Over the years there was a slight connection between G4 and TechTV. ScreenSavers host Kevin Pereira made cameo appearances on Arena and TechTV’s biggest show X-Play was video game related. When the two merged in Fall 2004 they formed G4TechTV. And I loved it.

Truth be told, both networks had serious gaps in their lineups that were now taken care of. The idea of two channels uniting as one was a fantasy for someone like me who could now watch virtually all of their programming. 5 months later it was still sweet. My new favorite show Judgment Day was on thrice a day and the channel still had the blend of half/technology half/video games working for them. Then something bad happened in March 2005…TechTV went away.

G4 clung to TechTV to get their more viewed TV slot and then pushed them aside. It was just G4 again in March, and the executives started to butcher both TechTV and G4 programming. Filter, which at one point was on par with the best the channel had to offer, suffered the most. They stopped being a top-10 video game show and became a product show as well, enticing movies, DVDs and music into the list. They fell so hard that on one episode I watched they were using quotes from IMDB that some user had written about some movie.

And they weren’t the only show to plummet in quality. X-Play had always pieced in a little comedy into their reviews. But away from TechTV on G4, it was too much to bear. They tried so damn hard to be funny that they weren’t actually reviewing games anymore as much as they were mocking themselves. Usually they would only preview a game if it was coming out months later. But on G4, previews became so abundant that they were literally previewing games that they’d review days later.

The ScreenSavers didn’t resemble the technology-based show it once was and was easy to avoid for most people. A couple months later it became Attack of the Show, which was a better thought-out version of the ScreenSavers. However when Kevin Rose left, all the technology was completely void from the show and it was back to the old dribble.

There were several bright spots of the network that were shattered as well. “Real Time presented by Coca-Cola” was a Sunday block that would be based on a game franchise like Need For Speed or Metroid Prime. Then some of their shows like X-Play, Cinematech, Filter and Judgment Day would all have at least one appearance of that game in it. This was great since it was a chance to see vintage episodes of G4 shows. That too was taken away last year.

And while these half-assed ruined TV shows were sub par from where they once were, it was still a video game network. Or at least it was. The change began when the old digitized G4 logo became the graffiti-ish one we see today. It symbolized that the network was making even more changes that would inevitably screw with my life. One change that happened was the in-show popup adds for other G4 programming. In the old days they were practically subliminal and wouldn’t actually affect my viewing of the show. Nowadays they take up 1/3 of the screen and make a loud screech sound each time the add appears and disappears.

In June they fell to the bottom of the television barrel- partial nudity. By that I’m talking about the Whip Set, a block of lame car TV shows that not even Satan could condone. These lame shows were not only aimed at a completely different demographic than every other G4 show but were worse than any of them. A similarity found in all the shows is that there’s always a myriad of women in the picture who can’t wait to get paid for what they’re doing. I had to watch in disappointment as I saw my favorite network slowly become MTV.

Another folly was Video Game Vixens, which was canceled in a heartbeat because even the morons running the channel knew they had created a disaster. The show was pretty much a beauty pageant of 3D women that appeared in video games. Just the idea was enough to make me want to vomit. Hosted by Hal Sparks (AKA the really not-funny annoying guy from I Love The 80’s) the show may have not been on for long, but the sheer fact that it even existed was bad enough.

And don’t get me started on Barbed Wire Biscuit. To truly signify their insanity, the network has gone after [adult swim] with a late-night block that sucks more ass than a toilet seat. Aside from Brainiac (a quirky British science show that picks up on the TechTV vibe) all the Barbed Wire shows blow. Happy-tree Friends is the worst collection of cartoons I’ve ever seen- I’d even take 12 .Oz Mouse (the worst [adult swim] show ever) over this pile. Anime Unleashed has survived simply because anime works on Cartoon Network. And while CN may have the biggest anime titles on it, Anime Unleashed has some of the worst. To be fair Anime Unleashed has sucked going back to the TechTV days. It’s too bad that’s the one G4 show not affected by change.

The worst is yet to come. Long-time shows g4tv.com and Filter have been canceled, never to see a new episode again. At first I was shocked and wondered what was going to take over their old time slots. Then I learned that Star Trek Next Generation, which has been syndicated more times than Law and Order, would be coming to G4. This was baffling to me since it appeared that G4 was trying to shed its geeky image. But then I remembered that Star Trek is on SpikeTV and it all became clear.

G4 is now trying to become a “man’s” network, which explains why the Man Show and Whip Set have made their way onto the channel. It’s no longer a network for games: it’s a network for crap. Even if you like the Man Show, you have to agree that it just doesn’t belong. The higher powers at G4 also confessed that another name change for the network is likely in order and that g4 will become a thing of the past.

Folks, Star Trek isn’t on G4 for one hour of the day or two. In a four-hour span in-between AOTS, the show will run for three hours. Shoot me now. Also Judgment Day seems to be getting the boot (I long feared this). After an episode airs on Sunday: January 8th at 1PM Eastern Time, the show will cease to exist on the TV schedule. Maybe it will return in the future, maybe not. Until then, G4 is dead to me.

David Pincus normally writes about Free Basketball Picks NBA.

Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio) and his mother Lucille (Randee Heller) move to California from New Jersey, where Daniel has a difficult time making new friends. Striking up a romantic friendship with Ali Mills (Elisabeth Shue), a rich girl who previously dated the popular Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka), he incurs Johnny’s envious wrath. When Daniel is about to get beat up yet again, the super at the apartment building where he lives, a Japanese immigrant named Mr. Miyagi (Pat Morita), steps in and beats up Johnny and his friends. Mystified, Daniel learns that Mr. Miyagi is a martial arts expert. He begs to become an understudy, and Mr. Miyagi reluctantly agrees.

Following several weeks of training and conditioning which Daniel doesn’t understand (waxing cars and painting houses), he’s ready to quit. But Mr. Miyagi reveals the depth of the effect the training has had on Daniel’s skills as a martial artist. With Johnny and his Cobra Kai friends continually threatening Daniel, Mr. Miyagi strikes a deal with Cobra Kai Sensei John Kreese (Martin Kove). Kreese agrees that his students will not lay a hand on Daniel until after the upcoming All-Valley Karate Championship. At the championship, the foes will decide their dispute once and for all… Will Daniel finally get the bullies off his back? Will he win the girl in the end? The Karate Kid has all the elements of a smash hit?

More than any other, the true star of The Karate Kid is Mr. Miyagi (Pat Morita) whose grandfatherly ways and deadly fighting abilities earned him a place within the hearts of movie viewers around the world. Exhibiting all the characteristics of a noble individual, Miyagi is a throw back to the idyllic days of knights and chivalry. Taking the young LaRusso under his wing, the two form a bond that transcends age and race, and when Daniel overcomes the obstacles in his young life, Mr. Miyagi is there to smile?

A masterpiece of the 1980s teen drama, The Karate Kid penetrated pop culture with its “sand on, sand off” catch phrases and kids imitating the “crane kick”. Although not in the same category as Academy Award winning dramas, The Karate Kid nevertheless holds its own as good, clean entertainment the entire family can enjoy. All those countless movie viewers can’t be wrong, can they? Because of its original screenplay and infusion into the American pop culture, The Karate Kid is a definite must-see movie?

About the Author

Britt Gillette is author of The DVD Report, a blog where you can find more reviews like this one of the The Karate Kid (DVD).

Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio) and his mother Lucille (Randee Heller) move to California from New Jersey, where Daniel has a difficult time making new friends. Striking up a romantic friendship with Ali Mills (Elisabeth Shue), a rich girl who previously dated the popular Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka), he incurs Johnny’s envious wrath. When Daniel is about to get beat up yet again, the super at the apartment building where he lives, a Japanese immigrant named Mr. Miyagi (Pat Morita), steps in and beats up Johnny and his friends. Mystified, Daniel learns that Mr. Miyagi is a martial arts expert. He begs to become an understudy, and Mr. Miyagi reluctantly agrees.

Following several weeks of training and conditioning which Daniel doesn’t understand (waxing cars and painting houses), he’s ready to quit. But Mr. Miyagi reveals the depth of the effect the training has had on Daniel’s skills as a martial artist. With Johnny and his Cobra Kai friends continually threatening Daniel, Mr. Miyagi strikes a deal with Cobra Kai Sensei John Kreese (Martin Kove). Kreese agrees that his students will not lay a hand on Daniel until after the upcoming All-Valley Karate Championship. At the championship, the foes will decide their dispute once and for all… Will Daniel finally get the bullies off his back? Will he win the girl in the end? The Karate Kid has all the elements of a smash hit?

More than any other, the true star of The Karate Kid is Mr. Miyagi (Pat Morita) whose grandfatherly ways and deadly fighting abilities earned him a place within the hearts of movie viewers around the world. Exhibiting all the characteristics of a noble individual, Miyagi is a throw back to the idyllic days of knights and chivalry. Taking the young LaRusso under his wing, the two form a bond that transcends age and race, and when Daniel overcomes the obstacles in his young life, Mr. Miyagi is there to smile?

A masterpiece of the 1980s teen drama, The Karate Kid penetrated pop culture with its “sand on, sand off” catch phrases and kids imitating the “crane kick”. Although not in the same category as Academy Award winning dramas, The Karate Kid nevertheless holds its own as good, clean entertainment the entire family can enjoy. All those countless movie viewers can’t be wrong, can they? Because of its original screenplay and infusion into the American pop culture, The Karate Kid is a definite must-see movie?

About the Author

Britt Gillette is author of The DVD Report, a blog where you can find more reviews like this one of the The Karate Kid (DVD).