G4 (2009-2014, 2022)
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| G4 (2009-2014, 2022) | ||||||||
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 This channel got disconnected twice... literally.
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G4 (also known as G4TV) was an American pay television network and a subsidiary of G4 Media. It was a channel mostly dedicated to nerd culture such as gaming and tech.
In late 2009, the channel began a massive decline due to its transition to a more general audience and had less to do with gaming or tech, which resulted in a shutdown of the entire network on December 31st, 2014.
The channel was relaunched, however, on November 16th, 2021, thus returning to its roots of the original run's early days, but started to go downhill again two months later and its final day of operation was November 18, 2022.
Why It Sucked
Original Run
- As stated above, G4 began its first decline due to its transition to a more general entertainment network for other audiences, and moved away from its focus on gaming and nerd culture, with the worst offender being 24/7 marathons of reruns of shows such as Cops or Cheaters, both of which had nothing to with video games, and caused the network to close its doors in late 2014.
- Even during the early days of the channel's former glory, it had its share of bad shows, such as Spaceballs: The Animated Series which was based on the film of the same name.
Relaunch
- While doing a G4 relaunch is a good idea, doing so in the form of a television network is a questionable idea considering that cable TV and broadcast TV as a whole have been declining in ratings over the years, with people using easier alternatives like social media, streaming and physical media.
- On January 11, 2022, Indiana "Froskurinn" Black (also more commonly known as "Frosk"), who is one of the new and current co-hosts of X-Play, went on a total rant about how women are "mistreated as objects" and lectured the channel's female ex-hosts as eye candy.
- In addition to the rant above, G4 exposed its hypocrisy by welcoming Amouranth in one of the episodes of Name Your Price and she even wore a skimpy bikini at one point in it.
- The channel had also gone down the extreme political path, Sessler, who left the channel during its original run in 2012, started to go politically correct in the next year by criticizing God of War: Ascension for the fact that you get a Trophy for killing a Harpy, which is a female demon, and deemed that moment "misogynistic", even though that game was a complete opposite of that.
- It seemed that the channel (and possibly the G4 company as a whole) could no longer take any form of criticism. For instance, they shut down their subreddit because most of the comments there were calling out Frosk and the rest of G4 for their actions, and rightfully so, too.
- While understandable due to their current careers and spending time with family, most of the co-hosts of the network's original run (minus Adam Sessler and Kevin Perriera) such as Olivia Munn and Morgan Webb did not return to regain their hosting status there.
- However, some of them did come back for G4's Thanksgiving reunion in commemoration of the channel's relaunch in November 2020.
- Very oddly, Sessler, despite having returned as one of the hosts of X-Play like he was back in the original run, wasn't making any physical presence at his studio with the rest of the co-hosts.
- This is likely because he lives in a different state than where G4 was, and has other priorities regarding his family.
- Some of the relaunch's newer shows could be considered lackluster, though there were a few exceptions such as Name Your Price, a show where Twitch streamers got to wager the amount of money they'd spend on a featured item.
- The amount of commercials during breaks between shows was somewhat lacking and when the channel returned, there were only Dr. Pepper and Pizza Hut advertisements, which could get stale and repetitive over time. However, more sponsorships eventually came to G4 over the months.
- This is most likely due to the seemingly limited amount of budget the network's relaunch had.
- Kevin Perierra, one of the returning co-hosts of Attack of the Show, gained an apparent interest in NFTs, which are considered harmful to the environment.
- Speaking of Perierra, the reboot of Attack of the Show dragged for way too long, as the episodes in the style of the old version of the show from G4's first run on Fridays lasted for at least two hours long, as opposed to its shorter 30-minute-at-most length.
- Some of the other "new" shows the channel's relaunch aired were just compilations of popular YouTubers such as Scott the Woz and Viva La Dirt League, which was redundant because you can already watch them for free on YouTube.
- Due to the issues stated above, the channel was once again terminated in November 2022, making it seemingly unlikely that there will even be a third attempt at a comeback.
Redeeming Qualities
- The channel was great when it first started and was fun to watch after its relaunch before its second downfall. Click here to see its redeeming qualities.
- They were less bad from 2009-2011.
Videos
Original Run
Relaunch
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