G4: How Not to Run a Television Station

Geeks like details. The details, it seems, are usually more important to them than the broad overview into which they fit. If you remember the movie Real Genius, you'll recall that Val Kilmer's character was more interested in making an amazingly powerful laser, and thus earning his degree, than thinking about applications of same said laser. I believe the line said by the girlish-looking freshman is "Let the engineers figure out a use for it."

So it goes with geeks. But when geeks take their eyes off the big picture – which is all the time – they get hawked by unscrupulous men in neckties.

For those of you who still care about the slow-mo trainwreck that is G4TechTV, it is imperative you read former Screen Saver Dan Huard's account of deceiving the viewing audience into believing that live callers were asking impromptu questions. Excerpt: "From September 7th [2004] on, every A block caller (the beginning of the show to the first commercial) needed to be pre-produced." Read it to learn more about how G4 executives have essentially poisoned The Screen Savers for no reason other than they can. Furthermore, Dan makes an excellent illustration of G4's wages of sin: changing the format of TSS so dramatically has made it almost impossible to maintain popular features of the program like the live call-in Q&A.

Dan also links to Wil Wheaton's Slashdot journal entry wherein he explains why he quit G4, and surprise surprise, it sounds like more of the same.

I don't know anyone who works for G4, G4TechTV, Comcast, or their affiliates. First-hand reports of people who have worked with the company lead me to feel very grateful for that fact.