


Leo Laporte Returns to G4TV 206
TimeForGuinness writes "Leo Laporte returns to G4TV along with the show Call For Help. It premieres Monday the 29th of August at 11am ET/8am PT. As a long time ZDTV and TechTV fan, I am happy to see him return." Agreed. Good to see him back on a cable show. The first few episode topics include: "Waterproof Your Gadgets, Find a Wi-Fi Hotspot, Tweak Your TV Tones, Network Enabled DVD Players"
That channel went to hell (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:That channel went to hell (Score:5, Insightful)
Filter is just as retarded. Another weird looking chick (they're trying to push the hot-chick thing for the male viewers, but aside from the punky blonde, morgan webb and sarah lane, they're all kind of below-average). And she basically presents what's nothing more than a weekly slashdot-poll/meme.
Then the stupid Arena show. A bunch of total dorksj playing games with commentary on TV. And it's so boring. *yawn*. And the host is some blockhead douchebag who probably hasn't played a game in his life and who doesn't get most of the jokes Kevin Perera throws out.
Then there's X-Play, which is okay - Adam is a smart guy even if they make him act like a spaz on the show. And Morgan... smart chick and I'd watch her read the phone book for all it matters.
Kevin Pererra is pretty funny. Kevin Rose was a good balance to him, though. I miss Rose because he added some authenticity and credibility to the show. And a little edge. He was the linux, OSS, screw the RIAA guy. Probably the best thing G4/TechTV has ever had.
Laporte and Patrick are both cool guys. Laporte explains thing so well. I actually like listening to his radio show, because while he talks about mundane windows-oriented stuff that my dog could figure out, I still learn a little bit about how to deal with explaining tech to people and after all these years, that still benefits me in my career. He has a knack for that.
Their race car/naked-whore shows are boring and retarded. If I cared about drifting or car racing, I'd fucking watch ESPN.
Mostly, I just hate all the god damned reruns. I swear to god they play X-Play 12 times per day.. and half the episodes are about games that have been out for two or three years!
Sarah Lane is pretty cool, too. I guess I just think that because I've been watching for a long time and she kind of grows on you. Plus, she's kind of hot in a petite little... nevermind, Kevin Rose might be reading this....
Brendan Moran is... well... Clealry not too tech oriented. But he's a lush. Drunks are cool.
I miss Jessika. The hot little redhead. I miss Patrick. I hoe Leo brings him back on. And Martin Sargeant and (Lauren? - his cohost) were decent. Sometimes his show sucked, but I'd rather watch that than yet another god damned rerun.
And this Cinematech thing... a half hour stretch of fucking videogame vidcaps? LAME!
Their historical stuff is really cool though. Like when they do a whole half hour or hour about the guy who invented the gameboy or Nolan Bushnell or something. Aside from Attack of the Show, that's probably the best thing they do.
You know what I wish? I wish Sean Baby was going to be the new host of Attack of the Show. I swear to god I've always hated that fucking asshole douchebag, but after watching him on the show for about two weeks, I completely changed my opinion of him. He's funny, smart and kind of charming. I don't wanna give the guy a rimjob or anything, but he was just obnoxious enough and smart enough to be fun to watch.
I guess he has his own animated show or something coming on G4 soon, though.
Re:That channel went to hell (Score:1)
Re:That channel went to hell (Score:1)
That tommy guy is apparently a videogame music composer or something, though. He seems like a fairly tight guy, but I don't know why they need yet another game review show. There's some "G4.com" or whatever in the mornings with that hot blonde punky chick and some guy and a girl and they review games on there, too. It's nuts. Enough game reviews!
I wish they had more stuff that didn't have to do with games. Attack
Re:That channel went to hell (Score:3, Informative)
G4 following the MTV model. (Score:2)
G4 knows that a TV show like Arena costs NOTHING to produce. The players probably are compensated with little more than plane tickets, hotel accomodations, and free pizza. G4 relies heavily on interns. Their costs are far lower I bet than TechTV's was, and so they are more profitable.
They can survive alienating the TechTV's "core" of, well, techies, by pandering to 9 year olds who watch just for the reject chicks from the Hot To
Re:That channel went to hell (Score:3, Interesting)
I drifted away like 90% of the other posters here.
Maybe, belatedly, they are finally realizing it was a bad decision.
Too little, too late, too bad -- for all of us.
Good tekkie shows are hard to find.
You missed one (Score:2, Funny)
Spend your friday night on slashdot. Just kidding!
Re:You missed one (Score:2)
thanks for bringing up a sensitive subject.
You had me at Hello Leo (Score:5, Funny)
*unblocks G4 from his receiver*
ok, you got me this time, but I'm not enjoying it!
He's already there... (Score:1)
Re:He's already there... (Score:2, Funny)
In Soviet Canada (Score:1, Funny)
What the heck... (Score:4, Informative)
For those of you who don't watch TV anymore :cough:, here's a primer: Call for Help [wikipedia.org] and Leo Laporte [wikipedia.org].
G4 Realizes They Blow? (Score:1, Insightful)
Re:G4 Realizes They Blow? (Score:1)
Re:G4 Realizes They Blow? (Score:1)
Laporte Returns (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Laporte Returns (Score:1, Informative)
Kat's probably still hiding away after that little topless photo accident. You see, sometimes when you digitally remove parts of an image, they are still in the thumbnails or preview images. She learned that the hard way...
Of course she was smoking in those pictures (as in cigarettes, not as in hot) so they were really quite disappointing. So sad.
It should be noted... (Score:4, Informative)
Don't worry though, you're not missing much from the Canadian version of G4 as Call for Help and Xplay are the only good shows on our version as well. The worst show has to be Arena. Why would I want to watch a nerd herd playing games I already own?
Anyway, glad to hear the Leo is back on U.S. television.
Re:It should be noted... (Score:1)
Re:It should be noted... (Score:1)
Re:It should be noted... (Score:2)
Re:It should be noted... (Score:2)
It's about time (Score:4, Insightful)
This is great
Ever since G4 took over, that channel has become increasingly childish and mindless. There is an overabundance of programming devoted to video games and other distractions while the "tech" element has been brushed completely aside. Even if the show is a bit basic, at least it has substance.
Re:It's about time (Score:2)
G4 wasn't carried in enough markets. TechTV was widely carried. G4 wanted TechTV's market penetration, and the price was right.
There are only two shows I currently watch on G4: X-Play and Anime Unleashed. I didn't watch Call For Help on TechTV, but I'll be recording it tomorrow, and get today's episode as a rerun on Saturday.
Just what is with the Furry Fridays on G4?
A ray of sunshine (Score:1)
Can't get any science channel (Score:1, Offtopic)
Oh yeah , you get all the AD channels like QVC and Home Shopping. BAAAAAAAAhhhhhhhhhhh !
Hurry up with the damn FIOS,FTTH .
I am sure we are all ready to DITCH the 'ABORTION' known as cable tv.
Re:Can't get any science channel (Score:2)
On the other side, they get paid to carry QVC and religion/telemarketing channels, and in some cases, get a c
Re:Can't get any science channel (Score:2)
It's competition. I don't care for the channels on now and with an alacarte type system with FIOS then I can choose what I would like instead of a QVC paying their way onto my cable line.
Re:Can't get any science channel (Score:2)
Yes it's competition. The content is the product, the wire it's coming in on is just a much smaller part of the picture than you think.
I for one welcome the return of our techtv masters (Score:1)
Re:I for one welcome the return of our techtv mast (Score:2)
Miss Kate, where have you gone? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Miss Kate, where have you gone? (Score:2)
Network Enabled DVD Players (Score:2)
Re:Network Enabled DVD Players (Score:2)
V880N Features * DVI (Digital Visual Interface) video output * High-Definition Progressive Scan video output, Supports 480p, 720p, 1080i . An ideal video source for HDTV, plasma, LCD and projectors. * Playback DVD, VCD, CD, MP3, MP4, and JPEG Picture CD Media formats * 10/100M Network & Wireless 802.11a/b/g network ready. Allows you play audio/video anywhere via wireless or LAN. More detail.. * Listen to Web Radio and synchronize V880N with your Apple iTunes. More detail..
Re:Network Enabled DVD Players (Score:2)
If DVD+RW DL discs existed, that would be perfect.
A real reason to watch CFH (Score:3, Interesting)
You are... maybe too computer literate, and you have a hard time with layman's terms.
Call for Help is a great way to learn to speak non-tech speak to the tech disabled.
It's helped me immensly in the past on how to deal with my parents, convince my grandparents to switch to mac to avoid viruses, and advise friends on purchasing PC parts on their own to build their own PC's.
You want relief? Make your friends build their own PC's and then tell them since they built it, THEY can support it!
Re:A real reason to watch CFH (Score:1)
I fail it.
He is O.K. in my book (Score:3, Interesting)
Too bad G4 Sucks Ass though.
Good news... (Score:2)
About Time! (Score:2, Insightful)
The other garbage (like Attack Of the Show) just sucks ass.
How about Cat ? (Score:1)
February 19th, 2005 [catschwartz.com]
Management Probably Doesn't know about it (Score:5, Interesting)
THIS is what happens when you let the marketing people run the programming.
Re:Management Probably Doesn't know about it (Score:1)
So are you an angry Dragonball Z fan or a disgruntled Fullmetal Alchemist fan?
Re:Management Probably Doesn't know about it (Score:3, Insightful)
There was only ever one reason: TechTV was on DirecTV and Dish Network. They had channel space.
Comcast was never able to get channel space for G4. Nobody wanted to carry it. Buying TechTV gave them the channel space they so badly wanted.
They were probably hoping to gain TechTVs viewers too but they mostly has not happened. The gamers are too busy playing games to watch TV shows about games, and the people seeking tech content got nothing.
Comcast has rece
Re:Management Probably Doesn't know about it (Score:2)
Wonder how that "accountability" think will w
Adam (Score:2)
Re:Management Probably Doesn't know about it (Score:2)
End it! (Score:1)
Law of Averages? (Score:1)
He's in podcasts too (Score:2)
Woot! (Score:1)
If C4H is back... (Score:2)
I hope that if G4 decides to do it, that Leo and company will be savvy enough NOT TO SELL IT TO FSCKN COMCAST, DAMM!T!!! Screw me once, etc. etc.
I might have to get cable back. God, I hate giving Adelphia anything but my boot up their @$$ but Leo Laporte returning to US TV is pretty damn compelling. Yes, I'm a
Re:If C4H is back... (Score:2)
I had such bad experiences that I went with DirecTV. The service is better on every level and it is cheaper.
So G4 TV... (Score:2, Funny)
Sorry, it had to be said...again I'm sure.
Other missed TechTV shows... (Score:3, Interesting)
That and I still think Erica Hill is one of the brightest talking heads on TV. Too bad she was abducted by CNN at such an early age.
Re:Other missed TechTV shows... (Score:2)
Nothing like watching old BBC reruns.
How many points will the rating go up??? (Score:2, Interesting)
great...but.... (Score:2)
Bring back TechTV!
And Unscrewed with Martin Sargent!
www.sargeworld.com - Martin's official blog
Bring back Unscrewed with Martin Sargent! (Score:2)
If there are any unofficial Unscrewed Army members here at Slashdot that are unaware of this, Martin Sargent has an official blog up now (and not some faker fan pretending to be Martin, as was the case 6 months ago). Check him out here:
www.sargeworld.com
NO! (Score:2)
He always came across as so arrogant
Re:Show for n00bs (Score:2)
Re:Show for n00bs (Score:4, Interesting)
Seeing the problems that "ordinary people" have with software helps us geeks understand better what it takes to design good software.
Re:Show for n00bs (Score:1)
Don't forget the ego boost from thinking "I knew that."
Re:Show for n00bs (Score:1, Insightful)
That and it was a fairly innocuous program that filled that cable programming time slot.
Re:Show for n00bs (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Show for n00bs (Score:1)
Oh yeah. Totally. All the really cool people that I know try to emulate geeks. They just totally envy us and want to be just like us. You bet...
Hell, I'm a wannabe porn-star, but they said they couldn't find any chicks willing to risk the pummeling by my freak-of-nature gargantuan cock. Not even the really lose "mature" ladies that do horses and stuff at the end of their career to keep the money coming in for their cocaine habit.
Re:Show for n00bs (Score:1)
Re:Show for n00bs (Score:4, Interesting)
Attack of the Show is more like a cross between Slashdot and Fark, but clean enough for television.
Most of the content from G4/TechTV is just awful. It's too MTV-ish geared for zit-faced basement dwelling pre-pubescent kids who'll never get a date. You know, the kind of people that would think some stereotypical black guy with cornrows, bling and a funky nickname interviewing half naked asian pornstars in between showing "drift" races is "really awesome". TechTV wasn't like that. G4 has become that. Of course, G4 is owned by Viacom, which owns MTV - I believe. TechTV was owned by Paul Allen.
Most people who watch G4/TechTV don't do it because it's the best thing in the world. They watch it because it's all there is. What other tech shows are you going to watch on TV? You're not - there aren't any, unless you count a re-run of Monster Garage or a rare episode of Alan Alda hosting Nova (which is probably about my favorite non-fiction series ever on television).
Actually - I wouldn't even qualify Attack of the Show that way. That show actually is good. But everything else on the station is mediocre. Well, except for those cool 'documentary' shows about the history of gaming. That shit is pretty cool.
What I'd really like is to see some sort of a channel dedicated to learning. And then maybe a channel dedicated to science. Unfortunately, the two stations that used to be that are now "The Ladies Channel" that show nothing but "A Wedding Story" and "A Baby Story" and "A Makeover Story" and "A Dating Story" (I'm not shitting you - that's the lineup on The Learning Channel!)... and then Discovery.. I don't even know what that has these days. Probably just a bunch of send-person-out-of-town, redo-house, surprise-person shows.
Re:Show for n00bs (Score:2)
That's because Slashdot and Fark are where they get 90% of their material.
Re:Show for n00bs (Score:1)
In fact, I see things on Slashdot a day or two after they've been on Attack of the Show *FAR* more often than the other way around. And when Attack of the Show takes something from Slashdot, they actually attribute it.
Anyway, who cars - the web and television both survive by butt-raping each other's content on a daily basis.
Re:Show for n00bs (Score:2)
Re:Show for n00bs (Score:2)
Re:Show for n00bs (Score:2)
G4 is owned
Re:Show for n00bs (Score:2)
I never saw GPhoria, but if it was worse than the pointlessly stupid Spike TV awards, holy crap I'm glad I missed it.
I want the the 20 minutes I spent FF through it. I felt stupider every second I watched it.
Re:Show for n00bs (Score:2)
At least the SpikeTV videogame awards had David Spade hosting them one year. GPhoria has *celebs* that are lower than Spade on the pecking order in Hollywood...
Re:Show for n00bs (Score:2)
http://blogcritics.org/archives/2003/12/05/012047
Re:Show for n00bs (Score:2)
I think you misspelled "all."
Actually - I wouldn't even qualify Attack of the Show that way. That show actually is good.
The show whose high point was cramming a web server up someone's posterior?
Re:Show for n00bs (Score:2, Insightful)
Just because you're experienced with Windows, it doesn't mean we all are. As tech-support for the family and close friends, I learnt alot about where to find things when I recieved my family's calls for help.
As far as I know, it was one of the only shows of its type. Let's face it, technical types are going to use a TV show to get information, and TV shows aren't interested in appealing to the arcane topics of ha
Re:Show for n00bs (Score:2)
Re:Show for n00bs (Score:5, Informative)
And yes, aside form his commentary, his "instructional" information could be learned from a book. You know what book? Probably the book HE WROTE. He writes an extremely popular technical almanac every year and has for quite a few years now. It's not bad. I wouldn't buy it, but if I had a tech-interested family member who was somewhat short on the actual tech experience or knowledge, I'd completely refer them to it.
Leo is a communicator. He's calm and polite and interesting and has a very smooth and helpful way of explaining things that would otherwise be very difficult for non-tech people to understand. He performs an important job in the tech industry - helping people. Some of us could learn a thing or two. If you want to draw in more customers and a larger tech community, you have to start somewhere. You're not going to get it by insulting people and turning them away if they aren't as incredibly 31337 as you and I. you're going to do it by empowering them. Help them through problems. Explain things to them. Maybe expose them to some stuff they weren't familiar with before. I gaurantee the first time a lot of people will hear about what P2P really is or wifi or the RIAA or Windows Update are through that guy.
He isn't going to tell you how to write your own software and port it to the iPod. He's going to tell you how to get your ipod to synch with your mac properly. He's not going to tell you how to create and post a bit torrent... but he'll tell you what bit torrent is and point you to some clients and some information about it.
There are a lot of hack "tech support genius" guys on the radio. They all suck and stay the stupidest shit. Laporte actually knows his stuff. You should listen to his show on KFI on the weekend some time. Or his podcast. Or watch him on TV. Or read one of his books.
Re:Show for n00bs (Score:2, Interesting)
Our local station had a couple douchebags and one of them would routinely tell callers, when asking how they can deal with popups in their web browser, that the problem isn't the internet or their browser - it's that they're probably infected with a virus and then he'd go on this long diatribe about scanning for viruses and and trojans and so forth.
It never once occured to him to tell them "use firefox" or "install a popup blocker". No, he
Re:Show for n00bs (Score:3, Interesting)
Leo's podcast This Week in Tech features John C. Dvorak [slashdot.org] and Steve Gibson [grcsucks.com].
Leo himself never seemed that bad, but he's not that intelligent in regards to technology. He's not someone I personally consider as a reputable source for technology news/discussion; I listened to a few episodes of This Week in Tech and unsubscribed. In general, the show often gave me the same feeling I
Re:Show for n00bs (Score:2, Funny)
Yeah, managers suck!
if you're gonna do it... (Score:2)
Re:Leo sold himself out (Score:1)
Re:Leo sold himself out (Score:2)
http://www.g4tv.com/ [g4tv.com]
Notice the "Copyright G4 Media" on both pages. Hmm.
Notice how they have almost the same shows. Hmm.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G4_Media [wikipedia.org]
Notice that the American company has a 30% minor ownership in the Canadian version. Hmm.
Notice the fact that the Canadian page says "Call for Help - coming to the US!" Hmm hmm hmm.
Why, yes! It's the same show! From the same production company!
Anyone who's given Mr. Laporte money has given money for the production of "This Week in T
Re:Oh Yay (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Oh Yay (Score:1)
But after it went to techtv they did still have a lot of linux stuff, and would always tell people not to use internet explorer, and promoted mac and linux (even freeBSD a few times).
Re:Oh Yay (Score:2, Funny)
Windows just pays the bills.
Looks like the only person less intelligent than Dvorak is you.
Re:Oh Yay (Score:2)
Hey, give Dvorak some credit. He certainly was right about the switch to Intel (on the Macintosh platform). Incredibly. I certainly did not believe the rumors until the news that hit the fan after the Developer's Conference presentation.
Re:Call for help (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Yawn... (Score:1)
Fighting remote control things on wheels lost all of its steam after about two years.
I hate when the american version with those two ESPN-ish douchebags comes on. I hate when the tired old version with the guy from Red Dwarf comes on. I hate when the one with Dweezle Zappa comes on.
Please.. no more battling remote control things on TV. If you come up with a show that has autonomous ROBOTS battling, I'm all for it.
In the meantime, Master Blasters on Sci-Fi kicks fucking ass. Now that's
Re:Returns (Score:3, Informative)
I'm not sure why such a big deal is being made over this, it's really not a big thing, he's just moving from
Re:Returns (Score:2)
That's not my point though, my point is that he never LEFT, Call for Help has always been around, it was just only in Canada. Now it will also air in the US, but they never stopped making it.
Amen (Score:2)
I used to watch The Screen Savers religiously every day. I'd Tivo it and watch three our four episodes in one sitting if I'd been gone for a few days on business. It was a great show.
It started going down hill when it went from the 1.5hr format to the 1.0hr format.
Then they m
Re:Starcade (Score:2)
I must admit, I did enjoy watching the repeats of that *classic* show. I watched it for the "2 days" it was originally on back in (what, 1983?) and was disappointed when it disappeared off the screens. Rewatching it as an adult made me laugh because I really got the impression that the host was drunk at times...
Its more amusing to watch than Cinematech, but I'm sure the nearly braindead management at G4 cannot grasp such a
Re:Starcade (Score:2)
Mark Richards was a lousy wannabe host. He had an obnoxious voice and could never get any consistency with his dialog.
Geoff Edwards, as a seasoned host, really made Starcade a fun show to watch.