Once there was TechTV - and it was pretty good
Once upon a time there was a cable channel called
TechTV. Jim and Ena used to watch TechTV. TechTV had this great short series
called "Big Thinkers". "Big Thinkers" were 30 minute documentary interviews
with some of the leaders in various areas. Lawrence Lessig talked about the
loss of the common domain and fair use of copyrighted materials. Dr. Jill
Tarter talked about SETI. Others talked about physics, robotics and neural
development. The "Big Thinkers" series was wonderfully edited and filmed. The
shows flowed tightly and cleanly. They were very informative. They were very
good.
On TechTV, there was also a show called The
Screen Savers. This show had Leo Laporte, Patrick Norton and a stream of young
up-and-coming hosts. Morgan Webb (recently of X-Play) started out on TSS.
Kevin Rose and Sarah Lane who host the new TSS started out on the TSS. TSS
would answer calls from people with computer problems and/or questions, review
new gear and look at new technologies. It was pretty entertaining and one of
the few shows we turned on regularly. Bert Monroy did short pieces on using
PhotoShop. Bert can make PhotoShop sing. Bert did things in 15 minutes in
PhotoShop that would have taken me a year to figure
out.
Also on TechTV was "Secrets, Strange and True" which took a look at a variety of scientific and historical episodes. I learned about what caused the original mirror flaw with Hubble Space Telescope (a little chip of flat black paint no bigger than pin head was missing inside the instrument that measured the mirror). "Secrets, Strange and True" filled the void that "Nova" left behind when "Nova" became "scary shark and disaster stories".
These were three good shows that were interesting, entertaining and all on one channel - unusual for cable TV. Actually, unusual for any TV channel. There were other shows that were pretty entertaining too. I liked to watch X-Play for video game reviews.
Then Comcast decided to buy TechTV and merge it with G4. It became G4TechTV. Comcast revamped the line-up pointing it squarely at 13 year old boys with endless video game reviews. They shifted the cast of TSS to an all-under 30 line-up. It became goofier with less information. Finally, Ena and I removed it from our ReplayTV recording schedule. We quit switching to G4TechTV to see if there was anything on.
Recently, G4TechTV announced that they were laying off a whole bunch of people and that they are going to reexamine their lineup and cast. Let me give them my input, "Hey Comcast - try some programing for people old enough to buy beer who are capable of thinking as well as twitching thumbs".
Also on TechTV was "Secrets, Strange and True" which took a look at a variety of scientific and historical episodes. I learned about what caused the original mirror flaw with Hubble Space Telescope (a little chip of flat black paint no bigger than pin head was missing inside the instrument that measured the mirror). "Secrets, Strange and True" filled the void that "Nova" left behind when "Nova" became "scary shark and disaster stories".
These were three good shows that were interesting, entertaining and all on one channel - unusual for cable TV. Actually, unusual for any TV channel. There were other shows that were pretty entertaining too. I liked to watch X-Play for video game reviews.
Then Comcast decided to buy TechTV and merge it with G4. It became G4TechTV. Comcast revamped the line-up pointing it squarely at 13 year old boys with endless video game reviews. They shifted the cast of TSS to an all-under 30 line-up. It became goofier with less information. Finally, Ena and I removed it from our ReplayTV recording schedule. We quit switching to G4TechTV to see if there was anything on.
Recently, G4TechTV announced that they were laying off a whole bunch of people and that they are going to reexamine their lineup and cast. Let me give them my input, "Hey Comcast - try some programing for people old enough to buy beer who are capable of thinking as well as twitching thumbs".
Posted: Wed - November 17, 2004 at 05:44 PM
