The Screen Savers
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The Screen Savers (May 11, 1998 - March 18, 2005) was a live American TV show on TechTV. The show launched concurrently with the channel ZDTV (later known as TechTV) on May 11, 1998. The Screen Savers originally centered around computers, new technologies, and their adaptations in the world. However, after it was taken over by G4, the show became more general-interest oriented and focused less on technology. The final episode of The Screen Savers aired on March 18, 2005. Repeat episodes continued to air until March 25, 2005.
History
The Screen Savers premiered on May 11, 1998 as part of ZDTV. It aired live from San Francisco, California. Originally hosted by Leo Laporte and Kate Botello, the show featured a large and continually changing group of contributors. For much of its run, The Screen Savers had a running time of 90 minutes. This was later changed to 60 minutes due to scheduling conflicts and the difficulty of creating enough content for a 90-minute program. In 2000, ZDTV became TechTV. In early 2001, Kate Botello left the show. Patrick Norton took her spot, and he and Laporte hosted the show for much of its run. In 2002, the show built a new set and designed a new logo and graphics. The new set was much bigger and brighter than the previous "basement" set. The new set offered more room for the studio audience, application-specific areas, a dedicated LAN Party section, and a new lab for Yoshi.
2004 was a significant year for The Screen Savers. Laporte left The Screen Savers to focus on hosting Call For Help, and Kevin Rose took his spot. Soon after Comcast bought TechTV in order to merge it with their struggling gaming channel G4, the TechTV offices were hit with massive layoffs affecting over 200 personnel. After the merger, the show changed formats, leaving computer- and technology-focused content and adopting a gaming and entertainment variety show style that presented gaming and technology related news, product demonstrations, software clinics, interviews with notable people, live music, and such original segments as Dark Deals, Gems of the Internet, and It Came from eBay. G4 moved the show to their studios in Los Angeles, California. The first Los Angeles based episode aired on September 7, 2004. Norton declined to move with the show, opting to remain in San Francisco with his new wife. Alex Albrecht took his spot. The show gradually became less and less tech-oriented. On November 11, 2004, Kevin Rose, Sarah Lane, and Alex Albrecht announced on their personal blogs that G4 had decided to revamp The Screen Savers by making it more pop culture, Internet, and gaming-oriented. Alex Albrecht, Yoshi DeHerrera, Dan Huard, and the show's entire staff (comprised mostly of TechTV employees) either resigned, made separation deals with G4, or were officially terminated.
New episodes of the revamped show began on November 29, 2004; without a live studio audience. Kevin Pereira and Chi-Lan Lieu took over hosting duties. Chi-Lan later left G4 and was replaced as co-host briefly by Sarah Lane and finally by Kevin Rose. The final hosts of The Screen Savers were Kevin Rose and Kevin Pereira. The show's executive producer was Paul Block. On March 17, 2005, the cast announced that on March 28, 2005, The Screen Savers would officially end. The first episode of a new show Attack of the Show! aired on March 28, 2005 in the old Screen Savers timeslot with many of the same hosts and staff, but a very different format and content.
Format
Each show began with a short commentary on the day's technology-related news stories, sometimes accompanied by an online poll. This was followed by a call for help from a viewer, either through telephone or netcam. Early in the show's run, this was followed by Leo's Boot Camp, designed to help people who were new to computers. More calls were answered throughout the show, along with a variety of segments. These included various interviews, coverage of special events, The Twisted List, Site of the Night, and Download of the Day. As each show came to an end, questions sent in by email were answered. For part of the show's run, quotations sent in from viewers were read at this time.Hosts
The final hosts of The Screen Savers were:- Sarah Lane: Sarah became co-host when Chi-Lan Lieu decided to lessen her involvement with the show. She, Kevin Rose, and Brendan Moran were the only on-air talent from TechTV still featured on the show. She left G4 and Attack of the Show! on April 6th, 2006.
- Brendan Moran: Brendan left, along with Sarah, on April 6th, 2006.
- Kevin Pereira: Kevin continues to host Attack of the Show, along with Olivia Munn, Zach Selwyn, Layla Keighley, and Wil O'Neal.
- Kevin Rose: Currently part of several online IPTV tech projects along with former TechTV employees, such as with Revision3 Corporation. Kevin was also instrumental in the creation of the social news site Digg. He left G4 and Attack of the Show! in May 2005.
- Alex Albrecht: Alex joined The Screen Savers as co-host on the first G4techTV episode airing from Los Angeles. He was terminated on November 11, 2004. His last episode aired November 10, 2004.
- Kate Botello: Kate left the show to co-host Extended Play with Adam Sessler. She also co-hosted a TechTV video on computer basics with Chris Pirillo. Kate currently lives in Traverse City, Michigan, where she owns and operates a web design company.
- Jessica Corbin: Jessica left the show after the merger and can now be seen hosting Love's a Trip, a reality TV show on Style.
- Yoshi DeHerrera: Yoshi was the show's modding guru. He was terminated on November 11, 2004. His last episode aired November 10, 2004.
- Dan Huard: Dan was terminated on November 11, 2004. His last episode aired November 10, 2004.
- Leo Laporte: Leo left the show on April 1, 2004. He is now the host of Call for Help on G4techTV Canada in Canada and How To Channel in Australia. He also has his own technology talk radio show on KFI AM 640, as well as a host of numerous podcasts, most notably this WEEK in TECH.
- Chi-Lan Lieu: Chi-Lan co-hosted The Screen Savers with Kevin Pereira for a short time in December 2004. She was replaced as co-host by Sarah Lane in January 2005 and has since announced her departure from G4 on her personal blog.
- Megan Morrone: Megan left the show to have a baby. She now works for Microsoft.
- Patrick Norton: Patrick has married and left the show after the merger so as to not be transferred to Los Angeles. He currently hosts an internet tech show called DL.TV.
- Martin Sargent: Martin left the show to host his own late night variety show on TechTV: Unscrewed with Martin Sargent. His last episode on The Screen Savers was May 23, 2003, with the exception of making a few appearances on the show in 2004. Unscrewed with Martin Sargent was cancelled on November 11, 2004 and Sargent was terminated shortly after.
- Cat Schwartz: Cat left the show to co-host Call for Help and eventually left G4techTV in August 2004.
- Morgan Webb: Morgan left the show in April 2003 to co-host X-Play with Adam Sessler.
See also
- this WEEK in TECH - A weekly podcast hosted by Leo Laporte and other former cast members of The Screen Savers.
- DL.TV - A weekly Internet show hosted by Patrick Norton and other former TechTV and ZDTV employees.
- Revision3 Corporation - an IPTV company founded by Kevin Rose and Dan Huard
External links
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