I never watched TechTV, despite having worked for on-air host Chris Pirillo and his Lockergnome venture for a couple of years. Don't ask me how I wound up at Lockergnome, because even I'm not sure. I'm not a computer or tech geek and hiring me to work there was like asking Jabba the Hutt to play the piano*. The channel began as ZDTV and then became TechTV, and then later G4. Pirillo is teaming up with Leo LaPorte, another on-air personality, to launch (eventually) a Website called UndoTV where talent from the now-defunct channel can upload their own content. Pirillo sees it as an obvious step in a changing television industry that has become more and more infatuated with how the Web can reach people. I have no idea if such an idea could work, but it seems to make some sense in this case, considering the kind of people who were into TechTV were already denizens of the internet to begin with. I wonder if other failing niche networks would be able to accomplish something similar. The idea that something that failed on TV could have new life online is a nice one, but is it overly optimistic?
[via Lost Remote]
*He has short arms and he's very fat, so I imagine it would be physically impossible for him to play the piano. Also, it's an Earth instrument so he probably wouldn't even know how to play it, or the proper scales and whatnot. Though I suppose he could play a wall of keyboards, and if you labeled the keys he could probably pound out something by Yes. I think the point is that my similes need work.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
8-16-2006 @ 11:15AM
doc said...
Technically, TechTV didn't become G4. They were two seperate channels that existed at the same time. G4 bought TechTV and combined the two channels into G4TechTV. Eventually, they ended up cutting almost all of the original TechTV programming, and later, even a lot of the original G4 programming, as they make their move to becoming another cable channel that serves up reruns of old content. I think the only TechTV show that survives, kind of, is Attack of the Show, which is the revamped Screensavers.
There is a pretty good parallel of what is going on at G4 if you look back to FX. Remember when they did all their own programming? Including the best morning show that ever was? As soon as G4 secures those rights to air 90210, the cycle will be complete.
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8-16-2006 @ 11:57AM
Eligio J Rosa said...
Okay somethings first Attack is not The Screen Savers. G4 remade the TSS format because they fired their tech people and got a bad rap because they still have the TSS name. So they change the name.
So the only Tech Tv show left is actually Xplay. But now I want G4 to cancel it so they can join the rest of former TTV people in Podcast heaven.
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8-16-2006 @ 12:04PM
doc said...
Eligio, good point about X-Play. That one had completely slipped my mind. I added the 'kind of' about Attack of the Show because it really is a completely different show now, but it does have a lineage back to the screensavers.
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8-16-2006 @ 12:19PM
Gordy said...
Really enjoyed TechTV, but I lost it after ditching Dish Network and going to Comcast Basic.
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8-16-2006 @ 3:34PM
Brent McKee said...
Just to complicate things a bit more, there G4TechTV Canada. When the digital services tier was created in Canada TechTV (then owned by Paul Allen) got a license for a channel in Canada by partnering with the country's two biggest cable companies. Because of licensing requirements they can't show entertainment programming - they're an "educational" channel. When G4 bought TechTV the Canadian channel took a lot of the gaming crap that replaced the TechTV shows, but were smart enough to hire Leo Laporte to do a version of "Call For Help" in Toronto (he flies up one week a month to do 15 episodes of the show). G4 eventually bought the show for the US market, and placed it at a time that no one would see it to "prove" that technolog programming wouldn't work. They then cancelled it and started their move to try to be a SpikeTV knock-off. The Canadian "Call For Help" is now available to American viewers at Google Video for 99 cents an episode. This, combined with Laporte's burgeoning podcast empire and the online video productions of various other TechTV types including digg.com founder Kevin Rose, is probably where the UndoTV idea originated.
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