The (possible) End of an Era

The days of X-Play, Attack of the Show, and Cinematech will be remembered fondly, because according to Variety, the gaming channel known for the past ten years as G4 might be recreated for "the more modern male", or more accurately, the magazine GQ.

I honestly have mixed feelings about this. While I love G4 even today for what it is and what it stands for as a television channel for gamers, I think it's lost some of its original luster.

The channel had originally launched in 2002 with programs primarily aimed at gamers, but over the years, it seemed like it grew further and further away from that. While still today shows like X-Play are around for gaming coverage and even Attack of the Show for nearly everything related to pop culture and technology, other programs such as American Ninja Warrior with adrenaline-fueled action skewed the channel's target audience away from gamers and more towards SpikeTV's territory. Even with this in mind, their daytime schedule is dominated by reruns of their original programming from the previous day's evening (when new episodes usually happen), and then either lots of gaming-unrelated filler content for the late night, or a string of old pop culture-esque movies, or Cops, or Cheaters, or Cops again, or Cheaters again, followed by a Cops marathon, followed by a Cheaters marathon. Ugh...

Honestly we should have seen it coming after some of the longtime, big named hosts left the network for their own pursuits. Kevin Pereira, Olivia Munn, and my personal favorite, Adam Sessler, were the hosts that I looked forward to every time I watched Attack of the Show or X-Play. With them gone, it's just not the same.

I've grown apart from G4 for these reasons. They still stand today, a shell of their former selves, a channel for gamers, but frankly I'm filled with a bittersweet feeling not only because of their fall from grace, but how the channel as we know it will probably not exist, if ever again, by this time next year.

Farewell, G4. Thanks for giving it your best with all of your video game content, and for the endless amount of Cops and Cheaters reruns.

Nah, just the video games.