×
  • remind me tomorrow
  • remind me next week
  • never remind me
Subscribe to the ANN Newsletter • Wake up every Sunday to a curated list of ANN's most interesting posts of the week. read more

Forum - View topic
NEWS: Style Channel, Not G4, Rebranded as Esquire Network


Goto page 1, 2  Next

Note: this is the discussion thread for this article

Anime News Network Forum Index -> Site-related -> Talkback
View previous topic :: View next topic  
Author Message
mdo7



Joined: 23 May 2007
Posts: 6253
Location: Katy, Texas, USA
PostPosted: Sun Sep 15, 2013 2:40 pm Reply with quote
So what will G4TV be rename as?
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website My Anime My Manga
Sorrior



Joined: 02 Aug 2011
Posts: 79
PostPosted: Sun Sep 15, 2013 2:57 pm Reply with quote
So wait is SHE why SciFi has been getting worse and worse as the years go along?

Also G4 without the Sess and a focus on games is just wrong...Hell brinf back TechTV now THAT would be bloody great.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
_V_



Joined: 13 Apr 2009
Posts: 619
PostPosted: Sun Sep 15, 2013 3:25 pm Reply with quote
Sorrior wrote:
So wait is SHE why SciFi has been getting worse and worse as the years go along?


Debatably. She has been behind some of their stupider decisions but then again, was also involved with some of their better decisions, so it isn't as black and white as we sometimes think.

You see, the crew of USA network execs they brought in ten years ago wanted to revamp Scifi by focusing on a broader audience instead of pandering to hardcore scifi fans; this is not an inherently bad idea. I mean, broad-based scifi like "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" or "Star Trek The Next Generation" is good stuff, brings in the female and male viewers. They can't just have male fanboy pandering fanservice shows all the time. We get that.

On the other hand....they made such a broad focus that they had no idea what they wanted or even how to market it. YES, "Science Fiction and Fantasy" is a "big tent", anything you could find at Comic-Con goes in there.

But some of this stuff just made no sense - I even *forgive* the wrestling reruns because even they just treat it as a way to pay the bills on what was otherwise a dead air night; they don't have much money for original programming.

But they've made a slew of stupid decisions over the years;

probably one of the most infamous is when Bonnie thought they could cancel Farscape, their flagship show.....and dodge all media questions about it. There was this surreal moment at the Scifi Upfront that year, when they JUST cancelled Farscape, and were going to put Tremors: The Series into its timeslot (not a bad show, but not a replacement for their flagship either).

....she she just politely refused to answer any questions about the cancellation of Farscape (which was like, a week or two before), and ...no one had questions about Tremors, or other series on their schedule. How could they have ANYTHING but questions about Farscape's recent cancellation?

but she walked up to the podium and honestly thought she could deflect all Farscape questions. Ultimately, there was a long awkward silence when no one in the room had any non-Farscape questions....then ultimately, after a few more got deflected, the entire room IN UNISON started shouting for Farscape information - a dam burst, and they were openly heckling her to say something about it. Ultimately she was left trembling.

Frankly, I understand that you sometimes need to cancel shows which are doing well but cannot justify their massive filming expenses and special effects budgets - I get that.

But she just always seemed so "out of touch" - honestly believing she could hold a press conference in the aftermath of the announcement and just deflect any Farscape questions?

I don't entirely blame Bonnie Hammer for how Battlestar Galactica turned out - her or Mark Stern. They gave Ron Moore total creative freedom, though they did meddle with season 3, but ultimately Ron is the crazy one who NEVER had a "Cylon Plan" but lied and said he did. So even Hammer was left with damage control after RDM imploded.

So it's sort of a mixed bag, because Hammer has been in charge for so long we tend to blame her for things that go wrong, but some interviews I've seen she makes entirely cogent and rational observations about the industry.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Ggultra2764
Subscriber



Joined: 21 Jan 2004
Posts: 3872
Location: New York state.
PostPosted: Sun Sep 15, 2013 3:50 pm Reply with quote
They killed off all the tech/ video game related shows off G4 in preparation of the transition to the network and now they decide to replace another network instead?

If this was gonna happen, then maybe they shouldn't have axed Attack of the Show and X-Play to leave the network comatose with any programming not involving reruns or movie premieres. Rolling Eyes
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website My Anime My Manga
GolfDude



Joined: 18 Jun 2011
Posts: 69
PostPosted: Sun Sep 15, 2013 3:56 pm Reply with quote
a story about this earlier in the week thought g4 was being killed off tv all together because of this, but they said instead g4 will stick around, but they arent putting any money into new programming for the time being...

and for those techtv fans out there, head to revision3.com, and look for a show called "tekzilla" for your "screen savers" fix, with hosts patrick norton and robert heron..

and also on that site, for your gaming needs, is Adam Sessler with a weekly short show..
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
firedragon54738



Joined: 24 Sep 2007
Posts: 3113
Location: wisconsin
PostPosted: Sun Sep 15, 2013 5:04 pm Reply with quote
Wait G4 is still around didn't they change there name last year and canned all there shows
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Emerje



Joined: 10 Aug 2002
Posts: 7336
Location: Maine
PostPosted: Sun Sep 15, 2013 5:16 pm Reply with quote
_V_ wrote:
But some of this stuff just made no sense - I even *forgive* the wrestling reruns because even they just treat it as a way to pay the bills on what was otherwise a dead air night; they don't have much money for original programming.


WWE Smackdown is new every week, not reruns.

firedragon54738 wrote:
Wait G4 is still around didn't they change there name last year and canned all there shows


They shut down all of their shows, but the transition, which was supposed to be to Esquire, kept getting pushed back over and over and now it isn't happening at all. For the past year G4 has been nothing but repeats.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website My Anime My Manga
R. Glover



Joined: 19 Jan 2013
Posts: 96
PostPosted: Sun Sep 15, 2013 6:10 pm Reply with quote
I don't have G4 anymore 'cause of that carriage dispute 3 years ago (if you don't know, the one between DirecTV and G4). Now, when we had G4, I enjoyed stuff such as Unbeatable Banzuke, The International Sexy Ladies Show, and -- most of all -- Ninja Warrior (Sasuke). Now I can only watch American Ninja Warrior on NBC.

Last edited by R. Glover on Sun Sep 15, 2013 10:07 pm; edited 3 times in total
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Beatdigga



Joined: 26 Oct 2003
Posts: 4367
Location: New York
PostPosted: Sun Sep 15, 2013 7:06 pm Reply with quote
G4's asking price was such that the UFC and the WWE balked at buying it, but they're just going to leave it a half dead albatross?

OK then.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
EastN3



Joined: 19 May 2012
Posts: 149
PostPosted: Sun Sep 15, 2013 7:58 pm Reply with quote
USA's rebranding? Fine, great, I like Suits. Syfy's rebranding? ........there's a reason the only show I watch on Syfy nowadays is Twilight Zone reruns.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Sam Murai



Joined: 01 Dec 2006
Posts: 1051
PostPosted: Sun Sep 15, 2013 9:16 pm Reply with quote
I was wondering why the change didn't happen already, as August passed and G4's stinking corpse was still stinking. I thought Style had just enough content to justify its particular existence, but the overlap with E! is there and the viewer numbers make more sense for EN. So many spun-off, content-specific channels just turn into "basement channels" that either play shows that have nothing to do with their objective and/or essentially become [Network Name] 2 (or 8, Discovery…), but Style was one of the lucky few to largely avoid that fate. Strange twist of fate here, but somewhat sensible…

Now, if they aren't going to reform G4 (into whatever, really, at this point…) just throw dirt over the channel already and put the eyesore to rest…
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website My Anime My Manga
RogueJedi86



Joined: 18 Aug 2006
Posts: 501
PostPosted: Mon Sep 16, 2013 2:08 am Reply with quote
R. Glover wrote:
I don't have G4 anymore 'cause of that carriage dispute 3 years ago (if you don't know, the one between DirecTV and G4). Now, when we had G4, I enjoyed stuff such as Unbeatable Banzuke, The International Sexy Ladies Show, and -- most of all -- Ninja Warrior (Sasuke). Now I can only watch American Ninja Warrior on NBC.


For a while Sasuke was dead in Japan, but even once it came back, G4 didn't air the new stuff. In the past few months they've even stopped airing Ninja Warrior episodes at all, even reruns. I really loved that, so I hate that even that is dead in the water with no where to watch it. It's all American Ninja Warrior every afternoon, which isn't the same.

And yeah, it was really low of Esquire(or G4's heads) to kill G4 to rebrand it as Esquire, then at the last minute decide to rebrand another network. They owe the fans an apology at least, us few who still enjoyed G4 before it was killed dead in the water. I'd like to know what they do with it now.

It's not too late to bring back videogame programming! Spike's airing new GameTrailersTV episodes at 1am Friday mornings really doesn't count, I need my XPlay at its decent time in the afternoon/evening. And I missed having non-stop coverage of E3 and PAX on tv this year. It's easy to miss news online during conventions, and a press conference on tv is much easier to watch than a buffering stream. If you bring back the old G4 programming, I'll forgive you guys, I promise!
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail AIM Address Yahoo Messenger MSN Messenger
KLAC
Exempt from Grammar Rules


Joined: 22 Oct 2009
Posts: 1121
PostPosted: Mon Sep 16, 2013 8:04 am Reply with quote
so yet all this yet there nothing on G4 channel really like all they this was big blah of NOTHING.

with all damage done it's now total filler/cannon fodder channel to watch with re-runs & whatever blah to watch.

unless make-up damage reboot the channel sure give back more gaming, ninja warrior, anime, etc sure make it happen.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
Dessa



Joined: 14 Jul 2004
Posts: 4438
PostPosted: Mon Sep 16, 2013 8:37 am Reply with quote
You know, someone might wanna tell G4's marketing team, who are still airing commercials for stuff on "the new Esquire Network" that are implying that it's G4.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message My Anime
PurpleWarrior13



Joined: 05 Sep 2009
Posts: 2025
PostPosted: Mon Sep 16, 2013 9:40 am Reply with quote
DirecTV dropped G4 a couple of years ago, so we don't get it anymore anyway. I fondly remember the network in it's heyday, even as a non-gamer. When we last had it, it was nothing but COPS and Cheaters.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Display posts from previous:   
Reply to topic    Anime News Network Forum Index -> Site-related -> Talkback All times are GMT - 5 Hours
Goto page 1, 2  Next
Page 1 of 2

 


Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group