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.
I was searching around for something interesting to write about tonight and came across a piece on Human Wrecking Balls, a new series premiering on G4 this fall.
According to the G4 Web site, the show features brothers Craig and Paul Pumphrey (combined weight: 550 lbs.), who demolish everything from boats and cars to houses and bars using Only Their Bare Hands. (Picture Tim the Tool Man doing his "Arr, arr, arr" here.)
"Guys seem to have an innate fascination with watching demolition," says Neal Tiles, President of G4. "Add to this the science behind it and the idea of two brothers doing all the demolition physically, and we think Human Wrecking Balls is an excellent addition to our programming line-up."
"It's like a good poop." - Hurl contestant about vomiting
It's odd that the grossest thing about Hurl isn't the scenes where the contestants vomit. Or maybe I should say it's not the only gross thing about the show (watching other people throw up isn't one of my favorite pastimes, after all). It's equally unpleasant to watch people shove food into their mouth as fast as they can, talk while they're doing it, and burp a lot to make more room for food. I don't even want to think about all of that.
It starts out with five guys (and I'm sure most of the contestants are going to be men, call me psychic) who have to eat a bunch of some food (mac and cheese in this first episode). The food is on a scale and the three that have eaten the most move on (the announcer says that they have to actually swallow the food or it doesn't count, but I didn't see any subtraction for food still in the mouth, they just went by the scale numbers). The three survivors are then shoved into big metal balls and spun around for five minutes. Then comes the eating of pies and more spinning and (possible) hurling. The winner gets $1,000 and a trophy, which doesn't seem like enough.
Bear McCreary himself has an interesting blog in which he discusses the business of making music for the video entertainment industry. The music has always been a major part of the dark undertones of Battlestar Galactica; it serves the story very well and is a vital part of the telling.
There are two videos after the jump of the Roxy concert. They include pieces called "Roslin and Adama" and "Fight Night". Admittedly, I can't place the Galactica episodes in which they were played. If anyone can, please let me know in the comments.
Game show titles have a way of telling you exactly what you can expect if you tune in to them. The Price Is Right is about guessing prices, Card Sharks was a game that involved a deck of cards, and Match Game was about matching your word with the word picked by a celebrity. Of course, the whole list of examples breaks down a bit when you consider Jeopardy!, which could be about anything, really.
But add to the list Hurl, the new game show coming this summer to G4. To quote from the network, it's a show that "combines speed-eating with intense physical challenges." Yes, you read that right.
Back in January, I mentioned that actor/writer Adam De La Pena (I'm with Busey, Crank Yankers, Minoriteam) was creating an animated series for G4 called Code Monkeys. Well, the series will debut July 11, and based on the seconds-long promos I've been seeing, it looks pretty cool.
The series is animated in the 8-bit style of retro video games, with blocky backgrounds and characters who move as if being controlled by some unseen entity with a magical joystick. The main characters, Dave and Jerry, are game coders who occupy this bizarre pixel-y world.
I love the idea, but I also played a lot of video games in the '80s and '90s, so I'm excited to see how many of the show's inside jokes I'll comprehend. My only worry is that the series might be too much of a "niche show," much like Minoriteam was, and it won't attract a wide audience.
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.
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 
I was searching around for something interesting to write about tonight and came across a piece on 
Game show titles have a way of telling you exactly what you can expect if you tune in to them. The Price Is Right is about guessing prices, Card Sharks was a game that involved a deck of cards, and Match Game was about matching your word with the word picked by a celebrity. Of course, the whole list of examples breaks down a bit when you consider Jeopardy!, which could be about anything, really.
Back in January, I 
Seven greatest hand cannons in TV history
TV Squad previews NBC's new shows (part 1)
TV 101: How ESPN controls the world and what the other networks can learn from it
