Game Rant recently had the chance to sit down in a conference call with Adam Sessler and Kevin Pereira, hosts of classic gaming-related TV shows on early-2000's network G4TV. G4 is preparing for its long-awaited return, years after it went off-air, and it is already producing a steady trickle of YouTube and Twitch content as part of B4G4, an effort to get audience feedback and build hype. Sessler and Pereira joined us to answer questions and provide insight on the return of G4, and they didn't disappoint.
The two hosts were jovial and comedic, effortlessly bringing back the energy that many loved on the air. However, they still provided in-depth answers to some of our more serious questions. From changes in gaming culture and areas where G4 was ahead of its time, to comparing the new hosts to footwear and discussing the future of the network, Pereira and Sessler gave a glimpse of what's to come and reminded us why G4 was great. This interview transcript has been edited for clarity and brevity.
GR: All right, how are you guys?
Adam Sessler: Good! It's been a fun morning.
Kevin Pereira: Uh, I didn't know he was gonna come right out with the high key and the fast follow too. Hold on. According to this I am, I can say that I am doing well, but I have no further announcements at this time. Please watch B4G4 for more information of how I'm doing. Thank you.
GR: Let's jump right in. You guys have been in the gaming community for a long time. Some might consider you pioneers in gaming content. The rise of YouTube and Twitch must have been really interesting to see as people with that kind of experience. So, where does the new G4 fit into the current landscape of let's plays, esports, reviews, comedy, content, and commentary that's on these new platforms?
Kevin Pereira: I'll speak for Adam and say that it's insulting to say that we fit into it like that. We dominate that landscape. We're going for a giant Dome. It's going to land on that landscape and make you go: Twitch who? YouTube, what? Excuse me? That's how this goes down. That's how we arrive at the party.
I would say for me, on Attack of the Show, there was a point in time where we were... putting videos from a little website called YouTube into our show, and people were like, "What are you doing? Who wants to see the internet on their television? That makes no sense. No one is going to want that." They were wrong. They were just flat out wrong, and when we tilted the television sideways and put Twitter on it, people thought we were crazy. But we were interacting with the audience, and at the time, these sort of nascent technologies were coming about. People thought we were crazy for integrating them.
Now, to your point, they're everywhere. So how does G4 integrate into that? I think hopefully, easily. It was difficult for us at the time to send flip cameras to individual audience members so that they could cover their experience of going to a gaming convention... We would have to mail out these things and have people transfer the files or try to mail them back. It was really difficult, so now today I get so excited to think, hey, there's amazing talent everywhere. There's so many voices out there that we can easily tap into. Everybody is walking around with a damn supercomputer in their pocket that can stream live 4K video. We'd better integrate incredibly well. And then we need to innovate just like we did back in the day. I'm excited to take these technologies and really just run with them, and figure out how we can put them into our discussions, into our big stunts that we do, into every aspect of the network. I want these new platforms to be permeating everything we do, I think we have to. We have to have a voice that's interesting. We have to deliver content the way that's compelling and unique. But, but we have a much bigger sandbox to play in right now, and that's super exciting.
GR: Why are you guys coming back? What was the turning point when you decided that the world was ready again?
Adam Sessler: I didn't make the decision that the world was ready, but I was slowly becoming aware of the fact that the world was in fact ready. For a very long time, by Twitter replies intermittently, sometimes there'd be a flurry of "oh, I wish you were still on the air dada-dada-da," and suddenly COVID hits. I think all of us were looking for something familiar. It was happening. I think it was Blair Herter that chatted with me first. I was like hey, I don't know if you know what's happening out there, but this is the timing here could not be better.
For me personally, I did the YouTube thing and the MCN thing coming out of G4 for a couple of years. I realized I did not have the constitution to be able to maintain that degree of output that that is required. I was looking at other directions to go, consulting, starting a tech company, yadda yadda yadda. Kevin and I were chatting about this earlier. We also needed time away. It made it easier to appreciate the significance of what we did. A lot of our audience got older... and it just was kind of this perfect storm that there was a nostalgia, enough time had passed, and all of a sudden there were people that were interested in bringing it back, and it really wasn't a terribly hard decision to make.
And also I would like to wear pants again.
GR: You touched a bit on this already: G4 was ahead of its time on a lot of things in gaming culture. But what were things that totally took you by surprise?
Adam Sessler: I did not expect Twitch. All of us who worked on X-play, we would capture ourselves playing a video game, but I hated watching the video of me playing. Especially because I like wasn't doing things with elegant perfection. I was thinking "I need to get this thing accomplished for the review, but since I dithered around it's going to make it really hard to just slap that in there." Watching somebody else playing a video game sounded like the most atrocious exercise possible, and, lo and behold, I am absolutely 1000% wrong.
GR: In a past interview with us you described working with the old cast again as like "slipping on an old shoe." Is there a footwear related analogy for working with your newer colleagues?
Kevin Pereira: Adam, can we tag team this analogy? Let's go with either Crocs or a new pair of Yeezys or like a- oh! an ultra rare Jordan drop.
Adam Sessler: I was thinking like, well, I just got my first lifts in my shoes. That's where I was with it.
Kevin Pereira: OK, I'll say that my feet are...they're calloused, they know the terrain. But man, my ankles are a little sore and a little tired, and the new talent is going to be the orthopedic support that someone like me needs to be able to walk 1,000 miles. Though I might know the terrain, and might be able to call out things: "Hey, watch out, that cactus can be spiky!" Or "That might be quicksand!" Without their energy and their support I would be collapsed and on my knees and in tears. So I'm excited for the support that the new faces are going to provide. Does that take the footwear analogy into an area that we like?
Adam Sessler: Well, you know what, I'm gonna have to try out the toe shoes.... because from what I can tell, Frosk definitely likes to sling it. We've been compared to the Crypt keeper, Kevin.
Kevin Pereira: Sincerely, I just want to say that the Bleep e-sports Show- Austin was already announced and I love what he's done with Up Up Down Down, and I love the energy he brings in. His voice is just great. Adam and I got to work with him for the reunion special and he's just aces. I played Among Us, Genshin, and WoW with Ovilee and we hung out on Discord. I haven't had a chance to really get to know Frosk just yet, but watching the two of them play around on the Bleep Esports Show... even just episode one, seeing the reaction to that and watching their energy and their passion for the esports space, it's just it's undeniable. I'm just I'm so excited to get to work with them. And again, hopefully be able to to make them aware of the terrain in front of them and point out some things, but also learn and get the support from them because they represent the next generation.
GR: I am sorry to say it, but for a lot of gamers now, you will have been before their time. So, what is your appeal to Gen-Z, the Zoomers?
Kevin Pereira: There's zero appeal.
Sessler proceeds to laugh for about a full minute.
Adam Sessler: I have no idea if I have any appeal, as someone who has to look at himself every so often. I'm fine with the challenge, but we are writ large going back to a style of programming and production that I don't think has the same presence in Zoomer culture. I think it's interesting that with the incredibly immediate quality of streaming and in YouTube… It's like the distance between viewer and performer has collapsed. I'm not saying that we're going to be distant or anything like that, but it is different with more traditional TV production.
With that also comes a sense of gloss and legitimacy. We have the infrastructure and editors and all these other people, so we can put together some pretty neat stuff at a fairly good clip. I think that's going to be a really pleasant alternative. It will be complementary.... I guess as a result I will be part of that, and so maybe they will think I might in some way be responsible, and they will like me.
GR: What are things from some of the old G4 programs that you really would like to keep? Is there anything you can talk about that would be new or different?
Kevin Pereira: I think with regard to Attack of the Show! we always tried to figure out how to wrangle and wrestle technology in a way that would allow us to get our audience voice and let them participate in stuff. We had a guy in a bear costume that took faxes from people live during the show. We had a system that you could use a dial up modem to get additional bonus content from, and we had all these weird ways in which to connect and interact. To lose that would be a travesty, but to not take what is available to us today and explore it? That is so clutch and key to what we do, and so throughout the next few weeks and potentially months as the B4G4 train really gets up to steam and starts chugging along, I'm excited to create content, see where the audience is at, and introduce ourselves to a new generation of audience.
I really hope everybody goes to the G4TV subreddit, and we have a Discord with the community. It's really starting to pop off. When I started at the network, I was 18 and I was a PA. I would go to the G4TV forums and I would pull discussions out and I would get callers together for a show. I'm lurking in that Discord every day now, and I'm seeing the discussions that are taking place. I hope that people take to it quickly because they're going to have a lot of sway and a lot of a lot of saying what happens with the future of the network.
Adam Sessler: To be honest, I can't say specifically what's coming back and what isn't, because I don't think that we've decided yet. And you cover games -- you don’t want the developer to tell you a bunch of assets and how the whole thing is going to work before it even starts. But I can talk in the broader scope. We're gonna maintain the same level of honesty. At the same time, given what I've seen in the ensuing years since I left that, we want to tell the truth, but not necessarily go with the idea that if we're not negative, if we don't try to find the the hidden evil in all things, that we’re less insightful.... Yeah, we want to have fun, we want to be snarky, we want to maintain that spirit, but also recognize the fact that things have changed. Games have changed, contemporary values have changed, and I would say for the most part they have changed for the better.
GR: Do you guys plan on making YouTube and streaming platforms a regular part of your content delivery? Are you guys going to be putting regular content on other platforms?
Adam Sessler: In terms of the G4 content being on Twitch and YouTube as it is right now? Well, I think the most politik way I can put it is: just by the mere fact that we're on there right now, it demonstrates that the powers that be are very well aware of the fact that the delivery landscape has changed significantly. To be in denial of that would probably be counterproductive.
Kevin Pereira: If you've been following the adventures of Jerry XL on YouTube, he might not be the most competent CEO, interim CEO, hopefully. But, he does seem to at least recognize that you have to get the content where people consume it. So I think that bodes well for people being able to access all of the G4 insanity as it rolls out.
GR: What are you guys most excited for moving forward? What is the most intriguing prospect for you about all of this?
Adam Sessler: I think seeing everybody in person.
Kevin Pereira: So many times in life, you say, "oh man, if I knew then what I know now, if I had the chance to do it all over again." For me, G TV and Attack of the Show, that wasn't one of those things I ever imagined there'd be a chance to go back and do again, knowing what I know now. Hindsight is 2020 , and I can't wait to have this supposedly perfect vision. This new iteration is going to have mistakes made along the way, and that's part of the process, but to do it again with the chance to sort of anoint the next generation of talent on air as well as the next generation of viewers at home- that is so exciting, and it's an opportunity I genuinely didn't think I would have. I hope I don't completely squander it.
Adam Sessler: I'm really, really excited and to just get to work with other humans on camera. I really am excited about the new talent that's being brought on. You know, it's great to work with someone like Kevin and some other people at G4 that I have experience working with, but getting to work with people that might have different viewpoints, that's both a challenge and an opportunity. That's the kind of thing I really, really do like, and I can't wait.
GR: Awesome, great answers. Thank you guys so much, and that's everything we needed. Prepare to be quoted in headlines.
Adam Sessler: All about shoes, I hope.
[End.]
Early B4G4 content is currently live on YouTube and Twitch, with the network's return planned for this year. Fans can check out their YouTube channel here.