00:22:04,560 Speaker 1: Some of them, like G four, were pretty niche in 382 00:22:04,600 --> 00:22:07,840 Speaker 1: their focus, a very narrow focus on a on a demographic. 383 00:22:08,080 --> 00:22:11,879 Speaker 1: Others were a little bit more broad, and everyone was 384 00:22:11,920 --> 00:22:14,600 Speaker 1: after that ad revenue because that was the main source 385 00:22:14,640 --> 00:22:16,960 Speaker 1: of money for most of these cable channels, at least 386 00:22:17,160 --> 00:22:19,560 Speaker 1: the ones that were not based on a subscription model. 387 00:22:19,840 --> 00:22:23,480 Speaker 1: So let's say you are running an ad agency and 388 00:22:23,480 --> 00:22:26,320 Speaker 1: you've got a big client that wants you to run 389 00:22:26,400 --> 00:22:29,840 Speaker 1: ads on television. So you're looking at your options, and 390 00:22:29,920 --> 00:22:32,880 Speaker 1: it's a buyer's market because there are so many channels 391 00:22:32,880 --> 00:22:35,720 Speaker 1: out there. They all have inventory, they all have these 392 00:22:35,760 --> 00:22:38,520 Speaker 1: ad slot spaces, they want to fill up, So there's 393 00:22:38,600 --> 00:22:41,520 Speaker 1: a lot of potential space out there. So do you 394 00:22:41,600 --> 00:22:44,680 Speaker 1: go with a niche channel geared towards a very specific 395 00:22:44,720 --> 00:22:47,240 Speaker 1: hobby and it's a channel that doesn't even reach that 396 00:22:47,320 --> 00:22:50,080 Speaker 1: many households in the grand scheme of things, or do 397 00:22:50,200 --> 00:22:52,360 Speaker 1: go with a channel that has a more broad appeal 398 00:22:52,680 --> 00:22:56,320 Speaker 1: and reaches more homes and it's probably for a pretty 399 00:22:56,320 --> 00:23:00,280 Speaker 1: similar price, because no one can ask for very highs 400 00:23:00,320 --> 00:23:03,520 Speaker 1: on their advertising at this point. Well, it will surprise 401 00:23:03,640 --> 00:23:07,280 Speaker 1: no one that many ad agencies would take option number two. 402 00:23:07,600 --> 00:23:10,000 Speaker 1: It just made more business sense, but it meant that 403 00:23:10,040 --> 00:23:12,959 Speaker 1: G four was really having to hustle to get ads 404 00:23:13,000 --> 00:23:15,840 Speaker 1: on its channel, which in turn meant that the channel 405 00:23:15,880 --> 00:23:18,760 Speaker 1: was hustling a lot to meet revenue goals. The company 406 00:23:18,800 --> 00:23:21,120 Speaker 1: was trying to keep costs down and the shows were 407 00:23:21,240 --> 00:23:24,280 Speaker 1: fairly low budget to produce, but it was still a struggle. 408 00:23:24,920 --> 00:23:28,560 Speaker 1: By two thousand three, a year into the channel's existence, 409 00:23:28,880 --> 00:23:31,480 Speaker 1: G four had made its way onto the basic cable 410 00:23:31,480 --> 00:23:35,680 Speaker 1: package of eleven million households in the United States. That 411 00:23:35,760 --> 00:23:38,040 Speaker 1: was a big improvement, and in fact it was a 412 00:23:38,080 --> 00:23:40,840 Speaker 1: bit ahead of schedule, but still far shy of that 413 00:23:40,960 --> 00:23:44,120 Speaker 1: thirty to forty million households. It would need to make 414 00:23:44,160 --> 00:23:47,840 Speaker 1: it look attractive enough to many big advertisers to jump 415 00:23:47,880 --> 00:23:51,520 Speaker 1: on board, So the channel was caught in kind of 416 00:23:51,520 --> 00:23:54,040 Speaker 1: a catch twenty two. It wasn't going to land those 417 00:23:54,080 --> 00:23:58,399 Speaker 1: ad deals without getting onto more basic cable packages, but 418 00:23:58,480 --> 00:24:01,520 Speaker 1: because it was almost entirely depending upon Comcast as a 419 00:24:01,520 --> 00:24:04,960 Speaker 1: cable carrier, and because Comcast itself had a limited number 420 00:24:04,960 --> 00:24:08,679 Speaker 1: of subscribers, it wasn't likely to reach that goal. But 421 00:24:08,800 --> 00:24:11,600 Speaker 1: it's still the channenge just kept plugging along, and besides, 422 00:24:11,640 --> 00:24:13,440 Speaker 1: the channel still had a few years to go before 423 00:24:13,440 --> 00:24:16,280 Speaker 1: it had to break even on that one million dollars 424 00:24:16,320 --> 00:24:19,880 Speaker 1: that Comcast had floated at launch. And keep in mind, 425 00:24:20,040 --> 00:24:24,240 Speaker 1: I'm talking about households that could potentially watch this channel. 426 00:24:24,400 --> 00:24:27,520 Speaker 1: I'm not even talking about viewers here. I'm saying forty 427 00:24:27,560 --> 00:24:30,720 Speaker 1: million households that would have G four as a viable 428 00:24:30,800 --> 00:24:35,200 Speaker 1: option on their cable subscription, not even whether or not 429 00:24:35,240 --> 00:24:38,000 Speaker 1: they ever watched it. Well, all of this stuff was 430 00:24:38,000 --> 00:24:39,879 Speaker 1: going on behind the scenes, but in front of the 431 00:24:39,920 --> 00:24:43,880 Speaker 1: cameras things were also getting very rocky. The channels sent 432 00:24:43,960 --> 00:24:46,600 Speaker 1: hosts to cover the E three event, which actually went 433 00:24:46,680 --> 00:24:49,240 Speaker 1: pretty well, but towards the end of two thousand two, 434 00:24:49,480 --> 00:24:53,040 Speaker 1: Travis Oates and Will Wheaton, the hosts of the show Arena, 435 00:24:53,800 --> 00:24:56,760 Speaker 1: quit their jobs right in the middle of the season 436 00:24:56,840 --> 00:25:00,000 Speaker 1: or towards the end of it. Wheaton posted an explanation 437 00:25:00,359 --> 00:25:02,840 Speaker 1: from his point of view about what had happened that 438 00:25:02,920 --> 00:25:06,240 Speaker 1: led up to his departure, and he included allegations that 439 00:25:06,280 --> 00:25:11,320 Speaker 1: a producer on the show had seriously mishandled pretty much everything. 440 00:25:11,960 --> 00:25:14,280 Speaker 1: A friend of mine, who was a moderator for G 441 00:25:14,440 --> 00:25:17,640 Speaker 1: four's online forums, wrote a blog post that said there 442 00:25:17,680 --> 00:25:20,320 Speaker 1: was more to the story than what Wheaton had shared, 443 00:25:20,640 --> 00:25:23,360 Speaker 1: but sounds to me like, however you shake it out. 444 00:25:23,440 --> 00:25:28,159 Speaker 1: The arena situation was particularly ugly. G four replaced the 445 00:25:28,160 --> 00:25:32,320 Speaker 1: original hosts with Lee Rareman and Michael Loudon. Loudon would 446 00:25:32,400 --> 00:25:36,240 Speaker 1: later get replaced by a guy named Kevin Pereira. Kevin 447 00:25:36,280 --> 00:25:38,640 Speaker 1: Pereira had been an active member of the G four 448 00:25:38,760 --> 00:25:42,040 Speaker 1: forums and then he landed a gig as a production 449 00:25:42,040 --> 00:25:45,760 Speaker 1: assistant for G four tv dot com and gradually worked 450 00:25:45,760 --> 00:25:47,520 Speaker 1: his way up so that he could be considered for 451 00:25:47,560 --> 00:25:50,080 Speaker 1: this host role. So that's how Mr. Pereira got his 452 00:25:50,160 --> 00:25:51,919 Speaker 1: start in front of the cameras. He would end up 453 00:25:51,920 --> 00:25:55,720 Speaker 1: playing an increasingly important role over at G four as 454 00:25:55,720 --> 00:25:59,040 Speaker 1: a personality. In two thousand three, G four held its 455 00:25:59,080 --> 00:26:02,359 Speaker 1: first award show, which acknowledged video game developers for stuff 456 00:26:02,400 --> 00:26:06,679 Speaker 1: like best Online Game, which was Battlefield ninety two, and 457 00:26:06,760 --> 00:26:10,080 Speaker 1: it won that in two thousand three. In that first 458 00:26:10,320 --> 00:26:14,280 Speaker 1: award ceremony, they also had categories like Best Story. Kingdom 459 00:26:14,320 --> 00:26:18,200 Speaker 1: Hearts won that one. I tried to understand what Kingdom 460 00:26:18,240 --> 00:26:21,800 Speaker 1: Hearts this story was, but even the brilliant Brian David 461 00:26:21,800 --> 00:26:24,320 Speaker 1: Gilbert couldn't get me up to speed on that one, 462 00:26:24,520 --> 00:26:28,280 Speaker 1: and I tried. The show also had awards for some 463 00:26:28,320 --> 00:26:32,320 Speaker 1: more tongue in cheek categories, such as character You'd most 464 00:26:32,359 --> 00:26:35,119 Speaker 1: like to be. They ended up being Dante from Devil 465 00:26:35,119 --> 00:26:40,280 Speaker 1: May Cry two or Hottest Character Tina Armstrong in Dead 466 00:26:40,359 --> 00:26:44,159 Speaker 1: or Alive Extreme Beach Volleyball. I think those categories were 467 00:26:44,160 --> 00:26:47,080 Speaker 1: a clear indicator that the channel was really taking aim 468 00:26:47,119 --> 00:26:50,600 Speaker 1: at that eighteen to thirty four male demographic. Also feel 469 00:26:50,600 --> 00:26:53,760 Speaker 1: badly for anyone who loved video games but who did 470 00:26:53,800 --> 00:26:57,320 Speaker 1: not fall into this particular stereotype that the channel was 471 00:26:57,400 --> 00:27:01,359 Speaker 1: catering to. I read a few mosts written by women 472 00:27:01,640 --> 00:27:04,840 Speaker 1: during this time who were watching programs like G four 473 00:27:04,840 --> 00:27:08,080 Speaker 1: tv dot com because they love video games, but they 474 00:27:08,080 --> 00:27:11,959 Speaker 1: were starting to feel purposefully ignored or alienated with just 475 00:27:12,040 --> 00:27:15,080 Speaker 1: about everything else the G four channel was doing. The 476 00:27:15,160 --> 00:27:18,119 Speaker 1: channel canceled a few shows like Game on that just 477 00:27:18,320 --> 00:27:21,600 Speaker 1: weren't doing very well, but ultimately the limiting factor for 478 00:27:21,640 --> 00:27:25,600 Speaker 1: the channel was its reach. Comcast was able to carry 479 00:27:25,640 --> 00:27:29,240 Speaker 1: G four to about fifteen million households by two four, 480 00:27:30,200 --> 00:27:33,840 Speaker 1: but that's where things were capped. Comcast didn't couldn't reach 481 00:27:33,960 --> 00:27:37,359 Speaker 1: more households by itself, and there was no single flagship 482 00:27:37,480 --> 00:27:40,080 Speaker 1: show on the channel that was generating enough buzz to 483 00:27:40,160 --> 00:27:44,159 Speaker 1: convince other cable providers and satellite companies to include G 484 00:27:44,320 --> 00:27:46,919 Speaker 1: four in their lineups. So there didn't seem to be 485 00:27:47,000 --> 00:27:51,399 Speaker 1: any way to organically grow the channels reach. They would 486 00:27:51,400 --> 00:27:55,119 Speaker 1: have to buy it. I'll explain more in just a second. 487 00:28:02,680 --> 00:28:05,000 Speaker 1: This is where we come up to what was pretty 488 00:28:05,080 --> 00:28:09,280 Speaker 1: much the end of the previous episode, the acquisition of 489 00:28:09,359 --> 00:28:13,199 Speaker 1: tech TV. Now, the real purpose of that acquisition was 490 00:28:13,240 --> 00:28:16,479 Speaker 1: to get G four into more homes. Tech TV had 491 00:28:16,520 --> 00:28:20,159 Speaker 1: about four times the reach of G four, and the 492 00:28:20,200 --> 00:28:24,760 Speaker 1: two didn't overlap that much. G four's reach and tech 493 00:28:24,840 --> 00:28:28,520 Speaker 1: TVs reach were in different areas because Comcast had been 494 00:28:28,600 --> 00:28:31,840 Speaker 1: dropping tech TV from its cable lineups in different markets, 495 00:28:32,200 --> 00:28:35,399 Speaker 1: and G four wasn't being carried on the various carriers 496 00:28:35,400 --> 00:28:38,360 Speaker 1: that were providing tech TV. So the thought was this 497 00:28:38,400 --> 00:28:43,880 Speaker 1: way they could buy that enormous amount of reach and 498 00:28:43,920 --> 00:28:45,960 Speaker 1: there would be a shortcut to get enough households to 499 00:28:46,000 --> 00:28:49,560 Speaker 1: potentially attract bigger advertisers. They would no longer be limited, 500 00:28:49,720 --> 00:28:52,560 Speaker 1: they would get that thirty to forty million households they 501 00:28:52,600 --> 00:28:56,080 Speaker 1: needed to have as a bargaining chip. The messaging around 502 00:28:56,080 --> 00:28:58,560 Speaker 1: the acquisition was that the two channels were going to 503 00:28:58,720 --> 00:29:02,080 Speaker 1: join forces and there would be programs from both channels 504 00:29:02,120 --> 00:29:05,320 Speaker 1: featured on the new unified channel, but that's not what 505 00:29:05,480 --> 00:29:10,160 Speaker 1: was really happening in the background. In reality, pretty much 506 00:29:10,200 --> 00:29:13,200 Speaker 1: everyone at tech TV was fired, and they were told 507 00:29:13,240 --> 00:29:15,680 Speaker 1: that they might be able to land a job with 508 00:29:15,800 --> 00:29:18,800 Speaker 1: the new channel, but that it wasn't a guarantee. Tech 509 00:29:18,840 --> 00:29:22,440 Speaker 1: TV's base of operations was located in San Francisco, but 510 00:29:22,560 --> 00:29:25,800 Speaker 1: G four was down in Los Angeles, so it would 511 00:29:25,880 --> 00:29:27,880 Speaker 1: mean that a lot of people would have to relocate 512 00:29:28,040 --> 00:29:30,400 Speaker 1: for a job they weren't sure they would actually have 513 00:29:30,600 --> 00:29:34,920 Speaker 1: for very long. Ultimately, just three shows from tech TV 514 00:29:35,120 --> 00:29:38,120 Speaker 1: would join the G four lineup. They were the Screen 515 00:29:38,200 --> 00:29:42,080 Speaker 1: Savers without host Leo Laporte, who couldn't come to an 516 00:29:42,120 --> 00:29:45,600 Speaker 1: agreement with the new channel. X Play, a video game 517 00:29:45,600 --> 00:29:48,000 Speaker 1: review show that had the best fit with the rest 518 00:29:48,040 --> 00:29:52,480 Speaker 1: of G four's lineup, and an anime show called Anime Unleashed. 519 00:29:53,000 --> 00:29:55,080 Speaker 1: All the other shows on tech TV in the United 520 00:29:55,120 --> 00:30:00,160 Speaker 1: States got the ax. G four relaunched on MA two 521 00:30:00,160 --> 00:30:03,880 Speaker 1: thousand four as G four tech TV, and while tech 522 00:30:03,960 --> 00:30:07,440 Speaker 1: TV had been gutted in the process, G four also 523 00:30:07,640 --> 00:30:11,480 Speaker 1: canceled several of its original programs as well over the 524 00:30:11,520 --> 00:30:18,320 Speaker 1: following year, including shows like Players, Pulse, Blister, Arena Portal, 525 00:30:18,760 --> 00:30:22,560 Speaker 1: and eventually Judgment Day, since the executives figured there'd be 526 00:30:22,600 --> 00:30:25,760 Speaker 1: no reason to run to video game review shows on 527 00:30:25,840 --> 00:30:29,480 Speaker 1: the same channel, and they also canceled reruns of an 528 00:30:29,480 --> 00:30:32,520 Speaker 1: old game show called Starcade that had been playing on 529 00:30:32,600 --> 00:30:37,480 Speaker 1: G four. The Screen Savers, which initially did survive the 530 00:30:37,480 --> 00:30:41,760 Speaker 1: transfer over to G four, would also change dramatically. While 531 00:30:41,760 --> 00:30:44,760 Speaker 1: it was originally a show dedicated to technology in general 532 00:30:44,800 --> 00:30:48,440 Speaker 1: and computers in particular, and had segments about hardware ways 533 00:30:48,480 --> 00:30:52,120 Speaker 1: to fix computer problems, they took live calls from users 534 00:30:52,160 --> 00:30:55,200 Speaker 1: to help them with whatever issues they were having. It 535 00:30:55,240 --> 00:30:58,840 Speaker 1: would slowly drift more toward a pop culture oriented show, 536 00:30:59,080 --> 00:31:02,600 Speaker 1: so while it existed in name, the show itself changed 537 00:31:02,720 --> 00:31:06,640 Speaker 1: enough to no longer really be the screen savers At 538 00:31:06,680 --> 00:31:08,960 Speaker 1: the top levels of leadership, there was also a change 539 00:31:09,000 --> 00:31:12,160 Speaker 1: of bruin early in two thousand five, it became clear 540 00:31:12,240 --> 00:31:14,600 Speaker 1: that there was a push to move G four away 541 00:31:14,680 --> 00:31:18,240 Speaker 1: from being quite so video games centric as it had 542 00:31:18,320 --> 00:31:21,800 Speaker 1: been at launch. One show that the channel picked up 543 00:31:21,840 --> 00:31:25,480 Speaker 1: in early two thousand five was Formula D, a television 544 00:31:25,520 --> 00:31:28,600 Speaker 1: show dedicated to drift racing. I remember when that came 545 00:31:28,600 --> 00:31:31,680 Speaker 1: out and I thought what. And the effort to cater 546 00:31:31,840 --> 00:31:35,000 Speaker 1: to a male audience became even more apparent with the 547 00:31:35,120 --> 00:31:39,320 Speaker 1: launch of a show called Girls Gone Wired, which was 548 00:31:39,360 --> 00:31:42,760 Speaker 1: about I think you can guess, but yeah, if you 549 00:31:42,800 --> 00:31:45,440 Speaker 1: really wanted to o gool video game characters, I guess 550 00:31:45,480 --> 00:31:48,400 Speaker 1: that was the show for you. The channel also began 551 00:31:48,440 --> 00:31:51,840 Speaker 1: to invest more in syndicated runs of shows that also 552 00:31:51,920 --> 00:31:55,200 Speaker 1: aimed at the eighteen to thirty four male audience. For example, 553 00:31:55,640 --> 00:31:58,520 Speaker 1: in late two thousand five, G four would pay seven 554 00:31:58,600 --> 00:32:02,080 Speaker 1: point eight million dollars to license the reruns of The 555 00:32:02,120 --> 00:32:05,360 Speaker 1: Man Show from Comedy Central. It's a comedy show created 556 00:32:05,360 --> 00:32:08,400 Speaker 1: by Jimmy Kimmel and Adam Carolla that reveled in all 557 00:32:08,440 --> 00:32:15,640 Speaker 1: things stereotypically identified as being manly, mostly ogling women. By 558 00:32:15,640 --> 00:32:19,560 Speaker 1: February fift two thousand five, the pretense that G four 559 00:32:19,600 --> 00:32:22,640 Speaker 1: and Tech TV where a partnership, was completely dropped and 560 00:32:22,680 --> 00:32:26,320 Speaker 1: the channel became just G four. Not that this game 561 00:32:26,360 --> 00:32:29,520 Speaker 1: as a surprise to anyone. What might have come as 562 00:32:29,600 --> 00:32:32,600 Speaker 1: a surprise to her Shorn was that by September of 563 00:32:32,640 --> 00:32:35,800 Speaker 1: two thousand five he would be on the outs. There's 564 00:32:35,840 --> 00:32:39,240 Speaker 1: not a lot that was actually written about his departure 565 00:32:39,480 --> 00:32:42,200 Speaker 1: at that time, apart from the fact that Comcast quote 566 00:32:42,280 --> 00:32:46,440 Speaker 1: unquote dismissed him. But whatever the circumstances were, he was 567 00:32:46,480 --> 00:32:50,680 Speaker 1: replaced by a former Direct TV executive named Neil Tiles. 568 00:32:51,240 --> 00:32:53,800 Speaker 1: Tiles would push even harder to move G four away 569 00:32:53,840 --> 00:32:56,320 Speaker 1: from its focus on video games, with the goal of 570 00:32:56,360 --> 00:32:59,480 Speaker 1: turning it more into a lifestyle channel aimed at men, 571 00:33:00,080 --> 00:33:03,880 Speaker 1: not two different from what Spike TV was doing. Spike TV, 572 00:33:04,000 --> 00:33:06,720 Speaker 1: by the way, had started off as the Nashville Network, 573 00:33:06,880 --> 00:33:10,720 Speaker 1: which was all about country music and that lifestyle then 574 00:33:10,800 --> 00:33:14,520 Speaker 1: got rebranded into the National Network in two thousand and 575 00:33:14,560 --> 00:33:18,080 Speaker 1: then became Spike TV in two thousand three. Uh in 576 00:33:18,160 --> 00:33:22,480 Speaker 1: two thousand eighteen, that channel also got rebranded and today 577 00:33:22,520 --> 00:33:26,000 Speaker 1: that channel is called the Paramount Network, so it's changed again. 578 00:33:27,040 --> 00:33:30,280 Speaker 1: G four canceled G four tv dot Com, which was 579 00:33:30,320 --> 00:33:32,560 Speaker 1: a big blow to me as I had loved the show. 580 00:33:32,600 --> 00:33:36,160 Speaker 1: I felt the hosts were genuine, entertaining and informative. Kevin 581 00:33:36,240 --> 00:33:40,000 Speaker 1: Pereira had moved over as a host of The screen Savers, 582 00:33:40,360 --> 00:33:43,400 Speaker 1: but that show was heading for a total rebranding. In fact, 583 00:33:43,480 --> 00:33:47,320 Speaker 1: you might even argue that The Screensavers was effectively totally 584 00:33:47,440 --> 00:33:51,200 Speaker 1: scrapped and a brand new show came into its place. 585 00:33:51,560 --> 00:33:54,800 Speaker 1: This new show, which would become a flagship program on 586 00:33:54,840 --> 00:33:58,200 Speaker 1: G four was Attack of the Show. Pereira would stay on, 587 00:33:58,560 --> 00:34:01,640 Speaker 1: but the other hosts of The Screensavers all left to 588 00:34:01,720 --> 00:34:05,320 Speaker 1: pursue other opportunities. One thing Attack of the Show did 589 00:34:05,640 --> 00:34:08,480 Speaker 1: was launched a huge search for a new co host. 590 00:34:08,880 --> 00:34:11,520 Speaker 1: The original goal was to hire a new male co 591 00:34:11,640 --> 00:34:14,520 Speaker 1: host for the show, and at that time I was 592 00:34:14,560 --> 00:34:18,760 Speaker 1: working in a consulting firm in Atlanta and wasn't terribly happy. 593 00:34:19,080 --> 00:34:21,680 Speaker 1: I had a background in theater done some radio work, 594 00:34:21,960 --> 00:34:25,880 Speaker 1: but that was about it. Despite the overwhelming odds, I 595 00:34:26,040 --> 00:34:29,040 Speaker 1: chose to travel to one of the three cities where 596 00:34:29,040 --> 00:34:33,719 Speaker 1: they held initial auditions. I remember San Francisco was one, 597 00:34:34,280 --> 00:34:36,480 Speaker 1: another was Los Angeles, and I believe the third was 598 00:34:36,520 --> 00:34:39,640 Speaker 1: New York. And boy, wouldn't this be a cool story 599 00:34:39,760 --> 00:34:43,040 Speaker 1: if I had landed that gig. I didn't. In fact, 600 00:34:43,200 --> 00:34:46,399 Speaker 1: nobody did. Attack of the show would have a few 601 00:34:46,480 --> 00:34:50,680 Speaker 1: finalists of that audition process that would host a segment 602 00:34:50,800 --> 00:34:52,640 Speaker 1: or two on the show is sort of a trial, 603 00:34:52,920 --> 00:34:56,320 Speaker 1: but ultimately G four didn't hire any of them. Instead, 604 00:34:56,360 --> 00:34:59,520 Speaker 1: a bit later, they hired another host, who they quickly 605 00:34:59,560 --> 00:35:02,640 Speaker 1: replaced East with the actress Olivia Munn, who would go 606 00:35:02,680 --> 00:35:05,200 Speaker 1: on to become one of the biggest stars to really 607 00:35:05,239 --> 00:35:07,920 Speaker 1: first make her name at G four. Oh and and 608 00:35:08,000 --> 00:35:10,720 Speaker 1: this is no shade on miss Munn, who I readily 609 00:35:10,760 --> 00:35:14,320 Speaker 1: admit was a much better choice for what they wanted 610 00:35:14,640 --> 00:35:17,680 Speaker 1: than than I would have been a dumpy, bald dude 611 00:35:17,680 --> 00:35:21,360 Speaker 1: from Georgia. Olivia mun was hands down the best choice. 612 00:35:21,880 --> 00:35:24,040 Speaker 1: G four made the right call on that one. By 613 00:35:24,080 --> 00:35:27,239 Speaker 1: two thousand and six, the only original G four show 614 00:35:27,400 --> 00:35:30,520 Speaker 1: still on the air was Cinema Tech Everything Else by 615 00:35:30,520 --> 00:35:33,919 Speaker 1: that point had been canceled. Every original G four show 616 00:35:34,200 --> 00:35:38,720 Speaker 1: was no longer on the network, and Cinema Tech pretty 617 00:35:38,800 --> 00:35:41,759 Speaker 1: much featured gameplay and cut scenes from games, so you 618 00:35:41,800 --> 00:35:43,920 Speaker 1: can't get much more low budget than that when it 619 00:35:43,960 --> 00:35:46,440 Speaker 1: comes to production costs. I mean, I imagine there are 620 00:35:46,440 --> 00:35:48,480 Speaker 1: probably some licensing fees that had to be paid, but 621 00:35:48,480 --> 00:35:52,000 Speaker 1: that's about it. Cinema Tech, however, would finally get canceled 622 00:35:52,000 --> 00:35:55,280 Speaker 1: in two thousand seven, and then none of the original 623 00:35:55,320 --> 00:35:58,520 Speaker 1: G four shows would be still with the network, and 624 00:35:58,560 --> 00:36:01,879 Speaker 1: two thousand seven the channel didn't look anything like its 625 00:36:01,880 --> 00:36:05,560 Speaker 1: original incarnation. Pereira and Munn continued to host attack of 626 00:36:05,600 --> 00:36:09,120 Speaker 1: the show, and Pereira was really the only link back 627 00:36:09,120 --> 00:36:11,279 Speaker 1: to the old crew, and even then you have to 628 00:36:11,280 --> 00:36:13,520 Speaker 1: remember that he had started on camera as a co 629 00:36:13,640 --> 00:36:17,040 Speaker 1: host on Arena. G four continued to strike deals to 630 00:36:17,120 --> 00:36:20,359 Speaker 1: run reruns of other shows on the channel, and this 631 00:36:20,440 --> 00:36:22,840 Speaker 1: is when G four kind of turned into the Cops 632 00:36:23,000 --> 00:36:26,279 Speaker 1: and Ninja Warrior channel, which you gotta be honest, I 633 00:36:26,320 --> 00:36:29,360 Speaker 1: love Ninja Warrior that I still love American Ninja Warrior. 634 00:36:29,920 --> 00:36:32,840 Speaker 1: Those men and women are incredible. But G four also 635 00:36:32,920 --> 00:36:36,680 Speaker 1: began showing reruns of the series cheaters, and the audience 636 00:36:36,680 --> 00:36:38,480 Speaker 1: that had been there for the launch of the channel 637 00:36:38,480 --> 00:36:42,440 Speaker 1: was pretty much completely alienated. Don't even think about how 638 00:36:42,480 --> 00:36:45,879 Speaker 1: the tech TV audience felt they had seen their programming 639 00:36:46,239 --> 00:36:50,279 Speaker 1: get obliterated in the process. The only show that remained 640 00:36:50,320 --> 00:36:53,200 Speaker 1: from the tech TV days that had not really been 641 00:36:53,239 --> 00:36:55,759 Speaker 1: tampered with that much was ex Play, and even that 642 00:36:55,800 --> 00:37:00,719 Speaker 1: one got a little wackier over time. The little bit 643 00:37:00,719 --> 00:37:03,600 Speaker 1: of lip service G four paid to video games at 644 00:37:03,640 --> 00:37:08,080 Speaker 1: that point was disastrous, Like they couldn't do that right. 645 00:37:08,400 --> 00:37:11,640 Speaker 1: The channel sent crews to E three to cover press conferences, 646 00:37:11,880 --> 00:37:15,240 Speaker 1: but because G four had to run commercials and because 647 00:37:15,600 --> 00:37:18,920 Speaker 1: these were live events, those two things didn't go together. 648 00:37:19,080 --> 00:37:24,319 Speaker 1: That great ads would interrupt highly anticipated presentations such as 649 00:37:24,400 --> 00:37:28,040 Speaker 1: the reveal of Mass Effect or the Halo three trailer, 650 00:37:28,320 --> 00:37:31,080 Speaker 1: and the message was clear video games just weren't important 651 00:37:31,080 --> 00:37:34,240 Speaker 1: to G four anymore. The channel did try to create 652 00:37:34,280 --> 00:37:38,280 Speaker 1: a few animated series, like Happy Tree Friends and Code Monkeys, 653 00:37:38,600 --> 00:37:42,280 Speaker 1: which featured the Fantastic Song by Jonathan Colton as the theme. 654 00:37:42,840 --> 00:37:45,239 Speaker 1: These didn't get enough of a following to last more 655 00:37:45,280 --> 00:37:48,280 Speaker 1: than a season or two, and rather than risk launching 656 00:37:48,320 --> 00:37:51,920 Speaker 1: more failures, G four continue to pour money into licensing 657 00:37:51,960 --> 00:37:55,359 Speaker 1: deals so that the channel could run reruns of other 658 00:37:55,480 --> 00:38:00,440 Speaker 1: shows like Heroes and Lost. Those licensing fees cost a 659 00:38:00,440 --> 00:38:03,400 Speaker 1: lot of money. But the thinking was, these shows have 660 00:38:03,520 --> 00:38:06,200 Speaker 1: already a proven track record. But here was the problem. 661 00:38:06,239 --> 00:38:09,399 Speaker 1: People had already seen those shows because you know, they 662 00:38:09,400 --> 00:38:12,640 Speaker 1: had already aired on broadcast television. You didn't even need 663 00:38:12,680 --> 00:38:16,160 Speaker 1: a cable subscription to watch them. The two shows that 664 00:38:16,360 --> 00:38:20,760 Speaker 1: were really doing well were Attack of the Show and Explay, 665 00:38:20,800 --> 00:38:23,719 Speaker 1: So you could argue that the programs that actually were 666 00:38:23,760 --> 00:38:26,400 Speaker 1: performing well in the channel were the ones that catered 667 00:38:26,440 --> 00:38:29,520 Speaker 1: to its original intended audience, although that's a stretch for 668 00:38:29,560 --> 00:38:31,880 Speaker 1: Attack of the Show since it really didn't resemble the 669 00:38:31,960 --> 00:38:34,960 Speaker 1: screen savers at all at that point. Also, both of 670 00:38:34,960 --> 00:38:37,719 Speaker 1: those shows came out of or grew out of the 671 00:38:37,840 --> 00:38:42,239 Speaker 1: Tech TV programming, not the G four programming. Things were 672 00:38:42,320 --> 00:38:45,359 Speaker 1: not going great. The best performing shows at their peak, 673 00:38:45,440 --> 00:38:48,600 Speaker 1: we're bringing in a hundred thirty thousand viewers around this time, 674 00:38:48,880 --> 00:38:52,560 Speaker 1: and that's nothing in TV land. Cable carriers began to 675 00:38:52,680 --> 00:38:55,440 Speaker 1: drop G four from their lineups in order to replace 676 00:38:55,480 --> 00:38:58,840 Speaker 1: it with something that might attract more viewers. In November, 677 00:38:59,680 --> 00:39:03,759 Speaker 1: Direct TV dumped G four. This was an enormous setback, 678 00:39:03,880 --> 00:39:06,680 Speaker 1: and it pretty much erased the effect G four had 679 00:39:06,719 --> 00:39:09,760 Speaker 1: of acquiring Tech TV back in two thousand four. Remember, 680 00:39:09,760 --> 00:39:11,840 Speaker 1: the real reason for that acquisition was to get the 681 00:39:11,920 --> 00:39:15,920 Speaker 1: channel on more cable and satellite carriers. Olivia Munn announced 682 00:39:16,000 --> 00:39:18,360 Speaker 1: she was leaving G four and Attack of the Show 683 00:39:18,440 --> 00:39:21,360 Speaker 1: in two She had landed a role on an NBC 684 00:39:21,520 --> 00:39:26,240 Speaker 1: show called Perfect Couples UH that would launch in early eleven, 685 00:39:26,320 --> 00:39:28,399 Speaker 1: and that show would end up getting canceled a few 686 00:39:28,440 --> 00:39:31,640 Speaker 1: months later, but Man dedicated her attention and time to 687 00:39:31,719 --> 00:39:34,880 Speaker 1: pursuing her acting career. She landed gigs and films and 688 00:39:34,920 --> 00:39:38,240 Speaker 1: TV series. Her departure was a big blow to G four, 689 00:39:38,280 --> 00:39:41,480 Speaker 1: as her on screen chemistry with Pereira was one of 690 00:39:41,480 --> 00:39:44,480 Speaker 1: the big reasons Attack of the Show was doing so well. 691 00:39:44,800 --> 00:39:47,759 Speaker 1: Actress Candice Bailey would step in to become the new 692 00:39:47,800 --> 00:39:51,480 Speaker 1: co host of the show. While things were super rocky, 693 00:39:51,560 --> 00:39:54,040 Speaker 1: they wouldn't end just yet. The channel was able to 694 00:39:54,040 --> 00:39:56,080 Speaker 1: hold on for a couple more years. Back in two 695 00:39:56,120 --> 00:40:00,560 Speaker 1: thousand nine, Comcast announced its intent to merge with NBC Universal, 696 00:40:00,880 --> 00:40:04,480 Speaker 1: which was a process that was completed in eleven. In 697 00:40:04,560 --> 00:40:08,880 Speaker 1: early Neil Tynes would step down as president of the channel, 698 00:40:09,200 --> 00:40:12,719 Speaker 1: and Adam Stotsky, who had previously been the president of 699 00:40:12,840 --> 00:40:16,120 Speaker 1: NBC's entertainment division, would take on the leadership role. But 700 00:40:16,400 --> 00:40:20,279 Speaker 1: one thing Stotsky did not have, notably, was experience in 701 00:40:20,400 --> 00:40:25,320 Speaker 1: actual television programming. He did have experience with branding, however, 702 00:40:25,840 --> 00:40:28,480 Speaker 1: and Stotsky worked to try and land a deal in 703 00:40:28,480 --> 00:40:32,680 Speaker 1: which G four would undergo an entire transformation. It would 704 00:40:32,760 --> 00:40:36,839 Speaker 1: undergo a full rebranding into the Esquire Network, but that 705 00:40:36,920 --> 00:40:40,680 Speaker 1: deal ultimately fell through and instead the Style Network would 706 00:40:40,680 --> 00:40:43,720 Speaker 1: get that rebranding instead. Turns out it wouldn't have mattered. 707 00:40:43,880 --> 00:40:48,400 Speaker 1: The Esquire Network ceased to be in twenty seventeen. Anyway. 708 00:40:48,520 --> 00:40:51,719 Speaker 1: In two thousand twelve, ex Play host Adam Sessler began 709 00:40:51,760 --> 00:40:54,640 Speaker 1: hearing rumors that his days were numbered as a host 710 00:40:54,719 --> 00:40:57,600 Speaker 1: on the channel. In April of that year, he was 711 00:40:57,640 --> 00:41:01,040 Speaker 1: officially fired for reasons I've never been able to determine, 712 00:41:01,080 --> 00:41:04,160 Speaker 1: apart from perhaps the channel just wanted to cut costs 713 00:41:04,200 --> 00:41:06,880 Speaker 1: and Sessler, as a longtime veteran, might have had a 714 00:41:06,880 --> 00:41:10,239 Speaker 1: pretty high salary comparatively speaking. He would end up with 715 00:41:10,360 --> 00:41:13,800 Speaker 1: Revision three for a while, so for a short time 716 00:41:13,960 --> 00:41:18,440 Speaker 1: we were technically co workers. The following month, Kevin Pereira 717 00:41:18,600 --> 00:41:21,319 Speaker 1: announced he was leaving G four and Attack of the 718 00:41:21,360 --> 00:41:24,160 Speaker 1: show after the E three trade show in June of 719 00:41:24,160 --> 00:41:27,320 Speaker 1: that year. His departure was pretty much the death blow 720 00:41:27,400 --> 00:41:29,760 Speaker 1: two Attack of the show, though it would limp along 721 00:41:29,840 --> 00:41:32,360 Speaker 1: for the rest of two thousand twelve, shooting the final 722 00:41:32,400 --> 00:41:35,879 Speaker 1: episode in December two thousand twelve that would not air 723 00:41:36,000 --> 00:41:39,920 Speaker 1: until January two thirteen, so technically most people say the 724 00:41:39,920 --> 00:41:44,480 Speaker 1: show lasted till x Play also aired its final show 725 00:41:44,600 --> 00:41:48,520 Speaker 1: at that same time. G four would continue to run reruns, 726 00:41:48,760 --> 00:41:53,919 Speaker 1: but slowly those licensing deals were expiring. By November, there 727 00:41:53,960 --> 00:41:58,319 Speaker 1: just wasn't enough there there, and NBC announced that the 728 00:41:58,360 --> 00:42:01,040 Speaker 1: channel would go off the air. It was done. The 729 00:42:01,080 --> 00:42:04,239 Speaker 1: Canadian version of G four, which I haven't really talked 730 00:42:04,239 --> 00:42:06,920 Speaker 1: about here and which would carry much more of the 731 00:42:06,920 --> 00:42:10,720 Speaker 1: old tech TV programming for much longer, would last until 732 00:42:10,760 --> 00:42:14,480 Speaker 1: two thousand seventeen, so it outlived the American version of 733 00:42:14,560 --> 00:42:17,480 Speaker 1: G four and the American version of Tech TV. In fact, 734 00:42:17,680 --> 00:42:22,120 Speaker 1: it outlived the Esquire Network, the channel that that G 735 00:42:22,320 --> 00:42:25,160 Speaker 1: four was supposed to turn into. Now, there's a lot 736 00:42:25,239 --> 00:42:28,080 Speaker 1: more that could be said about this story, and like 737 00:42:28,120 --> 00:42:32,719 Speaker 1: I've indicated, a few times. The big story here is 738 00:42:32,760 --> 00:42:34,920 Speaker 1: not unique to G four. There were a lot of 739 00:42:35,000 --> 00:42:38,880 Speaker 1: channels that started out catering to a specific core audience, 740 00:42:39,480 --> 00:42:44,239 Speaker 1: but the demands of the industry typically say, it's not 741 00:42:44,360 --> 00:42:46,440 Speaker 1: good enough for you to do well. It's not good 742 00:42:46,520 --> 00:42:48,680 Speaker 1: enough for you to get good ratings. You need to 743 00:42:48,760 --> 00:42:51,960 Speaker 1: grow year over year. Those ratings need to get better 744 00:42:52,160 --> 00:42:55,880 Speaker 1: each year, and eventually to grow you have to expand 745 00:42:55,920 --> 00:42:58,880 Speaker 1: beyond your core audience. You can't just keep appealing to 746 00:42:58,920 --> 00:43:02,400 Speaker 1: the same people to watch more stuff. Now. I personally 747 00:43:02,440 --> 00:43:06,480 Speaker 1: think growth on its own is not the best measure 748 00:43:06,600 --> 00:43:10,120 Speaker 1: for success, and it can lead to catastrophic failures and 749 00:43:10,200 --> 00:43:12,640 Speaker 1: bad decisions, like it did with G four. But what 750 00:43:12,680 --> 00:43:14,840 Speaker 1: the heck do I know. I'm just a tech podcaster. 751 00:43:15,560 --> 00:43:18,360 Speaker 1: But it was interesting going back and looking at the 752 00:43:18,440 --> 00:43:21,839 Speaker 1: history of these two channels. They had a huge influence 753 00:43:21,960 --> 00:43:24,840 Speaker 1: on me. In fact, I think I can honestly say 754 00:43:25,120 --> 00:43:29,680 Speaker 1: that without tech TV, without G four, and also without 755 00:43:29,719 --> 00:43:33,239 Speaker 1: the influence of c nets Buzz Out Loud podcast, there 756 00:43:33,280 --> 00:43:36,080 Speaker 1: never would have been a Tech Stuff I never would 757 00:43:36,160 --> 00:43:41,479 Speaker 1: have even thought to do a technology podcast without those predecessors. 758 00:43:41,560 --> 00:43:45,400 Speaker 1: And while I cannot attest to being nearly as informative 759 00:43:45,520 --> 00:43:48,480 Speaker 1: or entertaining as those shows could be and those channels 760 00:43:48,480 --> 00:43:52,400 Speaker 1: could be. I do my humble best. If you guys 761 00:43:52,440 --> 00:43:55,600 Speaker 1: have any suggestions for future episodes of tech Stuff, send 762 00:43:55,680 --> 00:43:58,040 Speaker 1: me a note. Let me know. The email is tech 763 00:43:58,080 --> 00:44:00,359 Speaker 1: stuff at how stuff works dot com, where you can 764 00:44:00,360 --> 00:44:02,359 Speaker 1: reach out on Facebook or Twitter. The handle for both 765 00:44:02,360 --> 00:44:05,799 Speaker 1: of those is text stuff hs W. Don't forget to 766 00:44:05,800 --> 00:44:08,839 Speaker 1: go to our website that's text stuff podcast dot com. 767 00:44:08,960 --> 00:44:11,359 Speaker 1: You'll find an archive of all of our past episodes there, 768 00:44:11,400 --> 00:44:15,239 Speaker 1: plus links to our online store, where every purchase you 769 00:44:15,320 --> 00:44:18,120 Speaker 1: make goes to help the show. We greatly appreciate it, 770 00:44:18,520 --> 00:44:26,160 Speaker 1: and I'll talk to you again really soon. Text Stuff 771 00:44:26,200 --> 00:44:28,520 Speaker 1: is a production of I Heart Radio's How Stuff Works. 772 00:44:28,680 --> 00:44:31,480 Speaker 1: For more podcasts from my heart Radio, visit the i 773 00:44:31,600 --> 00:44:34,840 Speaker 1: heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to 774 00:44:34,880 --> 00:44:35,800 Speaker 1: your favorite shows.