In the days before high speed Internet, there were two ways for a Western fan to access anime. One could either scour their local video store (or be enough in the know to swap VHS fansubs), or have some access to cable and satellite TV. For that second group, the prime choice for fans in the late 90s or early 2000s was Cartoon Network’s Toonami, and later on, Adult Swim programming blocks. However, there was one anime block that was contemporary to both Toonami and Adult Swim that, while it aired some popular and influential anime, was often overlooked due to the niche aspect of the channel it aired on. It was called Anime Unleashed and it aired on the gone but not forgotten Tech TV channel.
Tech TV was the brainchild of Ziff Davis Publications, which at the time, published magazines such as PC Magazine, Computer Shopper, and Popular Electronics among others. Ziff Davis felt that it might be viable to expand their news and reviews of computers and technology to the burgeoning cable TV market (63 million homes in the US would have at least one television set connected to a cable or satellite system in 1997). On May 11th 1998, ZDTV was launched, but only in limited markets such as in parts of Maine and Georgia. Looking to expand, Ziff Davis sold the channel to Vulcan Ventures, an investment group headed by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, a couple of years later. On August 21st 2000, the channel was rebranded as Tech TV, expanding its market across the country.
Like its name implies, Tech TV was focused on new technology, ranging from news and reviews on, at the time, the latest in electronics to how technology impacts our world in general. One of the premiere shows that debuted was The Screen Savers, a one hour program hosted by Leo Laporte that covered various subjects related to technology. Call for Help, a call in show that helped viewers with their computer problems. Other shows included Wired for Sex, which dealt with how modern technology affected dating and sex, Unscrewed with Martin Sargent, a late night talk show and Extended Play (later renamed X-Play)with hosts Adam Sessler and Morgan Webb reviewing the latest video games.
It seemed fitting then that it was on an episode of The Screen Savers that Anime Unleashed was announced to the world. In an interview by Isaac Alexander for Anime News Network with Laura Civiello, the channel’s Director of Programming Development, she stated that while Tech TV’s focus is technology content, technology could also be part of a show without it being at the center of a show, which is one of the reasons they decided to air anime. “For example,” she continued, “there are any number of anime series and movies that explore the conflict and/or cooperation between humans and machines.” She also stated that she believed that the audience who were watching their other shows such as The Screen Savers were also consuming anime.
If you look at their initial lineup, it gives you a better understanding of what Civiello meant. First, there was the grand space opera Crest of the Stars. Also airing was Serial Experiments Lain, a techno-horror drama that has themes that are eerily prescient in today’s society. Then there was Betterman, which combines science fiction horror with mecha action along with Silent Möbius, where technology went hand in hand with ancient magic to do battle with demons from another world. Finally, there was Dual! Parallel Trouble Adventure, a mecha action show that spans dimensions. The block premiered on December 30th, 2002 airing Monday through Thursday at 1am Eastern time. On Fridays, the block expanded to two hours beginning at 11pm and re-aired the previous week’s episodes before airing a new episode. This two hour edition also re-aired from 1:30 to 3am as well.
By the spring of 2003, the channel had 40 million homes in its subscriber count and Anime Unleashed was continuing to do well and having their programming listed in Western anime magazines such as Animerica and Newtype USA. Yet on the business side, cracks could be seen. According to a May 20th, 2003 article on Variety.com, the research group Kagan World Media remarked that unlike a majority of other cable networks, Tech TV did not get any revenue from most cable operators, though that was slowly changing. Kagan also stated that the network’s programming expenses fell from 26 million dollars in 2001 to 21.1 million in 2003. Tech TV also laid off 25% of its workforce in November, 2001 claiming a downturn in the technology sector. Joe Gillespie, then Chief Operating Officer at the network, acknowledged that while Tech TV was the only cable network exclusively dedicated to technology, there was some competition from networks that had tech related shows such as TLC’s Junkyard Wars. Even with these factors weighing against them, Vulcan solicited investment firm Greenbridge Partners to find a buyer to either purchase the network, or invest a significant stake in it.
As this was going on behind the scenes, the network continued on with its programming, including Anime Unleashed. By the Fall of 2003, the block was now a full hour on weeknights at its regular time, but now airing two shows. In addition to the above mentioned titles, they also added new shows such as Banner of the Stars, the sequel to Crest of the Stars. Gene Shaft, a futuristic adventure that could be considered “Biopunk.” The Soul Taker, another bio horror anime that was the first to be broadcast in high definition in Japan. And Gatekeepers 21, the OVA sequel to the 1999 SciFi TV series (surprisingly, the original TV show never aired on the block). The channel eventually added the steampunk aerial spectacle Last Exile in February, 2004.
Eventually an investor was found in Comcast, the owners of the G4 video game channel. Like Tech TV, we should take a brief look at G4. This channel began airing on April 24th 2002, and was created by Charles Hirschhorn a former Disney executive and along with other executives from Disney, MTV, and E!. Unlike Tech TV, which focused all on aspects of technology, G4’s primary focus was on video game culture.
When the channel premiered, there was a lineup of thirteen shows ranging from Cheat!, which covered cheat codes and strategies for various games, Game On that had various people taken off the street to play video games with each other, and Blister, a show similar to X-Play where video games are reviewed along with industry interviews and news about upcoming releases.
The first signs of the merger were discussed between the two parties in December, but it appeared to go on hiatus when Comcast attempted a hostile buyout of Disney in February that failed. By the end of March, the deal had been finalized, with Comcast buying Tech TV for 300 million dollars. Reactions, if the ANN forums are anything to go by, were mixed with some optimistic about the merger while others were concerned whether Anime Unleashed or some other Tech TV shows will be gone. By the beginning of May, the acquisition was complete and receiving FCC approval.
On May 28th 2004, the new network now called G4Tech TV, began broadcasting. Several shows from the old network carried over such as The Screen Savors and X-Play, and of course, Anime Unleashed continued. Unfortunately, this also meant that gradual purge of Tech TV shows and personalities. One of Tech TV’s first on-air talents, Leo Laporte, left the network. The Screen Savers was renamed Attack of the Show in 2005 after most of the production crew was either laid off or resigning when the show moved from San Francisco to Los Angeles. Along with the shows previously mentioned, new shows were added such as the mecha show Gad Guard, Gungrave, based on the popular video game, and ROD the TV series (another example of the block airing the sequel of a work that never aired on the block in the first place).
At the time of the merger, G4’s CEO Charles Hirschhorn is quoted as saying, “Video games are the epicenter of technology and entertainment, so that’ll be the center of G4tech TV. We’ll expand into other areas influenced by technology as it relates to entertainment as well.” When Tech TV first began, its target demographic was aimed at an older, tech savvy audience. Following the merger, the new network focused on a teenage male demographic ages 12-34. This could clearly be seen at the beginning of 2005. On February 15th, the channel dropped the Tech TV part from the name, now only being known as G4. They also added a few days afterward Magical Shopping Arcade Abenoshi to the Anime Unleashed lineup, which did not have anything to do with technology. In August, the network announced that three new shows to the lineup that were set to air at the beginning of September: the mecha series RahXephon, the school comedy Cromartie High School, and the sex comedy Colorful with Anime Unleashed itself being rolled into a new programming block called “Barbed Wire Biscuit.”
But all things do come to an end, as on March 16th 2005, Anime Unleashed ended. But there was a peculiar problem about that: there were no plans to end the block. An associate producer under the username Teggy posted on G4’s message board that there was a “technical issue.” Teggy goes on to say that it was due to, “re-standardizing G4’s program formats.” The post goes on to say that the higher ups declared they were not going make any adjustments on the episodes already aired, and were planning to air new content. Some in the ANN forums speculated that Teggy meant how the episodes were edited for time (they were not edited for content) to allow for commercials. Weeks went by, and there were no changes to G4’s schedule indicating the block was coming back. It just, for all intents and purposes, faded away.
G4 continued on for several more years after the end of Anime Unleashed. The network continued to change in their efforts to maintain their fickle 18-34 male demographic such as hosting pro wrestling and reruns of various Star Trek series. In 2012, the last remaining member of the Tech TV crew, X-Play’s Adam Sessler (who had been around since the ZDTV days), left. In the Canadian version of G4, the block continued under a new block called Anime Current having some shows from the previous block such as Gad Guard and Last Exile, but it also had shows unique to the block such as Trigun and Ergo Proxy. The Block only lasted two years ending in 2008. The American version would even air anime again showing the Marvel Anime, an anthology series by Studio Madhouse that features Marvel Comics characters such as Iron Man and Wolverine and their adventures in Japan, in 2011 and 2012. But the network itself would finally end on December 31st, 2014. There would be a brief revival of the network in November 2021, but it would only last a year before ending again.
As far as the Tech TV crew, many have found new careers such as Becky Worley who now hosts tech segments on ABC’s Good Morning America. Leo Laporte, who hosted The Screen Savers, managed to recreate a podcast version of his show called This Week in Tech, which has expanded into its own podcast network. Even today, you can find episodes of various Tech TV shows on both YouTube and the Internet Archive.
All that’s left of Anime Unleashed is the fond memories of its devotees and a few scattered pages that can be found using the Wayback Machine. The shows that aired, or at least some of them, can still be found on various streaming sites or on DVD and Blu-ray. And programming blocks have faded from the television landscape, though there are still some holdouts such as the modern version of the Toonami block (the classic version ended in early 2004). It can be argued that there is no place for such a thing in a 24 hour all access streaming environment. But what is lost is a sense of community. Now, I don’t mean the fandom of a particular show when I say community. What I mean is the sense of that at a particular moment someone is watching a show, there are other people out there watching the same show at the exact same time as you. That sense of community is something that the streaming services, as good as they can be, have not replicated. And I think that is a loss for the anime community as a whole.