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, it was a pleasure working with you for at least 150 of those 2000 episodes.
Thank you. I will always remember the experience I had in Toronto.
Talk to you soon.
Snowball
I've been sort of monitoring leoville to see when you'd make it official, after seeing the Thanks for all the Fish posting on labwithleo.com a little while back. I got a little worried that there might be some fallout after seeing Kate & Matt's announcement last December that they would be moving back to TO in the new year. So now its official. Too bad.
Of course I'll tune in for Twit Live although, I have to tell you Leo, that audio-only podcasts are fantastic for me. I listen to them every day on the bus while going to/from work. I put on my bluetooth headphones, start up my Axim, launch Core Player, start a TWIT podcast, sit back, close my eyes and, before you know it, it's time to get off & walk to my office/house. It's actually better than video.
call for help was like chicken soup when I was sic
Leo, I need content for my AppleTv.
Well, so much for the Canadian phase of your career. Now it is time to do it from home.
I have been an avid fan since the early years.
I listen to all of your podcasts daily while I work out and enjoy them. In fact there are not enough of them to keep me working out as much as I require. Keep up the good work and put CFH on the internet daily. I will be waiting.
Thanks for everything you are doing.
Leo,
Words escape me at the moment.. as a long time fan, a long time viewer, and someone that has enjoyed all your tv shows, this news saddens me. The Lab with Leo was a great show. As a canadian, I was honored that you came up to Canada, did a great tv show and though I consider myself a advanced computer user, I would always find out something new, a idea, a tip, whatever it was, it was always from your show. I think that rogers decision is so short sighted, and you will be missed. I will await to see you soon and welcome your new adventures in the Wild of the Net.
I hope that you will be back on the air someday, and though I will view your podcasts, I will miss the TV times of the past
Peace..
A Real Canadian Fan
Well obviously you should have a goodbye vancouver fan meet-up!
I'm actually typing this while on hold with shaw to cancel my tehctv canada subscription. Your show was the only reason why I hadn't cancelled it.
Hey, i'd love to see you turn the format into a weekly vodcast!
N
I will still enjoy watching Call for Help and The Lab on reruns. Wish you would consider using Mogulus for yor streaming. Soon they will let you upload up to one gig in video files at a time
I loved CFH from when I first saw it early in it's history. Even though I knew most of the answers to the questions, I loved Leo's answers and have learned so much about how to answer questions from listening to him do it. But all great things have a beginning and an end. Leo has outlived it and, I think, outgrown it. Looking forward to what's next!
I'm sad that LAB W/LEO was canceled before anybody in the U.S. could legally watch it - but delighted you're striking out w/a television show of your own. :)
Leo,
I wish we could have been a part of the show here in the USA but alas we weren't.
Now TWITlive will be great!! I am looking forward to watching live and on my way to the office. Now that you (we) will be in control things will be much, much better!!!
ET aka AlmostaGeek
Sorry to see the show go, Leo. Even though we did not get it here in the states, it was always reassuring you were on TV somewhere.
Looking forward to TWiT live.
There are a great many of us who appreciate your talent and dedication to doing what you love.
BTW - MBW #81 is one of the best shows ever!
Well as long as you keep up TWIT (and your radio Show), you will always inspire us all. Good Luck!!!!
Wow. I just started to watch these shows, and was actually enjoying it. Unfortunatly The Techtv channel in Canada is really hard to find, and i was only able to watch the lab with leo like 5 times. I just started liking it and now its cancelled. I also wish Techtv was a little more accessable.
I'm pretty sure the "how to" channel would have very low ratings for all their shows, it's one of the lesser known channels on the Foxtel platform in Australia.
Look forward to hearing any of your shows from Tasmania and don't forget my interview request!
As in any relationship, you deserve to be with people who are smart enough to appreciate you for who you are. Television has always been too dumb for you, and your growing internet audience will always be smart enough to appreciate you and your talents. Long live TWiT live!
All good things must come to and end...I never missed an episode(or tried not to), of both CFH & TSS...I watched an episode or 2 of The Lab on YouTube...I enjoyed it, but missed the good ol' days of watching live episodes of Call For Help every afternoon. I believe I have mentioned this in other comment posts, that I was on CFH doing a webcam promo for the show...back then, TechTV had people submit short webcam videos saying things like" We'll be right back with Call For Help"...or whatever show they wanted to mention and it would air before the commercials...I believe I said,"Your watching the man himself, Leo Laporte, right here on Call for help."..I did say a bit more but that was what they cut it down to...best of luck Sir Leo, with everything else that you do...I have learned a lot from you and keep up the great work!!
Leo, thanks for a great series and shows!
Well, maybe it was meant to be. I can remember watching Call for Help as a young teen, man I loved that show. Really got me into technology.
I'm sure your new Twit venture will be just great and finally bring some of your video content back to the US.
I am sorry to of the end. I enjoyed watch very much.
Can't wait to see whats up next
GOOD LUCK LEO YOUR THE BEST.
CHUCK FROM FT.MYERS FL
It's a crying shame that technology TV isn't more popular. I get the feeling that the opportunity was hacked off in the prime of its life when commie-cast bought TechTV and we may not see the likes of it again. But thank goodness for high-speed internet and programming with little or no commercial interruption that can be viewed/heard whenever we want. Eventually, you will prove the bean-counters wrong.
By the way, Leo, did you offer to get a boob job to improve the ratings??? LOL!!!
May the Tech be with you,
Mark from MT
I guess its time to cancel G4 again - the only reason I subscribed was because of the The Lab - I've enjoyed all of your shows since I first tuned into Call for Help on C-band here in Canada back in 1998.
I have always like what you do and is quite entertaining. I can't wait until the next level of Twit is launched.
This is a crying shame. I don't understand viewing audiences. In this day-and-age of technology and computers, there are very little shows on the subject, and this was the ONLY one that wasn't just a front for flogging products.
The thing that really killed this show from the start is that it would never be allowed to broadcast its unbiased message on larger networks that are influenced by commercial interests. At least while it ran, Toronto and Vancouver were beacons of free speech.
In my opinion, this was the best show on TV. Great topics, host, staff, and guests.
The nod has to go to Leo for making it interesting and entertaining. All the best in the future.