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Back in the day of TechTV I use to ALWAYS watch The Screensavers. Back then I lived at home with my parents on the farm for a brief time and we had one Direct TV receiver, so only 1 show could be watched on all the tv's at once. They would always hate it when I watched The Screensavers. Then I moved to the town I am now. I got direct tv hooked up WITH tivo. That week Patrick and Leo left the Screensavers and soon after it turned into "Attack of the show"

I'm always trying to find the next Screensavers tech oriented TV / web show.

First I tried DL.TV which I liked but I can't stand Robert Haron. When he's not laughing or giggling which is only 5% of the time he's ok. I'll admit he is a bright guy, but his snickering giggling just makes me hit stop button.

The came System. Now at the moment I think that is the best one by far. There use to be a co host which I could barly stand. Now that he is gone and its just Patrick, I love it.

Then I watched TechZilla. I don't know what it is about the co hosts that they choose but Jesus. This one I think is called Veronica Belmont. What a ****ing air head. She's just a smart ass through or laughing through most of the show. Add to the fact that her voice is like nails on a chalk board. I'll admit that show has A LOT of potential. They just have to replace her immediately. Not sure who i'd want to see as long as its not Robert Haron I think we'd be ok.

So for the moment system is where its at. Other than that I listen to podcasts. The main one I listen to is "Security Now with Steve Gibson. That's my favorite as far as podcasts go. When its not available or if I already listened to the current one, then i'll listen to TWIT, The Tech Guy or Windows Weekly (But there again Paul laughs a lot, drives me nuts).

Edited by warwagon
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I like Tekzilla, i mean Veronica doesn't bother me that much but she's just okay. I used to watch The Screensavers all the time as well. It's too bad it totally got dumped with the G4 merge. AOTS has it's moments, it's actually not a bad replacement. I guess if you stick pretty close to Revision 3 you'll pretty much get everything you miss about Techtv. Diggnation!!

I've watched a handful of them but meh...and yeah, Veronica Belmont gets on my nerves. Natali del Conte wins :p

Yes Natali del Conte is hot and she knows it. So much so she works the camera. She does have a hot voice compared to Veronica's nail on a chalk board.

But she is quite fluffy.

I'm going to be perfectly honest here. Veronica Belmont is like a geek sex symbol. She is beautiful and knowledgeable and has a quirky but lovable sense of humor. But with that said, I just... don't think she makes a very good co-host for Tekzilla.

Also, the premise of Tekzilla in itself is somewhat meaningless. Call For Help, and to a lesser extent, The Screensavers on TechTV were shows targeted towards people less knowledgeable towards computers, and it worked well because it was a show on TV where those less knowledgeable people would know how to access it.

Now, Tekzilla is on an IPTV network, where the base target audience will have to go searching for it, and probably wouldn't have any clue how to download it on a regular basis like they should.

I'm not saying that Tekzilla is *only* for the computer illiterate, but a vast majority of the tips I see on the show involving computers are stuff I've known back before I considered myself an intermediate to expert computer user. It's the stuff skirting the edges of pure computer knowledge (like set-top media streaming devices and so-forth) that I tune in for.

Though I still love Tekzilla for fundamentally being a crossover between The Screensavers and Call For Help of olde. It certainly helps that Patrick Norton is the main-man behind hosting.

If you're looking for alternatives, I'd say anything on the TWiT network can suffice. You really have to listen to multiple podcasts, though, as they all have their own focus that may not encompass everything you're looking for. Simply that it's run by Leo Laporte should be enough to get your nostalgia on.

You've pretty much mentioned everything that I can think of that emulates The Screensavers in any way, though. The whole cast have all branched off in their own directions, most going to either the TWiT network or Revision 3, but I really wish they would merge together and collaborate on shows that would pretty much be carbon copies of their old TechTV counterparts. Patrick and Leo as hosts is a must.

And as a bonus, if you miss the old TechTV show "Silicon Spin" you've already got your carbon copy in Dvorak's CrankyGeeks.

I agree with Kupo-Cheer that Veronica is a geek sex symbol, she doesn't bother me.

Although I do watch Tekzilla every week I much prefer systm. I think systm needs a co-host but it has to be something equally as smart as David Randolf imo.

Morgan Webb = :x

I really like Tekzilla, we didn't have anything like the screen savers in England. But from clips I've seen on YouTube it looked like a great show, and maybe with a bit of support Tekzilla could become that good. Infact, the worst thing in my oppinion is the terrible set they use, it feels so tight and small. Having a studio revamp would make all the difference to that show as it would feel less awkard.

I think the sets are all in the same building as where everyone at Revision3 works. It does feel cramped but I think it might because they simply don't have a budget that screensavers did back in the day.

We didn't have Screensavers until just before it got canceled as far as I know in Australia and from the episodes I did see, it was much better than systm and tekzilla. F**K you G4 :(

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