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G4 Becoming Esquire Network

NBCUniversal is rebranding G4 as a more general-purpose men's interests channel called Esquire Network starting April 22. Now that all that pesky gaming programming is out of the way, Esquire Network is free to brave new frontiers with its first two original series: a reality cooking show and a celebrity travel series.

The network is intended to be an upscale men's entertainment hub, focusing on things like cars and politics rather than bikinis and explosions. Esquire magazine's editor-in-chief David Granger, who will be "working closely" with NBCUniversal on the network, described his view of Esquire Network's programming to The New York Times as "not duplicative of what readers find in the magazine, but in the same wheelhouse.”

The network will also be showing re-runs of content owned by its megacorporation parent company, including Parks and Recreation and Party Down.

It wasn't wall-to-wall solid gold, but G4 was a cable channel dedicated to games, gamers, and gamer culture. I'll be pouring one out for it and the hard-working folks who made G4 what it was later this evening, and I invite you to do the same.

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Comments
  • And so their journey to rock bottom has finally been completed.

    Of course, we all saw this coming nearly a decade ago when they scraped more and more tech/game centric shows to air things like that car racing drama (or whatever it was). I also found Attack of the Show more and more obnoxious with each passing year, and I seriously miss the show it replaced beforehand 'The Screen Savers'. That show was a godsend and helped me understand computers so much better then I did prior. The only thing Attack of the Show did for me was remind me how stupid pop culture is.
  • Sad day......
  • Well that's sad. I really miss the old G4 days, with the shows like Portal, Cinematech, Judgement Day, and Arena. As cheesy as some of those shows were, they were fun to watch as a middle schooler.
  • Well, at least they have Parks & Rec reruns.....

    And if this is supposed to appeal to the modern man, and one of the ways is a reality cooking show, they better have Guy Fieri hosting that.
  • Mod
    Everyone says Parks and Rec is a really good show! (EDIT: everyone except that one guy a few posts down.) Maybe I'll check it out sometime. Oh no am I the enemy
  • Parks and Rec will be played!? This channel is now awesome.
  • A cooking series and a travel series. Those sound like very unique concepts to the television medium.
  • Sounds like some serious television innovation right there! (sarcasm)
  • Well since there aren't going to be any more video game shows, then this is a great time for Spike TV to jump in and have a gaming block on Fridays leading with their GT.TV show.
  • man that really sucks...G4 was my favorite place to watch E3
  • Ah, upscale gentleman's entertainment hub, eh? Sounds like a 5 star strip club. That or Spike TV's grown up, more affluent yuppie brother.
  • Just a shame what happened to g4tv over the years
  • Parks and recreations is terrible.
  • Sounds like a classy version of Spike TV. Unfortunately Spike TV is pretty much garbage.

  • So they got rid of the other re-run channel to start up a re-run channel.
  • Douchetacular.

  • Esquire still sounds awful.

  • What a shame... What a shame... I'll just watch EP Daily then.
  • I finally will now know how to properly garnish veal scallopini and how to travel with c list celebs in tiny private jets all while trying not to offend other cultures. Thanks Esquire, you're a true godsend and an image of what modern men are suppose to be.
  • With such original programming on the way, how can this new network not be a success?
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