The Screen Savers

The Screen Savers (May 11, 1998 - March 18, 2005) was a live American cable and satellite television program shown on G4 (formerly G4techTV). The show launched concurrently with the channel ZDTV (later known as TechTV) on May 11, 1998. The last episode of The Screen Savers aired on March 18, 2005.

The Screen Savers originally centered around computers, new technologies, and their adaptations in the world. After the May 2004 merger of TechTV and G4, the program changed formats, 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.

The show was originally based in San Francisco, California, but later moved to Los Angeles, California after the merger between TechTV and G4. The first Los Angeles based episode aired on September 7, 2004.

The original hosts were Leo Laporte and Kate Botello. In early 2001, Kate Botello left and was replaced by Patrick Norton. In April 2004, Leo Laporte was replaced as co-host by Kevin Rose. Kevin Rose worked as co-host with Patrick Norton until the show left San Francisco. Once in Los Angeles, Patrick Norton was replaced by Alex Albrecht until his termination on November 11, 2004. After Albrecht's departure, 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 name of the show would officially change from The Screen Savers to Attack of the Show. The first episode of Attack of the Show aired on March 28, 2005.

Show revamp

The show went through a number of changes since 1998. Some of the most notable moments include the 2000 transformation of the ZDTV network to TechTV, the massive layoffs (affecting over 200 personnel) that were encountered when TechTV merged with Comcast's G4 to become G4techTV in May 2004, and G4's decision to revamp the show, leading to the termination of many on-air talent and behind-the-scenes personnel, on November 11, 2004.

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 gaming oriented. Alex Albrecht, Yoshi DeHerrera, Dan Huard, and a majority of long-time producers of the show either resigned, made separation deals with G4, or were officially terminated. New episodes of the revamped show began on November 29, 2004.

Hosts

The final hosts of The Screen Savers were:

• Kevin Rose
• Kevin Pereira
• Sarah Lane: Sarah became co-host when Chi-Lan Lieu decided to lessen her involvement with the show. She and Kevin Rose were the only on-air talent from TechTV still featured on the show.
• Brendan Moran

Former hosts included:

• Chi-Lan Lieu: Chi-Lan co-hosted TSS 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.
• Alex Albrecht: Alex joined TSS 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.
• 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 was previously host of Call for Help and can now be seen as the host of Call for Help 2.0 on G4techTV Canada. He also has his own technology talk radio show on KFI AM 640.
• Patrick Norton: Patrick has married and left the show after the merger so as to not be transferred to Los Angeles.
• Jessica Corbin: Jessica left the show after the merger and can now seen hosting Love's a Trip, a reality television show on Style.
• Morgan Webb: Morgan left the show to co-host X-Play with Adam Sessler.
• Cat Schwartz: Cat left the show to co-host Call for Help and was terminated after the show's cancellation.
• Megan Morrone: Megan left the show to have a baby. She now works for Microsoft.
• Martin Sargent: Martin left the show to host his own late night variety show Unscrewed with Martin Sargent. His last episode on The Screen Savers was May 23, 2003. Unscrewed with Martin Sargent was cancelled on November 11, 2004 and Martin was terminated.
• 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 is currently a stage actress and freelance web designer in New York.

External links

• The Screen Savers official website (http://www.thescreensavers.com/) (no longer updated)
• Attack of the Show official website (http://www.attackoftheshow.com/)