TWIT: 2015 A new year or beginning of the end?

Another year has passed heralded once again by Leo Laporte at the helm of his creation, TWIT.tv.  A new tradition begun last year finds the teletubby of tech firmly in his captain's chair for another 24 hour marathon that only Jerry Lewis could appreciate.

This year found the same antics, adoring hosts, special guests and events  as last year  not to mention an army of bleary eyed interns and engineers scurrying behind the scenes.

With lessons learned from the last go around under their collective belt, this year's extravaganza had plenty of polish but a noticeable deficit of popular talent in comparison. 

Gone were  the Bryan Brushwoods, Iyaz Ahktars and Tom Merritt's of years past replaced with studio interns and "contract" hosts who just happened to be in the neighborhood.

This year's festivities rang a bit hollow because of it.  A glaring reminder of just how much had been lost in the turmoil of 2014. 

The 2014 New Year's  Eve party also found a new addition, that being a charitable tie-in. 

UNICEF (unicefusa.org) was the chosen beneficiary of TWIT's  generosity this year with Leo reminding viewers of it every hour.

I'll cut to the chase....

UNICEF is certainly a worthy charity but considering the somewhat nebulous charter one has to wonder if it was an afterthought.  

It seemed that the entirety of the broadcast became about challenges for Leo and friends to perform ridiculous stunts ultimately reaching climax with Leo shaving his head and branding his posterior with a TWIT tattoo.

As the stunts rolled on it seemed  more and more like sad attempts to  resuscitate TWIT's image than garner donations.  The vacuum left by the exodus of TWIT talent and bad blood that has tainted the network in the past 2 years has born bitter fruit. 

Interviews with tertiary TWIT hosts like Rene' Ritchie and studio interns couldn't hide the fact that TWIT's stable didn't run very deep.  That and Leo seemed just a bit "too" friendly towards Chad Johnson whom he'd booted out of a full time gig just a few weeks before.

So when Laporte shaved his head as donations reached $40,000 and finally branded his own ass with a TWIT tattoo at the $50,000 threshold  I realized I was watching  little more than acts of desperation.

The videos that follow come from the event and are unedited for content or context.  I submit them for your own review. 

Baby, Bathwater and now the tub...TWIT changes continue

Watching today's TNT episode with new lead, Mike Elgan, at the helm it became obvious that changes at TWIT aren't quite done yet.

With Iyaz Akhtar's sudden departure for CNET last week, only Sarah Lane and Jason Howell of the Merritt era crew remain.

Leo Laporte attempted to soften the blow by heading up the New Years Eve episode of TNT alongside new TNT boss Mike Elgan.  Watching the episode one  thing became clear.  Where Tom Merritt was about collaboration,  Mike Elgan is all about a certain way of doing things...that being,.his way.

Politlely deflecting commentary to the contrary it was obvious that the edict has gone out.  My way or the highway will likely be the order of the day.

The strange thing was, that his delivery was about as interesting as a wet dish rag .  A more passive and submissive tone seems to surface around Laporte's bravado.  His stage presence lacked charisma and at times it seems he'd be more suited to stamping driver's licenses at a DMV window. In short a newsman but not an anchor.

What we do know is that Elgan is a willing tool of Laporte to push his grand plans of recreating TNT as the CNN of tech with a focus on "breaking news"   As such there wasn't anything new there.  It's a mantra that Laporte has droned so many times in the month since the announcement of Tom Merritt's departure.

With a playful yet overt dig at Sarah Lane for breaking into tears during Tom Merritt's last address to TNT fans yesterday (Dec. 30), it was obvious that Laporte was desperately trying to move away from the topic of Merritt's departure.

Soon after came Laporte and Elgan's gentle but obvious chorus of what they thought TNT wasn't doing well enough.

After which the first hints at tension began showing through the cracks when Lane rose to the defense of TNT's previous work.  After Elgan commented that he wanted TNT to be more "global" and didn't want to just be "reporting American tech news for Americans." Lane instantly responded with, " I don't think TNT was ever doing that!".  Elgan's response, "Right"

Apparently, award winning or not, TNT wasn't living up to Leo's expectations under Merritt's rule.
It's obvious that the remaining hosts (Sarah and Jason Howell) will not have as prominent a role as they did under Merritt and it's likely a reason Iyaz Akhtar chose to make such a curiously timed exit from the show.

It makes sense, TWIT has literally thrown the baby out with the bathwater and will have to move fast to fill the vacuum.  That means nothing of the Merritt era at TWIT can remain if they don't want to be constantly hampered by his ghost.  The painful part is to see the significant contributions of TNT crew past and present be devalued for the sake of a whim AKA: breaking tech news.

In the end don't be surprised to see Mike Elgan sitting with a completely different TNT cast by this time next year. Whether that's a good or bad thing is dependent on whether or not you can accept the changes Elgan brings to TNT.

I know what I think but make up your own mind.  The episode in question is provided below... Advance to 36:21 for Elgan's commmentary on the old TNT.