The Screen Savers

*The Screen Savers*
The Screen Savers
Starring	Leo Laporte ; Kate Botello ; Patrick Norton; Kevin Rose ; Alex Albrecht ; Sarah Lane
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of episodes	1,483 (Overall); 1,376 (San Francisco era); 107 (Los Angeles era)
Production
Executive producers	Paul Block (2001–2004); Jim Downs (2004)
Producer	Joshua Brentano
Running time	90 minutes (2001–2002); 60 minutes (1998–2001; 2002–2005)
Release
Original network	ZDTV (1998–2000); TechTV (2000–2004); G4TechTV (2004–2005); G4 (2005); TWiT.tv (2015–2018) See The New Screen Savers
Original release	May 11, 1998 –; March 18, 2005
Chronology
Related	Tekzilla

Last updated December 26, 2022

The Screen Savers is an American TV show that aired on TechTV from 1998 to 2005.^[1] The show launched concurrently with the channel ZDTV (later known as TechTV) on May 11, 1998. The Screen Savers originally centered on 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 somewhat less on technology. The final episode of The Screen Savers aired on March 18, 2005. Repeat episodes continued to air until March 25, 2005 when its replacement program Attack of the Show! began 3 days later on March 28, 2005. Two spiritual successors to The Screen Savers, This Week in Tech on the TWiT Network with Leo Laporte and Tekzilla on Revision3 with Patrick Norton, were started after the original show concluded. On April 19, 2015, Leo Laporte announced^[2] The New Screen Savers, which began airing on TWiT network May 2, 2015.

History

1998–2000

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.

2000–2001

In April 2000, Kate Botello left the show. Patrick Norton took her spot, and he and Laporte hosted the show for much of its run. A few months after Botello left, ZDTV became TechTV.

For much of its run, The Screen Savers had a running time of 60 minutes. This was later changed to 90 minutes (the expansion coming with the advent of the 'TechLive' all-day news format in 2001), but was reduced back to its original length due to scheduling conflicts and the difficulty of creating enough content for a 90-minute program.

2002–2003

In 2002, the show built a new set and designed a new logo and graphics. The new set was much larger 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. On December 17, 2002, the show celebrated its 1,000th episode.^[3]

2004–2005

2004 was a watershed 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. 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. 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, executive producer Paul Block and the show's entire staff (mostly TechTV employees) either resigned, made separation deals with G4, or were officially terminated. After the layoffs, 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.

In 2004, Dan Huard, who had just been terminated from the show, admitted that many of the live calls on the show, since moving down to L.A. to be with G4, were staged.^[4]

New episodes of the revamped show, which would later become Attack of the 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 Jim Downs.

Cancellation

On March 17, 2005, the cast announced that on March 25, 2005, The Screen Savers would officially end. The first episode of the officially titled Attack of the Show! aired on March 28, 2005.

Revival

In April 2015, Leo Laporte announced his version of The Screen Savers, under a slightly different name in 'The New Screen Savers' and lasted through the end of 2018.^[5] The show, recorded at 3PM Pacific time on Saturday afternoons, has been made available as an audio and video netcast. Unlike the TechTV version of the show, this revamp featured Laporte alongside a rotating series of co-hosts, some of whom had a history with the show, such as Kate Botello, Patrick Norton, Megan Morrone and Kevin Rose. Other co-hosts were employees of the TWiT network but had no past connection to the show, such as Mike Elgan, Jason Howell, Father Robert Ballecer SJ and Bryan Burnett. The final live show was on December 22, 2018 followed by a pre-recorded "Best of 2018" episode on December 29, 2018.

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.

Segments

Here are a few of the many segments which appeared on The Screen Savers:

"Bit Chat"
"Dark Deals"
"Dark Tips"
"Download of the Day"
"Live Calls"
"Photoshop Challenge"
"Show and Tell"
"Site of the Nite"
"Talkback"
"The Giz Wiz"
"The Screen Savers LAN Party"
"Twisted List"
"Windows Tips"
"Windows Tweaks"
"Yoshi's Mods"
"Mac Minute"
"Geek Library"

Hosts

Final hosts

Some of the final hosts of The Screen Savers were:

Sarah Lane (2004–2005): 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 6, 2006. Sarah currently works at TechCrunch.
Brendan Moran (2005): Brendan left, along with Sarah, on April 6, 2006.
Kevin Pereira (2004–2005): Kevin left as host of Attack of the Show on May 30, 2012 and left G4 after G4's coverage of E3 of that year. He later hosted the game show Let's Ask America . He later returned as a host of Attack of the Show for the network's 2021 revival.
Kevin Rose (2003–2005): Kevin continued to be a co-host until The Screen Savers ended in March 2005. He co-hosted Attack of the Show!, the replacement for The Screen Savers, until May 2005. Currently works for TrueVentures. He has been part of several online IPTV tech projects along with former TechTV employees, such as Revision3. Kevin is also founder and was chief architect and later CEO of the social news site Digg.

Previous hosts and supporting members

Former hosts and supporting members included:

Alex Albrecht (2004): 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. Alex cohosted the vidcast Diggnation and The Totally Rad Show , both distributed through Revision3 as well as Project Lore.
Kate Botello (1998–2000): 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 now contributes to Interlochen, Michigan-based Interlochen Public Radio; she is on the air from 7 – 10 AM (Eastern) weekdays and is the host of "Show Tunes with Kate Botello", which is heard Sundays at 7 PM Eastern.
Jessica Corbin: Jessica left the show after the merger hosted Love's a Trip,^[6] a reality TV show on Style as well as cohosted most of the 26 episodes of InDigital a vidcast production of Revision3. For short periods she also hosted Tekzilla, The Digg Reel and PopSiren also on Revision3.
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. He has hosted the on-hiatus thebroken vidcast with Revision3 and works full-time at Digg.
Leo Laporte (1998–2004): Leo left the show on April 1, 2004. He was the host of The Lab with Leo Laporte on G4techTV Canada in Canada and How To Channel in Australia, until the series was cancelled in Canada, and pulled from the schedule in Australia. He also has his own technology talk radio show on Premiere Radio Networks (previously exclusive to KFI AM 640), as well as being the host of numerous podcasts, most notably This Week in Tech , which became the basis of TWiT.tv as an independent podcast and video network.
Chi-Lan Lieu (2004–2005): 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 then worked at TWiT.tv from 2006 to 2019. After TWiT she worked for Medium until 2021 when she announced she would be joining Protocol, a news website owned by Capitol News Company.
Patrick Norton (2000–2004): Patrick joined the show as Kate left in 2000. Patrick left the show after the merger of Tech TV and G4 so as to not be transferred to Los Angeles, as he had recently married. He hosted an internet tech show called DL.TV, which he left as of August 2, 2007 to join Revision3. He is currently the co-host of a viewer supported technology podcast called Tekthing with Shannon Morse.
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. He then moved onto Revision3 where he produced, Webdrifter,^[7]Infected^[8] and Internet Superstar. He was laid off as part of cut backs at Revision3 in 2008, and currently works in the advertising industry; he performed a voiceover role for a 2011 Chevrolet Camaro ad during Super Bowl XLV.
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. From 2007–2009 she also hosted and produced a tech news vidcast called Webbalert.^[9]
Scott Herriott: Scott appeared in the House Call's segment and demonstrated technology in his search for Bigfoot.
Wil Wheaton

Related Research Articles

TechTV is a defunct 24-hour cable and satellite channel based in San Francisco featuring news and shows about computers, technology, and the Internet. In 2004, it merged with the G4 gaming channel which ultimately dissolved TechTV programming. At the height of its six-year run, TechTV was broadcast in 70 countries, reached 43 million households, and claimed 1.9 million unique visitors monthly to its website. A focus on personality-driven product reviews and technical support made it a cultural hub for technology information worldwide, still existing today online through its former hosts' webcasts, most notably the TWiT Network.

Martin Sargent is an American television personality and was co-host of the This WEEK in FUN podcast with Sarah Lane. He is most well known from his time as a Segment Producer on TechTV's The Screen Savers and later as the host of his own late night talk show Unscrewed with Martin Sargent.

John C. Dvorak is an American columnist and broadcaster in the areas of technology and computing. His writing extends back to the 1980s, when he was a regular columnist in a variety of magazines. He was vice president of Mevio, and has been a host on TechTV and TWiT.tv. He is currently a co-host of the No Agenda podcast.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Catherine Schwartz</span> American television presenter (born 1977)

Catherine Michelle Schwartz is an American television presenter. She was formerly a co-host on the TechTV television program Call for Help with Chris Pirillo and Leo Laporte.

Roger Chang is a computer enthusiast and American television personality best known for his time as a segment producer and his appearances on TechTV's Call for Help and The Screen Savers. He was a senior producer at Revision3.

Xplay is a TV program about video games. The program, known for its reviews and comedy skits, airs on G4 in the United States and had aired on G4 Canada in Canada, FUEL TV in Australia, Ego in Israel, GXT in Italy, MTV Russia & Rambler TV in Russia, Solar Sports in the Philippines, and Adult Swim and MuchMusic in Latin America.

Leo Laporte is the host of The Tech Guy weekly radio show and a host on TWiT.tv, an Internet podcast network focusing on technology. He is also a former TechTV technology host (1998–2008) and a technology author. On November 19, 2022, actor, writer, musician, and comedian Steve Martin called in to Laporte's radio show to announce Leo's retirement from The Tech Guy radio show. Laporte's last new radio show will be December 18, 2022 with reruns for the remainder of the year. Rich DeMuro later appeared on the show to announce that he will be taking over in January with a weekly show, recorded on Saturdays, called "Rich On Tech."

Adam Sessler is an American video game journalist, television personality and consultant. He is best known as the host for the video game review series Xplay and the editor-in-chief for G4's video game section. Upon his departure from G4 in April 2012, Sessler was its longest-tenured television personality, having originally been hired by its predecessor ZDTV in 1998.

G4techTV was a short-lived American cable and satellite channel resulting from a merger between Comcast-owned G4 and TechTV. The network officially launched on May 28, 2004.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Megan Morrone</span> American actress, podcaster & writer (born 1973)

Megan Morrone is an American actress, technology podcaster and writer. She was the co-host of TWiT online programs Tech News Weekly, iOS Today, and Triangulation, and former host of Tech News Today, Tech News 2Night, iFive for the iPhone, Inside The Net, and Jumping Monkeys.

Alexander Jennings Albrecht is an American television personality, actor and podcaster. He is known for co-hosting the former G4techTV television program The Screen Savers, an hour-long computer and technology variety show, as well as the weekly podcast Diggnation and the weekday podcast The Totally Rad Show on the Revision3 network. On July 15, 2008, he released his new podcast/website Project Lore, all about World of Warcraft. Albrecht has expressed a penchant for dressing up as characters from Street Fighter, most recently appearing as Guile. He is the Head of Original Programming at Caffeine.

Kate Botello is a former American television personality best known for her work on the San Francisco, California-based ZDTV.

Attack of the Show! (AOTS) is an American live television program and that aired on G4. AOTS features segments on pop culture, video games, and movies. After an initial run from 2005 to 2013, the show was revived in 2021 and canceled again when the network closed in 2022. The second incarnation of the program featured an ensemble cast, including returning original host Kevin Pereira, Kassem G, Fiona Nova, Gina Darling, Will Neff, and Austin Creed.

<i>Internet Tonight</i> American TV series or program

Internet Tonight was a television program on the cable network ZDTV. The show combined the "effervescent moxie" of Michaela Pereira with the "dry wit" of Scott Herriott, to bring the viewers the latest in Internet trends, humor, and news. Due to the production value it was called the "absolute slickest show [TechTV] had" but was canceled when "Paul [Allen] took a dislike to the show ... and just killed it"

The Site is an hour-long TV program devoted to the Internet revolution. It debuted in July 1996 with MSNBC's launch, and aired Monday through Saturday, reaching 35 million homes. Soledad O'Brien hosted The Site, along with her animated co-host Dev Null, voiced by Leo Laporte.

<i>This Week in Tech</i> Technology podcast

This Week in Tech–casually referred to as TWiT, and briefly known as Revenge of the Screen Savers–is the weekly flagship podcast and namesake of the TWiT.tv network. It is hosted by Leo Laporte and many other former TechTV employees and currently produced by Jason Howell. It features round-table discussions and debates surrounding current technology news and reviews, with a particular focus on consumer electronics and the Internet. TWiT is produced in the TWiT "eastside" studios in Petaluma, California, United States, since 2016, a few miles away from the former "brickhouse" studios where it had been produced for 5 years, and earlier TWiT "cottage", where it was produced for over 6 years. The podcast is streamed live on Sundays at 2:15 P.M. PST.

David Lawrence Prager is one of the co-founders and Vice President of Special Projects for Revision3. He has also worked for ZDTV, TechTV, and G4.

<i>The Tech Guy</i> Technology radio program

The Tech Guy is a widely syndicated US radio show hosted by Leo Laporte, formerly of TechTV and now TWiT.tv fame. The show, which was first exclusively broadcast on KFI AM 640 in Los Angeles, California, was picked up for syndication by Premiere Networks in February 2007. The show currently has over 160 terrestrial affiliates in cities including Los Angeles, California; San Francisco, California; Houston, Texas; and Washington, DC. Laporte streams video of his side of the show on TWiT Live, including caller audio. Anyone can watch the show live on weekends at 11:00 a.m. PST. The show reaches 500,000 people through its affiliates, placing it second behind The Kim Komando Show in the tech radio field.

Kevin Rose is an American Internet entrepreneur who co-founded Revision3, Digg, Pownce, and Milk. He also served as production assistant and co-host at TechTV's The Screen Savers. From 2012 to 2015, he was a venture partner at GV.

Revision3 was a San Francisco-based multi-channel television network that created, produced and distributed streaming television shows on niche topics. Founded in 2005, it operated as a subsidiary of Discovery Digital Networks since 2012. The network produced technology and gaming oriented programming in tandem with traditional comedic, political, DIY, and movie-related content. On March 31, 2017, Discovery Communications closed the website.

References

↑ Fost, Dan (17 May 1999). A Day in the Life of ZDTV's `The Screen Savers', San Francisco Chronicle
↑ "This Week in Tech 506 This Decade in TWiT – TWiT.TV". TWiT.tv. 2015-04-19. Retrieved 1 December 2018.
↑ The Laporte Report: The New Math Fails Us Again
↑ "Dan Huard: Life as a TechTV/G4 Employee". Archived from the original on January 6, 2005. Retrieved 2013-02-10.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
↑ "'The Screen Savers' Relaunching As Hour-Long Variety Show From Tech Pundit Leo Laporte". Deadline.com. Retrieved 1 December 2018.
↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2007-10-21. Retrieved 2018-12-07.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
↑ "Webdrifter". Revision3.com. Archived from the original on 2017-03-11. Retrieved 1 December 2018.
↑ "Infected". Revision3.com. Retrieved 1 December 2018.
↑ WebbAlert

External links

The Screen Savers at IMDb
The Screen Savers is available for free download at the Internet Archive

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[art10-1] Fost, Dan (17 May 1999). A Day in the Life of ZDTV's `The Screen Savers', San Francisco Chronicle

[2] "This Week in Tech 506 This Decade in TWiT – TWiT.TV". TWiT.tv. 2015-04-19. Retrieved 1 December 2018.

[3] The Laporte Report: The New Math Fails Us Again

[4] "Dan Huard: Life as a TechTV/G4 Employee". Archived from the original on January 6, 2005. Retrieved 2013-02-10.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)

[5] "'The Screen Savers' Relaunching As Hour-Long Variety Show From Tech Pundit Leo Laporte". Deadline.com. Retrieved 1 December 2018.

[6] "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2007-10-21. Retrieved 2018-12-07.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)

[7] "Webdrifter". Revision3.com. Archived from the original on 2017-03-11. Retrieved 1 December 2018.

[8] "Infected". Revision3.com. Retrieved 1 December 2018.

[9] WebbAlert

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]