12:40 AM
Whew.
Writing at the end of a very long day, which ends a very long week of a very long month in a year that I hope to god forget one day.
Today was black Friday at TechTV.
Checked in during chat this morning to see what was up. I was dazed from hauling wood this morning. Noticed that there was no one on at the chat desk, which is weird for Friday afternoons.
Then the word came in.
Massive layoffs.
No more TechLive.
The return of reruns.
A lot of people out of work, including friends of mine.
I understand the market situation. I understand that it’s a tough economy and that things have to happen when ratings aren’t good but damn … it’s the weekend before Thanksgiving. These people have families and this is NOT the proper time to do layoffs.
Anytime’s not the proper time to do layoffs, mind you, but hundreds of people right before Thanksgiving? What the HELL are they thinking?
I realize that the techlive format did not work. I don’t think that scrapping it entirely was the way to go. I think with a number of changes it could have been fixed and ratings would have improved … but … it’s moot right now. It’s over. It’s done.
In their wisdom, it was announced in chat that they’re going back to reruns during the day and three newscasts a day starting monday.
I’m going back to well, I don’t know, I went out today. My TV had been dying so I went out pricing TVs. Everywhere I went I was asking about the Xbox since I wanted one. I ended up buying a 19″ Phillips TV and after checking a few stores I gave up in my quest for an Xbox because the basic response to “hey, when’s your shipment coming in?” was laughter and “sometime in December, or January, maybe …”
Side note, talked Techlive with a couple of the clerks at various stores. If anyone cares what “normal” people thing, talked to 3 people about TechTV, all of them hated today’s changes, 2 of the 3 blurted out that they wished that the Gnome was laid off without me saying anything. Apparently he’s hated out there. The 3rd, basically expressed my feelings at this decision. A bunch of four letter words that I will not print.
Anyway, my last stop was circuit city. I bought a couple of dvds, asked the question of “when’s the next shipment coming in …” and was surprised that the cute girl behind the desk (and MAN why are they all so young and so cute at electronics stores these days? She must have been 17 or 18. Still 10 years too young for me dang it lol.), said “oh, we have 6 of those …”
I now have an Xbox. If you’re looking for one, check your Circuit City.
Early results? Graphical details are insane. The Circuit City package came with Gotham Racing and NFL Fever. NFL Fever has the best graphics I’ve ever seen in football games, but isn’t as fun to play as NFL2k2 for the Dreamcast. It just doesn’t flow as well and the color commentary is awful. If you buy it, turn off the volume and just be amazed at the details.
For those whining about the controller being too big. WTF? As a Dreamcast owner I’m used to having a big controller. The Xbox controller is the same size as the MadKatz 6 button Dreamcast controllers that most people buy at Wal-mart when they need another Dreamcast controller. It’s actually sleeker than those and it’s a lot easier to use than the N64 controller.
The only thing I hate about the controller is the rumble feature. Never understood it. Never wanted it. Turned it off.
Hours later, walk in the door, still kinda dazed, mind you I’m also sick and on antibiotics that are making me loopy, got the first of several TechTV related IMS. Still not sure who is gone, but I do know from Leoville that Laura Burstein is gone from the station.
I’ve known Laura for a couple of months now and I’m pleased to be able to call her a friend of mine. She was always the biggest supporter of this site and frankly, a couple of times when I really needed to jump start things around here, she was always ready to kick my butt into action. This summer there were quite a number of “I love Laura” websites popping up here and there and they were well deserved. She’s a class act and you know what? After all her hard work — and her working her butt off to improve her on-air role — including that awesome hour of co-hosting after the 911 attacks — it didn’t mean a thing. Budget cuts are budget cuts and to trim that budget you are a nameless faceless blob; and that’s a shame. She deserved better.
As far as this site goes. Monday is a new week. I might feel funny then, I might not. Frankly, I’m pretty angry at TechTV right now and as much as it doesn’t matter to anyone but me, it’s going to take some time to get my head together. A few days at least. Especially now that we’re losing a lot of characters and I’m assuming there will probably be a format change. So let’s wait until the smoke clears.
With that, it’s 1:20 am. I’m insanely tired and …
k9
PS I realize it’s kind of moot, but if you’re pissed about the changes … write Feedback@techtv.com. Doubt anyone’s listening there but hey, moot points are moot points … sometimes you have to try.