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G4 Hosts - Where are they Now? Part 1

While many of the devoted already know and follow their favorite ex-G4 hosts, some out there may be surprised where they can find the G4 class of 2002. Here's part one of our look at what some of them are up to now:

scot_rubin.jpg
Scot Rubin
Then: Host of G4TV.com, President and Co-Founder
Now:  Founder of All Games, Host of All Games Interactive
MySpace: Yes
Website: www.allgames.com

After leaving G4 in 2004, Scot restarted his previous endeavor, All Games, an online 24/7 gaming radio network. Originally airing only a single show with game music filling the rest of the station's schedule, All Games has grown to host nearly 20 different gaming shows and podcasts, including All Games Interactive, a daily 2-4 hour live show which discusses not only games and gamers, but also anything gamers are talking about. The network emphesises interactivity and community, allowing users to text chat or call in to talk to the hosts in a live, uncensored format.


tina_wood.jpgTina Wood/Summerfield
Then: Host of G4TV.com, Writer
Now: Reporter for on10.net
Myspace: None Public
Website: www.on10.net

Following her departure from G4 in late 2005, Tina rejoined her G4TV.com co-host Laura Foy at Microsoft, on a new online "channel" called on10. Based at Microsoft's headquarters in Seattle, on10 is a video-style blog that reports on the latest technology, software, hardware, and games as well as the people who develop them. Over the summer of 2007, Tina disappeared mysteriously from the blog, however former G4TV.com production assistant Kevin Pereira revealed that Wood had recently given birth to a baby girl. Wood had also gotten married at some point, which is surley to be lamented by rabid fanboys everywhere, but still goes by her madien name at on10.

laura_foy.jpgLaura Foy
Then: Host of G4TV.com, Writer
Now: Reporter for on10.net
Myspace: None Public
Website: www.on10.net, Public Blog

Also leaving G4 in 2005, Foy followed Wood (or did Wood follow Foy?) to Microsoft's on10.net to provide on-location video reports. Foy also still updates her personal blog with random musings and highlights of her work at on10. Laura appeared on former co-host Scot Rubin's radio show in 2007 and Foy returned the favor by having Scot on a on10 segment as well.

bill_sindelar.jpgBill Sindelar
Then: Host of Blister
Now: Various improv & acting work
Myspace: Yes
Website: www.billsindelar.com

Apparent fan favorite Bill Sindelar was cut loose from G4 in 2003 and went on to do a variety of work, including crowd-warm up for Wayne Brady's shows, American Idol, Celebrity Circus and Dancing with the Stars, in-store HDTV advertisements for Best Buy as well as several TV ads. Sindelar's site has recently been redesigned into a blog format and features some videos of some of the work he does on and off camera.


Thumbnail image for diane_mizota.jpg
Diane Mizota
Then: Host of Filter
Now: Various work for Yahoo, TLC
Myspace: Yes
Website: www.dianemizota.com

Diane's Filter ended in 2005, but Diane continued her tech centric hosting duties at Revision3, an online video channel and after leaving was replaced by another ex-G4 host, Wil Wheaton. Now Diane has just finished filming "Your Place or Mine," for TLC, a commercial for Cadillac, some ads for Best Buy (separate from Bill Sindelar's ads) and various work for Yahoo's Buzz Session.

Keep your eyes peeled for part 2, coming soon!

History

This a preview of the upcoming History section. Much more will be added to the timeline at a later date.

Pre-4: The All Games Network (1996-2001)
Before there was G4, there was the All Games Network. Created in 1996 by Scot Rubin, AGN featured daily audio and video webcasts where viewers could interact with hosts via IRC chat. Many G4 cast and crew members first appeared on All Games Shows including Laura Foy, Josh Krane and Jim Downs. AGN was known for being a pioneer in doing broadband webcasting before there was broadband and one of the first webcasts to include interactive elements. Pseudo, AGN's provider, eventually was shut down during the dot-com bust and Rubin was hired by Comcast to help consult and develop a 24/7 video game channel to air on digital cable.

G4TV: The Early Years (2002-2003)
The first ever network dedicated entirely to video games launches in April of 2002 with 13 original series as well as a variety of gaming programs from other sources such as the UK's Gamer.tv lineup. The name G4 originally stood for the four generations of gaming: text, sprites, polygons and textures. For the first several weeks, programming was not ready, so a continuous game of Pong was shown in lieu. Backed by media giant Comcast, G4 is constrained by few carriers and low budgets but manages to build a core audience. At first the network was only seen by Comcast subscribers. G4 dumped much of it's budget into getting into more homes and worried less about the programming budget since "no one was watching." Despite the extremely low budgets, G4 was generally well recieved by gamers but was sometimes critized for attempting to be too "MTV" with shows like Blister and Sweat.

Early G4 was known for having many interactive elements. Viewers could call into G4tv.com (the show), post on the website's forums, participate in IRC chat with hosts and more. Early G4 hosts also posted reguarly on the forums as well as in the chat room.

G4TechTV: A New Era of Whining (2004)
Comcast drops a bombshell in Spring of 2004, announcing the accquisition of the TechTV network and it's intentions to merge it with it's own G4 network in order to broaden it's viewerbase. In early FAQs posted by Comcast, G4 and TechTV would take the best shows of either network and build a network that focused on "Games, Gear, Gadgets and Gigabytes" which replaced the older four graphic generations mantra.

G4 moved some of TechTV's San Fransisco based hosts and employees to it's LA studio, but laid off many, giving severage packages that forbid the former employees to speak negatively about the network to the media or on the internet. Initianlly, G4 claimed that G4TechTV would include the best shows from G4 and TechTV, but ended up immedatly cancelling several fan favorites such as Portal, Call for Help, TechLive, Pulse and more. TechTV's flagship shows, The Screen Savers, Unscrewed and X-Play were all given new seasons on G4TechTV, only to see Unscrewed cancelled weeks later and The Screen Savers retooled with new hosts.

Many fans were up in arms over the massive changes, creating petitions, anti-G4 websites and protesting in G4's online forums. Over the summer of 2004, Scot Rubin, who had been hosting G4tv.com left the network to due differences with management.

The end of TechTV, Return of G4 (2005)
In early 2005, G4TechTV officially dropped the TechTV moniker and returned to it's old name. G4 also announced the end of The Screen Savers which would change it's name and format over to Attack of the Show, thus leaving X-Play as the only surviving TechTV show. Intinally G4's slogan was "Videogame TV" but within a year, the slogan was dropped and G4 began widdled down their original programming to just a handful of shows.

G4 - TV for ??? (2006)
In 2006, G4 begins picking up cable network leftovers, such as Star Trek, Banzai, COPS, Cheaters, Totally Outragues Behavior and others. Already outraged longtime fans began giving up hope and leaving the network's online community as new fans of above shows began arriving. G4 resparked it's interest in interactivity and began making "2.0 versions" of Star Trek, X-Play, Banzai and COPS which featured on-screen chat, trivia and behind the scenes info. G4 began reffering to itself as the "Most Podcasted Channel" and a network for men who were into video games, technology and pop culture.

G4's original content continuned to shrink, with the cancellation of long running G4tv.com, Judgement Day and Arena. The only remaining shows that were produced at G4 were X-Play, Attack of the Show, Cinematech and Cheat! The network expirments with late night blocks filled with raunchy and adult themed programming such as The Man Show, Ed the Sock and Happy Tree Friends.

G4 - TV that's Plugged In (2007-Future)
In 2007 G4 unleashed a new logo, a new motto and fully shed it's "gaming network" label. The network's CEO, Neal Tiles admits publicly that the network was not working as a 24/7 video game channel and that changes had to be made. Tiles reaffairms that network will still cover gaming and technology but must now branch out and attempt to appeal to a wider audience.

The network moves into a shared studio space with fellow Comcast channel E! Entertainment and is folded into E!'s management structure. The only remaining shows produced in studio are X-Play and Attack of the Show. The network also begins venturing into animated programs with it's original series "Code Monkeys" and eventually a series based on Mel Brook's "Space Balls."