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The Screen Savers is a live American television program, shown on the G4techTV (formerly TechTV) cable channel, which premiered along with the channel (originally known as ZDTV) on May 11, 1998. The original hosts were Leo Laporte and Kate Botello.
The Screen Savers is best described as a computer/technology variety show, which presents computer industry and technology related news, product demonstrations, software clinics, and interviews with notable people, usually with some levity. Like a talk radio show, the hosts take phone calls from viewers as well.
The show was originally based in San Francisco, California, but TechTV's merger with G4 led to it being moved to Los Angeles, California. The first Los Angeles-based episode aired on September 72004.
Show revamp
The show has gone through a number of changes since 1998. Most notable moments would be the 2000 transformation of the ZDTV network to TechTV, the massive layoffs (that affected over 200 personnel) that were encountered when TechTV became merged with Comcast's G4 to become G4techTV in mid-2004, and the 'show revamp' which led to more layoffs of on-air talent and behind-the-scenes personell on November 11, 2004.
On November 11, 2004, Kevin Rose, Sarah Lane, and Alex Albrecht announced on their sites that G4 had decided to revamp The Screen Savers. Alex Albrecht, Yoshi DeHerrera, Dan Huard, and a majority of long-time producers of the show were officially terminated. New episodes of the revamped show began November 29, 2004.
On November 23, 2004, Kevin Rose announced on his site that he and Sarah Lane would return to content creation as two new hosts, Kevin Pereira, and Chi-Lan Lieu take over hosting duties.
Hosts
The current lineup of The Screen Savers is:
Former hosts include:
- Kevin Rose: Kevin's stint as co-host began when original host Leo Laporte left the show. He is best known for his "Dark Tips", information for the budding hacker.
- Chi-Lan Lieu 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 took over her accessory role on the show.
- Alex Albrecht (joined TSS on the first episode from Los Angeles; last episode November 10, 2004)
- Yoshi DeHerrera (Yoshi was the show's modding guru, his last episode was on November 10, 2004)
- Dan Huard (last episode November 10, 2004)
- Leo Laporte (left April 1, 2004, now on KFI AM 640 radio; previously on Call For Help, and now hosts Call for Help 2.0)
- Patrick Norton (married)
- Jessica Corbin (now seen hosting Love's a Trip, a reality TV show on Style)
- Morgan Webb (now seen on X-Play)
- Cat Schwartz (formerly seen on Call For Help)
- Megan Morrone (left to have a baby, now works for Microsoft)
- Martin Sargent (left for his own show Unscrewed with Martin Sargent, his last episode on The Screen Savers was May 23, 2003)
- Kate Botello: Left The Screen Savers to co-host Extended Play with Adam Sessler, and co-hosted a TechTV video on computer basics with Chris Pirillo. Kate is now an actress and freelance web designer in New York.
External links
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