It’s finally happened: G4 has cancelled both X-Play and Attack of the Show.
The network has announced that the two shows have met their end, but will continue to air new episodes until the end of 2012. According to reports, the network has held meetings to discuss the cancellations with their employees and how it will effect their employment with the company in the future. Regarding the cancellations, G4 has provided this statement:
G4‘s two longest-running and defining series, Attack of the Show! and X-Play, will be ending their run at the end of 2012. Both shows will include original episodes through the end of the year, and will look back at theirmost memorable moments as we lead up to their final episodes. A rotating lineup of guest co-hosts including John Barrowman, Michael Ian Black, Josh Myers, Paul Scheer, Rob Huebel and Horatio Sanz will join AOTS hosts Candace Bailey and Sara Underwood, and X-Play hosts Morgan Webb and Blair Herter as part of the farewell shows.
With well over a thousand episodes each, Attack of the Show! and X-Play have defined gamer culture for a generation, serving as the launch pad for prominent personalities including Kevin Pereira, Olivia Munn, Chris Hardwick and Adam Sessler. Attack of the Show! debuted March 28, 2005 and from the start was the ultimate guide to everything cool and new in the world of technology, web culture, gaming and pop culture. X-Play made its debut almost two years earlier, on April 28, 2003 (on G4’s previous incarnation: TechTV), and immediately became the go-to destination for young men seeking the latest video game news, honest reviews, hands-on demos and exclusive video game trailers and footage. The year-end celebration will take you back through highlights of these landmark shows’ history, including its exclusive live-from-the-floor coverage of San Diego Comic-Con and E3.
Both long-running shows helped define, as well as expand, the pop culture and gaming TV experience for a generation. We hope you’ve had as much fun watching them as we have had making them, and sincerely hope you join us in bidding a fond farewell to Attack of the Show and X-Play‘s as we look back over the next two months and head towards each series’ finale.
There has been a rumor floating around G4 that NBC Universal plans to morph G4 into a GQ-esque type of network. The cancellation of these two popular shows seem to support that rumor.
X-Play and AOTS have been G4‘s most popular video game/geek culture shows since the early days of the network. It can be argued that X-Play and AOTS are responsible for most of G4‘s success over the years. In wake of the announcement, Adam Sessler (former X-Play host) and Kevin Pereira (former AOTS host) have taken to twitter to show their support and express their best wishes for their former co-workers.