Attack of the Show!
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Attack of the Show! (commonly referred to as AOTS) is a U.S. live television program shown weeknights on G4.
History
"Attack of the Show" focuses on technology, gaming, music, current events, pop-culture, movies, and sex. It is also known for being very viewer interactive by commonly having segments where viewers can call, chat, and e-mail questions which are answered live on the show. The show premiered on March 28, 2005 as the replacement for The Screen Savers.
The show is also aired on G4techTV Canada in Canada, and the How To Channel in Australia.
Hosts
Co-hosts
Former hosts
Segments
| Title | Synopsis |
|---|---|
| AOTS Hardware (Formerly Product Pr0n) | Wil O’Neal reviews and showcases the latest gadgets and gear. |
| Around the Net | A daily profile of websites with a unique or bizarre theme. |
| DVDuesday | Chris Gore’s reviews and picks for DVD releases and rates them as: buy, rent, or pass. Shown each Tuesday. |
| The Feed | Pop culture and technology news delivered in blurbs, usually presented by Layla Kayleigh. |
| Fresh Ink! | Blair Butler reviews upcoming comic book titles and rates them as: buy, browse, or burn. She also visits comic conventions. |
| Game Lab Reviews (Formerly First 50) | The G4 game labs review new games. Reviews presented by Kevin. |
| Game Break | Adam Sessler's update on current videogame news and his opinions of the industry. Shown each Monday. |
| In Your Pants | Sex columnist Anna David gives relationship advice to male and female viewers. |
| It Came From eBay | A showcase of strange auctions, which are found on eBay. |
| Jimmy the Geek | Jimmy makes his betting picks on upcoming sporting events. The game picks were originally based on video game simulations but is now based on pure guess work. |
| Live Music Thursday | Live in-studio performances by bands of various genres. The segment formerly featured unsigned and independent artists, but has recently included well-known acts such as Alien Ant Farm and Ziggy Marley. |
| The Loop | A daily forum featuring different opinions on the latest news, usually with three guests appearing via satellite. |
| MySpace Girl of the Week | An on-going beauty contest in which viewers vote online for their favorite girl from MySpace. |
| Olivia's Rack | Olivia showcases new magazines and their content. |
Former Segments
| Title | Synopsis |
|---|---|
| Agent 000's Tech Update | Former co-host Brendan Moran discusses the newest gadgets, dressed as James Bond-esque character trying to defeat the evil Spector. |
| Can Corrado Break It? | A short-lived segment featuring Corrado, a muscular segment producer, attempting to break a piece of technology with his bare hands. |
| Damn Good Download | Former co-host Sarah Lane’s selections of useful free or low-priced downloads. |
| Damn Good Website | Former co-host Sarah Lane’s selections of the best websites. |
| Dark Tips | Miscellaneous technology related tips and mods by former co-host Kevin Rose. |
| Free Play Friday | A weekly profile of a computer game which is usually freeware or a demo of a popular computer game done by Kevin. He has also profiled independent computer game titles. |
| Frugality (formerly Dark Deals) | A selection of low priced and sometimes free deals on the internet ranging from DVDs to small appliances. |
| Gems of the Internet | Coolest and most bizarre around the Internet. Replaced by Around The Net. |
| The Lush | A segment where the hosts discuss alcohol related websites, drink recipes, drinking games, & visit local bars. |
| This Week in Crap | A weekly monologue by Kevin where he discusses and slams the bad side of technology, music, & entertainment. |
| User Created | A showcase of AOTS-related creations made by viewers, who are given a week to complete. Kat Hinzman, who has won several user created contests, was crowned Queen of User Created. |
| Dark Deals | Good deals on the internet by former host, Kevin Rose |
| Verizon Broadband Battle (formerly Nvidia LAN Party) | A weekly online event where viewers can play a computer game against co-hosts, models, and actors. Games have included Unreal Tournament 2004, Battlefield 2, & F.E.A.R.. |
Behind the scenes shake-ups
Co-host Kevin Rose, one of the holdovers from the TechTV days, left the show in May, 2005. The show announced a search for a new co-host among the show's audience, and for several months various candidates auditioned on the air. In the end none of the candidates were actually selected (although, puzzlingly, this was never actually announced on the air) and Sarah Lane, who had previously been relegated to occasional segments throughout the show, gradually became the show's official co-host. She continued in this capacity until Thursday, April 6, 2006, when she and Brendan Moran announced their engagement and stated that they would be leaving the show. They married in late May 2006 and have begun a thirteen month honeymoon traveling the world and documenting their adventures online at Sarah's website [link]. The two Moran's appeared on the show, via sattelite, on July 13th, 2006 to talk about their adventures. The couple had been involved with TechTV and G4 since 2001, and their departure, like Rose's, was greeted with distress by the show's fans.Olivia Munn was hired to replace Lane and began hosting on Monday, April 10, 2006. Zach Selwyn was hired to replace Moran and started his hosting duties a week later on April 17, 2006. So far, Munn and Selwyn have met with mixed reaction from the show's fans. Wil O'Neal, a CNET senior editor who was one of the co-host candidates following Rose's departure, now appears on the show semi-regularly as a technology correspondent.
Kevin Pereira is now the sole remaining host from the AOTS launch in 2005.
Criticism
Opinions of the show are strongly divided. Many fans of The Screen Savers were angered by the change in the show's format from a "traditional" technology show to Attack of the Show's more pop culture based programming. Attack of the Show soon developed its own avid following, but many of these fans were distressed by the show's "new direction" following the departure of Sarah Lane and Brendan Moran, when the show briefly went on hiatus and then returned with a new set, new graphics, new co-hosts and an increased focus on cars, alcohol, sports and other content aggressively targeting young males.
There has also been some criticism of the show's consistently left-leaning politics, although much of the show's political humor seems to have been dropped in 2006. Sketches featuring Office Jesus, a passive-aggressive, cruel and rather effeminate version of Jesus Christ who inexplicably works at the G4 office, have also caused some controversy,in addition fans think that the show might have jumped the shark after E3.
External links
- [Attack of the Show! official website]
- [G4 official website]
- [Official MySpace Of Attack Of The Show!]
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