Attack of the Show!

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TV's only source for all the stuff you care about!

One of G4TV's flagship shows, along with X-Play, and one of its highest rated, Attack of the Show! is a daily variety program where they review the newest technological advances, parody news reports, and give exclusive previews of upcoming and highly anticipated video games, movies and digital media. The show originally premiered in 1998 under the name Screen Savers when G4 was still ZDTV, mostly covering tech related topics. When the networked changed its name, the show was retooled to cover more topics and debuted in 2005. When the show ended in 2013, it was one of the longest-running series on the network.

The current hosts are Kevin Pereira and Candace Bailey, and the show was formerly co-hosted by Olivia Munn. Other personalities who show up are Kristen Adams, Sarah Underwood (who does The Feed), Chris Gore (DVDuesday), Alison Haislip, Chris Hardwick (Gadget Pr0n), Blair Butler (Fresh Ink), and Blair Herter among others. They've also had numerous celebrity guest hosts, who bring their own — unique spin to the show.

It was announced on May 8th, 2012 that Kevin Pereira will leave the show on May 31st.

Recurring segments on the show include:

• Around the Net: A countdown of the top five videos of the day as found on video sharing sites such as Youtube.
• The Feed: A rundown of various news stories, usually three or four, related to movies, technology, etc.
• DVDuesday: Chris Gore comes in and reviews newly released DVDs, graded as "Buy", "Rent" or "Pass".
• Fresh Ink!: Blair Butler reviews recent comic book releases, graded as "Buy", "Browse" or "Burn".
• Gadget Pr0n: Chris Hardwick and Kevin review and showcase the latest gadgets and gear, rated on a five-point scale.
• Great BREAK! Moments in De-Evolution: Reviews of people doing ridiculous stunts, which usually end in bodily harm and/or property damage. Each video is rated on a scale of 1 to 5, with a different satirical value for each (e.g. "$.99 store home-pregnancy tests", "barbed wire tattoos", "do-it-yourself convertibles", etc.). Sponsored by BREAK.com
• As Seen On TV: Kevin and Olivia test products that are advertised on TV, usually in infomercials.
• The List Attack This!: Various things that the G4TV hosts recommend the viewers to buy, download etc.
• What's Up With Japan?: Kevin talks about the strange occurrences within Japan, from tech to popular culture.
• WTF?!: In which very strange things are discussed. Often this involves some obscure type of fetish.
• In Your Pants: Sex columnist Anna David and Olivia Munn give intimate relationship advice and opinions. After the segment, Kevin Pereira makes a joked sexist statement followed by a rooster crowing and the quote "Cock-a-doodle-doo, bitches!"
• Epic Fail: Typically the last segment of the show; they single out one video in which someone fails in epic fashion.

Tropes used in Attack of the Show! include:

• An Aesop: For some reason, Carissa Walford likes doing these, occasionally with a satirical bent. Olivia Munn is very prone to them.
• And Knowing Is Half the Battle: Parodied, with their "You Just Got Learned" spots, which show a spaceship crashing into a blimp in space.)
• Broken Aesop: Happened from time to time, particularly when Raychul Moore and Olivia Munn presented it.
• Cleavage Window: Invoked in one episode where Sarah wears a shirt backwards so the hole in the back would become one of these...to make it easier for Candace to motorboat her boobs.
• Comically Missing the Point: Sometimes intentionally invoked, to keep the joke going from a video clip, etc.)
• Cousin Oliver: Played with on one episode where AOTS gets one of their own, who constantly said that something was Bitchin (followed by a guitar riff). Kevin quickly got tired of it as he locked him in the basement.
• Black Comedy Rape: In a preview of their E3 2011 coverage, Candace read so much in a single breath that she "passed out". Kevin pulled off his jacket as he continued the segment, drawing a mixed reaction from the audience before he responded "It's for CPR, you perverts!"
• Dirty Old Man: Drunk Uncle Ted (now shortened to "Drunkle Ted"), a white male clothing store mannequin with a porn star mustache and sunglasses. Perpetually drunk, he is constantly making sexual innuendo when not being outright degenerated. He has recently taken over Anna David's "In Your Pants: Sex in the Streets" segment which he refers to as "Sexist in the streets", giving astonishingly awful sex advice to men.
  • Well, not so much giving advice as trying to pick them up. It's equally awful.
• The Ditz: Candace. Oh lord, Candace.
• Do Not Do This Cool Thing: On multiple occasions. Usually Olivia Munn, Anna or Carissa Walford are to blame for this.
• Fanservice:
  • Olivia Munn was used for this a lot, including dressing in a French maid's outfit and diving into a massive pie.
  • Layla Kayleigh doing "The Feed" in all different kinds of outfits.
  • Sarah Underwood's recent turns as Stripperella...er, "Bustice." ^{[dead link]} Not to mention her naked bike ride recently. I wonder why it's one of the most viewed videos on the website. Except that she was obviously wearing flesh-toned bra and panties underneath the digital censor strips.
• Fan Disservice:
  • See Fanservice. Oliva was followed by Kevin, who was also dressed in a French Maid's outfit. Every time Kevin takes off his shirt the man-lovin' fans rejoice. Him wearing only a sumo wrestler thong and getting manhandled by giant muscular men in one episode has pretty much become the fan service of legends.
• Fetish Fuel Station Attendant: Olivia Munn.
• Gamer Chick: Morgan Webb, when she drops by.
• Helium Speech: Rather, the inverse, the Sulphur Hexafluoride Speech, which was discussed at one point after seeing it on MythBusters.
• Hilarity Ensues: Tom Green not only was the first guest star, but returned for their 1,000th episode special. Sets were destroyed. Good times.
• It Makes Sense in Context: During one episode's Feed, Sarah mentions that Candace ended up with a vibrator up her nose. Candace protests that she's making it sound weird, and Kevin asks the question on every viewer's mind: "Can you tell me the version of the story where you had a vibrator up your nose that isn't weird?"
• It Seemed Like a Good Idea At the Time: They tested the Sham Wow! and the Zorbees, and used substances such as vomit. Kevin nearly threw up on camera.
  • Don't forget the Slap Chops on pig eyes.
• Les Yay: Oh so very much between Candace and Sarah. Whether it's them slapping one another on the butts or Candace motor-boating Sarah's boobs, these two get a lot of mileage out of this, much to the delight of the audience (and Kevin).
  • Kevin's recreation of the UHF segment "Stanley Spadowsky's Clubhouse" with the marble in the oatmeal amps up the Fan Service Up to Eleven with Candice and Sarah wrestling in the oatmeal and really getting into the moment.
• Long Runner: Over 1,000 episodes as of July 2009.
• Ms. Fanservice: Formerly Olivia Munn. Currently Sarah Underwood, who will occasionally and playfully draw attention to the fact that she was 2009 Playboy Playmate of the Year.
  • Sarah wandered around Anime Expo 2011 dressed as Lum. Just damn.
    • And she spent the Halloween 2011 episode dressed as Leelo, openly admitting that she was pretty much taped into the costume.
    • Again, the naked bike ride.
• Perma-Stubble: Chris Gore.
• Retool: Was made from the remains of the beloved Tech TV show The Screen Savers
• Role-Ending Misdemeanor: An extremely unusual twist on this occurred following Proving Ground star Ryan Dunn's death in a drunk driving accident. AOTS did a tribute show on the night G4 started airing the show again, and Kevin remarked (quite seriously) that while they can't condone Dunn getting behind the wheel while drunk, they aren't going to let that one bad decision tarnish their friendship with and fond memories of him.
• Serious Business: We only heard about it after the fact, but while filming a segment about Sumo wrestling, Kevin managed to horrify his hosts by asking if he could break tradition and wear something under his mawashi.
• Shameless Fanservice Girl: Olivia and Clark did a segment once where Clark expressed his discomfort with some of the things Olivia did while he was around. One of these things was that she lounges around in the alltogether, not caring how uncomfortable it makes him. In his defense, she was clipping her toenails at the time.
• Skyward Scream: Frequently Played for Laughs.
• Spin-Off: It's Effin' Science, based off of one of the show's recurring segments.
• Small Name, Big Ego: Kevin often gets portrayed this way.
• Take That: An offhand mention of 4chan in the last 10 seconds of one episode led to all of 4chan using G4 personalities as randomly generated user names. So AOTS took the Epic Fail meme and turned it into a show segment.)
• The Unfair Sex: Discussed in one episode where Candice brings up The Notebook and Kevin calls the protagonist a slut for dumping her faithful and dedicated fiancé in favor of Ryan Gosling just because the guy built her a house. Candice and Sarah both defend her, saying it was true love and "What woman wouldn't run off with Ryan Gosling?"
• Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?:
  • Olivia Munn is deathly afraid of popping balloons. Of course, Kevin endlessly exploited this in one episode. Once again, Hilarity Ensues.
  • In a more closer to the trope name example, in preparation for the release of Snakes on a Plane to theaters, one episode had them cover the entire set with snakes. And ended with a rock paper scissors duel over who has a barrel of live snakes poured on them. In the next episode Olivia furiously revealed through a slow-mo close-up of the duel, Kevin cheated.
  • Candace Bailey revealed that she was very afraid of flying bugs, hissing cockroaches in particular. They exploited this and seemed to taunt Bailey with one. Naturally, she freaked out, only for it to be revealed it was a wind up toy in a brown paper bag.
    
    At a later date they actually brought on some real hissing cockroaches (along with some other bugs), to the distress of Candace and every other woman on the set. To her credit, Sarah had the guts to let the handler put a roach on her bare hand, but Candace got so freaked out that she ended up crying (and getting comforted by Sarah).