Thursday
Mar202008
Ten Years After
Thursday, March 20, 2008 at 7:57AM 
I have a plane ticket to Vancouver for this Monday. I was scheduled to fly there to tape Week 44 of The Lab with Leo. Except I'm not. After 645 Canadian episodes of Call for Help and The Lab, Rogers has decided to cancel the show.
It's a decision I can't help but agree with.
Our Australian affiliate, the How-To Network, had stopped running the show due to poor ratings. The Canadian ratings haven't been so hot, either. The slide began a year ago when Amber left the show. The entire staff left in January and I was left the last man standing. I'm not good with slow fades. It's time to move on.
Rogers is planning to replace it with a daily, live show which is, ironically, what Call for Help used to be, but unless I pack up and move to Canada there's no way I could host it, so we've parted ways amicably. I will always be grateful to them for keeping Call for Help alive these past four years. I have worked with many wonderful Canadians both in front of and behind the camera, many of whom will continue to be friends and partners as I segue into new ventures.
TV, like all performing arts, is full of transitions. It's graduation day over and over again. You know you'll see some people again, and you also know that others, many of whom have been close friends, will drift away never to been seen again. It's sad, but it's inevitable. Every new beginning is also the beginning of the end. I guess that's life.
There will be new shows through May; we were producing several months ahead. Repeats of both Call for Help and The Lab will continue indefinitely. Everything comes to an end except re-runs.
Call for Help launched on May 11, 1998. It was cancelled April 2004 and revived by Rogers two months later. Ten years after its birth, four years after its resurrection, and after nearly 2,000 shows, Call for Help is finally over.
Except, it's not. I'll talk about the next chapter tomorrow.
This is Call for Help the way it was meant to be - with a handsome young host (hey it was eight years ago!) and guests Martin Sargent and Andy Ihnatko.
tagged Call For Help, TV, The Lab in Blog, News
Call For Help, TV, The Lab in Blog, News
Reader Comments (176)
Leo, had the pleasure of being a video caller to the Lab the first week of your restart. Sorry to hear the show didn't work out, but looking forward to TWiT Live! Who needs mass market when you own the niche!!
Onward and upward Leo, onward and upward. I've been a fan a long time, can't wait to see what's next.
They only cancelled it cuz I figured out how to get the download, lol!
I'll miss that format--it was both entertaining and informative. As much as I love listening to you on KFI and your pod.....er....excuse, me, netcasts (lol!) I will miss seeing your pretty face on TV.
Leo, you have no how influential Call for Help and The Screensavers have been for me. It was soon after falling in love with those shows in high school that I realized I wanted to work in technology. Now I'm working in tech support and towards becoming a tech journalist.
Like many others here, I owe much of what I have today to those shows and your wonderful coverage. I'm glad to hear that it'll be resurrected in some form, but it definitely won't be the same.
Good luck with the new show, and you can be rest assured that I and all of your other fans will be watching.
loved the show when it was in the states. i'm way behind in my twit podcasts and need to catch up soon. us geeks are getting more and more of our tech programing on-line. besides twit i dwn load podcasts from cnet and revision.
danny
It's my understanding that a big part of the reason the show was revived by G4TechTV Canada was that they were required to maintain tech content (rather than gaming content) as part of the channel's charter and that they needed to have Canadian content. It sounds like the new show will qualify on both counts.
I found that when I watched CFH or The Lab, I usually skipped over the viewer question segments. Your podcasts and presumeably TWiT Live are much more interesting to a geekier niche.
I think I speak for every one when I say that TV networks just don't get it. I hope that your new "TV" project will be the answer that I am looking for. Good look and I will make sure to support in any way that I can.
Leo, you must have always known the clock was ticking.... I know how excited you are to have more time in your new studio!
R.I.P Call For Help & THe Lab With Leo, Great Show, i love Leo Laporte and all the Tech TV'ers, sad to see it leave (i will watch Re-Runs to keep it alive), btw, i am excited for what is going to happen ti TWiT Live. It is always good to put old things to rest. R.I.P CALL FOR HELP & THE LAB WITH LEO LAPORTE, LONG LIVE TWiT LIVE!
Jordie (cooldude13233 in Leo's DSL Extreme Chat)
p.s. i always Wish to Meet you (Leo Laporte) person to Person :(
The program "Call for Help" did give me a decent education on how to maintain my windows system before I took Leo's advice and got a Mac for security reasons.
Thank you Leo for having such an informative agenda of technical advice. I wouldn't have made it without you.
Forward march !!!
After TechTV was destroyed, I stopped watching, but I recently found Leo and all his podcasts and The Lab (thanks to Mininova I can still watch some re-runs). So, in a way, it's sad that the show has ended right as I've begun watching it again.
I think you'll have greater success with the new show, though, and you can definitely count me in as loyal viewer. Good luck on everything, Leo!
Leo,
I'm very sorry to hear this! We only just discovered you on The Lab in the past year or so. We've learned so much from you and your gang so we'll be keeping an eye out for your next venture.
Onward and upward!
To some this will sound silly I know. But the news of your show being canceled does sadden me more that it should. Last Sunday my wife passed away, and for the last ten months I had to make countless long journeys back and forwards to Sydney. I also had to spend long nights at home without her. But the one constant and anchor throughout has been you, your net casts and The Lab.
I know I'm a silly old bugger, but among the many tears I shed for her, there will also be one for you.
Best of luck
Mick
Oh man! What's wrong with Rogers? I'm pissed again. But then, I think for you, Leo, it's probably not so bad since I always feel so bad for you to have to fly to Canada every time you need to do the show. It can be very tiring and stressful for you and your family.
I think the best thing is to start your own show yourself and do video casts like many others like Morgan Webb, Cali Lewis. You will still have your loyal fans and viewers and can do whatever you want.
Man, I'm so sorry to hear this again. My best wishes for your future endeavors. I'm just thankful again for the web workshop plug for my http://palmdiscovery.com" rel="nofollow">Palm Discovery website. I will always be thankful for that plus all the time you've spent for the tech community.
Cheers!
Love the picture with Andy and Amber. Those were great times at CFH in Canada. Things starting giving out when Andy left the show. Once Amber left, I kept thinking it was time for Leo to go completely solo.
The shows end, but Leo keeps on ticking. Looking forward the next chapter! Canada will miss you! :)
Thanks for all the help.
I really don't know what to say I watched both your shows religiously and know it's all over I feel so sorry for you Leo. I hope you will continue with your podcasts and maybe go it live. If you do so please notify me I will be there.
The Lab was way too Mac oriented, and was missing a good slice of potential viewers by miscaluclating viewer interests. The decline started with the vanishing of the PC tips, not Amber
Call For Help and TechTV may be gone, but so long as there are people with the passion for helping others with technology, the spirit of it all with continue. Like Leo said, it's the end of one chapter, and the beginning of another.
Without G4TechTV Canada picking up Call For Help (and my having decided to "treat myself" to digital cable finally), I would have never known the joy of your wonderful show. Never would have seen the scary and wonderful inner workings of Andy's fruit based mind. I would have eventually run into Amber when she became a CityTV'er, but wouldn't know of her love of cool alt rock, iPods, and especially her right hook (usually directed at Andy). I would not have communicated with Sean Carruthers on occasion, about this that and the other thing. Would not have half the Free Files, if not for Mikey Laz. Would know significantly less about computers in general, if not for Mr Excel, Hak5, Steve Gibson, Merlin Mann, Alex Lindsey, Cali Lewis, Patrick Norton, and the list goes on and on. And while I have enjoyed "The Lab" for what it is, and what it meant to keeping you, Leo, coming to Canada, it has never been as must see as Call For Help was (and frankly still is). I will miss seeing your congenial face on my TV with new episodes Leo, but rest assured, much like a drug dealer, you let me have the first sample for free, and now I have to come back for more.
Plus you will get to see your family more. And they will see you.
I wish you all the best with TWiT Live whenever/wherever it happens. I will be in the queue awaiting the beginning, yet again.
Dang, I *finally* got Digital Cable last week. I was really enjoying The Lab.
I remember watching Call For Help back in the day when I had the DTV hookup, good times.
RIP
RIP Call for Help. You will be sadly missed! But welcome TWIT LIVE!
THE BEST IS YET TO COME LEO! TWiT LIVE 08
I find it ironic that 2 minutes prior to me clicking the link to get to this page, I signed up to donate my $2 every month to TWiT. I have been a long time fan of the Call for Help show and Lab with Leo and recorded many shows on my PVR. Lucky for me I'm in Canada and I could watch easily.
I can't wait to see the up and coming video/TV you plan to make in your new studio.
Keep on "Doin' the TWiT"
Lame. Vancouver tech needs you. You will remain our number 1# tech hero... if only in re-runs.