This Old Post

I love the "This Day on Leoville" section of this blog. Not because I enjoy pouring poring over my old semi-literate posts, but because it's a time machine that takes me back to a magical era when TechTV was new and the sweet scent of possiblity was everywhere. Or maybe that's just the smell of popcorn burning in the microwave. I was looking at my post from this day in 2001 and I found the following in the comments (often the best part of these old posts). Seven years later it's pretty funny and teribbly sad. I don't remember the name of the disgruntled ex-employee who wrote it and snuck it onto the TechTV web site, but I do remember buying him a drink a few days later. He was very kind to me, if mean to everyone else. Many of you remember TechTV from this era with fondness. I certainly do, but even then, only three years into its six year run, there was trouble on the horizon. I don't agree with everything he says, but in hindsight, the author of this acid post was prophetic, and obviously one of the very funny and talented people who got crushed by the TechTV steamroller. I'm very grateful that it got saved here. (And if the actual author is reading this - say hello! You were spot on. TechLive was, in fact, the beginning of the end, even though it took three more years for Uncle Paul to actually tire of the channel and kill it by selling it to the chop shop known as Comcast.) UPDATE: Tom Merritt reminds me it was Josh Green! Wonder where he is now.

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18 April 2001 Many people shrug their shoulders about TechTV, they sit there and say, "Hey, it's just like any other company, terrible managers, dysfunctional organizational structures, bad communication. Whaddya gonna do?' But these people are mistaken. TechTV is far, far worse than most companies for the simple reason that the people at the top - namely Larry Wangberg, Greg Drebin, Glenn Farrell, and on the Web side, David Miller and Lynn Weiss - are in various ways incompetent, arrogant, strategically moronic and completely inept at keeping employees happy and motivated. So here's my Top Ten list on why TechTV will likely be out of money by this time next year: 10. The driver's asleep at the wheel. CEO Larry Wangberg can barely put a sentence together. Here are a few examples of his handiwork when he sends an e-mail to "ALL' - "If you aren't sleeping right now I hope that you are standing very tall. What a lifetime memorable world class day.' Or "Sets are looking great, most of our technical infrastructure is working, and it is great to see the rehersals. Know that there is a lot that still is getting pulled together and that you are working very hard.' Not exactly the words of rocket scientist, nor someone who knows how to spell "rehearsals.' 9. The TechTV concept made sense - TWO YEARS AGO. Of course technology isn't going away, and of course people are still interested in it. The question is how much do they care RIGHT NOW. Management chose to put all their eggs in one basket: Tech Live (a.k.a. Tech Dive), a 9 = hour block of programming that is currently driving most faithful TechTV viewers away from the channel. They launched this flagship product at the precise moment when the market was at its lowest, when NOBODY in their right minds is investing in tech stocks, and when we are in the middle of a recession (or whatever it is) during which people have far less money to buy tech products. Nice move. Should've stuck with Leo TV and renamed it the Help Channel. 8. Target audience doesn't exist. TechTV wants to become the destination channel for all those sophisticated technology professionals and financial market guys who are watching TV in their cubes. Um, yeah. Here's the big problem. Those guys don't EXIST, because the only people who have TVs in their cubes are TechTV employees. The financial guys are all tuned in to Bloomberg and CNBC. To believe that these guys would turn away from these channels to watch Carmine Gallo or Pam Krueger fumble over the day's tech market news is not just laughable, it's pathetic. They should have been happy with TechTV's original audience: horny teenagers harassing female talent, shut-ins who use the Internet as their only form of social interaction, and techie geeks who count their mothers among "women they've kissed.' 7. "Business strategy' is a term that makes people at TechTV snicker. Most people employed at TechTV know that the content and business strategy at TechTV is likely to change every few weeks. Of course, I didn't know that when I was hired in October under a system that had the site divided into five stand-alone zones, each with an executive producer. The five-zone system lasted about three months. The funny thing is, most of the "new' strategies that the braintrust comes up with are actually old strategies that didn't work revisited. Is it any wonder that the latest "business plan' for the Web constructed by gurus (or idiot savants, depending on how you look at it) David Miller and Glenn Farrell was taken with a grain of salt? This was the FIRST business plan for the Web side, and it came nearly four years after the site launched. 6. The best people at the company are either laid off or kept in menial positions. Damn right I'm talking about me. But really, that's not the whole picture. There are definitely smart, talented people at TechTV - the problem is that they are in no position to have an impact on the direction of the product, company or anything else. We have two terms for the people with an "associate' or even "producer' title: web monkey and gerbil. The verbs, "to web monkey' or "to gerbil (gerbiling)' also have common usage. These mean the same thing. People are trained to get on their wheel and wrestle with an archaic publishing tool eight hours a day to get stories up on the site. In the meantime, their talent and creative power goes circling down the drain. 5. The company is chocked full of, and run by, TV people. For TechTV to claim it is remotely a Web or technology company is, again, a big joke. It is a TV station, run by TV people, with a TV focus, and the Web, as a friend once told me, is and always will be the "red-headed stepchild.' I don't want to stereotype here - well, wait a second, yes I do. TV people are in general more stupid, shallow and less pleasant professionally than anyone I've ever worked with. I think this is because of the medium they work in - which by its very nature is superficial, stimulating without being intellectual, and sometimes outright boring. They don't call it the boob tube for nothing. I just wish the boobs had stayed away from TechTV. 4. The Audience of One. Everyone at TechTV knows what this means. Whether you know him as "Uncle Paul,' "The Man,' or simply "God,' he's the only reason TechTV even exists. When rich guys have visions, strange creatures are born. When extremely rich guys have visions, really screwed up, mutant monster-freaks are born. Hence TechTV. Content on the channel and the site are geared to please Paul, and nothing else, no matter what management tells you. Simple reason: if you don't please the guy who's cutting your paycheck, it's all over. But having an audience of one is extremely dangerous - when the One gets bored and gets up to walk out of the theater, the show's over. Paul Allen loves the idea of TechTV - but even he, with his abyss-like pockets, won't keep this charity case afloat forever. 3. Lying to employees. Though nobody in upper management would ever admit it, there's a serious trust problem within TechTV. It's all about the now infamous "need-to-know' policy, meaning information is only shared at the exact moment when you need to know (which is always too late). This translates to a top-down decision-making process: a few idiots assemble for "off-sites' (oh, be very afraid when that happens), people and structures are moved around like toy soldiers on a battlefield chart, and stupid decisions are handed down a week later, after rumors have already destroyed the credibility of the managers. Employees and their input are completely ignored in this process, so it's no big surprise that paranoia, low morale and a "cover-your-***' approach to everything are par for the course at TechTV. 2. B-Grade talent (OK, maybe C-Grade). Channel and program loyalty is built on personalities. Ted Koppel and Peter Jennings made Nightline. Willow Bay made Moneyline (at least for me). And the only guy who TechTV viewers love is Leo Laporte, who I'll grant has a real personality that touches people. TechTV's response to this was to move him off his show, make him read the news and be less funny, and reduce him to occasional help tips on Tech Dive. And then there's the rest of the talent. Um, yeah. In the TV world, second or third-tier cable channels are just launching pads to bigger and better things. Problem is, nobody at TechTV, with the possible exception of Michaela, Erica Hill and a couple others, has a chance at the big time. Nothing against them, they try hard, but attempting to do ad lib on Tech Live for people who aren't used to thinking original thoughts is like throwing a cat into a swimming pool. And the No. 1 reason TechTV will fail: Over-ambition: We're not "all experts' on technology. This is a mantra that Jim Louderback likes to throw out there. But there are a couple of harsh realities to face: First, TechTV does a couple things well. It puts out product reviews as soon as new gadgets are released, and it (or I should say, Leo) does a great job with techie help questions. Had TechTV stuck with what it knew, namely those two strengths, maybe a niche for it would have been found. But no, TechTV has to be the "CNBC of tech.' We have to explode everything into some big supernova of tech programming, because we're all "experts' and can provide so much more insight into the tech world than multimillion dollar media giants on cable, network TV and the Web. But you can't build a mansion with toothpicks. Anyone with an ounce of knowledge about technology can watch five minutes of Tech Live and see that TechTV is following the news, not breaking it, and it is speaking down to the lowest common denominator Grandma-who-just-got-email, not up toward the digerati of the Valley. Trying to break news is admirable, but you have to be realistic about what resources you have to actually do it. And it doesn't help that TechTV has as much name recognition among tech sources as a small community weekly newsletter. Right now the best "up-to-the-minute' stuff the network can do are things that happen in San Francisco and are technically easy to cover (see Napster, ad nauseum). Have a story break somewhere else and you're looking at a couple hours of arguments on renting crews, trucks and feeds, and then more delays in getting those things to actually work. You only have to look at the digitizing process - namely, actually having to physically bring a tape over to some poor slob in the dig room, who takes several hours to manually run it through (welcome to broadband) - to realize that TechTV overstepped its bounds. It will never match the quality of news coverage that other cable channels can give, and for management to think that we can do "more, with less' was just a pipe dream. Maybe that's all it ever was, a whimsical dream from the imagination of old Uncle Paul. -- Anonymous

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As a number of us old TechTVers launch into the next generation of IPTV, this time working for ourselves, it's worth re-reading this old screed, if only to make sure we don't make the same mistakes all over again. Thank you acid-penned masked man, wherever you are. Oh, and by the way, four years to the day after this was written, TWiT was launched.

Comments

[Zoyx]

... and now the guessing game begins.

[Nathan Bowers]

Maybe TechTV was just destined to be an evolutionary dead-end cousin to what eventually became really good stuff: the TWiT network, Digg, Revision3, and anything that Robert Heron and Patrick Norton are involved in.

Even so, I really miss seeing old episodes of "The Screen Savers f/ Patrick Norton in a kilt" in my TiVo's Now Playing lineup.

[Gary Boisseau]

Wow! Wish I knew who that masked man/woman was. Sad that TechTv worked out the way it did, but am totally jazzed that TWiT is what it is today, and can't wait for the video aspect of TWiT that's on the way. You go, Leo!!!

[Barry Smith]

Wow, that does seem to touch on a lot of the issues I saw as the startups I worked at were exploding around me like a Michael Bay movie during the "Dot Bomb" implosion.

I only caught on to TechTV during it's declining years, but I still sustained myself on the grains of wheat amongst the chaff. I was sad to see it go.

But ... eventually it did bring us TWiT!

So it seems it was all worth it in the end. ;)

[blackfeathers]

it's very prophetic indeed. what direction would techtv have made if the anonymous poster was in charge?

one pet peeve i have is when upper management can't spell correctly on a consistent basis or place simple coherent ideas together as was pointed out in that 2001 post.

[GuerillaC]

http://digg.com/tech_news/Molotov_Cocktail_on_the_TechTV_Website

[Kevin M.]

Wow, he really did see the writing on the wall. Unfortunately, it was worded in such a confrontational way that it was probably summarily dismissed at the time.

Oh, and because I'm a grammar nazi. You pour syrup over pancakes. You pore over old posts.

[Leo]

Really? I told you I was semi-literate. Live and learn. Fixing it now. Thanks Kevin!

[habitrailgirl]

A friend's family who lived in NJ had TechTV back in 2000 or so, and I was absolutely mesmerized during the weekend I visited her. I was heartbroken, HEARTBROKEN that I couldn't get it where I lived. I am very grateful that twit.tv will be available anywhere I go -- yep, it was destiny, all right.

[Andrew]

Pretty accurate I would say. Hey, look at what it has done for the ones that survived. Leo, Patrick, Kevin and others who jumped ship (or were tossed) thrive in this new world of IPTV.

I think people figure it out eventually

[Vicki]

I remember reading that when it was first posted -- and getting that sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach. I so didn't want to see ZDTV (TechTV) die such a death. But as others have said, it has led to where everyone is now -- the right people are running the joint this time :D

[Fred]

I'd have to say after the first few yrs(starting watching in 98), ScreenSavers was the only show left on TTV I was still watching(Tivoing). Even when Leo and Patrick came together in 2001 it made for a good show. You could see Patrick going...Oh no...LOL..Even when it starting going down hill, you could still make for a good ep by using that wonderful Tivo 30sec skip...

[Jamie Diamond]

Seeing as Louderback is now the one at the helm of the Rev3 ship, I sure hope he re-reads this too.

[Chuck]

Leo, TWiT needs to do a streaming show (or video podcast) based on the old Screensavers.

Chuck

[Steven]

Yea for TWiT! Hope the TWiT Live is the bomb. I'll be watching Saturday for sure. Rock on Leo!

[Zane]

I feel sorry for networks run by such idiots, the people with brains don't know what's going on because it's so disorganized. Seriously, if the CEO can't spell "rehearsal" that network isn't going to go anywhere to quickly. (Oh, and if thats the CEO, I'd hate to meet the largest individual stockholder, they must be right at home together)

[aprigliano]

I too read this when it was originally posted and got the same awful feeling. But, with all due respect, good riddance to TechTV. This was a channel I loved, then liked, then tolerated, then did not even tune in any more. I was happy, make that enthralled, when Patrick, Leo, Kevin, Jessica, Sarah, Megan, Cat, John C, et. al began popping their heads up making their own programming. There are more hours of original tech programming NOW than when it had a whole channel. And, it is better now. Much.

Leo, you sir, and your cohorts, did know your jobs better than management. And proved it.

[Andrew]

I too only caught the tail end of Tech TV here in Australia. When I found out that I was watching repeats that my cable company had recorded since the international feed was cut I was pretty cut myself.

Looking forward to Twit live. Will have to set the alarm though and make sure my bandwidth insn't throttled. lol

Cheers Leo

Andrew

[Bryan]

I remember when Leo posted a pic of his TechTV badge after he had quit, resigned, or was fired.... Was a sad day. I always made sure to tune into Call For Help and Screen Savers.... Now, I make sure to never miss a TWIT or MacBreak Weekly....

[Ash]

Ay, I was in the same situation as Andrew - when we had TechTV launch on the Australian Foxtel Pay-TV network, we were watching re-runs that were up to 3 years old.

For a tech show it was a joke; although I religiously watched it since it was the only tech stuff on Aussie TV, and nothing else was remotely mainstream enough.

I can't wait to see what TWiT Live is going to be like, and I'm glad that #9 doesn't apply much anymore - the time is ripe for IPTV networks (already we can see the success of the likes of Rev3, I just hope it's not a house of cards built on funding and borrowed money).

Good luck mate, I can't wait for an excuse to upgrade my net connection and bandwidth quota!

Ash

[Xhadow]

I remember Tech TV was the only reason I had cable, at the beginning there was nothing like it. Then I left for Germany (yes I'm a soldier) so no Tech TV, I guess I was spared the declining years while I was surprised that Leo wasn't the host of the screen savers anymore it was still watchable. I left for Iraq right as Tech TV merged with G4. The few weeks I saw of G4/Tech TV was awful it was like Spike TV puked all over Tech TV and the station didn't know what it was anymore. So I wasn't surprised when I came back from Iraq and I couldn't find TSS or Call for Help on G4 anymore.

Then mysteriously G4 was dropped from my cable lineup, however I don't think it could have happened to a better group of guys in hindsight. Thanks to that debacle we have TWiT, and Revision 3 which gives me all the goodness that was the early days of Tech TV had without the corporate stench that hovered over it in the later years.

Thank you Leo for TWiT!!!

[CB]

Go, Leo! You can do it better. We all know that. Keep your nose down and your eyes level, and all will be good.

[bdh]

You seem like you're in a bad mood, or depressed about something. You're leading the way in the evolution of an entirely new medium! Keep up the good work, Marshall McLuhan would have to write an update to Understanding Media to embrace the new world of the Internet you're a part of!

[Ikon]

Well, as others have alluded to, ZD/Tech/G4 TV at least provided a training ground for those who have moved on to better things. In that sense I guess we can call it an "enabling technology", and we all know enabling technologies next actually make it big themselves. Newton anyone?

Speaking of old episodes Leo, TechTV Canada has been running old Call For Help episodes again, along with Gadget something-or-other (with Amber). Anyway, I saw a few familiar faces, including a Matt Harris, minus a few pounds and with a full head of hair!

We're all praying TWIT Live is the right product at the right time.

[Joe Kelly]

I think the comment was wrong saying the only person people loved was Leo... I believe it was Leo AND Patrick. The whole reason "The Screen Savers" was a good show was the TWO great hosts of the show. Leo can do a good job on his own. Patrick I think is not as good as Leo on his own. If Leo and Patrick where to do another show together (Video) it would be the BEST video tech show on the internet.