Has G4 sold out?

What ever happened to the gaming oriented channel I used to enjoy? Honestly, shows like Cops, Lost, Cheaters, Heroes, etc. shouldn't even be on there. I used to not care much but now I want the good ol' G4 back. What about you guys?

Might as well call it Spike4.

The thing is people watch that stuff, otherwise they would not have it. I too wish they would do more geeky programming. AOTS isn't horrible, X-Play is getting better. They started running the old programs in the morning, I imagine as a test run to see what people watch. But in all honesty it would be tough to fill all day with tech programming. Well maybe not, if they had system/program specific shows it would work. That could aslo get very boring. If they just had better syndicated shows I would not care that it wasn't techy.

If G4 had WKRP the world would be a better place.

"They started running the old programs in the morning, I imagine as a test run to see what people watch. ."

Most of the shows that made G4 good have either been replaced or transformed into something awful.
The only bearable shows on that channel anymore are X-Play and Reviews on the Run.

It would be nice if it could go back to what it once was. Unfortunately, I don't see that happening anytime soon.

Just realizing this?

Unfortunately, I don't think G4 is ever going to go back to the way it was, ever.

If I may quote "Hooker with a Penis" for a moment:

I think X-play is HORRIBLE. Ever since they went to the new format, the show is one big long groan fest connected by one crappy joke after the other.

"The thing is people watch that stuff, otherwise they would not have it. I too wish they would do more geeky programming. AOTS isn't horrible, X-Play is getting better. They started running the old programs in the morning, I imagine as a test run to see what people watch. But in all honesty it would be tough to fill all day with tech programming. Well maybe not, if they had system/program specific shows it would work. That could aslo get very boring. If they just had better syndicated shows I would not care that it wasn't techy.

If G4 had WKRP the world would be a better place."

There's positively not enough game related content in existence to fill a channel 24/7 so of course it'll have other things.

I miss the days when it was called Techtv :(

yea i miss the old G4 but if you think about it they need to keep there ratings up to keep the network running so they have to show the shows that people will watch

G4 sold out about 2-4 years ago.

I had never heard of G4 till about 5 or so years ago and didn't actually have the channel in my home till 3 years ago. Even then till now, I could notice a strange drop in gaming related programming but I imagine it just wasn't meeting their financial needs to keep the station running. In an age of internet dominating gaming news, a televised gaming program dedicated to a simple half hour or so slot is not much of a match to a minute by minute updated internet site. But there is still something about watching an actual human being react to the game rather than a few blocks of text and a couple of screenshots that always kept me watching the gaming programs of G4. I still haven't given up hope yet, but I'm just "glass half full" like that.

When I first found it it was still called Tech TV  I think G4 was a different, separate channel at that point, and they somehow aquired the funds to buy Tech TV.  And that's when everything went to sh*t.  They dropped most of the informative tech shows, and essentially destroyed X-play by the second year.

I only watch X Play and occasionally AOTS.  I miss the show Icons the most.  I actually prefer the new XPlay,  I hated the skits and characters they used to have.  It all just felt like filler to me.  Also the reviews were always really late.  It's not perfect now, but I think the show's better now that it's more news focused.

I watched it when it was still 100% game related programming - the problem was they just didn't have enough content (talk about repeats) and I don't think their viewer base was very big.

I do however think they did the wrong thing to gain viewers.

This is a retarded question.  G4 has always been a sellout.  But what do you want when the gaming news doesnt exactly take a long time to fill up?  What they need to do is get old video game shows like Sonic and Super Mario and Zelda and run those.  At least something gaming related.  The whole Japanese game show stuff made me want to break something.
I miss TechTV and the screen savers and Extended Play with Kate Botello.  Though Morgan is fucking hot.

I will say that I prefered the older programming compared to what they air now but... do we really need it? I think it is a similar issue to what is going on in the print medium. The gaming enthusiast tends to be a more internet savvy consumer who can find gaming news, trailers, etc. on an almost up-to-the-second basis on sites like these and others.

G4 is shit now compared to maybe 3-5 years ago, when they have good programs on that actually relates to games. the only show i watched on G4 now is x-play (even though i don't watch much of it lately becasue it has turned to crap) and Ninja Warrior, that show is still good, but they keep showing reruns.

I can't stand G4 anymore... especially that X-Play piece of shit.

G4 has always sucked. Icons was the only show I really liked, but then they killed it in 2006 by focusing on random celebrities unrelated to video games rather than actual game industry icons. I was done with G4 after that.

I agree with Metasin. I was initially really bummed that G4 dropped the gaming- and tech-central programming, but we really don't need it because of all the internet content being produced on a damn-near secondly basis every day. No television show can compete with that, at least for gaming and tech, and the channel knows that and stopped devoting their budget to it. Too bad they devoted most of it to re-runs and old movies.

G4's pretty much irrelevant now, and that kind of sucks, but it's all good in the end. There's other stuff out there that's better than G4 ever was--it's just on the internet.

g4 should stick to whacky japanese game shows, cops and video games, hm... what the hell throw some pronz in there too pl0x =)

I still like X-play....I don't like some of the changes,like where they do a review and the bring up everyone chatting,very annoying...Also I still like Morgan Webb :D

I think jakob187 has it 100%

G4 has changed quite a bit, and I would probably still watch the show if I had the channel.

yeah I miss extended play fuck x-play
screen savers
unscrewed with martin sarget
and early attack of the show episodes

Its true, there are a number of things they could do better with that channel. It's a waste of oppourtunity.

"What ever happened to the gaming oriented channel I used to enjoy? Honestly, shows like Cops, Lost, Cheaters, Heroes, etc. shouldn't even be on there. I used to not care much but now I want the good ol' G4 back. What about you guys?"

They expanded. They try to appeal to the "Nerd" audience.

Yes, it has sold out. It isn't the channel I use to love anymore. X-Play has its bright spots here and there, but that's it.

The only program I watch on G4 is X-Play. I've been watching for five years now and still enjoy it greatly. The changes made however are disheartening. I miss the old days of just Adam and Morgan talking about video games sitting on the couch. Now half the time we have rejects from other failed TechTV and G4 shows forced on us because they are "hip" or "attractive." They are the parts of the show that make me want to throw something at the screen.

As for the rest of the line-up it's pure garbage. I mostly DVR X-Play and watch it when I get home from work.

Another MTV situation, I guess.  They all end up doing the same reality show shit within 5 or 10 years.

"Another MTV situation, I guess.  They all end up doing the same reality show shit within 5 or 10 years."

"Another MTV situation, I guess.  They all end up doing the same reality show shit within 5 or 10 years."

Man, Icons made me a gamer.  And what other awesome shit did they have? The hilarious X-play where they rarely gave out 5's, and never sucked on a game's balls (which they do so much now.)  Also, Players was interesting, Cheat with Corey Rouse was cool, Filter with Diane Misoto (I think that's how you spell it...?) Arena, portal (remember? Machinima on TV?!?!?!?), electric playground was awesome...Man, I miss the good old days of G4.  The only bad thing was that they were all reruns!

I remember coming home from school with friends and turning on the TV to x-play.  The Canadian Hockey sketches were awesome, and they ripped on games so well.  We still bring up all the classic jokes from the show like when they reviewed Xenogears: "The Y data? THE Y DATA!." etc.

P.S. Attack of the Show was never cool, and though I never knew who Martin Sargent was then, and never watched Unscrewed, it must have been cool because that guy is awesome.

"Just realizing this?Unfortunately, I don't think G4 is ever going to go back to the way it was, ever."

Revision 3 is doing awesome right now though (except for the fact that they cut Martin Sargent's show Internet Superstar.  He coincidentally is doing "This Week in Fun" with Sarah Lane on Thursdays)  Rev. 3 just picked up Area 5's co-op.  You know, basically the 1up show continued? And yes, it has a godaddy ad :(

"They expanded. They try to appeal to the "Nerd" audience."

It's funny, because I remember about 3 or 4 years ago when everyone said G4 sucked, but there are a bunch of people here saying how they liked it 3 or 4 years ago.  They're trying to capture that male 18-34 demographic, with an emphasis on games.  If you look at the channel even when it was techtv, they played the same 10 shows over and over and over again, so at least now you only see the same shows 2 times a day instead of 4 or 5 times a day.  If you look at it that way, they're improving!

It took you this long to realize this?

Dude, it's a TV NETWORK! You can't expect them to play video games show all day long and get ratings. They have to have something to break X-Play and Attack of the Show.