According to the New York Times, Comcast is set to own NBC Universal and all channels that are part of it as early as next week.
This could change the entire television landscape and pretty much give us less of a selection in terms of entertainment. The rumor is that Comcast is going to keep the cable channels, then sell the NBC network. News Corporation expressed interest in the property, but the Comcast talks progressed along far enough to eliminate other potential buyers. It could be argued that having MSNBC partially owned by the same owners of Fox News is a bit of a conflict of interest.
Who would step forward to buy NBC network? The ratings haven't been great and they did do that silly thing with Jay Leno and their 10 p.m. slot. NBC is too much of a name brand to let fall by the wayside. Who do you think should step up and buy the network?
This sounds like a really odd new show from G4. It's Slasher School, a new animated show that features the voices of Attack of the Show hosts Kevin Pereira, Olivia Munn, and Blair Butler. The show debuts tonight at 7PM on AOTS.
The plot? It's about a school where killers learn to kill.
G4 has been bringing Japan's Ninja Warriorto the states for a few years now. And for those of you who haven't seen it, it's one of the most addictive and difficult challenges in the world. The past several runs, they've even worked to send a group of Americans over to Japan to compete in the competition alongside a whole bevy of Japanese personalities and athletes.
Now they're taking it a step further, creating an all American Ninja Warrior. Unfortunately, the plan is to send ten American competitors over there to compete on Sasuke, the official Ninja Warrior obstacle course. I'd have much rather them build an American version of the course here. That way, like in the Japanese version, they can have 100 competitors from all walks of American life.
Just imagine. We'd have actors plugging crap giving it a try, and reality show contestants trying to extend their fifteen minutes. And most of them will fail and land in the water. The fear I have is that if we only have ten contestants in Sasuke, what happens if they all blow the first of four stages? Show's over?
Star Wars is a big deal. I tell you this in case you are unfamiliar with the property (hey, it's possible!). So if you're going to choose which panel from this weekend's Comic-Con to become the first ever televised convention panel, why not go with Star Wars? You've got a rabid fan-base, half of them probably dressed up like their favorite characters from the saga. Get two of your most popular on-air personalities to host it and you should have television gold.
That was G4's plan going in. Kevin Pereira and Olivia Munn host the nightly live Attack of the Show, where they're topical, geeky and funny. I thought they brought much of that same energy to their hosting here. So what went wrong?
For one, it seemed like somebody slipped the audience some Xanax while they were waiting in line or something, because they didn't get excited about anything. It didn't help that the majority of the panel was incredibly boring.
I remember long ago in a cable land far away when a little show called Talk Soup started. It was clever, riffing on talk show shenanigans. We've come a long way since then, with clip shows blanketing the network. And then there's the Internet. On paper the idea of a web video iteration of The Soup, as it's now called, sounds solid enough, and G4 is a good place for it, but as Michael pointed out, Web Soup just isn't working.
Even though G4 is the place for techie stuff and they handle web videos already, Web Soup still manages to feel outdated and stodgy. And Chris Hardwick, while funny when he fills in on Attack of the Show, is almost mind-numbingly not funny hosting Web Soup. But Chris Hardwick and the gang were not alone in exploring web videos on our TVs. Comedy Central threw comedian Daniel Tosh into the mix with the webbily titled Tosh.0. But which one, if either, is better?
G4 must be getting on my nerves. I'm giving Web Soup another few weeks because Chris Hardwick is still warming up. I'm more upset on Ninja Warrior's evolution, becoming more and more American. By adding several G4 characters, they are diluting a fun Japanese show.
I can forgive a show like Iron Chef America because they are their own separate entity that is respectful to the original, but inserting G4 people into the original Sasuke feels forced and unnecessary, as if Sasuke just got taken over by Americans.
I've never found Lewis Black particularly funny. I mean, he's OK, but I haven't found the greatness that a lot of people have. I like it better when he's being interviewed than when he's on The Daily Show or doing standup, like this appearance on G4's Attack of the Show. He talks about how we don't need news crawls on the news networks (I agree), religion, and his new book. (Video also here.)
Lionel Lum's awesome Bumblebee costume was one of the many cool things I saw at last year's San Diego Comic-Con. The giant show floor was packed with sweaty costumed fans, big geek friendly displays, and a few not-so incognito celebs. Folks at home got a small taste of all the corporate sponsored nerdery thanks to G4's daily coverage. This year, G4 will air the first televised panel in the convention's history.
Attack of the Show hosts Olivia Munn and Kevin Pereira will host "The Star Wars Spectacular." The taped panel will feature special guests, a table read and new footage from Cartoon Network's Star Wars: The Clone Wars. The panel will take place July 24 and air July 25 at 2 p.m. on G4. After the panel broadcast, G4 will air three live hours (on the East Coast) of Comic-Con coverage with celeb interviews and more.
The saga of video game champion Steve Wiebe, the man made famous by the wonderful documentary film The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters, is one that will be told on mountain tops by the elders of the tribes to young men as they pass into adulthood.
Wiebe struggled to achieve the success he so richly deserved for chasing the Donkey Kong world champion title from the Twin Galaxies score organization, due in part to the underhanded and downright evil efforts of reigning champion and Donkey Kong douchebag Billy Mitchell. Even though he has surpassed Mitchell's scores since the release of the film, Mitchell always seemed to be one barrel behind him, making Wiebe even more of an iconic hero to geeks, spazzes, dweebs and everyone else.
So at this year's E3 video game expo, the G4 Network gave Wiebe and his many fans the chance to reclaim the title for humble people everywhere by broadcasting his nine hour attempt live on television. It may sound like something that could make your eyes bleed no matter how close you were sitting to the TV, but it became hands down one of my 10 greatest sporting broadcasts of the year. And this is from a network that runs reruns of both COPS and Cheaters.
The producers of E!'s The Soup are creating a new show called Web Soup that highlights memorable moments in online video. Comedian and writer Chris Hardwick will host Web Soup, which debuts June 7 on G4.
I'm not a big fan of The Soup. It's the kind of show I'll watch for a few minutes while flipping. But I'll give Web Soup my full attention only because Chris Hardwick is hosting. The guy's hilarious. He's been making crap watchable since the 1990s when he used to host Singled Out on MTV.
Late Night host Jimmy Fallon is a big geek and is addicted to Twitter. So last night he appeared on G4's Attack of the Show to play Tic-Tac-Toe. Or, more accurately, to play Tweet Tac Toe (or #tweettactoe, in the world of Twitter hash marks). But they didn't play it alone. Fallon and the host actually got their Twitter followers to give them the moves.
Somewhere, someone is working on a Chutes and Ladders game you can play on LinkedIn, and it's going to be awesome.
If you tell Doug Benson that you loved him on VH1's I Love the XX's shows, he'll gladly accept the compliment, even though he's never appeared on any of them.
"When people say to me on the street, 'I Love the 90's!', I go, 'I do too!' I don't give them a lecture about how no, I'm on Best Week Ever," he told me a few weeks ago., "because it does all blend together. And as long as they're remembering me, and they have a positive attitude about it, you know, there's no reason for me to be a dick."
Benson's not just the "VH1 guy," though. The veteran stand-up reached the finals of season six of Last Comic Standing, after some notoriously unsuccessful attempts. He also made a documentary, Super High Me, which makes its TV debut today (4/20... get it?) on G4 at 10 PM ET. In the movie, Benson makes like Morgan Spurlock, but he substitutes pot for Quarter Pounders.
We talked about the movie, if the whole 420 thing is over, and his run-in with Ant on season five of Last Comic Standing.
The Chaser's War on Everything, a satiric hidden camera prank show from Australia, aims to be everything most shows of their ilk fail to achieve. It's satirical, unbiased in its stance against everything from commercialism to phony diplomacy, and more probing than a proctologist with banana hands.
This sparks a startling question: what the hell is a show this smart doing on the G4 Network?
The show found its way to the States earlier this year as part of the network's Duty Free TV block of foreign cult faves like Trigger Happy TV, Unbeatable Banzuke and Ninja Warrior. It's become one of the better shows on the all geek network, which either says worlds for the three-year-old show or doesn't say much for the rest of G4's original programming. I'll let you decide while reminding you this is the same network that once produced a game show where the first person to vomit lost. Even Fox wouldn't sink that low. Wait, are we talking about some kind of survival situation?
I have a sick mind that laughs at things aimed at the lowest common denominator, so I found the promo to be funny. The animated Princess Vespa is certainly more, uh, accented than Daphne Zuniga was in the original movie (talk about Major Boobage).
I'm ecstatic that Mel Brooks himself is providing the voices of his characters from the movie in the animated version. This has been in development for a long time. I'm a tremendous fan of the original movie (and of Brooks' work in general) so I can only hope and pray that this doesn't suck on the level of the animated Clone Wars.
Fallon says Purcell was hired because of the pop culture sensibility of Attack of the Show, which he also wants in his own late night program.
I like Attack of the Show and have ambivalent feelings regarding Fallon on late night. He never seemed particularly impressive on Saturday Night Live, but perhaps he didn't get a chance to shine that he otherwise would with a solo gig (similar to certain other SNL alumni like Chris Rock). Hopefully, adding Purcell to his team will give his late night show a unique flavor that will distinguish it from others or his predecessor.
Some of our TV Squad team have appeared on Attack of the Show during Purcell's tenure. I wonder if now they'll be asking us to appear on Jimmy Fallon's show? It would be nice. I'm ready for ya, Jimmy.
According to the New York Times, Comcast is set to own NBC Universal and all channels that are part of it as early as next week.
G4 has been bringing Japan's 
Star Wars is a big deal. I tell you this in case you are unfamiliar with the property (hey, it's possible!). So if you're going to choose which panel from this weekend's Comic-Con to become the first ever televised convention panel, why not go with Star Wars? You've got a rabid fan-base, half of them probably dressed up like their favorite characters from the saga. Get two of your most popular on-air personalities to host it and you should have television gold.
I remember long ago in a cable land far away when a little show called Talk Soup started. It was clever, riffing on talk show shenanigans. We've come a long way since then, with clip shows blanketing the network. And then there's the Internet. On paper the idea of a web video iteration of The Soup, as it's now called, sounds solid enough, and G4 is a good place for it, but as Michael pointed out, 
G4 must be getting on my nerves. I'm giving 
Lionel Lum's awesome 
The saga of video game champion Steve Wiebe, the man made famous by the wonderful documentary film The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters, is one that will be told on mountain tops by the elders of the tribes to young men as they pass into adulthood. 
The producers of E!'s The Soup are 
If you tell Doug Benson that you loved him on VH1's I Love the XX's shows, he'll gladly accept the compliment, even though he's never appeared on any of them.
It was reported way back in 2006 that Spaceballs 
Leaving G4's signature daily series Attack of the Show, executive producer Gavin Purcell will be going to network television as 
Andy Richter: The TV Squad Interview
Have any questions for Vik Sahay of Chuck? Ask them here!
Mike Henry and Daryl Hall on a Cleveland Show Thanksgiving
