Obscurity, much?/G4TV

G4TV has a reputation for churning out obscure gaming programs (even before the days of Let's Plays, mind you), and like the rest of NBC (and to a lesser extent Universal) they've had their fair share of even some good programming being subject to this. Their original 2002-14 incarnation was the most guilty of this thus far. Is it any wonder that they're the *third* English-language television network (after Cartoon Network and Teletoon) to get its own page?

* As stated above, by the time it shut down, the original incarnation of the network was mostly known for the various series (and competitors) it sent into obscurity:
	+ At the time it was bought out, TechTV was a relatively obscure network with a huge cult following. After G4 bought out TechTV, the two networks merged (albeit in-name only), dropping *all* TechTV shows (except *The Screen Savers*, which became *Attack of the Show!*, *GameSpot TV*, which became *X-Play*, and *Anime Unleashed*, which fell into obscurity between the buyout and March 2006 until being discontinued).
	+ And then in 2005, Neal Tiles changed the name back to just "G4" and tried to forget about TechTV. Despite G4 trying to forget about TechTV almost entirely, they (fortunately) said that TechTV *did* exist at one point, through old reruns of X-Play. It eventually got to the point that DirectTV dropped G4, sending the network into obscurity for DirectTV viewers.
	+ And if that wasn't enough, Code Monkeys (G4's only non-anime animated show, not counting Happy Tree Friends' TV adaptation or its Canadian counterpart's "Adult Digital Distraction") fell into semi-obscurity after *two seasons*. When it got added to the Peacock streaming service, its cult following (at least the fans who subscribe to the service) made up most of its viewership.
	+ The Marvel Anime, as individual series, can be found on the cheap (four-in-ones are another story) thanks to a combination of most G4 shows being under this trope and frequent re-releases.
	+ In 2012, G4 ended *X-Play* and *Attack of the Show!*, not because of this trope, but because of their hosts leaving the network.
	+ Just months before, Adam Stotsky became CEO of G4, and he decided to replace G4 with the Esquire Network. He partially succeeded... but the revamp didn't happen to G4. It happened to G4's sister network Style instead.
	+ After what happened above, many cable and satellite providers began to drop the network one by one, until eventually only AT&T U-Verse (and a few small cable providers) had G4 in their cable lineup. That's how bad NBC wanted G4 to be completely forgotten.
	+ To clarify how obscure G4 was since the TechTV buyout, Proving Ground only got 31,000 viewers when the first episode premiered. However, Proving Ground only had 9 episodes filmed not because of this trope, it was because one its co-hosts was killed in a car crash.
	+ On New Year's Eve 2014, exactly one year after SoapNet was shut down, G4 played one last montage (referencing its launch) before being shut down completely. While G4 hasn't gone completely obscure since (its website remained up for *three years* after its shutdown, a feat not accomplished by any other network, whose sites get shuttered or redirected before they actually shutter; the website was re-launched with a soft launch in 2020), the shutdown made it semi-obscure at best; anyone searching "G4TV" on Google in 2017 would mostly get news about its shutdown (either its aborted re-launch or its final shutdown) in addition to a link for the G4 site.
	+ Syfy's freemium gaming site started up a news section with the G4 branding, presumably only so that NBC would keep the trademarks.
	+ It got even worse come July 2017, when it was announced that G4 Canada was shutting down. Yes, the Canadian counterpart to G4- though some people expected this, considering the semi-obscurity of the Canadian channel, as well as what happened to the American G4 and Rogers Media not renewing its deal with Greedy Productions (producers of EP Daily and Reviews on the Run).
		- And when G4 Canada finally shut down? Unlike what happened to the US' website (which was still up at the time, as mentioned above), the Canadian website was redirected to City's own website.
	+ Then at Comic-Con@Home (the main San Diego Comic Con was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic), NBC announced they were reviving G4.
	+ Said revival proceeded to go this route all on its own; despite seemingly re-focusing on games, *Clownfish TV* hosts Kneon and Geeky Sparkles pointed out that when G4's *best* days meant they made about $77 (a really low revenue for any TV network, let alone for a network that is supposed to have some brand recognition), chances are the network was going to shutter. Sure enough, the re-launch only lasted just a bit over a year before Comcast pulled the plug again.