Villano
First Post
I was debating putting this in the off-topic forum, but, considering that there are some genre shows which air on the network (like Anime Unleashed), I decided to put it here.
Before I get to my rant (like you couldn't tell it was going to be a rant from the subject title), I should fill you in on some history.
In the beginning, there was G4, a struggling network dedicated solely to video games, and Tech TV, a network which aired shows mostly dedicated to tech (from computers to mp3 players), but also some other types of programming (like anime).
Anyway, as I mentioned, G4 was struggling. What it didn't have in viewers, it made up for in money. Seeing that Tech TV was available in more homes, G4 bought out the network. This resulted in a new channel called "G4TechTV".
When the merger first occurred, TechTV fans, not to mention the people who actually work there, were a bit worried. Would shows be cancelled? Would G4 just fire everyone and replace all the TechTV series with there own?
Personally, I was concerned about a few shows. I thought that the very popular Call For Help and Screen Savers were safe. The same goes for the video game review show, X-Play. I was a bit worried about the fate of the talk show Unscrewed, since its strange sense of humor isn't for everyone. OTOH, I was hoping that we would finally see the end of the terrible British shows, like Robot Wars, Tech TV insisted on airing.
Imagine my surprise when all the shows (including Robot Wars) made the cut except Call For Help. For what I understood, it was Tech TV's highest rated series. You would think that G4 would want to keep the top show.
Also, G4 said that they were closing up the San Fransico Tech TV studio and moving all the shows to LA. This meant a lot of crewmembers were fired (they already have crew in the G4 studios) and that anyone else who wanted to work for them would have to make the move to LA (that's about 380 miles). The only onscreen people who chose not to move were Leo LaPort, of Screen Savers and host of Call For Help, and Patrick Norton, co-host of Screen Savers. I'm sure there were other, behind the scene people who decided not to go, too.
Well, it's 2 months down the road and the other shoe has dropped. Earlier in the week, G4 cancelled Unscrewed, fired all (and I do me "all") but 2 people from Screen Savers, and pretty much ended all the original Tech TV shows it carried except X-Play, Robot Wars (wtf?!), and Anime Unleashed. Screen Savers is as good as cancelled since they only kept two of the hosts, Kevin Rose and Sarah Lane, and are "restructuring" the series to now be about, what else, video games. There's even a possiblity that it may not even be called Screen Savers anymore (which makes it about as cancelled as you can get).
There's also office gossip at G4 that X-Play might also be "restructured". As you can imagine, there's a certain level of paranoia there after the mass firings.
Right now, the G4TechTV boards are not a nice place to be as you can imagine. People aren't simply angry. If G4 had cancelled the shows at the beginning, people would have been mad that their favorite shows were gone, but they would have gotten over it. TV series are cancelled all the time. What has people outraged is that they forced all these poor people to move across the state, give up their lives, sign new leases on apartments, knowing full well they were going to cut the legs out from under them in 2 months.
Also, the firings were really classy. One of the now ex-employees has a blog and detailed the event. I can't find the post on the boards now, but, apparently, everyone was called in at around noon, told they were all fired and had to have their desks cleaned out and be out of the building by 3pm. That's how they found out they were cancelled. Classy.
Come January, G4TechTV will change it's name back to G4, making the whole "raping and pillaging" complete.
I feel sorry for all the people who moved and took year long leases on new places only to find themselves unemployed. I'm kind of friends with the mother of one of those people.
I wanted to post this to give everyone a head's up about the cancelled shows so you can watch them while you still can, and also to warn you that Anime Unleashed might also be on the chopping block. G4 is axing all it's non-gaming programs and AU isn't about video games, so don't be surprised if it's gone sometime after Christmas.
Oh, actually, they're not cancelling all their non-gaming shows. I just found out that they're starting a new series about Formula D. What's that? It's drift racing. That's where you race by skidding your car. It's one of those trendy "extreme" sports. Why are they dedicating a series to this? Here's a quote from an article on IGN.com about the series that should clue you in:
A vanity project? They cancelled their top-rated shows but are dedicating time to a VP's hobby? I really need some "rolleyes" icons here.
Before I get to my rant (like you couldn't tell it was going to be a rant from the subject title), I should fill you in on some history.
In the beginning, there was G4, a struggling network dedicated solely to video games, and Tech TV, a network which aired shows mostly dedicated to tech (from computers to mp3 players), but also some other types of programming (like anime).
Anyway, as I mentioned, G4 was struggling. What it didn't have in viewers, it made up for in money. Seeing that Tech TV was available in more homes, G4 bought out the network. This resulted in a new channel called "G4TechTV".
When the merger first occurred, TechTV fans, not to mention the people who actually work there, were a bit worried. Would shows be cancelled? Would G4 just fire everyone and replace all the TechTV series with there own?
Personally, I was concerned about a few shows. I thought that the very popular Call For Help and Screen Savers were safe. The same goes for the video game review show, X-Play. I was a bit worried about the fate of the talk show Unscrewed, since its strange sense of humor isn't for everyone. OTOH, I was hoping that we would finally see the end of the terrible British shows, like Robot Wars, Tech TV insisted on airing.
Imagine my surprise when all the shows (including Robot Wars) made the cut except Call For Help. For what I understood, it was Tech TV's highest rated series. You would think that G4 would want to keep the top show.
Also, G4 said that they were closing up the San Fransico Tech TV studio and moving all the shows to LA. This meant a lot of crewmembers were fired (they already have crew in the G4 studios) and that anyone else who wanted to work for them would have to make the move to LA (that's about 380 miles). The only onscreen people who chose not to move were Leo LaPort, of Screen Savers and host of Call For Help, and Patrick Norton, co-host of Screen Savers. I'm sure there were other, behind the scene people who decided not to go, too.
Well, it's 2 months down the road and the other shoe has dropped. Earlier in the week, G4 cancelled Unscrewed, fired all (and I do me "all") but 2 people from Screen Savers, and pretty much ended all the original Tech TV shows it carried except X-Play, Robot Wars (wtf?!), and Anime Unleashed. Screen Savers is as good as cancelled since they only kept two of the hosts, Kevin Rose and Sarah Lane, and are "restructuring" the series to now be about, what else, video games. There's even a possiblity that it may not even be called Screen Savers anymore (which makes it about as cancelled as you can get).
There's also office gossip at G4 that X-Play might also be "restructured". As you can imagine, there's a certain level of paranoia there after the mass firings.
Right now, the G4TechTV boards are not a nice place to be as you can imagine. People aren't simply angry. If G4 had cancelled the shows at the beginning, people would have been mad that their favorite shows were gone, but they would have gotten over it. TV series are cancelled all the time. What has people outraged is that they forced all these poor people to move across the state, give up their lives, sign new leases on apartments, knowing full well they were going to cut the legs out from under them in 2 months.
Also, the firings were really classy. One of the now ex-employees has a blog and detailed the event. I can't find the post on the boards now, but, apparently, everyone was called in at around noon, told they were all fired and had to have their desks cleaned out and be out of the building by 3pm. That's how they found out they were cancelled. Classy.
Come January, G4TechTV will change it's name back to G4, making the whole "raping and pillaging" complete.
I feel sorry for all the people who moved and took year long leases on new places only to find themselves unemployed. I'm kind of friends with the mother of one of those people.
I wanted to post this to give everyone a head's up about the cancelled shows so you can watch them while you still can, and also to warn you that Anime Unleashed might also be on the chopping block. G4 is axing all it's non-gaming programs and AU isn't about video games, so don't be surprised if it's gone sometime after Christmas.
Oh, actually, they're not cancelling all their non-gaming shows. I just found out that they're starting a new series about Formula D. What's that? It's drift racing. That's where you race by skidding your car. It's one of those trendy "extreme" sports. Why are they dedicating a series to this? Here's a quote from an article on IGN.com about the series that should clue you in:
A vanity project? They cancelled their top-rated shows but are dedicating time to a VP's hobby? I really need some "rolleyes" icons here.
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