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Good Bye, for now, Leo LaPorte
By Skip Ploss
It seems that whenever I discover something cool it gets
hosed. It happened with Steely Dan back in the '70s, with
the GTO, the Amiga and now Leo LaPorte.
Who is Leo LaPorte you ask? Leo was the host of two of the
greatest technology shows for the consumer on television.
Leo was, until this week, the host or co-host of Call for
Help (a live tech call in show) and The Screen Savers
both on TechTV. Leo's run on the telly went back to when
the channel was called ZDTV. Having been in search of a good
tech show ever since the demise of C|Net I was thrilled to
find both the channel and his shows specifically. In the short
time (6 months since we got digital cable) that I had been
watching the show I had learned about freeware and shareware
that proved invaluable in my business.
Leo's style on the shows was non-condescending, affable and
approachable. He had the ability to either draw from his own
experiences or translate the answers found by crew on both
shows into english. He has been replaced by Kevin Rose on
The Screen Savers and...and...and I can't find the guy's name
on the TechTV website. Hmmmm.
It was nice to have a guy talking tech who, like many of
us, started our lives before the moon landings.
The reasons for Leo's departure, from Leo's side anyway,
are listed below and are taken from his website, http://www.leoville.com.
After nearly ten years, four owners, well over 2000 live
TV shows, lots of laughs, a few tears, and meeting many
many wonderful people, my time at TechTV has come to an
end.
I could tell so many stories about the talented, committed,
hard working, and hard partying people I've worked with
there. Each and every one of them will always have a special
place in my life . It was with great sadness that I walked
out the studio door for the last time last night.
The reasons for my leaving are complicated. As I posted
here a few weeks ago, management and I had come to a very
satisfactory agreement about a new work schedule and salary,
but at the last minute TechTV's outgoing owner, Vulcan Ventures,
insisted that I sign away all claims against them regarding
shares they had given me some years ago. I was unwilling
to do so, and they held my job as hostage.
My leaving has nothing to do whatever with G4 or Comcast.
In fact, I'm very sorry that I won't be around to participate
in the transition. I've already contacted G4 to let them
know I'd be glad to continue working at the new channel
once they take over and I hope that I'll get that chance.
Fortunately I still have a great job at KFI, a sweet book
contract with Que, this thriving web site, and many requests
for speeches and other appearances. My family will not starve,
and I will be keeping very busy no matter what happens.
Call for Help will continue on the air without me. George
Crowe, Dan Mitchell, Fawn Luu, Roger Chang, Cat Schwartz,
and Ian the new guy, whose last name I still can't spell,
are still there working their tails off to do the best show
on TechTV for the least amount of money. Nicole Guilfoyle
and Rich Miglozzi are still slaving away to make the web
site the best resource ever. Steve Porter, Rob D'Arcy, Bill
Coen, Josh Villegas, Raevon Armand, Deb Croback, Jon Martin,
Greg Tremelling, Brett, Fatty Matty, David Chung, Jim Smith
and the best studio crew in the world are still there keeping
things running light without overbyte. Please keep watching.
For the second time in as many weeks I find myself saying
goodbye. My spirits were buoyed with the hundreds of wonderful
messages I got last week. It's so gratifying to know that
the work we've done has made such a big difference in so
many people's lives. With apologies to Lou Gehrig, I consider
myself the luckiest man on the face of the Earth. Thank
you from the bottom of my heart.
I won't be on TV for a little while. But I do hope we'll
see each other again on the small screen some day. Until
then, thanks for an incredible 10 years. I'll miss you.
It is an unfortunate turn of events and I have not been able
to watch TechTV since his departure. Perhaps this is something
that that perhaps COMCAST, the new owner of the network, should
think long and hard about.
If there is good news in all this, two out of my four favorites
listed above have made spectacular returns (Steely Dan and
the GTO) and I know that Leo will too.
Links to Leo LaPorte pages:
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